These Minié balls, cartridges, and fragments were recovered from Gettysburg battlefield in Pennsylvania. Minié balls became very popular in the Civil War. The bullets, named after their inventor Claude-Etienne Minié, expanded after being fired, making them more accurate than other bullets. The number of soldiers wounded or killed on the battlefield in the Civil War numbers around 600,000 people. The Minié ball and rifle musket -- the gun that fired Miniés -- are thought to be responsible for 90% of those casualties.