Clue me in on Civil War Cannon loadings!

i spent a career in US Army EOD. At Fort Bragg in the late 50s-early 60s we often dealt with civil war explosive ordnance. The Tice concussion fuze was used in Parrot type projectiles.

US Navy EOD CWO John Bartleson, wrote a good book on civil war explosive ordnance:

https://www.scribd.com/document/67675104/Civil-War-Explosive-Ordnance

Captain Ian Hogg, Royal Artillery (ret.) knows a thing or two about all this red-leg biz []

Linguistically, the first shells for what we now call howitzers (then called mortars) were called bombs (also bombes).
Mortars were very over-built in the early 1800s; the barrel walls were close to the bore diameter thick. That was partially due to how they were typically fixed in elevation at 40º to 45º. The range was adjusted by varying the powder charge.

The bombs were hollow and powder-filled. They used a fuse, often a cannon fuse to allow them to burst before hitting the ground. Initially, the gunners lit the fuses once the shells were tamped home. Which meant the gunner and his linstock (a wooden strut with a "pinch" to hold a burning slow-match [cotton or linen cord impregnated with gunpowder that burned at >12"/minute; contrast quick match, a similar cord which burned circa 1"/minute]) had to look down the bore of a loaded mortar with the very real possibility that embers would fall from one match or the other and onto the propelling charge.

So, letting the "blow by" light the fuse was much preferable. As Jeff pointed out astutely above.

But fuses not running to spec is why we have "...ombs bursting in air..." in the Star Spangled Banner.

Naval mortars were carried on very specialized ships; ketches and sloops. Hence the name "bomb ketch" or "bomb sloop" to refer to them. Naval mortars were some of the first to have adjustable elevation, as it was needful at sea, even when anchored so as to shell shore installations.

Yup, Hornblower did it.

During the Civil War they had a Seacoast Mortar that was known as 'The Dictator' . It had a 13" bore dia.

Great material and references. Very informative. Thanks, guys.

If you're ever around Springfield, MO. The Wilson Creek Nat'l Battlefield has a very good live fire presentation on Cannon rounds and firing order. Like previously said a good fuse cutter was a plus and if I remember correctly (according to the Park Service Ranger) they would use 1 shot cannister with 2 powder bags or 2 shot cannisters with 1 powder bag depending on the range of the infantry.

Saw this today, and figured it was entertaining and germane.

Cap'n Mac,

First thanks for the video.

Actually the bombs bursting in air in the National Anthem where likely fuzed to do so. Case shot fired from mortars was set to go off well over a target. Think for just a moment about a one inch iron sphere falling from say 300 or so feet in the air. Now think about 50 or so scattered from a single projectile….

Think primitive Cluster Bomb Unit. One inch Iron Ball is going to be going some where between 200 and 300 feet persecond….it weighs more than a base ball and has half the cross sectional area and is harder ....its going more than twice what the very best pro baseball pitcher can throw a ball at, if you want to think about it that way. Anyone hit has pretty much got other things to worry about than manning his gun or repelling landing parties.

Way back when Spaniards were hollowing out short stumpy log sections to make one shot mortars with in the early 1500s some one figured out early on that while one good head sized rock was a neat thing to lob over an enemy wall that a basket of a dozen palm sized stones had a certain appeal as weaponry as well. 250 years later the projectiles and their submunitions were vastly improved, but the same concept.

This same concept is alive and well today with Improved Conventional Munitions (ICM). The US Army really likes the 155 ICM round. Think about a hollow shell with a very small charge that shoves three bundles of 30mm grenades out the back of the incoming shell. Each grenade consist of a tubular body containing pre notched wire fragmentation so each individual grenade gives a five meter effective casualty radius when the fuze sets off the charge which just happens to be a lined shaped charge (High Explosive Anti Tank) capable of penetrating the tops of most tanks and the turrets and bodies of most Infantry fighting vehicles and more importantly Self Propelled Guns Each grenade has a cloth looped ribbon like a kite tail to keep it going with the hollow charge pointed at the target.

I believe the Navy has rounds of this type for the 5 inch rapid fire gun system.

Now yea old fuze time from WWI and WWII's US Fuze VT (now that means Variable Time but originally meant Vacuum Tube) all burst in the air (if done right), but not so high You want those 5 to 20 meters high (OK actually 7 to 15 but.... really) so the explosive effects of their fragment production is still going strong when actual targets are hit.

Parts of being a Commisioned Dirty Red Leg ( Cannon Battery Officer) were fun but overall I did not care for it. Really did punch up my 'satiable curtiosity' (my Kipple for today) about how folks did it before me though...

-kBob

Here's a seacoast Parrott Rifle where the shell exploded at the muzzle due to a faulty fuze. They eventually cold chiseled the nuzzle smooth and kept using it.



Here's a drawing of the types of artillery projectiles.



A: Soild shot attached to a sabot.
B: Case type attached to sabot with linen powder bag.
C: The means of crossing the straps that hold the sabot to the projectile 1; for solid shot 2; for case with hole in center plate for the fuze.
D: Sabot
E: Case projectile; gunpowder inside shatters wall and throws chunks of it in every direction.
F: Spherical Case; has round iron balls packed in sulfur inside. Has much smaller bursting charge than standard case. But was actually deadlier.
G: Cannister; turns a smoothbore cannon into a giant shotgun.
H: Cannister with attached powder bag.
I: Sabot for a howitzer which had a much smaller powder chamber than the bore in order to help it sustain the shock of firing case shell at high angles.

Kaeto,

Jack Coggins "Arms and Equipment of the Civil War"?

Excellent little primer, that! Every hopeful Bolo Commander should have a copy. There was a copy in my elementary school and I am not sure how many times I checked it out. When Barnes and Nobles offered a reprint in 1999 I finally got a copy of my own.

I thought the comment that some one made that some of us must have better public libraries than theirs to have some of these artillery and history tomes was sort of funny.....some of us have better personal libraries than there are publicly for such things!

BTW Amazon has the book for $15 in paper back and $10 for kindle.

For those interested in the history of fighting men I recommend as a good starter Coggins' "The Fighting Man" also available on Amazon

Both would be good middle school history additions so a good place to get some basic ideas.

-kBob

Kaeto,

Also that Parrot is a good example of why the chief of piece sent everyone but himself and the gunner out of the gun gallery before the piece was fired if he was doing it correctly.

-kBob

kBob said:

Kaeto,

Jack Coggins "Arms and Equipment of the Civil War"?

Excellent little primer, that! Every hopeful Bolo Commander should have a copy. There was a copy in my elementary school and I am not sure how many times I checked it out. When Barnes and Nobles offered a reprint in 1999 I finally got a copy of my own.

I thought the comment that some one made that some of us must have better public libraries than theirs to have some of these artillery and history tomes was sort of funny.....some of us have better personal libraries than there are publicly for such things!

BTW Amazon has the book for $15 in paper back and $10 for kindle.

For those interested in the history of fighting men I recommend as a good starter Coggins' "The Fighting Man" also available on Amazon

Both would be good middle school history additions so a good place to get some basic ideas.

-kBob

Click to expand...

I have the Coggins book. I had to buy a replacement when I wore it out from reading it so much.

total recoil said:

Holey Moley!!!! The thickness of the barrel shoulda' taken care of any black powder over charge that one could put behind a projectile. Somebody musta' put a square ball into the barrel! OR the gun was defective???

Click to expand...

It wasn't an overcharge. A shell exploded at the muzzle as it was being fired due to a faulty fuze.

I do know for a fact, many didn't explode, why found projectiles should be treated as bombs; growing up in Northern Fla as a kid many yrs ago, I frequently went to Ft Pickens and the surrounding beaches, my father actually found a socket bayonet in the sand on the beach back in 1964. There were occasional cannon balls found around and on the beach, 2 were found by a local man that used them as fire place ornaments, till one especially cold winter his house blew up and 1/4th of a cannon ball was found by where the fire place used to be.

I visited the Desoto Bend Wildlife area in Western Iowa and went through the Bertrand museum. They recovered a lot of cannon balls which were being shipped west on the boat and have one on display that they cut in half illustrating the the smaller shot and powder. If you are anywhere close to Blair Nebraska or Missouri Valley Iowa be sure to visit this display. The entrance fee is only $3 per vehicle.......
https://www.fws.gov/refuge/Desoto/wildlife_and_habitat/steamboat_bertrand.html