Talk to Me Like I'm Stupid: Hunting in the Late Antebellum Era

By Ta-Nehisi Coates

From what I can tell, breech-loading rifles came in vogue, in America, during the Civil War. Before then, soldiers used muzzle-loading rifles which took a lot longer to load and fire. (Right??) My question is, how did people hunt with firearms before breech-loaders. It's hard to imagine someone taking the time to loading shot and firing while hunting, say, deer.

How did Americans hunt in the era just before the shotgun? Also, is there good history book on the evolution of hunting in America? Go easy on me here guys. I'm just an effete liberal clinging to his latte. I know very little about guns, and even less about hunting.

This article available online at:

http://www.theatlantic.com/personal/archive/2010/06/talk-to-me-like-im-stupid-hunting-in-the-late-antebellum-era/58005/