It seems to me that basically up to the US civil war, that guns really weren't all that accurate, and the bullets did very little damage compared to modern weapons. So why weren't crossbows more heavily used up to the industrial revolution?

by Rowsdower32

Ive heard that if you were shot by a musket, you were far more likely to die of an infection from the bullet than from the actual bullet itself. I've also heard that crossbows had so much power and lethality behind them, they were known to knock an armored knight off his horse.

To me, it would seem like a 100 people with crossbows who could shoot 4-5 rounds a minute would likely do more damage than 100 people with black powder muskets shooting 2-3 rounds a minute.

Also, it seems the logistics of keeping those people with fresh dry gunpowder would be much more difficult than keeping them supplied with bolts.