Mortars
The mortar is a snub-nosed, smoothbore weapon designed to hurl a ball a great distance into the air so it falls almost vertically into an enemy position. Usually mounted on heavy wooden beds most fell into the definition of siege or heavy artillery, although some were relatively small. The rounds fired were largely designed for use against personnel rather than objects sucli as masonry walls or enemy artillery. Hence, the preferred ammunition included shells the primary round , grape, light and...
Cs Organization
Initially, heavy artillery was organized the same as infantry regiments or battalions. Each company after November 1861, was set at a minimum of 7 men, with 10 companies in a regiment. This was raised to 150 men in a company as of October 11, 1862, A full regiment would rate a colonel, a lieutenant-colonel, a major, an adjutant who ranked as a lieutenant, a commissary who ranked as a captain, a quartermaster who ranked as a captain, a surgeon who ranked as a major, a sergeant-major, an ordnance...
Naval Guns
Naval guns saw use not only on ships, but on seacoast defense fortifications on land, operated sometimes by naval crews and at other times by army heavy artillerymen. The Union Navy was blessed with the ordnance creativity of Rear Admiral John A. Dahlgren, chief of'Naval Ordnance from July, 1862, to June, 1863, when he assumed a sea command. 1 lis first heavy iron gun design was submitted in 1850, and a 9-inch smoothbore was cast to his design at the West Point Foundry, The 9-inch tube, which...
Heavy Artillery
Philip Katcher Illustrated by Tony Bryan First published gt n Great Britain in 2001 by Osprey Publishing, Elms Court, Chapel Way, Botley, Oxford 0X2 9LP. United Kingdom. Email info ospreypublishing.com All rights reserved, Apart from any fair dealing for the purpose of private study, research, cnticism or review, as permitted under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act, 1988. no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any...
Britishmade Guns
A Parrot rifle, front, and a Rodman gun, behind it, in Battery Rodgers, overlooking the Potomac River In Alexandria, Virginia. Library of Congress A Parrot rifle, front, and a Rodman gun, behind it, in Battery Rodgers, overlooking the Potomac River In Alexandria, Virginia. Library of Congress -I eat Britain made the most advanced artillery available in 1861 and the Confederates, since they were unable to make as many guns as they needed for themselves, took advantage of British technology by...
Columbiads
The columbiad is a type of gun dating from the beginning of the 19th century and is considered the first piece ol purely American-designed ordnance. It first saw service in the War of 1812, both on ships and with the army, and came in 24-pounder, 50-pounder, and 100-pounder sizes. In 18.11, the first 50-pourider columbiads appeared for use as seacoast guns, followed by the 100-pounder columbiads in 1819. Originally, these were short, large-bore cannon used to fire solid shot and were made with...
Ammunition
A brief examination of period heavy-artillery ammunition alone could more than fill two books i his size. Basically, period ammunition included solid shot, shells, canister, and grape. Shells came in a variety of styles, including shells that had a brass, iron, copper, or lead cap or ring attached 10 their base Parrott, Absterdam, Read, Cochran, Dimiek, Mullane. Burton and Archer, Harding shells with lead or paper around the outside that squeezed into the grooves on firing Schenkl, Dyer, James...
Howitzers
Howitzers used for siege and garrison work were cast iron and came in two sizes, 24-pound er and 8-inch. The 24-pounder was already an old weapon by the beginning of the war, having been introduced in 1839, although apparently not produced until several years later. The main job for the 24-pounder howitzer was as a weapon placed on the flanks of fortifications to protect against infantry attack, rather than for use in couruer-batlery operations. As such, il was usually mounted on a flank...