A Think Quest 99' Project

Weapons

The 3-Inch Ordnance Gun

The 3-inch ordnance gun, a rifled cannon made of wrought iron was, along with the smooth bore Napoleon twelver pounder, the mainstay of field artillery batteries. While the Napoleon was the weapon of choice for short-range fighting, the ordnance gun was valued for its long range accuracy. A one lb charge of gunpowder could accurately propel a 10 lb elongated shell a distance of 2,000 yards at only 5 degrees of elevation. Longer distances, but less accuracy, could be achieved with higher elevations. Artillerymen preferred this piece because it did not have the tendency to explode upon firing as cast iron cannon did. The North produced more than 1,000 3-inch ordnance rifles during the war at a cost of about $350 each. Cannon for the South were made by Richmond's Tredegar Iron Works and a foundry in Rome, Georgia. The gun was constructed using sheets of boiler iron wrapped around a core. This created a weapon which was inexpensive yet so strong that breech reinforcing was unnecessary. Although sometimes called a six pounder rifle or a "Rodman", neither of these terms are accurate.

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The Armstrong

The Armstrong was a large rifled cannon invented by an Englishman, Sir William George Armstrong, in 1854. It's most noticeable feature was the series of graduated coils over a lengthwise tube, causing it to look like a giant collapsible telescope pulled out in overlapping circles. Because exploding guns were a constant problem, and potentially devastating for the man who lite the charge as well as those around him, the Armstrong design was a huge success. The compressed inner tube in the cannon enabled it to better resist the force of firing. The cannon was imported by both sides in four-inch and 16-pounder models, and then was manufactured in the United States using Armstrong's design. It was made in both muzzle-loading and breech-loading designs and came in sizes ranging from three to 13.3 inches, with the three-inch size being the most popular. The 3-inch muzzle-loading Armstrongs fired a grooved projectile which weighed 12 pounds out to a distance of 2,200 yards. The 3 inch breech-loading Armstrongs fired a 12 pound projectile (also grooved) out to a distance of 2,100 yards. In both cases this is using and elevation of 5 degrees.

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The Blakely Cannon

The Blakely cannon, imported from the British by the South, along with the Whitworth and Armstrong guns, was invented by English Captain Alexander Blakely. The most commonly used Blakelys had a bore of 3.1 to 10 inches and used a variety of ammunition, including flanged and studded projectiles. Used in small numbers by the Confederates, the 12 pounder Blakely was constructed of steel and iron, had a bore of 3.4 inches and a tube that weighed 800 pounds. Using a one-pound charge, it fired a 10 pound projectile at a muzzle velocity of 1,250 ft/sec. The largest Blakely had a 12.75 inch bore and fired projectiles weighing 470 pounds nearly 2,000 yards (at 5 degrees of elevation). The large eight-inch Blakely was imported by the South for use in its coastal defenses in South Carolina. As with its sister cannon, the Armstrong, the Blakely's rifled design helped absorb the impact of firing. However, because of its 'bucking back' when firing it did not remain as popular as the Armstrong and Whitworth guns. When used with English ammunition, the Blakey was a good muzzle-loading gun; however, its performance deteriorated when firing shells of Confederate manufacture. The Blakely gun quickly became obsolete and soon was seeing little service as more advanced gun designs were produced.

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The Short Squat Mortar

The short squat mortar had changed little from the time when they were first used in 1453 by the Ottoman Turks. They were well adapted, however, to hurling shells where other cannon could not; over the walls of a fort or enemy field works. Mortars were used principally by the Union, although both sides made some use of them in combat. They ranged in size from a 'mobile' 300 lb Coehorn mortar with a 5.8 inch bore that hurled an 18 pound shell to the immense 13 inch seacoast mortars (shown here) that weighed 17,120 lbs and could fire a 220 pound bomb 4,325 yards. Siege mortars came in 8 inch and 10 inch bore diameters and fired 44 and 88 lb shell respectively. Naturally, devices of this weight were not very easily moved about a battlefield. Mortars in the Civil War were primarily siege weapons or mounted on ships and scows for subduing enemy fortifications. They saw a good deal of use in the campaigns on the Mississippi River. At the Battle of Forts Jackson and St. Philip (April 1862) 19 schooners, each mounting a 13 inch mortar, pounded the Rebel forts for six days before capturing New Orleans.

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The Whitworth Cannon

The Whitworth Breech Loading Cannon was an English model gun imported by the Confederacy during the early months of the war before the blockade was tightened enough to be effective. It was the most accurate of the South's artillery weapons. The Whitworth's bore, instead of using rifling groves, was a spiral hexagonal shape. Ammunition for this cannon had to have the same shape as the bore. Rebel artillery in particular was a hodge-podge of various pieces of equipment and manpower. For the most part the only plant capable of producing ordinance for the South was the Tredegar Iron Works in Richmond. A good portion of equipment used during the war by Southern forces was captured from the Union during the early battles and that obtained from ordinance stores when the Confederate government seized coastal guns and forts in the opening days of the war. It was extremely rare at any period during the Civil War to find a Confederate artillery battery with uniform equipment.

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Rodman is actually a manufacturing process rather than a cannon; developed by LT. Thomas Rodman in the mid-1840's for casting large iron cannon. The process made the guns stronger, longer lasting, and less likely to develop cracks. Previous to this new process, large cannon had been cast in a block, cooling from the outside in, then they would be bored and finished. Rodman's process had the gun cast about a hollow pipe in which water was pumped during the cooling process while the outer part of the casting was kept hot by live coals. This allowed the cooling layers to shrink onto each other creating a stronger barrel which was less likely to explode. Rodman's process permitted larger guns to be manufactured, guns that were previously impossible. The 1861 Model Columbiad guns were made using the Rodman process, and the Union ordered 8, 10, 13, 15, and 20 inch caliber Rodman Columbiads. The 15 inch Rodman Columbiad was the largest actually used by the Union during the Civil War. It was bottle shaped and weighed in at 25 tons. LT. Rodman also improved the gunpowder used in the large guns. The prismatic and perforated-cake gunpowder he invented burned evenly, thus the gases expanded in a controlled fashion. This meant less chance of a sudden shock that could burst the barrel of a cannon killing or injuring the crew. The 15 inch Rodman guns were capable of hurling a 440 lb shot more than four miles. Columbiads, such as the one pictured here, were among the largest of the guns of the period and used in coastal defenses and fortifications. They were capable of firing a large shell or ball up to several miles and were excellent defensive weapons. They were not, and never meant to be, mobile, often weighing in excess of 20 tons.

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The Parrott Gun

Rifling a cannon to improve its performance was a well known principle prior to the war. The problem was that most cannon were constructed of bronze, which although had good strength characteristics, would quickly wear to the point of uselessness when rifled. A harder metal was needed. Cast iron was the natural choice but this metal is very brittle and prone to crack, especially after hard use. Cannons made of it tended to burst occasionally when fired, killing or wounding the crew. Robert Parker Parrott was the first to successfully turn out quantities of rifled cast iron cannon thru a new method of attaching a reinforcing wrought iron band to the breech end of the gun. The wrought iron band was allowed to cool in place while the gun was rotated, which allowed the band to clamp uniformly about the breech. The resulting cannon could be produced quickly at a cost of about $187 each. Although the breech was reinforced the rest of the gun was not, giving them the tendency to burst at the muzzle. The Parrott gun became the workhorse of the artillery for the first years of the war, and continued to be produced in quantity even after the introduction of the 3-inch ordinance rifle. These weapons were used primarily by the Union forces, although the South created a copy called a Brooke Rifle.

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The Howitzer

Howitzers were manufactured in different projectile weight classes. The 12-pounder (pictured below) weighed 1,700 lbs and could propel a 9 lb explosive shell more than 1,000 yards. The 24-pounder howitzer weighed 2,500 lbs and could hurl an 18 lb shell more than 1,400 yards. The 32-pounder and 42-pounder howitzers were also used. Unlike guns that fired on a flat trajectory, the smooth bore howitzer, commonly made of bronze, could fire in a curved arc, allowing the shells fired to drop behind the enemy walls and other battlements. The explosive shells ranged from six to 18 pounds and could be fired with a lower charge than the high-trajectory mortars that fired a solid ball. Both North and South used these weapons, usually mounting them on wooden 2-wheeled carriages.

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The Napoleon

The Model 1857 Gun Howitzer (The Napoleon) was the most popular, common, and deadly field piece of the Civil War. The barrel was of bronze and smooth-bored designed originally in France. A Napoleon fired a 12.3 lb projectile and had a maximum effective range of about 1,600 yards. The barrel with its carriage weighed 2,445 pounds, light enough to be hauled by men for short distances, however, the usual method of transportation was by a six-horse team with a driver aside one of each pair of horses. Union Napoleons had a slight swell at the muzzle of the 4.62 inch bore. Confederate made pieces were generally tapered and some had a band-reinforced breech. Artillerymen favored Napoleons because their bronze barrels were stronger and safer than those made of iron, thus there was less chance the gun would burst during firing killing or wounding the crew. A Napoleon was able to fire all of the four basic types of ammunition. The solid shot, shell, and case rounds were all spherical and were used against enemies at distances greater than 600 yards. For shorter distances the gun was loaded with canister, which turned it into a giant shotgun with lethal effects. The most accurate shot ever fired by a Napoleon was most likely made on Dec 13, 1862, at the Battle of Fredericksburg. Confederate Major Braxton and LT. Marye fired solid shot at a Union color bearer almost 1,600 yards away. Their first shot killed the man beside the color bearer, the second was a direct hit.

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