Both fights have sometimes been attributed in part to the introduction of new breech-loading rifles into the U.S.

Army’s arsenal.

The Springfield Model 1866 breech-loader could be reloaded much faster than the muzzle-loaders that had previously been standard equipment.

Warriors who had calibrated their tactics to the reloading time of muzzle-loading rifles — timing charges to coincide with the period when defenders were reloading — found the new weapons altered the tactical equation.

Whether this was a decisive factor in these specific engagements or only a contributing one is debated by historians.

But here is the crucial point: winning the Hayfield Fight and the Wagon Box Fight did not solve the Army’s strategic problem.