Field artillery in the American Civil War refers to the
artillery
Artillery is a class of heavy military ranged weapons that launch munitions far beyond the range and power of infantry firearms. Early artillery development focused on the ability to breach defensive walls and fortifications during sieg ...
weapons, equipment, and practices used by the Artillery branch to support the
infantry
Infantry is a military specialization which engages in ground combat on foot. Infantry generally consists of light infantry, mountain infantry, motorized infantry & mechanized infantry, airborne infantry, air assault infantry, and m ...
and
cavalry forces in the field. It does not include
siege artillery, use of artillery in fixed fortifications, or
coastal or
naval artillery
Naval artillery is artillery mounted on a warship, originally used only for naval warfare and then subsequently used for naval gunfire support, shore bombardment and anti-aircraft roles. The term generally refers to tube-launched projectile-firi ...
. Nor does it include smaller, specialized artillery classified as
small arms.
Weapons
The principal guns widely used in the field are listed in the following table.
There were two general types of artillery weapons used during the
Civil War
A civil war or intrastate war is a war between organized groups within the same state (or country).
The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government polic ...
:
smoothbore
A smoothbore weapon is one that has a barrel without rifling. Smoothbores range from handheld firearms to powerful tank guns and large artillery mortars.
History
Early firearms had smoothly bored barrels that fired projectiles without s ...
s and
rifles. Smoothbores included
howitzer
A howitzer () is a long-ranged weapon, falling between a cannon (also known as an Artillery, artillery gun in the United States), which fires shells at flat trajectories, and a Mortar (weapon), mortar, which fires at high angles of ascent and de ...
s and
guns.
Smoothbore artillery
Smoothbore artillery refers to weapons that are not rifled. At the time of the Civil War, metallurgy and other supporting technologies had just recently evolved to a point allowing the large scale production of rifled field artillery. As such, many smoothbore weapons were still in use and production even at the end of the war. Smoothbore field artillery of the day fit into two role-based categories: guns and howitzers. Further classifications of the weapons were made based on the type of metal used, typically bronze or iron (cast or wrought), although some examples of steel were produced. Additionally, the artillery was often identified by the year of design in the Ordnance department references.
The smoothbore artillery was also categorized by the bore dimensions, based on the rough weight of the solid shot projectile fired from the weapon. For instance a 12-pounder field gun fired a 12-pound solid shot projectile from its diameter bore. It was practice, dating back to the 18th century, to mix gun and howitzers into batteries. Pre-war allocations called for 6-pounder field guns matched with 12-pounder howitzers, 9 and 12-pounder field guns matched with 24-pounder howitzers. But the rapid expansions of both combatant armies, mass introduction of rifled artillery, and the versatility of the 12-pounder "Napoleon" class of weapons all contributed to a change in the mixed battery practices.
12-pounder Napoleon
The
twelve-pound cannon "Napoleon" was the most popular smoothbore cannon used during the war. It was named after
Napoleon III of France
Napoleon III (Charles Louis Napoléon Bonaparte; 20 April 18089 January 1873) was the first President of France (as Louis-Napoléon Bonaparte) from 1848 to 1852 and the last monarch of France as Emperor of the French from 1852 to 1870. A nephew ...
and was widely admired because of its safety, reliability, and killing power, especially at close range. In Union Ordnance manuals it was referred to as the "light 12-pounder gun" to distinguish it from the heavier and longer 12 pounder gun (which was virtually unused in field service.) It did not reach America until 1857. It was the last cast
bronze gun used by an American army. The
Federal version of the Napoleon can be recognized by the flared front end of the barrel, called the muzzle-swell. It was, however, relatively heavy compared to other artillery pieces and difficult to move across rough terrain.
Confederate Napoleons were produced in at least six variations, most of which had straight muzzles, but at least eight catalogued survivors of 133 identified have muzzle swells. Additionally, four iron Confederate Napoleons produced by
Tredegar Iron Works
The Tredegar Iron Works in Richmond, Virginia, was the biggest ironworks in the Confederacy during the American Civil War, and a significant factor in the decision to make Richmond its capital.
Tredegar supplied about half the artillery used by ...
in Richmond have been identified, of an estimated 125 cast. In early 1863
Robert E. Lee
Robert Edward Lee (January 19, 1807 – October 12, 1870) was a Confederate general during the American Civil War, towards the end of which he was appointed the overall commander of the Confederate States Army. He led the Army of Nort ...
sent nearly all of the
Army of Northern Virginia
The Army of Northern Virginia was the primary military force of the Confederate States of America in the Eastern Theater of the American Civil War. It was also the primary command structure of the Department of Northern Virginia. It was most o ...
's bronze 6-pounder guns to Tredegar to be melted down and recast as Napoleons.
Copper
Copper is a chemical element with the symbol Cu (from la, cuprum) and atomic number 29. It is a soft, malleable, and ductile metal with very high thermal and electrical conductivity. A freshly exposed surface of pure copper has a pinkish ...
for casting bronze pieces became increasingly scarce to the Confederacy throughout the war and became acute in November 1863 when the Ducktown copper mines near
Chattanooga
Chattanooga ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Hamilton County, Tennessee, United States. Located along the Tennessee River bordering Georgia, it also extends into Marion County on its western end. With a population of 181,099 in 2020, ...
were lost to Union forces. Casting of bronze Napoleons by the Confederacy ceased and in January 1864 Tredegar began producing iron Napoleons.
A Confederate cannoneer remembered, "Our guns were 12 pound brass Napoleons, smooth bore, but accounted the best gun for all round field service then made. They fired solid shot, shell, grape and canister, and were accurate at a mile. We would not have exchanged them for
Parrott Rifles, or any other style of guns. They were beautiful, perfectly plain, tapering gracefully from muzzle to "reinforce" or "butt," without rings, or ornaments of any kind. We are proud of them and felt towards them almost as if they were human..."
File:CW Arty M1857 Napoleon front.jpg,
File:CW Arty M1857 Napoleon rear.jpg,
File:CW Arty Confederate Napoleon.jpg,
File:Texas Capitol 12-pound Napoleon.JPG,
Howitzers
Howitzers were short-barreled guns that were optimized for firing explosive shells
in a high trajectory, but also for spherical case shot and canister, over a shorter range than the guns. While field use alluded to firing at targets consisting of enemy forces arrayed in the open, howitzers were considered the weapon of choice if the opposing forces were concealed behind terrain features or fortifications. It cost about $500. Howitzers used lighter gunpowder charges than guns of corresponding caliber. Field howitzer calibers used in the Civil War were 12-pounder (4.62 inch bore), 24-pounder (5.82 inch bore), and 32-pounder (6.41 inch bore). Most of the howitzers used in the war were bronze, with notable exceptions of some of Confederate manufacture.
Coupled to the 6-pounder field gun in allocations of the pre-war Army, the
M1841 12-pounder howitzer
The M1841 12-pounder howitzer was a bronze smoothbore muzzle-loading artillery piece that was adopted by the United States Army in 1841 and employed during the Mexican–American War and the American Civil War. It fired a shell up to a distan ...
was represented by Models of 1835, 1838 and 1841. With a light weight and respectable projectile payload, the 12-pounder was only cycled out of the main field army inventories as production and availability of the 12-pounder "Napoleon" rose, and would see action in the Confederate armies up to the very end.
As with the corresponding heavy field guns, the heavier howitzers were available in limited quantities early in the war. Both Federal and Confederate contracts list examples of 24-pounders delivered during the war, and surviving examples exist of imported Austrian types of this caliber used by the Confederates. The
M1841 24-pounder howitzers found use in the "reserve" batteries of the respective armies, but were gradually replaced over time with heavy rifled guns. The only known 24-pounders in use by the
Army of Northern Virginia
The Army of Northern Virginia was the primary military force of the Confederate States of America in the Eastern Theater of the American Civil War. It was also the primary command structure of the Department of Northern Virginia. It was most o ...
were in Woolfolk's Batteries (later Battalion) with two batteries of 4 pieces each. With the exception of the Far Western theatre of the war (e.g. Halls Battery at
Valverde New Mexico
)
, population_demonym = New Mexican ( es, Neomexicano, Neomejicano, Nuevo Mexicano)
, seat = Santa Fe, New Mexico, Santa Fe
, LargestCity = Albuquerque, New Mexico, Albuquerque
, LargestMetro = Albuquerque metropolitan area, Tiguex
, Offi ...
), Federals did not use 24-pounder howitzers in field. The 24- and 32-pounders were more widely used in fixed fortifications, but at least one of the later large weapons was with the 1st Connecticut Artillery as late as 1864.
Finally, the lesser-known but highly mobile 12-pound
M1841 mountain howitzer saw service with infantry and cavalry forces in the rugged western theaters and prairies, and continued in service during the
Indian Wars. This versatile piece could utilize one of two carriages: a small carriage that could be drawn by a single animal or could be rapidly broken down to carry on the backs of
pack animal
A pack animal, also known as a sumpter animal or beast of burden, is an individual or type of working animal used by humans as means of transporting materials by attaching them so their weight bears on the animal's back, in contrast to draft an ...
s, or a slightly larger prairie carriage to be drawn by two animals. A veteran of the
Mexican–American War
The Mexican–American War, also known in the United States as the Mexican War and in Mexico as the (''United States intervention in Mexico''), was an armed conflict between the United States and Second Federal Republic of Mexico, Mexico f ...
, several hundred more of these diminutive tubes were produced by Union foundries during the Civil War, and the Confederate Tredegar foundry turned out as many as 21 more. A Federal battery of four proved "highly effective" at the decisive
battle of Glorieta, New Mexico, and
Nathan Bedford Forrest
Nathan Bedford Forrest (July 13, 1821October 29, 1877) was a prominent Confederate Army general during the American Civil War and the first Grand Wizard of the Ku Klux Klan from 1867 to 1869. Before the war, Forrest amassed substantial wealth ...
frequently employed mountain howitzers for the rapid close-quarters combat that he favored.
Smoothbore guns
Smoothbore guns were designed to fire solid shot projectiles at high velocity, over low trajectories at targets in the open, although shell and canister were acceptable for use. The barrels of the guns were longer than corresponding howitzers, and called for higher powder charges to achieve the desired performance. Field guns were produced in 6-pounder (3.67 inch bore), 9-pounder (4.2 inch bore), and 12-pounder (4.62 inch bore) versions. Although some older iron weapons were pressed into service, and the Confederacy produced some new iron field guns, most of those used on the battlefields were of bronze construction.
The 6-pounder field gun was well represented by bronze Models of 1835, 1838, 1839, and 1841 early in the war. Even a few older iron Model 1819 weapons were pressed into service. Several hundred were used by the armies of both sides in 1861. But in practice the limited payload of the projectile was seen as a shortcoming of this weapon. Six pounder guns had mostly disappeared from the Union armies by 1863 but the Confederates continued using them until the end of the war.
The larger 9-pounders and 12-pounders were less well represented. While the 9-pounder was still listed on Ordnance and Artillery manuals in 1861, very few were ever produced after the
War of 1812
The War of 1812 (18 June 1812 – 17 February 1815) was fought by the United States of America and its indigenous allies against the United Kingdom and its allies in British North America, with limited participation by Spain in Florida. It ...
. Nine-pounders were universally gone well before the Mexican War, and only scant references exist to any Civil War use of the weapons. The 12-pounder field gun appeared in a series of models mirroring the 6-pounder, but in far less numbers. At least one Federal battery, the 13th Indiana, took the 12-pounder field gun into service early in the war. The major shortcoming of these heavy field guns was mobility, as they required eight-horse teams as opposed to the six-horse teams of the lighter guns. A small quantity of 12-pounder field guns were rifled early in the war, but these were more experimental weapons, and no field service is recorded.
By far the most popular of the smoothbore cannon was the 12-pounder model of 1857, Light, commonly called "Napoleon". The Model 1857 was of lighter weight than the previous 12-pounder guns, and could be pulled by a six-horse draft, yet offered the heavier projectile payload of the larger bore. It is sometimes called, confusingly, a "gun-howitzer" (because it possessed characteristics of both gun and howitzer) and is discussed in more detail separately below.
Rifled artillery
3-inch ordnance rifle
The rifle was the most widely used rifled gun during the war. Invented by John Griffen, it was extremely durable, with the barrel made of
wrought iron
Wrought iron is an iron alloy with a very low carbon content (less than 0.08%) in contrast to that of cast iron (2.1% to 4%). It is a semi-fused mass of iron with fibrous slag inclusions (up to 2% by weight), which give it a wood-like "grain" ...
, primarily produced by the
Phoenix Iron Company
The Phoenix Iron Works (1855: Phoenix Iron Company; 1949: Phoenix Iron & Steel Company; 1955: Phoenix Steel Corporation), located in Phoenixville, Pennsylvania, was a manufacturer of iron and related products during the 19th century and early 20th ...
of
Phoenixville, Pennsylvania
Phoenixville is a borough in Chester County, Pennsylvania, United States. It is located northwest of Philadelphia at the junction of French Creek and the Schuylkill River. It is in the Philadelphia metropolitan area. The population is 18,616 a ...
. There are few cases on record of the tube fracturing or bursting, a problem that plagued other rifles made of brittle
cast iron
Cast iron is a class of iron– carbon alloys with a carbon content more than 2%. Its usefulness derives from its relatively low melting temperature. The alloy constituents affect its color when fractured: white cast iron has carbide impu ...
. The rifle had exceptional accuracy. During the
Battle of Atlanta
The Battle of Atlanta was a battle of the Atlanta Campaign fought during the American Civil War on July 22, 1864, just southeast of Atlanta, Georgia. Continuing their summer campaign to seize the important rail and supply hub of Atlanta, Un ...
, a Confederate gunner was quoted: "The Yankee three-inch rifle was a dead shot at any distance under a mile. They could hit the end of a flour barrel more often than miss, unless the gunner got rattled." The
1st Minnesota Light Artillery Battery
The 1st Minnesota Light Artillery Battery was a Minnesota USV artillery battery that served in the Union Army during the American Civil War. The battery was mustered in at Fort Snelling, Minnesota. on November 21, 1861.
The 1st Minnesota Ligh ...
converted to the 3-inch Rifle on 5 March 1864; they were described as "3-inch Rodman's guns" in an 11 Nov. 1864 letter from 1st Lieutenant Henry S. Hurter to the Minnesota Adjutant General.
The 1st Minnesota Light Artillery took part in the
Atlanta Campaign. It was retained in service after the war, with many converted to breechloading weapons as 3.2-inch converted rifles or 3-inch saluting guns. It was eventually replaced by the
3.2-inch gun M1885. The Confederates were unable to manufacture the wrought iron barrels for the 3" rifle, thus captured ones were prized items. Despite the effectiveness of this weapon, the Confederacy did produce various bronze 3" rifles and cast iron pieces with a straight tube; however, none of them were reliable and the latter were often prone to bursting at the breech.
File:7th Field Artillery "Old Glory".jpg, Artillerymen from Ft. Riley fire a replica of the 1855 model 3-inch cannon, 2012.
Image:CW Arty 3in Ordnance front.jpg,
Image:CW Arty 3in Ordnance rear.jpg,
Confederate revolver cannon
The Confederacy also developed a 2-inch bore five shot machine cannon during the war. It was used in the
siege of Petersburg
The Richmond–Petersburg campaign was a series of battles around Petersburg, Virginia, fought from June 9, 1864, to March 25, 1865, during the American Civil War. Although it is more popularly known as the Siege of Petersburg, it was not a cla ...
, Va., and was later captured on 27 April 1865, at Danville, Va., by Union troops and sent to the Ordnance Laboratory,
United States Military Academy
The United States Military Academy (USMA), also known Metonymy, metonymically as West Point or simply as Army, is a United States service academies, United States service academy in West Point, New York. It was originally established as a f ...
, West Point, N.Y.
The weapon uses the principle of the service revolver whereby rotation of the cylinder indexes a loaded chamber with the breech end of the barrel. It is held in alignment by a spring loaded dog slipping into a recess in the cylinder. To cut gas leakage to a minimum, a screw arrangement at the rear jacks the cylinder forward after positioning until a tight joint is effected between the front of the chamber in the cylinder and the breech end of the barrel.
The chambers are ignited by use of a
percussion cap
The percussion cap or percussion primer, introduced in the early 1820s, is a type of single-use percussion ignition device for muzzle loader firearm locks enabling them to fire reliably in any weather condition. This crucial invention gave rise ...
on a nipple. The cap is struck by a huge spring actuated striker built into the flat strip that supports the chambers at their aft end. The cylinder is moved one fifth of a revolution and lined up for firing by the moving of a lever from left to right. The lever is attached to a ratchet arrangement, the distance moved being regulated by its mounting in the frame in such a manner as to control the revolving of the cylinder. The lever when brought to the left as far as possible and swung to the right as much as the frame will permit turns the cylinder one fifth of a revolution and indexes the loaded chamber.
Its use at this time showed the serious effort of the Confederacy to develop a weapon capable of sustained fire.
James rifle
Even before the start of the Civil War, an ordnance board recommended that rifling be added to the 6-pounder field gun in order to improve its accuracy. In December 1860,
Secretary of War John Floyd wrote, "the results of trials of rifled cannon and projectiles … indicates a superiority of James expanding projectiles for such cannon. The regulation 6-pounder, with a rifled bore (weight 884 pounds), carries a James projectile of about 13 pounds." James rifles were an early solution to the need for rifled artillery at the start of the war. Six-pounder bronze guns could be rifled to fire the projectiles invented by
Charles Tillinghast James. Some were simply rifled from their initial 3.67" bore, others were reamed to 3.80" then rifled. Reaming to 3.80" was preferred to eliminate wear deformities from service. Contemporaries often failed to differentiate between the two bore sizes. However, the effective descriptions for the 3.67" gun are ''rifled 6-pounder'' or ''12-pounder James rifle'', while the 3.80" variant was known as the ''
14-pounder James rifle
The 14-pounder James rifle or James rifled 6-pounder or 3.8-inch James rifle was a bronze muzzle-loading rifled cannon that was employed by the United States Army and the Confederate States Army during the American Civil War. It fired a solid sh ...
''. To add to the confusion, the variants of the 3.80" bore rifle included two profiles (6-pounder and Ordnance), two metals (bronze and iron), three types of rifling (15, 10, and 7 grooves), and different weights.
Although the James rifles were reported to be extremely accurate, the bronze rifling wore out rapidly, and the James rifles and projectiles soon fell out of favor. No James rifles are known to have been produced after 1862. The total numbers of James rifles are uncertain, but the 1862 Ohio Quartermaster General annual report recorded 82 rifled bronze pieces (44 of those specified as "3.80 bore
ames rifles
Ames may refer to:
Places United States
* Ames, Arkansas, a place in Arkansas
* Ames, Colorado
* Ames, Illinois
* Ames, Indiana
* Ames, Iowa, the most populous city bearing this name
* Ames, Kansas
* Ames, Nebraska
* Ames, New York
* Ames, Oklah ...
) out of a total of 162 of all field artillery types. Unusual or out-of-favor types migrated to the Western theaters.
File:12-Pounder Rifled James field gun image 2.jpg, 12-pounder James rifle: Rifled Model 1841 6-pounder field gun
File:Manassas, 13-pounder James Rifled Gun (3).jpg, 14-pounder James rifle: Ordnance profile (New Model/Model 1861)
Parrott rifle
The Parrott rifle invented by
Robert P. Parrott Robert Parker Parrott (October 5, 1804 – December 24, 1877) was an American soldier and inventor of military ordnance.
Born in Lee, New Hampshire, he was the son of John Fabyan Parrott. He graduated with honors from the United States Milita ...
, was manufactured in different sizes, from the
10-pounder Parrott rifle
The 10-pounder Parrott rifle, Model 1861 was a cast iron muzzle-loading rifled cannon that was adopted by the United States Army in 1861 and often used in field artillery units during the American Civil War. Like other Parrott rifles, the gun ...
up to the rare 300-pounder. The 10- and
20-pounder Parrott rifle
The 20-pounder Parrott rifle, Model 1861 was a cast iron muzzle-loading rifled cannon that was adopted by the United States Army in 1861 and employed in field artillery units during the American Civil War. As with other Parrott rifles, the gun br ...
s were used by both armies in the field. The smaller size was much more prevalent; it was made in two bore sizes, and . Confederate forces used both bore sizes during the war, which added to the complication of supplying the appropriate ammunition to its batteries. Until 1864, Union batteries used only the 2.9 inch Parrott, but they also employed 3" Ordnance rifles. During the
first day of the
battle of Gettysburg
The Battle of Gettysburg () was fought July 1–3, 1863, in and around the town of Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, by Union and Confederate forces during the American Civil War. In the battle, Union Major General George Meade's Army of th ...
, three Parrott rifles were temporarily unusable when 3" ammunition was mistakenly issued to the battery. Following this, plans were made to re-bore all of the 2.9" Parrotts to 3" to standardize ammunition, and no further 2.9" Parrotts were to be produced. The M1863, with a bore, had firing characteristics similar to the earlier model; it can be recognized by its straight barrel, without muzzle-swell.
Parrott rifles saw use in all the major battles of the war; the Union army carried a number of 10-pounders at
First Bull Run and one 30-pounder. The 20-pounder Parrott only began production in the summer of 1861 and none were delivered until late in the year.
Parrotts were manufactured with a combination of cast iron and wrought iron. Cast iron improved the accuracy of the gun, but was brittle enough to suffer fractures. On the Parrott, a large reinforcing band made of tougher wrought iron was overlaid on the breech. The Parrott, while accurate, had a poor reputation for safety, and it was shunned by many artillerymen. The 20-pounder was the largest field gun used during the war, with the barrel alone weighing over 1,800 pounds (800 kg). After the
Battle of Fredericksburg
The Battle of Fredericksburg was fought December 11–15, 1862, in and around Fredericksburg, Virginia, in the Eastern Theater of the American Civil War. The combat, between the Union Army of the Potomac commanded by Maj. Gen. Ambrose Bur ...
, the Army of the Potomac's chief of artillery
Henry J. Hunt
Henry Jackson Hunt (September 14, 1819 – February 11, 1889) was Chief of Artillery in the Army of the Potomac during the American Civil War. Considered by his contemporaries the greatest artillery tactician and strategist of the war, he was ...
attempted to have the 20-pounder Parrott removed from the army's inventory, arguing that its enormous weight required a team of eight horses instead of the six needed for lighter guns, and the long range shells were of questionable reliability.
Image:CW Arty 10lb Parrott front.jpg,
Image:CW Arty 10lb Parrott rear.jpg,
Image:CW Arty 20lb Parrott front.jpg,
Image:CW Arty 20lb Parrott rear.jpg,
Whitworth rifles
The Whitworth, designed by
Joseph Whitworth and manufactured in England, was a rare gun during the war but an interesting precursor to modern artillery in that it was loaded from the breech and had exceptional accuracy over great distance. An engineering magazine wrote in 1864 that, "At 1600 yards
500 m
The 500 metres is a rarely run middle-distance running event in track and field competitions.
All-time top 25
*i = indoor performance
*OT = oversized track (exceeding 200m in circumference)
*A = affected by altitude
*h = hand timing
Men
*Co ...
the Whitworth gun fired 10 shots with a lateral deviation of only 5 inches." This degree of accuracy made it effective in counter-battery fire, used almost as the equivalent of a sharpshooter's rifle, and also for firing over bodies of water. It was not popular as an anti-infantry weapon. It had a caliber of . The bore was hexagonal in cross-section, and the projectile was a long bolt that twisted to conform to the rifling. It is said that the bolts made a very distinctive eerie sound when fired, which could be distinguished from other projectiles.
[Thomas, p. 43.]
Whitworth also designed a
3-pounder breechloading rifle which saw limited use in the war.
File:CW Arty Whitworth.jpg, 12-Pounder Whitworth Breechloading Rifle
Types of guns used
The table below lists the guns used by both armies at the
Battle of Antietam in September 1862. Though both sides employed the 6-pounder field gun and 12-pounder howitzer in the early battles, they were recognized as inferior to the 12-pounder Napoleon and soon discontinued in the Union armies in the Eastern Theater. However, Union and Confederate armies in the Western Theater continued to use both weapons. Some 6-pounder field guns were converted to 12- or 14-pounder James rifles. The 32-pounder howitzer was too heavy to be employed as field artillery and the one battery using them was soon rearmed with 3-inch Ordnance rifles. The 12-pounder
Blakely rifle
A Blakely rifle is one of a series of rifled muzzle-loading cannon designed by British army officer Captain Theophilus Alexander Blakely. They were widely sold outside of the British army, and were best known for their use by the Confederate Stat ...
had a particularly violent recoil and fell out of favor.
Ammunition
Ammunition came in wide varieties, designed to attack specific targets. A typical Union artillery battery (armed with six 12-pounder Napoleons) carried the following ammunition going into battle: 288 solid shot, 96 shells, 288 spherical case rounds, and 96 canister rounds.
Canister
Canister shot
Canister shot is a kind of anti-personnel artillery ammunition. Canister shot has been used since the advent of gunpowder-firing artillery in Western armies. However, canister shot saw particularly frequent use on land and at sea in the various ...
was the deadliest type of ammunition, consisting of a thin metal container containing layers of lead or iron balls packed in sawdust. Upon exiting the muzzle, the container disintegrated, and the balls fanned out as the equivalent of a very large shotgun blast. The effective range of the canister was only , but within that range dozens of enemy infantrymen could be mowed down. Even more devastating was "double canister", generally used only in dire circumstances at extremely close range, where two containers of balls were fired simultaneously using the regular single powder charge.
Case (or shrapnel)
Case (or "spherical case" for smoothbores) were antipersonnel projectiles carrying a smaller burst charge than shell, but designed to be more effective against exposed troops. While the shell produced only a few large fragments, the case was loaded with lead or iron balls and was designed to burst above and before the enemy line, showering down many more small but destructive projectiles on the enemy. The effect was analogous to a weaker version of canister. With case the lethality of the balls and fragments came from the velocity of the projectile itself – the small burst charge only fragmented the case and dispersed the shrapnel. The spherical case used in a 12-pounder Napoleon contained 78 balls. The name
shrapnel
Shrapnel may refer to:
Military
* Shrapnel shell, explosive artillery munitions, generally for anti-personnel use
* Shrapnel (fragment), a hard loose material
Popular culture
* ''Shrapnel'' (Radical Comics)
* ''Shrapnel'', a game by Adam ...
derives from its inventor,
Henry Shrapnel
Lieutenant General Henry Shrapnel (3 June 1761 – 13 March 1842) was a British Army officer whose name has entered the English language as the inventor of the shrapnel shell.
Henry Shrapnel was born at Midway Manor in Bradford-on-Avon, Wiltshir ...
.
The primary limitations to case effectiveness came in judging the range, setting the fuse accordingly, and the reliability and variability of the fuse itself.
Grapeshot
Grapeshot
Grapeshot is a type of artillery round invented by a British Officer during the Napoleonic Wars. It was used mainly as an anti infantry round, but had other uses in naval combat.
In artillery, a grapeshot is a type of ammunition that consists of ...
, which originated as a naval round for cutting enemy rigging or clearing packed decks of personnel, was the predecessor of, and a variation on, canister, in which a smaller number of larger metal balls were arranged on stacked iron plates with a threaded bolt running down the center to hold them as a unit inside the barrel. It was used at a time when some cannons burst when loaded with too much gunpowder, but as cannons got stronger, grapeshot was replaced by canister. A grapeshot round (or "stand") used in a 12-pounder Napoleon contained 9 balls, contrasted against the 27 smaller balls in a canister round. By the time of the Civil War, grapeshot was obsolete and largely replaced by canister. The period Ordnance and Gunnery work states that grape was excluded from "field and mountain services." Few, if any, rounds were issued to field artillery batteries.
Shell
Shells consisted of a strong casing around an explosive charge, in order to generate a strong,
brisant
In explosives engineering, brisance (; , ) is the shattering capability of a high explosive, determined mainly by its detonation pressure.
Practical uses
Brisance is of practical importance for determining the effectiveness of an explosion in f ...
explosion from a
low explosive such as gunpowder. The fragments of the shell could do considerable damage, but they tended to fragment into a few large pieces. For smoothbores, the projectile was referred to as "spherical shell". Shells were more effective against troops behind obstacles or earthworks, and they were good for destroying wooden buildings by setting them on fire. They were ineffective against good quality masonry. A primary weakness of shell was that it typically produced only a few large fragments, the count increasing with caliber of the shell. A Confederate mid-war innovation was the "polygonal cavity" or "segmented" shell which used a polyhedral cavity core to create lines of weakness in the shell wall (similar to the later
fragmentation grenade) that would yield more regular fragmentation patterns—typically twelve similarly sized fragments. While segmented designs were most common in spherical shell, it was applied to specific rifled projectiles as well.
Spherical shell used time
fuses, while rifled shell could use timed fuse or be detonated on impact by percussion fuse. Fuse reliability was a concern; any shell that buried itself into the earth before detonating had little anti-personnel effectiveness. However, large caliber shells, such as the 32-pounder spherical, were effective at breaching entrenchments.
Shot (or bolt)
Shot was a solid projectile that included no explosive charge. For a smoothbore, the projectile was a round "cannonball". For a rifled gun, the projectile was referred to as a bolt and had a cylindrical shape. In both cases, the projectile was used to impart
kinetic energy
In physics, the kinetic energy of an object is the energy that it possesses due to its motion.
It is defined as the work needed to accelerate a body of a given mass from rest to its stated velocity. Having gained this energy during its a ...
for a battering effect, particularly effective for destroying enemy guns, limbers, caissons, and wagons. It was also effective for mowing down columns of infantry and cavalry and had psychological effects against its targets. Despite its effectiveness, many artillerymen were reluctant to use solid shot, preferring the explosive types of ordnance. With solid projectiles, accuracy was the paramount consideration, and they also caused more tube wear than their explosive counterparts.
While rifled cannon had much greater accuracy on average than smoothbores, the smoothbores had an advantage firing round shot relative to the bolts fired from rifled pieces. Round shot could be employed in
ricochet fire, extending the depth and range of its effect on land or water while bolts tended to dig in rather than ricochet.
[Cole, pp. 245-246]
Equipment
The most pervasive piece of artillery equipment was the horse.
Caisson
The
caisson was a two-wheeled carriage. It carried two ammunition chests and a spare wheel. A fully loaded limber and caisson combination weighed 3,811 pounds (1728.6 kg).
[
The gun carriages, caissons and limbers were all constructed of oak. Each ammunition chest typically carried about 500 pounds (226.8 kg) of ammunition or supplies. In addition to these vehicles, there were also battery supply wagons and portable forges that were used to service the guns.
]
Horse
Horse
The horse (''Equus ferus caballus'') is a domesticated, one-toed, hoofed mammal. It belongs to the taxonomic family Equidae and is one of two extant subspecies of ''Equus ferus''. The horse has evolved over the past 45 to 55 million ...
s were required to pull the enormous weight of the cannon and ammunition; on average, each horse pulled about 700 pounds (317.5 kg). Each gun in a battery used two six-horse teams (for normal field artillery
Field artillery is a category of mobile artillery used to support armies in the field. These weapons are specialized for mobility, tactical proficiency, short range, long range, and extremely long range target engagement.
Until the early 20 ...
; heavier guns required much larger teams): one team pulled a limber that attached to the trail of the gun to form a four-wheeled wagon of sorts; the other pulled a limber that attached to a caisson. The large number of horses posed a logistical challenge for the artillery, because they had to be fed, maintained, and replaced when worn out or injured. Artillery horses were generally selected second from the pool of high quality animals; cavalry mounts were the best horses. The life expectancy of an artillery horse was under eight months. They suffered from disease, exhaustion from long marches—typically 16 miles (25.8 km) in 10 hours—and battle injuries.
Horses panicked easier than men when subjected to counter-battery fire, and their movements were made difficult because they were harnessed together into teams. Robert Stiles wrote about Union counter-battery fire striking a Confederate battery on Benner's Hill at the Battle of Gettysburg:
The term " horse artillery" refers to the faster moving artillery batteries that typically supported cavalry regiments. The term "flying artillery" is sometimes used as well. In such batteries, the artillerymen were all mounted, in contrast to batteries in which the artillerymen walked alongside their guns (although regular artillerymen would sometimes jump onto the backs of their team when rapid battlefield movement was required, and they typically rode upon the limbers, caissons or supply wagons while on the march). A prominent organization of such artillery in the Union Army was the U.S. Horse Artillery Brigade.
Limber
The limber was a two-wheeled carriage that carried an ammunition chest. It was connected directly behind the team of six horses and towed either a gun or a caisson. In either case, the combination provided the equivalent of a four-wheeled vehicle, which distributed the load over two axles but was easier to maneuver on rough terrain than a four-wheeled wagon. The combination of a Napoleon gun and a packed limber weighed 3,865 pounds (1,753.1 kg).[Cole, p. 103.]
History and organization
Union artillery
The Union Army entered the war with a strong advantage in artillery. It had ample manufacturing capacity in Northern factories, and it had a well-trained and professional officer corps manning that branch of the service. Brig. Gen. Henry J. Hunt, who was the chief of artillery for the Army of the Potomac for part of the war, was well recognized as a most efficient organizer of artillery forces, and he had few peers in the practice of the sciences of gunnery and logistics. Another example was John Gibbon
John Gibbon (April 20, 1827 – February 6, 1896) was a career United States Army officer who fought in the American Civil War and the Indian Wars.
Early life
Gibbon was born in the Holmesburg section of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, the fou ...
, the author of the influential ''Artillerist's Manual'' published in 1863 (although Gibbon would achieve considerably more fame as an infantry general during the war). Shortly after the outbreak of war, Brig. Gen. James Wolfe Ripley
James Wolfe Ripley (December 10, 1794 – March 16, 1870) was an American soldier who served as a brigadier general in the Union Army during the Civil War. In 1861, he was selected to be the 5th Chief of Ordnance for the United States Army Ord ...
, Chief of Ordnance, ordered the conversion of old smoothbores into rifled cannon and the manufacture of Parrott guns.
The basic unit of Union artillery was the battery, which usually consisted of six guns. Attempts were made to ensure that all six guns in a battery were of the same caliber, simplifying training and logistics. Each gun, or "piece", was operated by a gun crew of eight, plus four additional men to handle the horses and equipment. Two guns operating under the control of a lieutenant
A lieutenant ( , ; abbreviated Lt., Lt, LT, Lieut and similar) is a commissioned officer rank in the armed forces of many nations.
The meaning of lieutenant differs in different militaries (see comparative military ranks), but it is often ...
were known as a "section". The battery of six guns was commanded by a captain
Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police department, election precinct, e ...
. Artillery brigade
A brigade is a major tactical military formation that typically comprises three to six battalions plus supporting elements. It is roughly equivalent to an enlarged or reinforced regiment. Two or more brigades may constitute a division. ...
s composed of five batteries were commanded by colonel
Colonel (abbreviated as Col., Col or COL) is a senior military officer rank used in many countries. It is also used in some police forces and paramilitary organizations.
In the 17th, 18th and 19th centuries, a colonel was typically in charge ...
s and supported the infantry organizations as follows: each infantry corps
Corps (; plural ''corps'' ; from French , from the Latin "body") is a term used for several different kinds of organization. A military innovation by Napoleon I, the formation was first named as such in 1805. The size of a corps varies great ...
was supported directly by one artillery brigade and, in the case of the Army of the Potomac, five brigades formed the Artillery Reserve. In addition, George McClellan
George Brinton McClellan (December 3, 1826 – October 29, 1885) was an American soldier, Civil War Union general, civil engineer, railroad executive, and politician who served as the 24th governor of New Jersey. A graduate of West Point, McCl ...
had assigned one regular army battery to every four volunteer batteries to provide an example of regular army professionalism to them. This arrangement, championed by Hunt, allowed artillery to be massed in support of the entire army's objective, rather than being dispersed all across the battlefield. An example of the tension between infantry commanders and artillery commanders was during the massive Confederate bombardment of Cemetery Ridge on 3 July 1863, the third day of the Battle of Gettysburg. Hunt had difficulty persuading the infantry commanders, such as Maj. Gen. Winfield S. Hancock, against using all of their artillery ammunition in response to the Confederate bombardment, understanding the value to the defenders of saving the ammunition for the infantry assault to come, Pickett's Charge.
At the start of the war, the U.S. Army had 2,283 guns on hand, but only about 10% of these were field artillery pieces. By the end of the war, the army had 3,325 guns, of which 53% were field pieces. The army reported as "supplied to the army during the war" the following quantities: 7,892 guns, 6,335,295 artillery projectiles, 2,862,177 rounds of fixed artillery ammunition, 45,258 tons of lead metal, and 13,320 tons of gunpowder.
Confederate artillery
The South was at a relative disadvantage to the North for deployment of artillery. The industrial North had far greater capacity for manufacturing weapons, and the Union blockade
The Union blockade in the American Civil War was a naval strategy by the United States to prevent the Confederacy from trading.
The blockade was proclaimed by President Abraham Lincoln in April 1861, and required the monitoring of of Atlantic ...
of Southern ports prevented many foreign arms from reaching the Southern armies. The Confederacy had to rely to a significant extent on captured Union artillery pieces (either taken on the battlefield or by capturing armories, such as Harpers Ferry); it is estimated that two-thirds of all Confederate field artillery was captured from the Union. Confederate cannons built in the South often suffered from a shortage of quality metals and shoddy workmanship. Another disadvantage was the quality of ammunition as the fuses needed for detonating shells and cases were frequently inaccurate, causing premature or delayed explosions. Coupled with the Union gunners' initial competence and experience gained as the war progressed, this led Southern forces to dread assaults on Northern positions backed up by artillery. A Southern officer observed, "The combination of Yankee artillery with Rebel infantry would make an army that could be beaten by no one." Union artillery was used on the Army of Northern Virginia to devastating effect on a number of occasions, particularly during the Seven Days Battles
The Seven Days Battles were a series of seven battles over seven days from June 25 to July 1, 1862, near Richmond, Virginia, during the American Civil War. Confederate General Robert E. Lee drove the invading Union Army of the Potomac, comman ...
(particularly the Battle of Malvern Hill
The Battle of Malvern Hill, also known as the Battle of Poindexter's Farm, was fought on July 1, 1862, between the Confederate Army of Northern Virginia, led by Gen. Robert E. Lee, and the Union Army of the Potomac under Maj. Gen. George B. ...
) and Gettysburg.
Because of his artillery weakness, Robert E. Lee
Robert Edward Lee (January 19, 1807 – October 12, 1870) was a Confederate general during the American Civil War, towards the end of which he was appointed the overall commander of the Confederate States Army. He led the Army of Nort ...
tended to favor fighting in locations such as the Wilderness that limited the effectiveness of long-range Union artillery and led to close-quarters combat, where the Army of Northern Virginia's large number of smoothbore guns were more effective.
Confederate batteries usually consisted of four guns, in contrast to the Union's six. This was a matter of necessity, because guns were always in short supply. And, unlike the Union, batteries frequently consisted of mixed caliber weapons. During the first half of the war Confederate batteries were generally attached to infantry brigades. A reorganization of the Confederate artillery resulted in batteries being organized into battalions (versus the Union brigades) of three batteries each in the Western Theater of the war and generally four batteries each in the Eastern Theater of the war. These artillery battalions were assigned to the direct support of infantry divisions. Each infantry corps was assigned two battalions as an Artillery Reserve, but there was no such Reserve at the army level. The chief of artillery for Robert E. Lee
Robert Edward Lee (January 19, 1807 – October 12, 1870) was a Confederate general during the American Civil War, towards the end of which he was appointed the overall commander of the Confederate States Army. He led the Army of Nort ...
's Army of Northern Virginia
The Army of Northern Virginia was the primary military force of the Confederate States of America in the Eastern Theater of the American Civil War. It was also the primary command structure of the Department of Northern Virginia. It was most o ...
, Brig. Gen. William N. Pendleton, had considerable difficulty massing artillery for best effect because of this organization.
After reorganizing the Army of Northern Virginia
The Army of Northern Virginia was the primary military force of the Confederate States of America in the Eastern Theater of the American Civil War. It was also the primary command structure of the Department of Northern Virginia. It was most o ...
into two corps led by James Longstreet and "Stonewall" Jackson following the Seven Days Battles, Lee assigned each corps two reserve artillery battalions in addition to the individual batteries assigned to each infantry brigade. The officers in charge of the reserve battalions were all drawn from Longstreet's command, which displeased Jackson as he had not been allowed to select his own men for the corps artillery reserve, but he accepted it without complaining.
Battles
Although virtually all battles of the Civil War included artillery, some battles are known better than others for significant artillery engagements, arguably critical to the overall outcome:
* Battle of Shiloh
* Battle of Antietam
* Battle of Chancellorsville
The Battle of Chancellorsville, April 30 – May 6, 1863, was a major battle of the American Civil War (1861–1865), and the principal engagement of the Chancellorsville campaign.
Chancellorsville is known as Lee's "perfect battle" because h ...
* Battle of Stones River
* Battle of Fredericksburg
The Battle of Fredericksburg was fought December 11–15, 1862, in and around Fredericksburg, Virginia, in the Eastern Theater of the American Civil War. The combat, between the Union Army of the Potomac commanded by Maj. Gen. Ambrose Bur ...
* Battle of Gettysburg
The Battle of Gettysburg () was fought July 1–3, 1863, in and around the town of Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, by Union and Confederate forces during the American Civil War. In the battle, Union Major General George Meade's Army of th ...
* Battle of Malvern Hill
The Battle of Malvern Hill, also known as the Battle of Poindexter's Farm, was fought on July 1, 1862, between the Confederate Army of Northern Virginia, led by Gen. Robert E. Lee, and the Union Army of the Potomac under Maj. Gen. George B. ...
* Battle of Nashville
The Battle of Nashville was a two-day battle in the Franklin-Nashville Campaign that represented the end of large-scale fighting west of the coastal states in the American Civil War. It was fought at Nashville, Tennessee, on December 15–16, 18 ...
* Battle of Wilson's Creek
The Battle of Wilson's Creek, also known as the Battle of Oak Hills, was the first major battle of the Trans-Mississippi Theater of the American Civil War. It was fought on August 10, 1861, near Springfield, Missouri.
Missouri was offi ...
* Battle of Pea Ridge
* Battle of Prairie Grove
Civil War artillerists
Not nearly as well known as their infantry and cavalry counterparts, a small group of officers excelled at artillery deployment, organization, and the science of gunnery:
* Edward Porter Alexander
* John Milton Brannan
* Thomas H. Carter
* Alonzo Cushing
* John Gibbon
John Gibbon (April 20, 1827 – February 6, 1896) was a career United States Army officer who fought in the American Civil War and the Indian Wars.
Early life
Gibbon was born in the Holmesburg section of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, the fou ...
* Charles E. Hazlett
Charles Edward Hazlett (October 15, 1838 – July 2, 1863) was a U.S. Army 1st Lieutenant during the American Civil War. He was killed on Little Round Top during the second day of the Battle of Gettysburg.
Early life
Hazlett was born in Zan ...
* Henry Jackson Hunt
Henry Jackson Hunt (September 14, 1819 – February 11, 1889) was Chief of Artillery in the Army of the Potomac during the American Civil War. Considered by his contemporaries the greatest artillery tactician and strategist of the war, he wa ...
* Stonewall Jackson
* Joseph W. Latimer
* Freeman McGilvery
Freeman McGilvery (October 17, 1823 – September 3, 1864) was a United States Army artillery officer during the American Civil War. He gained fame at the Battle of Gettysburg for taking the initiative to piece together a line of guns that gre ...
* John Mendenhall
* "Willy" Pegram
* John Pelham
* William N. Pendleton
* Charles S. Wainwright
* Reuben Lindsay Walker
Reuben Lindsay Walker (May 29, 1827 – June 7, 1890) was a Confederate general who served in the artillery during the American Civil War.
Early life
Walker was born in Logan Village, Albemarle County, Virginia. He graduated from the Virginia ...
* William M. Edgar
William is a masculine given name of Norman French origin.Hanks, Hardcastle and Hodges, ''Oxford Dictionary of First Names'', Oxford University Press, 2nd edition, , p. 276. It became very popular in the English language after the Norman conques ...
* John Morton
Civil War artillery organizations
* Danville Artillery
* Fluvanna Artillery
The Fluvanna Artillery was an artillery battery formed from citizens of Fluvanna County, Virginia, during the American Civil War. It participated in the Maryland Campaign, Antietam and Gettysburg Campaigns, as well as the Shenandoah Valley Campai ...
* Washington Artillery
* Pointe Coupee Artillery
The Pointe Coupee Artillery was a Confederate Louisiana artillery unit in the American Civil War made up primarily of men from the parishes of Pointe Coupee, East Baton Rouge, Livingston and other surrounding parishes as well as a large number of ...
See also
* Wiard rifle 6- and 12-pounder weapons deployed in limited quantities
* Samuel Ringgold (US Army officer)
Samuel B. Ringgold (1796 – May 11, 1846) was an artillery officer in the United States Army who was noted for several military innovations which caused him to be called the "Father of Modern Artillery." He was also, according to some records, th ...
* Civil War Defenses of Washington
* Siege artillery in the American Civil War
Siege artillery is heavy artillery primarily used in military attacks on fortified positions. At the time of the American Civil War, the U.S. Army classified its artillery into three types, depending on the gun's weight and intended use. ''Fi ...
* Field Artillery Branch (United States)
The Field Artillery Branch is a combat arms branch of the United States Army that is responsible for field artillery.
Historical background
The U.S. Army Field Artillery branch traces its origins to 17 November 1775 when the Continental Congres ...
* Double-barreled cannon
* Field artillery
Field artillery is a category of mobile artillery used to support armies in the field. These weapons are specialized for mobility, tactical proficiency, short range, long range, and extremely long range target engagement.
Until the early 20 ...
References
Bibliography
* Alberts, Don E. ''The Battle of Glorieta: Union Victory in the West''. College Station, Texas: Texas A&M University Press, 2000
* Benton, James G. ''Ordnance and Gunnery''. Gettysburg, PA: Reprint, Thomas Publications (original 1862)
*
*
* Daniel, Larry J. and Gunter, Riley W. ''Confederate Cannon Foundries''. Union City, Tennessee: Pioneer Press, 1977
* Eicher, David J.
David John Eicher (born August 7, 1961) is an American editor, writer, and popularizer of astronomy and space. He has been editor-in-chief of '' Astronomy'' magazine since 2002. He is author, coauthor, or editor of 23 books on science and America ...
''The Longest Night: A Military History of the Civil War''. New York: Simon & Schuster, 2001
* Grizzell, Stephen. ''Bull Pup: The 1841 Mountain Howitzer''
*
*
* Masich, Andrew E. ''Civil War in the Southwest Borderlands, 1861-1867''. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 2017
* Nosworthy, Brent. ''The Bloody Crucible of Courage, Fighting Methods and Combat Experience of the Civil War''. New York: Carroll and Graf Publishers, 2003
* Pfanz, Harry W. ''Gettysburg: Culp's Hill and Cemetery Hill''. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1993
* Ripley, Warren. ''Artillery and Ammunition of the Civil War''. 4th ed. Charleston, SC: The Battery Press, 1984
* Thomas, Dean S. ''Cannons: An Introduction to Civil War Artillery''. Gettysburg, PA: Thomas Publications, 1985
*
Further reading
* Gottfried, Bradley M. ''The Artillery of Gettysburg''. Nashville, TN: Cumberland House Publishing, 2008. .
* Tidball, John C. ''The Artillery Service in the War of the Rebellion, 1861-65''. Yardly, Pennsylvania: Westholme Publishing, 2011. . .
* Wise, Jennings C. ''The Long Arm of Lee: The History of the Artillery of the Army of Northern Virginia''. New York: Oxford University Press, 1959. .
External links
The Civil War Artillery Compendium
CivilWarArtillery.com
Profiles of Civil War Field Artillery
The Danville Artillery Confederate Reenactor Website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Field Artillery In The American Civil War
American Civil War artillery
Explosive weapons
Field artillery