History

Most Civil War artillery based, duplicated, improved, or adapted the ordnance of other nations. Between 1840 and 1860, John A. Dahlgren and Thomas Jackson Rodman improved the range and weight of shot used in cast guns, while Robert P. Parrott's rifled muzzle-loading gun outranged its smoothbore contemporaries.

Although rifled artillery promised to make smoothbore artillery obsolete, Union and Confederate armies during the Civil War did not abandon their muzzle‐loading smoothbores for rifled breechloaders or muzzleloaders. Prominent siege pieces included 10‐, 20‐, 30‐, 60‐, 100‐, 200‐, and 300‐pounder rifled artillery produced by Robert P. Parrott of the United States. Other important siege and coast artillery pieces were smoothbores developed by Capt. Thomas J. Rodman of the army. Some of the most popular rifled fieldpieces were the muzzle‐loading, wrought‐iron M1861 3‐inch rifle and muzzle‐loading 3- to 10-inch rifled guns. The latter, again manufactured by Robert P. Parrott, were of cast iron, with a wrought-iron hoop around the breech to prevent the weapon from bursting upon being fired. Like their smoothbore counterparts, rifled artillery fired solid shot, exploding shell, canister, and occasionally grapeshot, and used black powder as a propelling and bursting charge. However, smoothbore fieldpieces, especially the M1857 12‐pounder Napoleon, remained the favorite because direct fire (also called line-of-sight fire direction) and the difficult terrain of Civil War battlefields prevented gun crews from engaging targets beyond eyesight of roughly one mile and forced them to fire at targets at relatively short ranges. See also Civil War Artillery and Cannon: Field, Garrison and Siege, and Seacoast.

At the onset of the Civil War, the Confederacy had to scramble to meet the demands of the need for artillery and ammunition in the field. The Union had on hand 4,167 pieces of artillery, of which 163 were field guns and howitzers. "When the Confederates took over Federal arsenals, they acquired a considerable amount of heavy guns, but only 35 field pieces." Most of the country's powder mills were located in the North, and little ammunition had been made in the South for some fifty years. Starting almost from scratch, the South built some remarkably efficient mills and arsenals in places such as Augusta, Georgia; Nashville and Manchester, Tennessee; New Orleans, Louisiana; Marshall, Texas; and Petersburg, Virginia. The mill in Augusta didn't go into production until September of 1862, but managed to produce a total of two and three-quarter million pounds of fine quality powder.

Artillery was generally classed by its weight and caliber. Also taken into consideration was its mobility and the form of its carriage or mounting. "Field" artillery was the class name for ordnance light and mobile enough to move with the army, and to be maneuvered during battle. "Mountain" artillery was included in this class, as these guns had to be exceptionally light to be manhandled or transported over steep and rough terrain. "Heavy" artillery included siege guns and mortars. Although these guns were considered mobile, they were slow and unwieldy. Weighing slightly more than 115,000 pounds, the 20-inch Rodmans were considered the largest of these guns, firing a 1080-pound projectile.

(Above) Dyer, Frederick H. A Compendium of the War of the Rebellion (1908). Acclaimed Civil War statistician Dyer, in the table, indicates the total number of units--infantry, cavalry, artillery, engineers, and sharpshooters--for each state, North and South, that supported the Union, and in the bottom right corner is the grand total. While Dyer indicates the total Northern and Southern units that served in the Union military and concludes with the grand total, he also includes the contributions of African-Americans, Native Americans, and Border States in an easy to read format. See also Organization of Union and Confederate Armies: Infantry, Cavalry, Artillery.

The most lethal load of a field artilleryman was canister. Canister consisted of tin cylinders filled with iron shot, or musket balls, which would explode into a mass of troops, wreaking devastation.

To be effective on the battlefield, gunners had to get the piece within range of the enemy. Rarely though was an artillery battery ordered to gallop up at close range and unlimber their gun. Officers, knowing this was suicidal for the gun crews and their horses, did so only in moments of absolute necessity.

At the Bloody Angle, Spotsylvania, an artilleryman of Battery C, 5th U. S. Artillery, recounted an episode where just such an order was given. "...We were a considerable distance in front of our infantry, and of course artillery could not live long under such a fire as the enemy were putting through there. Our men went down in short order...Our men went into action with 23 men and one officer. The only ones who came out sound were the lieutenant and myself. Every horse was killed, 7 of the men were killed outright, 16 wounded; the gun carriages were so cut with bullets as to be of no further service... 27 balls passed through the lid of the limber chest..."

Many of the larger guns in both North and South were located in permanent fortifications. The Washington defense alone contained 807 guns and 98 mortars. A majority of these garrison guns never fired a shot at the enemy through the entire war. In 1864 some heavy artillery regiments were larger than infantry divisions which had suffered massive attrition from combat. In 1864 when Lt. Gen. U. S. Grant assumed command of all Union armies, he began reassigning, as well as redesignating, heavy artillery units to infantry units. Because heavy artillery units, now serving as infantry, were heavily engaged in the fighting of the Overland Campaign (aka Wilderness Campaign), and in the nearly 10 month Siege of Petersburg, the units sustained heavy casualties. Since heavy artillery units fought as infantry during the hotly contested major battles of the final year of the conflict, many suffered higher casualties than the infantry regiments that had been in the field for the entire four year war.

Types of Artillery

While the gunner sighted the piece, Number 1 sponged the bore; Number 5 received a round from Number 7 at the limber and carried the round to Number 2, who placed it in the bore. Number 1 rammed the round to the breech while Number 3 placed a thumb over the vent to prevent premature detonation of the charge. When the gun was loaded and sighted, Number 3 inserted a vent pick in the vent and punctured the cartridge bag. Number 4 attached a lanyard to a friction primer and inserted the primer in the vent. At the command “fire,” Number 4 yanked the lanyard. Number 6 cut fuzes for exploding shells (if needed). The process was repeated until the command was given to cease firing.

Principal Civil War Artillery and Characteristics

Note: Cannon were generally identified by the weight of their solid iron round shot, although some, like the 3-inch ordnance rifle, used the diameter of the bore for identification.

Ranges of United States smoothbore garrison guns of 1861

Ranges of United States naval smoothbores of 1866

Ranges of U.S. Howitzers in the 1860s

There were three drivers for each six-horse team, who rode the horses on the left side. A typical gun crew consisted of nine men. Where the artillery was designated as light artillery, the cannoneers either rode on the ammunition chests or walked beside their piece. With horse artillery (sometimes called flying artillery), the cannoneers each rode a horse, with two additional men acting as horse-holders in action.

In addition to the lieutenants commanding each section, another lieutenant usually commanded the line of caissons. There was also an orderly and quartermaster sergeant, five artificers, two buglers, and a guidon-bearer.

Four batteries were usually assigned to a division. When several divisions were organized into a corps, half of the divisional artillery was generally grouped as corps reserve. There was an army reserve of some one-hundred guns. When the horse artillery wasn't attached to the cavalry corps it was held in the army reserve.

Up until 1863, the Confederate armies and the western army of the Union assigned a battery to each infantry brigade. This was found to be a bad system since it eliminated the concentration of fire that was needed to beat back an attack. A good example of the effectiveness of the Federal divisional and reserve system was Malvern Hill, where 60 pieces of Federal artillery were amassed to smash one Southern battery after another as it was thrown piecemeal into action.

The composition of the individual batteries themselves varied in both armies and there was no set standard for either. Initially, a six-gun battery would have two howitzers; a 12-pounder battery thus had four 12-pound guns and two 24-pounder howitzers. A 6-pounder battery would have four 6-pounder guns and two 12-pounder howitzers. The 6-pounder was used mainly by the South, and was later replaced by 3-inch rifles and 12-pounder smoothbores. There wasn’t much extra metal needed to make a 12-pounder, and over the winter of 1862-63 the Tredegar Works in Richmond (among others) was busy melting and re-casting guns.

Since Confederate batteries were often comprised up of captured pieces, and a mixture of types of weapons, the work of the ordnance department to supply ammunition became a complex one.

The Northern armies, more uniformly equipped, were usually armed with the 3-inch rifle, the 10-pounder parrot, the 20-pounder parrot, or the 12-pounder Napoleon. However, artillery batteries on both sides often had a few non-standard rifles, and all guns required several types of ammunition.

(Right) Fox, William F. Regimental Losses in the American Civil War (1889). Fox stated the Union field artillery batteries that sustained the most in killed and mortally wounded during the Civil War. While the numbers may appear to be minor when compared to the losses suffered by most heavy artillery regiments, the field battery consisted of approximately 100 men, while the heavy artillery regiment contained 1,800 men, divided into 12 batteries. (Some H.A. regiments had as many as 5,000 names on the rolls by war's end.) Hence, on a percentage basis, some of the field batteries suffered high casualties.

The U.S. Army adopted the 1853 French made 12-pounder and referred to it as Model 1857 12-pounder Napoleon or simply as M1857 light. When the Civil War  commenced, the gun's simplicity enabled the Confederates to replicate it, making the Napoleon virtually a universal artillery piece, with captured cannon easily pressed into service by either side. Various wartime foundries produced some 1,100 Napoleons in the North and 600 in the South. Such was the gun's effectiveness that in 1863 General Robert E. Lee had all six-pounders in the Army of Northern Virginia sent to the Tredegar Iron Works in Richmond, VA., to be melted down and recast as 12-pounders. The November 1863 Union seizure of the Ducktown copper mines near Chattanooga, Tenn., cut Confederate production of bronze, so Tredegar cast later models of the Napoleon in iron.

Among artillerists, there was a difference of opinion as to which weapon was more effective, rifled guns or smoothbores. While the rifled gun had longer range and far greater accuracy, the smoothbore was thought to be more effective in wooded and broken country, its larger bore inflicting more damage at close range. The large windage and loss of velocity of the smoothbore’s roundshot made long-range accuracy impossible. Some artillerists reported that a disadvantage with the rifled gun was the fact its projectile would burrow itself into the ground if it had the slightest angle on it, yet it had a slightly higher rate of fire than the smoothbore.

The ammunition used for a smoothbore varied from solid shot to canister. Solid shot was used for battering and against massed troops, while shell was used against earthworks and troops under cover. Spherical case, or shrapnel, was used against bodies of troops at a distance, usually from 500 to 1500 yards, while canister was used at close range, usually 350 yards or less. In some instances, double-canister with a single charge was used.

The most commonly used ammunition for the rifled gun was the 3-inch Parrot Shell, 3-inch Reed Shell, 3-inch Confederate Shell, 3-inch Absterdam Shot, the 12-pounder Blakely, Whitworth 12-pounder shot (also referred to as "bolts"), 4-inch Hotchkiss Shell, the James Shell, the 2.4 inch Pattison Shot, 3-inch Schenkl Shell, 2.25-inch Confederate Shell, 3.75-inch Sawyer Shell, 24-pound Dyer Shell and the Confederate 3.5-inch Winged Shot. Also used was the Confederate 4.2-inch Flanged Percussion Shell.

Fuzes were used to explode shell and spherical case shot. These fuzes were either ignited by the flash of the discharge, timed to set off the bursting on or near the target, or fired by the impact of the projectile striking the target (percussion). The majority of the smoothbores used the first type of fuze, as the percussion fuze only worked if the projectile struck the target nose-first. The rifled guns used either the timed or percussion fuze, and sometimes both. Neither kind of fuze was very reliable since black powder doesn’t burn at an entirely reliable rate, but they improved during the war.

During the Civil War, few breechloaders were used, as their breech mechanisms were thought to be clumsy and complicated. However, two of the breechloaders that did see usage were the Armstrong and the Whitworth. Both of these guns proved to have a far better accuracy than any of the muzzle-loading smoothbores.

As a siege gun, the smoothbores were eventually replaced or rifled, due to the greater accuracy of the rifled gun. Their destructive firepower also made the old brick and stone forts of a thing of the past. Although attempts were made to convert some of these smoothbores to rifled guns by reinforcing them with wrought-iron rings, the cast iron of the gun was not strong enough to withstand the increased pressures. Many of these converted guns burst, proving deadlier to the crew than their enemies.

As in heavy artillery, mortars were classed as "siege" or "seacoast" guns. The 8-inch and light model 10-inch mortar siege guns, while cumbersome, could be transported on mortar wagons. The longer and heavier models of the 10-inch and the giant 13-inch mortars were classified as "seacoast," as they could only be moved with great difficulty by rail or ship. Mortars typically used spherical shells, and both timed and percussion fuzes. Although experiments were made using canister shot as shells, the gun crews were unable to remain at their guns under the shower of metal.

The primary types of mortars used during the war were siege and garrison (light), and seacoast (heavy). (Coehorns are also classified as siege and garrison.) Mortars, however, were generally referred to as either heavy or light. While guns were intended to batter down the walls of a fortification during a siege, mortars were designed to fire explosive shells over the walls of the fortification, killing the garrison, forcing the garrison to remain in bombproof shelters, preventing the garrison from serving their guns and repairing damage caused by the bombardment. Mortars could also destroy structures inside the fortification such as barracks and kitchens. Heavier mortar shells could penetrate magazines and many bombproof shelters.

Integration of Artillery at Gettysburg

A variety of weapons was carried at Gettysburg. Revolvers, swords, and bayonets were abundant, but the basic infantry weapon of both armies was a muzzle-loading rifle musket about 4.7 feet long, weighing approximately 9 pounds. They came in many models, but the most common and popular were the Springfield and the English-made Enfield. They were hard hitting, deadly weapons, very accurate at a range of 200 yards and effective at 1,000 yards. With black powder, ignited by percussion caps, they fired "Minie Balls"—hollow-based lead slugs half an inch in diameter and an inch long. A good soldier could load and fire his rifle three times a minute, but in the confusion of battle the rate of fire was probably slower.

There were also some breech-loading small arms at Gettysburg. Union cavalrymen carried Sharps and Burnside single-shot carbines and a few infantry units carried Sharps rifles. Spencer repeating rifles were used in limited quantity by Union cavalry on July 3 and by a few Union infantry. In the total picture of the battle, the use of these efficient weapons was actually quite small.

(Right) Fort Sumter damage progression caused by Union artillery bombardment during the first few years of the American Civil War. By war's end, the fort was completely in ruins. Today, however, Fort Sumter has been restored, hosts a nice variety of artillery pieces, and is open to the public.

Those who fought at Gettysburg with rifles and carbines were supported by nearly 630 cannon—360 Union and 270 Confederate. Nearly half of these were rifled iron pieces, all but four of the others were smoothbore bronze guns. The same types of cannon were used by both armies.

Almost all of the bronze pieces were 12 pounders, either howitzers or "Napoleons." They could hurl a 12-pound iron ball nearly a mile and were deadly at short ranges, particularly when firing canister. Other bronze cannon included 24 pounder howitzers and 6 pounder guns. All types are represented in the park today, coated with patina instead of being polished as they were when in use.

Most of the iron rifled pieces at Gettysburg had a 3-inch bore and fired a projectile which weighed approximately 10 pounds. There were two types of these—3-inch ordnance rifles and 10 pounder Parrotts. It is easy to tell them apart for the Parrott has a reinforcing jacket around its breech, The effective range of these guns was somewhat in excess of a mile, limited in part because direct fire was used and the visibility of gunners was restricted.

Two other types of rifled guns were used at Gettysburg—four bronze James guns and two Whitworth rifles. The Whitworths were unique because they were breech loading and were reported to have had exceptional range and accuracy. However, their effect at Gettysburg must have been small for one was out of action much of the time.

These artillery pieces used three types of ammunition. All cannon could fire solid projectiles or shot. They also hurled fused, hollow shells which contained black powder and sometimes held lead balls or shrapnel. Canister consisted of cans filled with iron or lead balls. These cans burst apart on firing, converting the cannon into an oversized shotgun.

Most technical phrases are explained in the text, but for convenient reference, however, some important words are defined below:

Ballistics—the science dealing with the motion of projectiles.

Barbette carriage—as used here, a traverse carriage on which a gun is mounted to fire over a parapet.

Breechblock—a movable piece which closes the breech of a cannon.

Caliber—diameter of the bore; also used to express bore length. A 30-caliber gun has a bore length 30 times the diameter of the bore.

Cartridge—a bag or case holding a complete powder charge for the cannon, and in some instances also containing the projectile.

Casemate carriage—as used here, a traverse carriage in a fort gunroom (casemate). The gun fired through an embrasure or loophole in the wall of the room.

Chamber—the part of the bore which holds the propelling charge, especially when of different diameter than the rest of the bore; in chambered muzzle-loaders, the chamber diameter was smaller than that of the bore.

Elevation—the angle between the axis of a piece and the horizontal plane.

Fuze—a device to ignite the charge of a shell or other projectile.

Grommet—a rope ring used as a wad to hold a cannonball in place in the bore.

Gun—any firearm; in the limited sense, a long cannon with high muzzle velocity and flat trajectory.

Howitzer—a short cannon, intermediate between the gun and mortar.

Lay—to aim a gun.

Limber—a two-wheeled vehicle to which the gun trail is attached for transport.

Mandrel—a metal bar, used as a core around which metal may be forged or otherwise shaped.

Mortar—a very short cannon used for high or curved trajectory firing.

Point-blank—as (p. 088) used here, the point where the projectile, when fired from a level bore, first strikes the horizontal ground in front of the cannon.

Projectiles—canister or case shot: a can filled with small missiles that scatter after firing from the gun. Grape shot: a cluster of small iron balls, which scatter upon firing. Shell: explosive missile; a hollow cast-iron ball, filled with gunpowder, with a fuze to produce detonation; a long, hollow projectile, filled with explosive and fitted with a fuze. Shot: a solid projectile, non-explosive.

Quoin—a wedge placed under the breech of a gun to fix its elevation.

Range—The horizontal distance from a gun to its target or to the point where the projectile first strikes the ground. Effective range is the distance at which effective results may be expected, and is usually not the same as maximum range, which means the extreme limit of range.

Rotating band—a band of soft metal, such as copper, which encircles the projectile near its base. By engaging the lands of the spiral rifling in the bore, the band causes rotation of the projectile. Rotating bands for muzzle-loading cannon were expansion rings, and the powder blast expanded the ring into the rifling grooves.

Train—to aim a gun.

Trajectory—curved path taken by a projectile in its flight through the air.

Transom—horizontal beam between the cheeks of a gun carriage.

Traverse carriage—as used here, a stationary gun mount, consisting of a gun carriage on a wheeled platform which can be moved about a pivot for aiming the gun to right or left.

Windage—as used here, the difference between the diameter of the shot and the diameter of the bore.

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