The M1841 6-pounder field gun was a bronze smoothbore muzzle-loading cannon that was adopted by the
United States Army
The United States Army (USA) is the land service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army of the United States in the U.S. Constitution.Article II, section 2, cla ...
in 1841 and used from 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 Mexico from 1846 to 1848. It followed the 1 ...
to the
American Civil War
The American Civil War (April 12, 1861 – May 26, 1865; also known by other names) was a civil war in the United States. It was fought between the Union ("the North") and the Confederacy ("the South"), the latter formed by states th ...
. It fired a
round shot
A round shot (also called solid shot or simply ball) is a solid spherical projectile without explosive charge, launched from a gun. Its diameter is slightly less than the bore of the barrel from which it is shot. A round shot fired from a la ...
up to a distance of at 5° elevation. It could also fire
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 ...
and
spherical case shot. The cannon proved very effective when employed by light artillery units during the Mexican–American War. The cannon was used during the early years of the American Civil War, but it was soon outclassed by newer field guns such as the
12-pounder Napoleon
The M1857 12-pounder Napoleon or Light 12-pounder gun or 12-pounder gun-howitzer was a bronze smoothbore muzzleloading artillery piece that was adopted by the United States Army in 1857 and extensively employed in the American Civil War. The gun ...
. In the US Army, the 6-pounders were replaced as soon as more modern weapons became available and none were manufactured after 1862. However, the
Confederate States Army
The Confederate States Army, also called the Confederate Army or the Southern Army, was the military land force of the Confederate States of America (commonly referred to as the Confederacy) during the American Civil War (1861–1865), fighting ...
continued to use the cannon for a longer period because the lesser industrial capacity of the South could not produce newer guns as fast as the North.
Background
"Iron Age"
By the early 1800s gun-founders knew that two metals were suitable for the manufacture of cannon,
iron
Iron () is a chemical element with symbol Fe (from la, ferrum) and atomic number 26. It is a metal that belongs to the first transition series and group 8 of the periodic table. It is, by mass, the most common element on Earth, right in f ...
and
bronze
Bronze is an alloy consisting primarily of copper, commonly with about 12–12.5% tin and often with the addition of other metals (including aluminium, manganese, nickel, or zinc) and sometimes non-metals, such as phosphorus, or metalloids such ...
. Bronze, an alloy made up of about 90%
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 pinkis ...
and 10%
tin
Tin is a chemical element with the symbol Sn (from la, stannum) and atomic number 50. Tin is a silvery-coloured metal.
Tin is soft enough to be cut with little force and a bar of tin can be bent by hand with little effort. When bent, t ...
, was strong enough to resist the explosion of
gunpowder
Gunpowder, also commonly known as black powder to distinguish it from modern smokeless powder, is the earliest known chemical explosive. It consists of a mixture of sulfur, carbon (in the form of charcoal) and potassium nitrate (saltpeter). ...
without bursting the cannon. The guns were often referred to as
brass
Brass is an alloy of copper (Cu) and zinc (Zn), in proportions which can be varied to achieve different mechanical, electrical, and chemical properties. It is a substitutional alloy: atoms of the two constituents may replace each other with ...
cannons when in fact their composition was of bronze. The weakness of bronze guns was that, if fired too rapidly, they overheated and warped. Iron cannons were much cheaper to manufacture and they did not warp from overheating. However, cast iron was more brittle than bronze. Iron cannons were heavier that bronze guns; this was not a problem with large caliber weapons aboard ships or in fortresses, but field artillery needed to be lighter and more mobile.
Before a cannon was accepted into service, it was subjected to
proof testing in order to determine if the piece met the specifications and was safe to fire. First, the gun was weighed and measured. Second, the gun was fired; if it burst, then the entire batch was given extra scrutiny. Typically, a proofing charge used approximately twice the weight of gunpowder as a normal firing charge. Third, the inside of the bore was probed with a special instrument to make sure there were no cracks or gaps. Fourth, the vent was stopped up and water was forced into the bore; if water leaked out the cannon was rejected. Fifth, a mirror was inserted into the bore for a final inspection.
From 1820 to 1840, American cannon founders made cast iron 6-pounders that were less reliable than guns used in 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 bega ...
. In 1824, the
Fort Pitt Foundry
The Fort Pitt Foundry was a nineteenth-century iron foundry in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. It was originally established at Fifth Avenue and Smithfield Street in 1804 by Joseph McClurg, grandfather of Joseph W. McClurg, and his son Alex McClurg, ...
delivered 74 cast iron 6-pounder guns of an order of 100. A second order of 100 cast iron 6-pounders was delivered in 1828–1830 and at least 10 were rejected. Finally, 113 cast iron 6-pounders were manufactured in 1836–1838 and 22 were rejected. No more orders were placed with the Fort Pitt Foundry. In 1833, the Columbia Foundry produced two cast iron 6-pounders of which one burst during proof. They delivered 43 cast iron 6-pounders in 1834–1836 but these were the last ones produced by the Columbia Foundry. In 1840, an exasperated Secretary of War
Joel Roberts Poinsett
Joel Roberts Poinsett (March 2, 1779December 12, 1851) was an American physician, diplomat and botanist. He was the first U.S. agent in South America, a member of the South Carolina legislature and the United States House of Representatives, the ...
wrote, "...if guns sometimes fail, it is not because the gun is of iron, but because the founder is not perfect in his art. At present, he makes a good gun by accident, whereas it is by accident only that he should make a bad one." Soon afterward, the problem was finally discovered. During this period, American cannon founders switched from cold blast to
hot blast
Hot blast refers to the preheating of air blown into a blast furnace or other metallurgical process. As this considerably reduced the fuel consumed, hot blast was one of the most important technologies developed during the Industrial Revolution. ...
cast iron for reasons of economy and convenience; this led to more brittle cast iron guns.
Switch to bronze
Meanwhile, the West Point Foundry produced four bronze 6-pounders in 1834, of which three were rejected on sight. In 1835, the US Army Ordnance Board meeting in
Watervliet, New York
Watervliet ( or ) is a City (New York), city in Albany County, New York, Albany County, in the U.S. state of New York (state), New York. The population was 10,375 as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. Watervliet is north of Albany, ...
decided to switch to bronze field guns. In July 1836, two established bronze foundries,
Cyrus Alger & Company of
Boston
Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...
and
N. P. Ames of
Cabotville, Massachusetts were hired to manufacture bronze 6-pounder guns. Alger produced 26 and Ames produced 32 bronze Model 1835 6-pounder guns. The Model 1838 bronze 6-pounder was a lighter cannon designed for horse artillery units. Alger delivered 62 and Ames delivered 36 of the Model 1838 gun. Ames also manufactured 27 Model 1840 bronze 6-pounders, which were heavier than the Model 1838.
![Unknown location](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/aa/Unknown_location._6-pdr._field_gun%2C_model_1841_LOC_cwpb.02257.jpg)
The Model 1841 bronze 6-pounder cannon proved to be the most successful. The gun was not officially discarded by the US Army until 1868 though none were produced after 1862. Ames manufactured at least 646 Model 1841 guns and Alger produced at least 337. Of the latter group, 10 were so-called Cadet guns which weighed only . There were no recorded losses during proofing, though some of the guns varied as much as from the official weight. Four of the Cadet guns were produced for the
Virginia Military Institute
la, Consilio et Animis (on seal)
, mottoeng = "In peace a glorious asset, In war a tower of strength""By courage and wisdom" (on seal)
, established =
, type = Public senior military college
, accreditation = SACS
, endowment = $696.8 mill ...
, two for the Arkansas Military Institute, and four for the
Georgia Military Institute
The Georgia Military Institute (GMI) was established on in Marietta, Georgia, United States, on July 1, 1851. It was burned by the Union Army during the Civil War and was never rebuilt.
The current GMI is a reactivation of the name for a Georgia ...
. The Eagle Foundry of Miles Greenwood of
Cincinnati
Cincinnati ( ) is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Hamilton County. Settled in 1788, the city is located at the northern side of the confluence of the Licking and Ohio rivers, the latter of which marks the state line wit ...
delivered 97 bronze 6-pounders of which 43 were rifled between August 1861 and December 1862. The Western Foundry of William D. Marshall & Company of
St. Louis
St. Louis () is the second-largest city in Missouri, United States. It sits near the confluence of the Mississippi and the Missouri Rivers. In 2020, the city proper had a population of 301,578, while the bi-state metropolitan area, which e ...
manufactured 33 bronze 6-pounders of which six were rifled between December 1861 and May 1862. Henry N. Hooper & Company of Boston produced eight bronze 6-pounders and Revere Copper Company of Boston delivered two similar guns in February 1862.
Specifications
The Model 1841 bronze 6-pounder gun barrel was from the base ring to the muzzle and weighed . The diameter of the bore (caliber) was and the bore length was . This means the bore was 15.67 calibers long. The cannon fired a round shot of diameter. The spherical case shot weighed and released 41 musket balls when it burst. The canister round weighed and contained 27 iron balls. At 5° elevation, the gun could hurl the round shot a distance of with the standard firing charge of . At 4° elevation, the gun could throw the spherical case shot a distance of . Canister shot was effective up to a distance of .
A 6-pounder battery typically included four 6-pounder field guns and two
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 distance ...
s. Altogether, the battery required 14 6-horse teams and seven spare horses. The teams pulled the six artillery pieces and limbers, six
caissons, one battery wagon, and one
traveling forge
A traveling forge, when combined with a limber, comprised wagons specifically designed and constructed as blacksmith shops on wheels to carry the essential equipment necessary for blacksmiths, artisans (called artificers in many armies) ...
. Each caisson weighed and carried two ammunition chests, each with 50 rounds. Each of the two limbers also carried one, so that each gun was supplied with four ammunition chests. The carriage for the 6-pounder gun weighed . A 6-pounder cannon and its limber weighed when fully loaded with one 50-round ammunition chest. The 1864 U.S. Field Artillery Instructions recommended that each ammunition chest contain 25 round shot, 20 spherical case shot, and five canister rounds. Nine men manned each cannon, the gunner who commanded the gun and eight artillerists who were numbered according to their function.
History
Mexican War
![Major Ringgold Mortally Wounded LOC](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/ef/Major_Ringgold_Mortally_Wounded_LOC.jpg)
The American bronze 6-pounder field guns saw action at the
Battle of Palo Alto
The Battle of Palo Alto ( es, Batalla de Palo Alto) was the first major battle of the Mexican–American War and was fought on May 8, 1846, on disputed ground five miles (8 km) from the modern-day city of Brownsville, Texas. A force of so ...
on 8 May 1846 during the Mexican–American War. General
Zachary Taylor
Zachary Taylor (November 24, 1784 – July 9, 1850) was an American military leader who served as the 12th president of the United States from 1849 until his death in 1850. Taylor was a career officer in the United States Army, rising to th ...
led a force numbering 2,228 troops that included two 18-pounder heavy cannons and two 4-gun light batteries under Major
Samuel Ringgold and Captain
James Duncan. They were opposed by General
Mariano Arista
José Mariano Arista (26 July 1802 – 7 August 1855) was a Mexican soldier and politician.
He was in command of the Mexican forces at the opening battles of the Mexican American War: the Battle of Palo Alto and the Battle of Resaca de la Pal ...
with 365 officers, 3,461 rank and file, eight
4-pounder and two
8-pounder cannons. The action became largely an artillery duel where the American guns proved to be superior. American losses were five killed, 43 wounded, and two missing. However, 10 more soon died of their wounds, including Ringgold who was struck in both knees by a 4-pounder round shot. Arista verbally admitted losing 252 killed, but wrote only 102 killed in his official report. The next morning, the Mexican army withdrew to a second position but it was defeated that day at the
Battle of Resaca de la Palma
The Battle of Resaca de la Palma was one of the early engagements of the Mexican–American War, where the United States Army under General Zachary Taylor engaged the retreating forces of the Mexican ''Ejército del Norte'' ("Army of the North ...
.
At Palo Alto, both Ringgold's and Duncan's batteries maneuvered rapidly and inflicted severe casualties in the Mexican ranks. At the start of the action they deployed in front of the American infantry. Near the end of the action, under the cover of smoke, Duncan's battery unlimbered from its opponents and caused the Mexican right flank to pull back. Both Ringgold's and Duncan's batteries were armed with bronze 6-pounder field guns. However, archeological evidence indicates that one or more 12-pounder howitzers may have been used also. The Mexicans employed old French
Gribeauval system
The Gribeauval system (French: ''système Gribeauval'') was an artillery system introduced by Lieutenant General Jean Baptiste Vaquette de Gribeauval during the 18th century. This system revolutionized French cannons, with a new production system ...
cannons but they were still effective weapons. However, the inferior Mexican gunpowder caused many rounds to fall short. The Mexican artillery drivers were hired civilians, so that their cannons were much less mobile than those of the well-trained American drivers.
Civil War
![Gettysburg PA bronze 6-pdr CSA](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/98/Gettysburg_PA_bronze_6-pdr_CSA.jpg)
The M1841 bronze 6-pounder cannon proved to be a highly effective weapon during the Mexican–American War. However, American Civil War combat experience soon showed that bronze smoothbore 6-pounder field guns were no longer effective weapons. When
George B. 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 ...
became commander of the Union
Army of the Potomac
The Army of the Potomac was the principal Union Army in the Eastern Theater of the American Civil War. It was created in July 1861 shortly after the First Battle of Bull Run and was disbanded in June 1865 following the surrender of the Confedera ...
he ordered that all of the old Model 1841 vintage guns be replaced by 12-pounder Napoleons. The older guns were replaced in the eastern armies first and the older model guns persisted in the western armies for a longer period of time. Surviving records show a westward migration of US Army artillery pieces that had become obsolete. The 6-pounders were quickly replaced by 12-pounder Napoleons,
3-inch Ordnance rifles,
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 bree ...
s, and other field guns. On 30 June 1863, the Department of the Cumberland reported having 24 smoothbore 6-pounders out of a total of 220 field artillery pieces, while the Department of the Ohio had only eight out of 72. Rifling was added to bronze 6-pounders, but this experiment was not successful because bronze wears more easily than iron. The rifling eroded rapidly, rendering the guns inaccurate. See
James rifle
James rifle is a generic term to describe any artillery gun rifled to the James pattern for use in the American Civil War, as used in some period documentation. Charles T. James developed a rifled projectile and rifling system. Modern author ...
.
Variants of the M1841 bronze 6-pounder were also manufactured in the Confederacy though records are sketchy. Because the South lacked the North's industrial capacity, the 6-pounders were employed by Confederate armies for a longer period.
Robert E. Lee wanted the old Model 1841 bronze guns to be melted down and recast into 12-pounder Napoleons. Nevertheless, there were still numbers of the old pieces serving with Southern armies as late as the
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 ...
. At the
Battle of Antietam
The Battle of Antietam (), or Battle of Sharpsburg particularly in the Southern United States, was a battle of the American Civil War fought on September 17, 1862, between Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee's Army of Northern Virginia and Union G ...
on 17 September 1862, there were at least 41 6-pounder guns still being employed in Confederate batteries, while the Union Army of the Potomac had no 6-pounders. For example, the 4th Company,
Washington Artillery
Washington commonly refers to:
* Washington (state), United States
* Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States
** A metonym for the federal government of the United States
** Washington metropolitan area, the metropolitan area centered ...
(Eshleman's) was equipped with two 6-pounders and two 12-pounder howitzers.
During the
Battle of Pea Ridge
The Battle of Pea Ridge (March 7–8, 1862), also known as the Battle of Elkhorn Tavern, took place in the American Civil War near Leetown, northeast of Fayetteville, Arkansas. Federal forces, led by Brig. Gen. Samuel R. Curtis, moved south ...
on 7–8 March 1862, both armies still employed significant numbers of smoothbore and rifled 6-pounder field guns. In the Union army, three units were armed with four 6-pounder smoothbores and two 12-pounder howitzers: the
2nd Ohio Battery,
1st Iowa Independent Battery Light Artillery, and
3rd Iowa Independent Battery Light Artillery
The 3rd Iowa Light Artillery Battery was a light artillery battery from Iowa that served in the Union Army between September 24, 1861, and October 23, 1865, during the American Civil War.
Service
The 3rd Iowa Light Artillery was mustered into ...
. The
4th Ohio Battery had four rifled 6-pounders and two 12-pounder howitzers. The
1st Independent Battery Indiana Light Artillery had four rifled and two smoothbore 6-pounder field guns.
Battery "A", 2nd Illinois Light Artillery Regiment had two rifled and two smoothbore 6-pounder field guns and two 12-pounder howitzers. In the Confederate army, Clark's, Jackson's, and Gorham's Missouri batteries and
Hart's Arkansas Battery each had four 6-pounder smoothbores. Mixed batteries with 6-pounder smoothbores included
Provence's Arkansas Battery (2), and Wade's (2), Tull's (2),
Guibor's (2), and MacDonald's (1) Missouri batteries. Tull's Battery also had two rifled 6-pounder guns. Kneisley's and Kelly's Missouri batteries had an unknown number of 6-pounders. Kneisley's guns were old cast iron pieces.
Civil War artillery
Notes
References
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Further reading
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External links
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{{DEFAULTSORT:M1841 6-pounder field gun
American Civil War artillery