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Civil War Field Artillery Essay

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During the American Civil War, distinct types of field artillery were mass-produced to aid in the battles fought by the Union and Confederate soldiers. Field artillery are characterized as large guns that are designed to be mobile enough to be brought close to the front lines. The several types were, the 6-pounder Gun, 12-pounder Napoleon, 12-pounder Howitzer, 24-pounder Howitzer, 10-pounder Parrott rifle, 3-inch Ordnance Rifle, and the 20-pounder Parrott rifle. Despite the diverse names of artillery listed above, in Layman’s terms all are best known as cannons. The 6-Pounder Gun was used during the Mexican war but afterwards was no longer used by the Union military, though the Confederate military continued the use of this cannon because they didn’t possess the same funds as the Union to be able to dismiss it so easily. This cannon was manufactured in 1841-1863 with a tube structure of bronze or cast iron, a powder charge of 1.25 pounds, a bore diameter of 3.67 inches, and a length of 5 feet to fire a six-pound round ball up to 1,523 yards. Not forgetting to mention the tube itself weighed a solid 884 lbs. requiring a field carriage of 900 lbs. with 57-inch wheels for it to be pulled by six horses. M1857 12-pounder …show more content…

Lee the lighter bronze 6 pounder cannon mentioned before was melted down to be able to make more of these lethal 12-pound Napoleon cannons. This ended up being more useful to the confederate soldiers because with the cannons being made of bronze, they were lighter and safer than when made from iron because during battle it made it less likely for the cannon to explode when being fired resulting in killing a few of the rounds men. There was a smoothbore model 1841 12 pounder but, they would be melted down due to them being made from heavy iron their weight of 1800 became a large liability when dragging into battle especially with the iron being the issue for the other 12 pounder causing explosions when

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