Artillery of the Civil War
civil war cannon types
Picture cannons pounding the front lines of enemy forces, with large 10-to- 32-pound balls detonating all around them. This is the nature of artillery warfare. In today’s warfare, artillery has become increasingly devastating, with shells able to pinpoint specific targets with amazing precision, or obliterate large areas.
In the Civil War, there were really two kinds of artillery, which were in turn broken into two categories. There were field guns (cannons) and howitzers, and each of these were split into smoothbore and rifled barrels the same way muskets were.
In fact, in many ways, artillery mimicked the differences in muskets, with those same differences in the cannons. Some were smoothbore, some were rifled; others were muzzle-loaded, and some were breech-loaded.
Field Guns and Howitzers
This is one of the main differences between the pieces of artillery used during the Civil War. A field gun was a longer barreled gun that was fired at a relatively flat trajectory. The typical elevation from level for these weapons was 5 degrees upward.
The range of the field guns was considerably more than that of howitzers, and they had a larger charge, though the ordnance (cannon ball) inside was considerably smaller. Some of the field guns could fire well over a mile.
The Howitzer was a short-barreled armament that fired larger ordnance than the field guns. It also fired cannonballs at a much greater arc than was the case for other artillery.
The range of a howitzer was considerably shorter, but as a practical consideration this mattered little. A gunner needed to be able to see his target in order to adjust for accuracy, so very rarely was the long range of the field guns ever fully utilized. This made the larger ordnance and reasonable accuracy of the Howitzer extremely important.
Smoothbore and rifled
Muskets with rifled bores had considerably more accuracy and range than their smoothbore counterparts. While rifled canons could fire a more powerful and longer range ordnance, the previously mentioned need for gunners to be able to see their targets tended to negate this advantage.
Also, most cannons were struck in bronze, which is a softer metal than the iron with which rifle bores were made. Each time the cannon was fired, the iron ball would erode the spiral on the inside of the cannon, eventually rendering the rifling useless.
The added force with which rifled canons launched their ordnance could be advantageous in one situation--if the armies needed to break through walls or impart significant damage in buildings or other immovable objects.
Breechloaders
This was a major advancement in the musket, but it didn’t seem to translate very well to the cannon. Because of the force of the explosion in the chamber when ignited, a very strong mechanism was needed at the back to withstand the firing. Then the canon had to be reloaded and readied to fire again immediately.
There were obvious advantages to being able to load from the back of the cannon, just as there were with the musket. Unfortunately, the technology wasn’t available at the time to makea fully breech-loadable cannon.
Common Civil War cannons
Early in the war, Northern and Southern armies used a mixed batch of whatever cannons could be imported. Soon enough, though, both sides were making their own cannons and ordnance and the fight was on.
A handful of cannons of different types typically dotted the hillsides during battle. Here are a few of those:
· Light 12-pounder M-1857 (Napoleon)
· Six-pounder M-1841
· 3-inch ordnance rifle
· 12-pound howitzer
Light 12-pounder M-1857
This was by far the most common cannon used in the Civil War by both sides. It was nicknamed the “Napoleon.” The Confederates used the M1841 quite extensively, but they had the “Napoleon” on their side as well.
This was a very versatile weapon because of its portability and its use fullness as an offensive and defensive weapon. It is believed that the Napoleon was the cause of more artillery casualties than all the other models combined during the Civil War.
It could fire as far as 1700 yards, but was deadly accurate within a range of 300 yards. There was never really a need for the cannon to fire ordnance over 500 yards.
Six-pounder M-1841
This smoothbore cannon was the most common piece of artillery used by the Confederate army, mainly because the Confederates inherited many of them from the Mexican War. They couldn’t afford nor supply the production of the newer M-1857, so they stuck with what they had at the time, which was this piece of artillery.
3-inch ordnance rifle
This sleek cannon model was made of wrought iron hammered together in a criss-cross pattern to ensure excellent strength. It was then rifled out and buffed into shape.
It quickly became a favorite of both the Union and Confederate artillery teams because it was extremely lightweight and had a working range of 1850 yards.
Even though it took considerably more time and effort (not to mention money) to produce the 3-inch ordnance, it was extremely durable, reliable, and deadly accurate. It was the next generation of cannons.
12-pound Howitzer
This was a very popular Confederate-made howitzer, designed and produced at the Tredegar Iron Works in Virginia. It was typically fired at between 5 and 10 degrees, with the range at 5 degrees being 1100 yards.
It was relatively lightweight and portable (only 788 pounds – the Napoleon was 1227 pounds), and could be used in any battle situations. It had a large ordnance that inflicted heavy casualties on impact.
Canister projectiles – grape shot
This was a type of ordnance that had widespread use. Essentially, it was shotshell in the cannonball that was sent screaming into opposition lines.
When it was fired from the cannon and exploded in the combat field, the canister inside the ordnance burst open as well – spraying lead pellets very similar to the way a shotgun spreads buckshot.
This was an extremely effective way for shorter range cannons to inflict large casualties on opposing armies.
Impact of artillery
The outcome of the was in large part a direct result of the overwhelming firepower of the Union armies. The huge industrial advantage of the North gave them the opportunity to mass-produce weapons artillery, as well as other weapons.
There is no questioning the impact of artillery on the war, especially in the favor of the North. As was stated earlier, the Napoleon inflicted the most casualties of any other artillery piece combined – and it was most prolific in the Union armies.
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