Civil War Artillery- The Basics
I have heard alot of strange information being given out to the
public in regard to our cannon. My favorite is the "5 mile"
range being
given out as the useful range our of cannons. (ugh!) I thought
a short
refresher course would be useful so that we can all have the same
(truthful) story.
1. Cannon Types- Their were 4 basic types of cannons in the
begining of the civil war:
Rifled cannons-
A brand new type of direct fire gun that used
a rifled barrel to improve accuracy. The 2 major types were
the 3 inch ordnance rife and the 10 pound parrot rifle. Both
were very similiar in performance. The historial 3rd US battery
L&M had 4 2.9 inch parrot rifles. Our current battery has
2 3 inch rifled guns.
Maximun practical range wasaround 1800 yds or
1 mile. It used 1 pound of blackpowder per shot.
Smoothbore guns-
A tried and true gun virtually unchanged for
many years. Since the 1840's the US had used the 6 pounder gun.
This was in the process of being replaced by the Light 12
pounder which came out in 1857. It was a "jack of all trades/
master of none" type weapon which could do most things well.
It was especially good at close range because of its large
bore size of almost 5 inches made a very large cannister round.
The historical 3rd US battery L&M started the war with 2 of
these cannons, but lost them during the move to the vicksburg.
The Maximun practical range was around 1600 yards. It used 1 to
2 pounds of blackpowder per shot.
Howitzers-
A Howiziter was a gun that "lobbed" the shell by
using a trajectory rather than a more direct fire rifle or
smoothbore cannon. The light 12 pounder was starting to replace
it at the begining of the war as it could perform this task.
The idea was to be able to fire "behind" cover by lobbing
the
shell over the obstacle the enemy was hiding behind. They had
a short range, but were very effective at short range because
of their bore size of usually over 5 inches. Our current battery
has 1 howitzer in its inventory, which is actually a naval
howitzer. Maximun practical range was about 800 to 1100 yards
depending on the type. Our Naval howizter would probably be
on the low end of this scale.
Mortars-
Mortars take the idea of the howitzer a step further by using
a even higher trajectory than a howitzer. It could not fire
directly on a target at all. (ie no cannister), and its range
was usually less than 1000 yds. In the war because of their
weight they were usually used in sieges and not in the field.
By late in the war a light weight type was developed and used
in the siege of petersburg by both sides.
2. Types of Ammo used. Their were 4 basic types of ammo used during
the
civil war they were:
Solid shot- (solid ball)
This is only type the public thinks we had. Many
cannons were classified by the weight of a solid shot that
would fit in its bore. (like a "10" pounder").
They were useful
against fortifications, hitting a limber box and if you had
nothing else firing at troops in which you would try to get the
shell to "skip" accross the battlefield.
Explosive Shell- (shell)
This was a hollow shell with gun powder poured inside. The idea
was to get it to explode next to enemy troops and demoralize
them. Some injuries could occur from the outer shell , but it
as mainly a "scare" tactic using concussion as its weapon
although a
piece of the outer shell could kill someone. Often this
shell would explode on impact
Case Shot-(shrapnel)
This was a explosive shell where the hollow interior was filled
will metal balls , tar and gunpowder. It was most effective
when it could explode over the heads of the enemy. Usually this
shell would have a timed fuse.
Cannister- (sometimes refrerred to as grapeshot althought this
was usually used by the navy) Cannister was something like a
giant shotgun. It fired bullet size balls out the canon barrel.
It was effective to about 300 yards. Rifled cannons could not
use cannister very effectively because the rifling would break
up the "pattern" of shot. I often find commanders complaining
that this type of round was overused by the artillery.
3. Fire Rates
You could fire about 3 rounds a min. if you were firing
cannister. This is because you really did not have to aim
a cannon very carefully with cannister. Most of the fire time
was in the aiming not the loading and cleaning. A typical fire
rate of firing shell or case shot would be about 1 round in 5
mins. and most of that would be the gunner trying to account
for the wind, movement of the enemy, range and various other
variables.
If you would like to know more I reccomend the civil war artillery
web
on our links page. Here
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