Kill an Enemy With a Cannonball That Travelled Over 100

Civil State of war Artillery and Cannon

Union and Amalgamated Artillery and Cannon

Northern and Southern Artillery and Cannon

Introduction

Cannonball results

Civil State of war Artillery

Many historians, authors, and Civil War buffs have argued that artillery was not too important and didn't significantly alter the outcome of the Civil War. The writer has a dissenting view. If the Confederacy alone had artillery supporting its infantry and cavalry, while the Spousal relationship, absent artillery, relied solely on infantry and cavalry, would the upshot of the conflict have been unlike?  The reader is encouraged to examine each of the Top Ten Civil War Battles with the Nearly Casualties , because artillery indeed played a major part in the upshot of each of the ten battles. Imagine Union artillery absent during Pickett's Charge likewise as at Shiloh, Antietam, and Stones River. Because artillery was present at the battlefields, it influenced and altered the motion of Marriage and Amalgamated troops and it even determined which army was victorious. Both Spousal relationship and Confederate armies consisted principally of infantry, cavalry, and artillery, and each component was equally necessary and equally important to the overall execution and success of the war.

(Right) Headshot acquired by a single fe brawl from the canister shot from a 12-pounder field howitzer. The result of a single canister brawl impacting the caput, this skull was discovered in 1876 on Morris Island, South Carolina, most the site of Battery Wagner, a powerful earthwork fort that had protected the entrance to Charleston Harbor during the Ceremonious War. The skull belonged to a man of African descent—a soldier of the famous 54th Massachusetts Volunteers, which had led the assault on Wagner on the nighttime of July xviii, 1863. Of approximately 600 men who made the charge, 256 were killed, wounded, or missing. From the size of the wound, and the remains of the projectile itself, it can be determined what type of munition striking this human: an iron canister ball from one of two 12-pounder field howitzers known to have been used in the repulse of that attack. The 54th Massachusetts Volunteers was non the starting time black regiment in the Civil War, nor was it the first to fight. Still, it was the commencement black regiment raised entirely of costless men enrolled on exactly the same footing as white troops and the beginning to engage in a major activity well-covered by the national printing. Its gallant conduct in the doomed assault on Battery Wagner, at Charleston, South Carolina, on July 18, 1863, electrified the nation and proved once and for all that the black man, given the opportunity, could learn the soldier'south trade, and fight as well as any white man.

Cannon shot

Case, aka Shrapnel

Field arms in the American Civil War refers to the important artillery weapons, equipment, and practices used by the Artillery co-operative to back up the infantry and cavalry forces in the field. Information technology does not include siege artillery, use of artillery in fixed fortifications, or coastal or naval artillery. (Run across besides Civil War Artillery Weapons .) Nor does it include smaller, specialized artillery termed as modest arms . While the Ceremonious War army consisted primarily of infantry, cavalry, and arms, each retained a vital office and mission during the war.

(Left) Demonstration of case firing, which proved devastating on fields such equally Gettysburg and Antietam.

Artillery determined the event of several major battles, including the Battle of Gettysburg, because, on the third and terminal day, Union artillery decimated a Confederate division during Pickett's Charge , thus causing General Lee to retreat and remain in Virginia for the remainder of the disharmonize. Arms was critical to the conclusion of many major battles, including Antietam , Chancellorsville , Stones River , Fredericksburg, Shiloh , Malvern Loma , and Gettysburg . See also Acme 10 Civil State of war Battles with Most Casualties .

The battles of the eighteenth century emphasized close-order formations of soldiers trained to maneuver in concert and fire by volleys. These "linear" tactics stressed the tactical offensive. Assault troops advanced in line, two ranks deep, with cadenced steps, stopping to burn down volleys on command and finally rushing the last few yards to pierce the enemy line with a bayonet charge. These tactics were adequate for troops armed with single-shot, muzzle-loading, smoothbore muskets with an constructive range of roughly eighty yards. The close-order formation was necessary to concentrate the firepower of these inaccurate weapons. Bayonet charges had a gamble of success because infantry could blitz the terminal eighty yards earlier the defending infantrymen could reload their muskets.

Civil State of war Artillery in Action

Civil War cannon in battle

The U.S. Army's transition from smoothbore to rifled muskets in the mid-nineteenth century had two main furnishings in the American Ceremonious War: it strengthened the tactical defensive and increased the number of casualties in the attacking forcefulness. With weapons that could cause casualties at a distance of 1,000 yards, defenders firing rifles could decimate infantry formations attacking according to Napoleonic Linear Tactics .

During the Ceremonious State of war the widespread use of the rifle often caused infantry assault formations to loosen somewhat, with individual soldiers seeking bachelor cover and darkening. However, because officers needed to maintain visual and verbal control of their commands during the noise, smoke, and chaos of combat, shut-order tactics to some degree continued to the end of the state of war. Occasionally, the artillery bombardment was subjected to shut range combat considering infantry overran its position. The cannoneers resorted to rifles, pistols and fifty-fifty sabers as the tide of battle swayed between opposing armies during each assault and counterassault. The primary cause of death for the artillerist, nonetheless, was non suffered on the battlefield, but rather from an enemy prison. Every bit a result of the putrid conditions at the numerous Union and Confederate prisons, prisoners-of-war succumbed en masse to diseases.

(Right) The Ceremonious War as it appeared back home. It was almost twoscore years before the public saw the thousands of photographs taken past Mathew Brady and his contemporaries.

The smallest tactical unit employed individually on the battleground was a brigade, normally consisting of four regiments. Units more often than not moved on roads or cantankerous-country in column formation, four men abreast. Upon reaching the battlefield, each regiment was typically formed into a line ii ranks deep, each man'southward shoulders touching the shoulders of the men next to him. Regulations prescribed the distance between the ranks equally thirteen inches. Both front and rear ranks were capable of firing either by volley or individually. Two paces behind the rear rank was an open up rank of "file closers," selected noncommissioned officers charged with preventing straggling and desertion. During a battle each regiment might send forward ii companies in extended skirmish order, continue six companies in its main line, and concur two in the rear equally a reserve. As the fighting progressed, boosted companies might be fed into the skirmish line or the skirmishers might regroup on the chief line. A regiment of 500 men might have a forepart almost 200 yards wide. Artillery batteries also had regulations instructing each artillerist to perform certain responsibilities.

A popular prewar tactic was to accept field arms, with a typical range of one,500 yards, advance with the infantry. The maneuver worked as long every bit the enemy was armed with the short-range smoothbore musket with a range of 100 yards or less. With the appearance of the rifled musket in the mid-1850s, capable of a lethal range out to 1,000 yards, the tactic became obsolete. However, some were tiresome to grasp the implications of the upshot of long-range small arms confronting artillery, and, when General McDowell ordered two batteries to within 400 yards of the Confederate line at First Bull Run, the decision quickly resulted in the loss of one bombardment and two other guns.

Total Civil War Artillery and Cannon

Total Ceremonious War Arms Regiments and Units by State

(Above) Total Matrimony Civil State of war Artillery Regiments and Units contributed by each Land and Territory. Includes Infantry, Artillery, Cavalry, Sharpshooters, and Engineers.

Battery

The basic unit of measurement of artillery was the battery, which had four to 6 guns, was commanded by a helm, assisted by four lieutenants, two staff sergeants, half dozen sergeants, 12 corporals, vi artificers & farriers (blacksmiths), 2 buglers, 52 drivers and 70 cannoneers for a full of 155 men. Information technology typically had 4 guns in the Confederacy and 6 guns in the Wedlock. A battery is a subdivided into gun crews of 20 men and into sections of ii gun crews, ii or three sections per battery. A gun crew was commanded by a sergeant and a department by a lieutenant. Each gun was attached to a limber , which is a 2-bike ammunition breast fatigued by 3 pairs of horses in tandem, called lead, swing and wheel pairs. Each gun was supplied with 6 or more caissons , which are mounted on 2-wheel carts containing ii or 3 ammunition chests. The caissons and limbers could be connected together (including extra wheel and connecting rod below the caisson) during travel. A traveling forge accompanied the battery. See also Civil State of war Horses .

Battalion (Confederacy) or Brigade (Marriage)

The battalion or brigade contained 3 or five batteries of arms allowable by a colonel, lieutenant colonel, or major. In that location were 72 Union brigades and sixteen Confederate battalions in the war.

Artillery Reserve

Each infantry division usually had an artillery battalion, and each corps or regular army had a reserve of two to 5 arms battalions. Each sectionalisation's artillery usually engaged alongside the infantry, and the artillery reserve was a mass of usually 5 brigades, of 21 batteries. The artillery reserve was commanded by a brigadier general or colonel.

Heavy Artillery

The Union organized some heavy arms regiments containing 12 arms batteries (aka companies) of 150, or 1800 total trained both as infantry and artillerists. They were organized in much the same way equally infantry regiments, only were larger to provide enough men to human the guns. These originally defended Washington, just in 1864 they joined Lt. Gen. Grant's regular army, where they served more than as infantry. In that location were 61 heavy artillery regiments in the war.

Ceremonious War Artillery

Parrott Rifle

(Left) The Parrott Rifle, recognizable past the wrought iron jacket reinforcing its breech, was 1 of the showtime rifled field guns used by the U.S. Army.

(Right) A Spousal relationship battery in line, showing proper positions and spacing for crew members, limbers, caissons and horses.

After the Ceremonious State of war, the about common complaint from the former artillerist was hearing loss and deafness.

Civil State of war Cannon

Wedlock Artillery Battery

Cannoneers and their positions

During the fighting sequence cannoneers took their positions equally in the diagram below. At the command "Commence firing," the gunner ordered "Load." While the gunner sighted the slice, Number 1 sponged the bore; Number 5 received a round from Number vii at the limber and carried the circular to Number two, who placed information technology in the bore. Number 1 rammed the round to the breech, while Number 3 placed a pollex over the vent to foreclose premature detonation of the charge. When the gun was loaded and sighted, Number 3 inserted a vent pick into the vent and punctured the cartridge bag. Number 4 attached a lanyard to a friction primer and inserted the primer into the vent. At the command "Burn down," Number 4 yanked the lanyard. Number half dozen cutting the fuzes, if necessary. The proces was repeated until the command to cease firing was given.

Civil War Artillery Positions

During the fighting sequence cannoneers took their positions

Widely Used Field Artillery

Weapon	Tube Composition	Tube Length (in inches)	Effective Range at five� Top (in yards)
6-pdr. Model 1841 Smoothbore field gun 3.67-in. dia. bore	Bronze	sixty	1,523
12-pdr. "Napoleon" Smoothbore gun-howitzer	Bronze	59	one,680
ten-pdr. Parrott rifle 2.9-in. dia. bore	Cast iron	78	one,950
iii-in. Ordnance rifle 3.0-in. dia. bore	Wrought iron	73	1,835
xx-pdr. Parrott rifle 6.67-in. dia. bore	Bandage iron	89	2,100

Annotation: Cannon were generally identified by the weight of their solid iron circular shot; though some, like the three-inch ordnance rifle, used the diameter of the bore for identification.

Artillery Projectiles

Ceremonious War field artillery employed four basic types of projectiles: solid shot for long-range accuracy, shells for medium-range boom, instance shot for medium-range fragmentation, and canister for shut-range defense.

Bolt

Shot, aka Cannon Ball

Solid Projectiles
Round (spherical) projectiles of solid atomic number 26 for smoothbores were normally called cannonballs, or shot. When elongated for rifled weapons, the projectile was known as a commodities. Solid projectiles were used against opposing batteries, wagons, buildings, etc., too as enemy personnel. While shot could ricochet beyond open ground confronting advancing infantry or cavalry, bolts tended to bury themselves upon bear on with the footing and therefore were not used a corking bargain past field artillery.

Rifled Shell

Spherical Vanquish

Shell
The shell, whether spherical or conical, was a hollow fe projectile filled with a black powder-bursting accuse. It would typically break into five to x large fragments. Spherical shells were exploded by fuzes gear up into an opening in the shell, which ignited the shell almost the intended target. The time of detonation was adamant by adjusting the length of the fuze. Rifled shells were detonated past similar-times fuzes or by a percussion fuze detonating the beat out upon impact.

Rifled Case Shot

Spherical Case Shot

Case Shot
Example shot had a thinner wall than a shell and was filled with a number of smaller lead or fe balls (eighty for a 12-pounder). A timed fuze ignited a small bursting charge inside the beat out, which fragmented the casing and scattered the contents into the air. Case shot was intended to burst fifty to seventy-v yards curt of the target, the fragments being carried forward by the velocity of the shot.

Canister

Canister
Canister consisted of a can cylinder filled with iron balls tightly packed in sawdust, which turned the cannon into a giant shotgun. Canister was an extremely effective antipersonnel weapon, with a maximum range of 350 yards. In emergencies, double loads of canister could exist used at ranges less than 200 yards with a single propelling charge.

Ceremonious War Artillery Battery in Boxing Formation

Civil War Arms formed a line while in boxing, aka battle formation

Civil War artillery action

Union artillery bombardment firing in battle

At the Battle of Antietam in September 1862, the Army of the Potomac had an estimated 293 guns, of which 166 were rifled. Although Antietam Creek physically separated many Union guns from the battlefield proper, many guns east of the creek could fire on Confederate positions forth Hagerstown Pike. On the morning of 17 September approximately xc Union guns were operating on the west side of the creek, mostly on the Union right flank north of Dunker Church building. More guns were sent to the battlefield during the day, and by evening there were approximately 162 Union guns west of Antietam Creek.

On 17 September the Army of Northern Virginia had an estimated 246 guns, of which 82 were rifled, 112 smoothbore, and 52 of unknown type. The Confederates reported having captured 73 guns at Harper's Ferry on 15 September, just none were assembled into batteries in fourth dimension to exist used in the Boxing of Antietam.

(Right) Artillerymen soften an objective for the infantry. Although field artillery was used extensively, it afflicted the enemy physically and emotionally. Although artillery frightened, demoralized, wounded, and killed the enemy, it also comprised 20 percent of all battle casualties.

The arms of both armies was generally organized into batteries of four or six guns. Regulations prescribed a captain as bombardment commander, while lieutenants allowable two-gun "sections." Each gun fabricated upwards a platoon, under a sergeant ("principal of the slice") with 8 crewmen and six drivers.

For transport, each gun was fastened to a two-wheeled cart, known as a limber and fatigued by a six-horse team. The limber breast carried xxx to fifty rounds of armament, depending on the size of guns in the battery. In addition to the limbers, each gun had at least 1 caisson, also drawn by a six-horse squad. The caisson carried additional ammunition in two chests, as well as a spare cycle and tools. A horse-drawn forge and a battery wagon with tools accompanied each bombardment. A bombardment at total regulation strength included all officers, noncommissioned officers, buglers, drivers, cannoneers, and other specialized functions and might exceed 100 officers and men. With spare horses included, a typical six-gun battery might have 100-150 horses.

A battery could unlimber and fire an initial volley inside one minute, and each gun could go on firing two aimed shots a infinitesimal. A battery could "limber upwardly" in nearly one minute as well. The battery practiced "direct burn down": the target was in view of the gun. The prescribed distance betwixt guns was fourteen yards from hub to hub. Therefore, a vi-gun battery would stand for a front of approximately 100 yards. Depth of the battery position from the gun muzzle, passing the limber, to the rear of the caisson was prescribed as twoscore-seven yards. In practice, these measurements might be altered past terrain.

Ceremonious War Military Organization and Structure

Civil War Artillery Organisation

Ceremonious State of war artillery killed horses and soldiers

Confederate horses lay expressionless from artillery fire

For the North, the fight along Antietam Creek became known as the Battle of Antietam. In the Due south, information technology became known every bit the Battle of Sharpsburg. Of the nearly seventy,000 Federal troops really engaged in the battle, nearly xiii,000 were killed, wounded, or missing; the approximately 35,000 Confederates engaged lost near as many.

(Right) Confederate horses lay expressionless and arms caissons destroyed on Antietam battlefield.

Writing to his married woman, McClellan said, "Those in whose judgment I rely tell me that I fought the battle splendidly and that is was a masterpiece of art." In truth, however, McClellan missed a series of opportunities. By failing to commit his forces to boxing on 15 and 16 September, McClellan squandered a chance to exploit his numerical superiority. On 17 September McClellan'due south piecemeal commitment of only a portion of his command during the boxing "in driblets," every bit Full general Sumner later described information technology failed to deliver a knockout blow to destroy the Army of Northern Virginia. McClellan's decision not to renew the battle on xviii September, with the same if not greater opportunity of success as the previous day, every bit well as his failure to energetically pursue the Amalgamated ground forces on 19 September, immune Lee to withdraw to the safety of the Virginia shore.

Lee, like McClellan, generally believed that the function of an army commander was to bring his ground forces to the battlefield and allow his subordinates to handle the tactical details. But the desperate state of affairs on 17 September forced Lee to get actively involved in the battle, despite injuries to both his hands. He spent most of the day on the heights in the area of the present-24-hour interval National Cemetery, where he watched the progress of the battle and personally dispatched various units to endangered portions of the field. He sent the commands of Walker, McLaws, and G. T. Anderson just in time to halt Sedgwick's advance on the Amalgamated left flank; rushed R. H. Anderson to support D. H. Loma'south defense of the Confederate centre; and, when A. P. Hill'southward division began arriving at Sharpsburg in the afternoon, hurried Hill's command to save the Amalgamated right flank.

Although the Confederates had been forced out of Maryland, Lee's campaign had been a fractional success. Jackson's capture of Harper'due south Ferry provided the Confederates with a big amount of supplies, including clothing, shoes, thousands of small arms and ammunition, and over 70 pieces of arms. In add-on, another major Federal offensive in Virginia had been delayed, admitting simply briefly. In mid-Dec Burnside, at present commanding The Army of the Potomac, attempted to interpose his command betwixt Lee and Richmond. The maneuver culminated in a Marriage defeat at the Battle of Fredericksburg.

Although Antietam was not the decisive Union victory for which Lincoln had hoped, information technology did requite the president an opportunity to strike at the Confederacy politically, psychologically, and economically. On 22 September Lincoln issued the preliminary Emancipation Proclamation, declaring that the Federal government would after one Jan 1863 consider slaves in any land in rebellion confronting the Federal government to exist free. The proclamation had no firsthand effect behind Amalgamated lines, nor did it free any slaves in states however in the Spousal relationship. Nevertheless, Lincoln's proclamation would exist the Federal authorities's beginning official step toward the abolition of human slavery.

Shortly after the battle, McClellan wrote that Confederate dreams of invading Pennsylvania had dissipated forever. During the coming months, however, Lee would wait for some other opportunity to cross his army north of the Potomac. The summer of 1863 would observe the Ground forces of Northern Virginia and the Army of the Potomac, the latter allowable past the recently promoted Maj. Gen. George Meade, confronting each other at the small Pennsylvania town of Gettysburg.

Matrimony and Confederate arms weapons

Subsequently parapet was breached, arms was useless

When Ceremonious War artillery and infantry collide

Lines of battle converged into violent hand-to-hand fighting

Civil War arms at Boxing of Gettysburg

Artillery Positions, 03 July 1863, approx. 1:00 - iii:00pm

The concluding assault on the final day at the Battle of Gettysburg , known as Pickett's Accuse , was a bloodbath, and artillery was a contributing factor in its result and loftier casualties. While the Union lost approximately 1,500 killed and wounded, the Confederate casualty rate was greater than 50%. Pickett's partitioning suffered 2,655 casualties (498 killed, 643 wounded, 833 wounded and captured, and 681 captured, unwounded). Pettigrew's losses were estimated at 2,700 (470 killed, 1,893 wounded, 337 captured). Trimble's two brigades lost 885 (155 killed, 650 wounded, and 80 captured). Wilcox'south brigade reported losses of 200, Lang's approximately 400. Thus, full losses during the attack were vi,555, of which at to the lowest degree i,123 Confederates were killed on the battlefield, 4,019 were wounded, and a practiced number of the injured were also captured. Amalgamated prisoner totals are difficult to gauge from their reports; Union reports indicated that 3,750 men were captured.

The early afternoon of July 3, 1863, what would exist the tertiary and last solar day at Gettysburg, was hot, humid and uncomfortable. With the temperature destined to reach 87 degrees by 2 p.thou., soldiers of the Army of the Potomac lay sprawled almost Cemetery Ridge, seeking any relief could be plant from their enemy of the moment, the unrelenting summer sunday. Some had erected crude shelters, using muskets and shelter-halves to escape the direct rays beaming down upon them. These proved of dubious value, and many of the men had simply gone to sleep.

In preparation for General James Longstreet'southward big-scale infantry assault to follow, a massive cannonade of nearly 150 Confederate arms pieces, designed to cripple the Spousal relationship artillery and clear the mode for the infantry, had begun. How effective would the Wedlock artillery response to this claiming exist? In big office, victory or defeat rested upon whether the Union gunners could concur their own against this onslaught.

Confederate General Robert Eastward. Lee knew the value of artillery upon high ground in a defensive situation. His experiences at Malvern Hill, in defeat, and at Chancellorsville, in victory, had shown him the tremendous power of artillery massed against infantry. As he at present prepared an infantry assault against positions well-covered by arms, he knew the Yankee batteries must be reduced for his assault to succeed. He issued orders to his artillery commanders that reflected this. Colonel Edward Porter Alexander, interim chief of artillery for Longstreet's corps, remarked that:

My orders were as follows. First, to requite the enemy the most effective cannonade possible. It was not meant merely to make a racket, but to endeavour and cripple him-to tear him limbless, as information technology were, if possible...[T]hen further, I was to "advance such arms every bit [could be used] in aiding the assault."

With proper concert of activity between the Confederate artillery, hammering abroad at the Union guns and the Amalgamated infantry breaking the Wedlock infantry line, success was accounted possible. Much depended upon neutralizing the Federal guns.

(Right) Day three at Battle of Gettysburg: The Artillery Lines. Union and Confederate artillery lines were stretched just well concentrated in the heart during the last day of fighting. While massive, merely ineffective, Confederate artillery concentrated on the Union center on day 3, Matrimony gen. Meade, during a quango of war the previous dark, stated that if Lee attacks, he will assault our center. Meade would shortly be proved correct by Lee, and Meade had prepared well. Because Meade reinforced the center and brought up plenty of reserve artillery units and held them just to the rear of the center, Lee, unknowingly, had no chance of cracking the Union line. After the grueling artillery duel betwixt the opposing cannoneers, Lee avant-garde the sick-fated sectionalization of Pickett over a three/4 mile open up field and watched its subsequent decimation in the bridge of merely 50 minutes. Years later, when asked why his accuse at Gettysburg failed, General Pickett replied: "I've e'er thought the Yankees had something to practice with it."

On the late morn of the 3rd of July the Federal artillery line extended near ii miles in length, from Little Round Tiptop, n to the surface area of Cemetery Loma. Deployed on this position were some twenty-six batteries, representing 132 guns. In the rear of the line, in the reserve park, were xx more than batteries with 112 more pieces.

The types of guns in this line, too every bit the other arms employed by the Regular army of the Potomac at Gettysburg, were rifled or smoothbore muzzle-loaders. While the ammunition was not interchangeable between them, four basic types of ammunition were used: solid shot, common trounce, case shot, and canister.

Solid shot, known as "bolts" in rifled guns, were useful against structures or enemy gun carriages. They could also be used effectively against massed troops, to demoralize and weaken infantry units at long range.

Two types of exploding shells, mutual shell and case shot, or shrapnel, were bachelor for antipersonnel apply. While shells could be fired at targets a mile distant, they were much more constructive at intermediate ranges of approximately 1200 yards downwardly to 600. Both were hollow, cast-iron projectiles containing a bursting accuse of pulverization ignited by a fuse or percussion primer. Depending upon the nature of the intended target, the beat out would burst on contact or in the immediate area, and scatter fragments nearly. Common shells were as well useful for igniting fires, and were the ammunition of selection when attempting to burst an enemy's limbers or caissons during counter-battery fire.

High Water Mark Monument

Where Pickett's Accuse was stopped

Where common shells independent but a bursting charge, example shot also contained a handful of round lead musket-balls. This improved the efficiency of the exploding crush as an antipersonnel round at intermediate distances. For close-up work of 500 yards or less, all the same, canister was the armament of choice. Every bit the proper name suggests, a canister circular was a tin can containing a number of round metal balls (27 cast-iron roughly golf-brawl size in a 12-pounder smoothbore, 110 atomic number 82 large marble-size in a rifled pieces). Upon firing, the tin can was diddled apart and the individual balls flew freely out the muzzle of the gun. Canister was the last-ditch defensive round in the artillery service, equally the range of an infantryman's burglarize-musket was approximately 500 yards.

With the exception of canister rounds, all other projectiles fired from smoothbore pieces were round. As they were fired, a smoothbore would "band" as well as boom, producing a secondary audio non dissimilar that of a church bell. This was the result of the loose-plumbing equipment projectile literally bouncing its style out the barrel. This loose fit, while helpful in the loading, cost the smoothbore somewhat in accurateness.

The well-nigh popular shine-bore field-piece was made of cast bronze. The twelve pounder, Model 1857 "Napoleon" had developed a reputation among artillerists as a fine weapon. A Napoleon could throw an exploding shell a considerable distance - almost a mile. Napoleons were often preferred for closer range work, every bit their larger 4.62 inch diameter bores meant that more metal went downrange with each shot. Another reward of the smoothbore was that information technology fired canister rounds more accurately than a rifled gun. As they did in the Amalgamated artillery at Gettysburg, Napoleons constituted 39% of the Union artillery forces.

Rifled field guns had smaller bores, unremarkably 3 inches in diameter. These guns were primarily made of bandage or wrought fe. Since the shells were designed to more tightly fit the rifled bore of the gun at firing, they were accurate at longer distances.

Typical of the rifled artillery piece was the wrought iron 3" Ordnance Rifle. Capable of throwing an exploding crush over a mile at an elevation of v degrees, it was an constructive weapon. 3" Ordnance Rifles made up 41% of the Federal artillery force at Gettysburg.

To maximize the power of these guns, 360 in all, the Union artillery at Gettysburg employed the brigade organisation. In this organization, each brigade contained from four to six batteries, under the straight control of the corps artillery primary. A battery consisted of six guns, ideally all of the same type. The bombardment was divided into iii two-gun sections. Each gun was provided with its ain limber and caisson, stocked with ammunition. A battery wagon for spare parts too followed each gun. V officers and i hundred and fifty enlisted men maintained and operated this equipment, and 110 horses were provided to move it.

A gun detachment required 9 men to load and burn down a gun, with each cannoneer performing a specific set of functions. Cross-training within artillery units allowed cannoneers to work a bombardment with reduced numbers. However, the specialized nature of artillery duties meant that heavier casualties could seriously cripple a battery. Units might exist forced to cannibalize gun crews, thus reducing the number of guns bachelor for service. In times of imminent crisis, a battery commander could recruit infantry volunteers to help fill up his depleted ranks.

Artillery Duel at One O'Clock

Artillery at Battle of Gettysburg

Iii days at Gettysburg with main lines

Artillery at Gettysburg

Dead soldiers at Gettysburg

At 1 p.m. 2 guns of Miller's Battery, posted virtually the Peach Orchard, opened fire in rapid succession. It was the signal for the entire line to let loose their terrific blast. Gunners rushed to their cannon, and in a few moments the massed batteries shook the countryside. Firing in volleys and in succession, the air was soon filled with smoke and heavy dust, which darkened the sky. Union gunners on Cemetery Ridge waited a few minutes until the positions of the Amalgamated batteries were located; then 80 guns, placed in shut order, opened fire. For most ii hours the duel continued, then the Union fire slackened. Chase had ordered a partial cessation in society to absurd the guns and conserve ammunition.

Colonel Alexander, in position on the Emmitsburg Road almost the Peach Orchard, could observe the effectiveness of his burn on the Union lines and also keep the Confederate troops in view. To him, it appeared that Union artillery burn down was weakening. His own supply of armament was running low. Believing this was the time to set on, Alexander sent a message to Pickett who in turn rode over to Longstreet. General Longstreet, who had persistently opposed Lee's plan of sending 15,000 men across the open ground, was now faced with a final decision. Longstreet merely nodded blessing and Pickett saluted, maxim, "I am going to motion forrard, sir." He rode dorsum to his men and ordered the advance. With Kemper on the correct, Garnett on the left, and Armistead a few yards to the rear, the sectionalisation marched out in brigade front end, first northeastward into the open fields, then east toward the Union lines. As Pickett'due south men came into view near the woods, Pettigrew and Trimble gave the guild to advance. Sons of Virginia, Alabama, N Carolina, Tennessee, and Mississippi, comprising the brigades of Mayo, Davis, Marshall, and Fry in front end, followed closely by Lane and Lowrance, now moved out to attack. A gap betwixt Pickett'south left and Pettigrew's correct would exist closed as the advance progressed. The units were to converge equally they approached the Union lines so that the last stage of the charge would nowadays a solid front.

Billows of fume lay ahead of the Marriage men at the rock wall, momentarily obscuring the enemy. But trained observers on Little Round Top, far to the southward, could see in the rear of this mantle of fume the waves of Confederates starting forward. Pickett finding his brigades globe-trotting southeastward, ordered them to bear to the left, and the men turned toward the trees of trees. Kemper was now approaching on the southward of the Codori buildings; Garnett and Armistead were on the north. Halted momentarily at the Emmitsburg Road to remove fence rails, Pickett'due south troops, with Pettigrew on the left, renewed the advance. Pickett had anticipated frontal fire of artillery and infantry from the strong Wedlock positions at the stone walls on the ridge, but now an unforeseen attack developed. Union guns every bit far south as Little Circular Top, along with batteries on Cemetery Colina, relieved from Confederate burn down at the Seminary buildings, opened on the correct and left flanks. As Pickett's men drove toward the Union works at The Angle, Stannard's Vermont troops, executing a right turn move from their position south of the copse, fired into the flank of the charging Confederates. The advancing lines crumbled, re-formed, and again pressed ahead under terrific fire from the Union batteries.

Civil War smoothbore artillery

Model 1857 12-pounder Napoleon, aka Napoleon Light

Civil War artillery at Gettysburg

3-inch Ordnance rifle, aka three-inch Wrought Iron rifle

(Left) The 3-inch (76 mm) burglarize (aka iii-inch Wrought Fe burglarize, 3-inch Ordnance rifle, Griffen Burglarize) was the nearly widely used rifled gun during the war. Invented by John Griffen, it was extremely durable, with the barrel made of wrought atomic number 26, primarily produced past the Phoenix Iron Visitor of Phoenixville, Pennsylvania. While the Napoleon was the weapon of option for short-range fighting, the Ordnance burglarize was valued for its long range accuracy. Originally called a "Griffin Gun," after its' designer, John Griffen, the Ordnance rifle field slice was adopted by the Federal Ordnance Department in early 1861. The pattern of this rifle, soon a favorite with artillerists in both armies, is recognized by the complete absenteeism of any discontinuities in the surface of the gun. It was also a major step forwards in material, being made entirely of wrought atomic number 26. The 3-in. Ordnance rifle field artillery was capable of hurling an exploding shell over one mile at an superlative of 5 degrees, making it an constructive weapon. 3" Ordnance rifles comprised 41% of the Wedlock artillery at Gettysburg. (Right) The Model 1857 12-pounder Napoleon smoothbore was the principal cannon used in the American Civil State of war. More than i,100 such Napoleons were manufactured by the Northward, and 600 by the South. At Gettysburg, 142 out of 360 Federal guns (36%) were Napoleons. The 12-pounder Napoleon was widely admired because of its safety, reliability, line-of-sight firing, and killing power, especially at shut range. While many Confederates fell in the early stages of Pickett'south advance, the remnants of Pickett's Division who had crossed the nearly 3/4 mile open up field at Gettysburg were greeted by the Union M1857 Napoleon and canister shot at close range. The result was devastating for the sectionalisation, and one Confederate soldier stated it best: "We approached the Yankee battery [we] were met by canister, and everyone effectually me simply disappeared ." While Pickett's Segmentation consisted of many veteran soldiers who had previously fought in some of the Civil War'due south deadliest battles, they had vanished in less than 1 hour while traversing the field in that last accuse at Gettysburg.

But valor was not enough. As the attackers neared the stone wall they lost cohesion in the fury that engulfed them. All along the wall the Wedlock infantry opened with volley later on volley into the depleted ranks of Garnett and Fry. Armistead closed in, and with Lane and Lowrance joining him, made a concluding concerted bulldoze. At this close range, double canister and concentrated infantry fire cut wide gaps in the attacking front. Garnett was mortally wounded; Kemper was downward, his lines falling abroad on the right and left. Armistead reached the low stone fence. In a final surge, he crossed the wall with 150 men and, with his cap on his sword, shouted "Follow me!" At the elevation of the charge, he fell mortally wounded. From the ridge, Matrimony troops rushed forrad and Hall's Michigan regiments let loose a blast of musketry. The gray column was surrounded. The ride of the Confederacy had "swept to its crest, paused, and receded."

Two of the divisions in the charge were reduced to mere fragments. In front of the Wedlock line, 20 fallen battle flags lay in a space of 100 yards foursquare. Singly and in little clumps, the remnants of the greyness columns that had fabricated the magnificent charge of a few minutes earlier now sullenly retreated across the fields toward the Confederate lines. Lee, who had watched anxiously from Spangler's Forest, at present rode out to run into his men. "All this has been my fault," he said to General Wilcox who had brought off his command later heavy losses. "It is I that have lost this fight, and y'all must help me out of it in the best way y'all can." And again that night, in a moment of contemplation, he remarked to a comrade, "As well bad! also bad! Oh! likewise bad!"

Diagram of Civil War cannon parts

The parts of Ceremonious State of war artillery

Civil State of war cannon

Matrimony field artillery at Battle of Gettysburg

Equally the force of Lee'due south mighty effort at The Angle was ebbing and the scattered remnants of the charge were seeking shelter, action of a different kind was taking identify on another field not far afar. Early on in the afternoon, Stuart'southward cavalry was making its way down the valley of Cress Run, 3 miles e of Gettysburg. The brigades of Hampton and Fitzhugh Lee, at the rear of the line of march, momentarily lost the trail and came out into open ground at the north stop of Rummel's Wood, Stuart, soon learning of the mistake, attempted to bring them into line and to proceed south. Only at this point, Gen. D. Chiliad. Gregg'due south Union cavalry, in position forth the Hanover Route a mile southeast, saw the Confederates. Gregg prepared at once to assail, and Stuart had no pick merely to fight on this footing. Every bit the two forces moved closer, dismounted men opened a brisk fire, supported by the authentic shelling of artillerists.

Then came the initial cavalry charge and countercharge. The Amalgamated Jenkins was forced to withdraw when his pocket-sized supply of ammunition became exhausted. Hampton, Fitzhugh Lee, and Chambliss charged again and again, only to exist met with the equally spirited counterattack of McIntosh. Custer's Michigan regiments assailed the front of the charging Confederate troopers, and Miller'southward squadron of the 3d Pennsylvania, disobeying orders to hold its position, struck opportunely on the Amalgamated left. The thrusts of the Spousal relationship horsemen, so well coordinated, stopped the onslaught of Stuart'south troopers. After iii hours of turbulent activeness, the Confederates left the field and retired to the north of Gettysburg. The Matrimony horsemen, belongings their basis, had successfully cut off any prospect of Confederate cavalry assist in the rear of the Matrimony lines on Cemetery Ridge.

Lee, every bit he looked over the desolate field of dead and wounded and the broken remnants of his once-powerful regular army still ready for renewed battle, must have realized that not only was Gettysburg lost, but that eventually it might all finish this way. Meade did not counterattack, every bit expected. The following day, July 4, the two armies lay facing each other, wearied and torn.

Late on the afternoon of July four, Lee began an orderly retreat. The wagon train of wounded, 17 miles in length, guarded by Imboden's cavalry, started homeward through Greenwood and Greencastle. At nighttime, the able-bodied men marched over the Hagerstown Road by way of Monterey Pass to the Potomac. Roads had get nearly impassable from the heavy rains that day, hindering the movements of both armies. Meade, realizing that the Confederate Ground forces was really retreating and not retiring to the mountain passes, sent detachments of cavalry and infantry in pursuit and ordered the mountain passes due west of Frederick covered. Lee, having the advantage of the more direct route to the Potomac, reached the river several days alee of his pursuers, but heavy rains had bloated the current and he could not cross. Meade arrived on the night of July 12 and prepared for a general assail. On the following night, however, the river receded and Lee crossed safely into Virginia. The Confederate Army, Meade's critics said, had been permitted to slip from the Marriage grasp.

See also

Sources: National Park Service; Antietam National Battleground Park; Gettysburg National Battleground Park; National Archives; Library of Congress; Sources: Henry L. Abbott, Siege Artillery in the Campaigns confronting Richmond with Notes on the 15-inch Gun, Professional Papers 14 (Washington, D.C.: Government Press Office, 1867); Alfred Mordecai, Arms for the United States Land Service as Devised and Arranged by the Ordnance Board, Including Drawings and Tables of Dimensions of the Ordnance for the Country Service of the United states of america, 1841 (Washington, D.C.: J&G. S. Gideon, 1849); Pedagogy for Field Artillery, Prepared past a Board of Artillery Officers (Philadelphia: J. B. Lippincott, 1863); Rpt, Joseph G. Hanson, 27 May 1940, sub: A Report on the Deployment of the Artillery at the Battle of Antietam, Md., With a View To Making Battery Positions at the Antietam National Battlefield Site, in National Park Service Files, Antietam National Battleground; Play tricks, William F. Regimental Losses in the American Civil State of war (1889); Dyer, Frederick H. A Compendium of the War of the Rebellion (1908); Phisterer, Frederick. Statistical record of the armies of the The states (1883); Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies; Gettysburg National Military Park.

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