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Posted on 02/13/2005 9:34:03 PM PST by SAMWolf
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 are acknowledged, affirmed and commemorated.
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| Our Mission: The FReeper Foxhole is dedicated to Veterans of our Nation's military forces and to others who are affected in their relationships with Veterans. In the FReeper Foxhole, Veterans or their family members should feel free to address their specific circumstances or whatever issues concern them in an atmosphere of peace, understanding, brotherhood and support. The FReeper Foxhole hopes to share with it's readers an open forum where we can learn about and discuss military history, military news and other topics of concern or interest to our readers be they Veteran's, Current Duty or anyone interested in what we have to offer. If the Foxhole makes someone appreciate, even a little, what others have sacrificed for us, then it has accomplished one of it's missions. We hope the Foxhole in some small way helps us to remember and honor those who came before us.
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Double-Barreled Cannon Meant to Sweep Union Infantry off the Field On a spring morning in April 1862, a number of men gathered in a field near Newton's Bridge on the north side of Athens, Georgia, to witness a demonstration of a weapon that they believed would revolutionize the art of warfare. Rolled into position was a newly forged cannon ready for test-firing, one that everyone present could clearly see was no ordinary cannon.  Its inventor, 53-year-old John Gilleland - an Athens carpenter and cabinetmaker before the war and now a private in the Mitchell Thunderbolts, a homeguard unit composed of men too old for active service - prepared the new gun for firing. Several of the spectators milling around the gun had contributed to its financing. Thirty-six men, many of whom belonged to the Thunderbolts, had raised a total of $350 through a subscription fund. Its casting at the foundry had been personally supervised by Thomas Bailey, a longtime Athens resident and member of the Thunderbolts. A target of several upright posts was erected a short distance away. Gilleland, with the help of others, rammed balls of solid shot, connected to each other by a 10-foot length of chain, into each barrel. An excess length of chain was allowed to drape down toward the ground between the two barrels. The men gathered behind the gun as Gilleland approached the breech, attached a lanyard to a friction primer and carefully inserted the primer into the center vent. Gilleland had designed his new weapon to fire mainly "chain shot," two cannonballs connected by heavy chain, intended to mow down large formations of enemy troops like so many acres of wheat. Gilleland's concept was not as impractical as it might have seemed. Chain shot had been used routinely in naval warfare as far back as the 1600s. It was invented by the French, who preferred to incapacitate opposing ships by knocking down and destroying their masts and rigging during pitched battles, as opposed to the British preference of pounding the hulls of enemy ships with shot aimed at the waterline to stop and sink them as quickly as possible. The common procedure with chain shot was to load two balls connected by a chain into a single cannon barrel, fire it off, and watch the twirling projectiles shred the enemy's sails or wrap around and bring down their huge masts. Eventually, the use of chain shot became a common naval procedure, perfected by the Spanish. The outbreak of Civil War hostilities renewed efforts to find a successful method for using chain shot in field artillery. Various inventors submitted plans and prototypes to both the Union and Confederate governments, including forked cannons, but the strange-looking weapons proved impractical or else failed to produce the desired results. Gilleland had read many newspaper stories and accounts of experienced troops returning to Athens after major battles; he realized that although the Confederate armies were often quite effective in the field, they suffered from a lack of manpower and were easily flanked by greater numbers of Union troops. In an effort to equalize the manpower situation, the Athens inventor set out to design a cannon that would bring down large numbers of enemy soldiers at one time. The design that Gilleland settled on was a double-barreled 6-pounder, cast in one piece with a 3-degree divergence between the two bores that would fire the projectiles at a slight angle away from each other. Thus the projectiles, fired separately but simultaneously, would pull the chain taut between them as they hurtled across the battlefield, somewhere between waist- and chin-high, cutting down troops like a giant scythe. At the first test-firing, observers watched intently as Gilleland stepped up to the cannon and gave the lanyard a hard yank. First one barrel and then the other thundered into action. The cannon jumped violently in recoil and spewed its connected shot erratically across the field, missing its intended target. "It [came out in] a kind of circular motion," reported one eyewitness, "plowed up about an acre of ground, tore up a cornfield, mowed down saplings, and [then] the chain broke, the two balls going in different directions."  >Undaunted, Gilleland recharged the barrels and rammed more connected shot into each. Again the weapon was touched off, and again the twin barrels grudgingly bellowed, blasting the chain shot across the horizon and into a thicket of pine. "[The] thicket of young pines at which it was aimed looked as if a narrow cyclone or a giant mowing machine had passed through," reported another witness. Several more firings were made in an effort to synchronize the barrels. Primed again and loaded with more shot, the gun again was touched off. This time the chain snapped immediately. One ball tore into a nearby cabin, knocking down its chimney; the other spun off erratically and struck a nearby cow, killing it instantly. The gun had begun to demonstrate its desired effect - wanton killing and destruction - but not to the degree that the men had hoped. "When both barrels did happen to explode exactly together," complained a witness years later, "no chain was found strong enough to hold the balls together in flight." Gilleland nevertheless considered the test-firings a success. Some of the investors were not so sure. The cannon was sent to the Confederate arsenal in Augusta, Ga., for further experimentation. After lengthy testing by Colonel George W. Rains, commandant of the arsenal, the cannon was sent back to Athens. In his report to the Confederate secretary of war, Rains judged that Gilleland's new cannon was not usable, since the balls created different levels of friction and the gunpowder charges burned at different rates. Gilleland was incensed and fired off several angry letters to the Confederate government in Richmond. Unable to get the government to adopt the gun or to perfect its performance, Gilleland contacted Georgia Governor Joseph E. Brown and tried to solicit his interest. That, too, failed. The gun remained in front of the Athens town hall for use as a signal device in the event of enemy attack. In August 1864, when citizens learned that Brig. Gen. George Stoneman's Federal troops were approaching, they moved the cannon three miles out of town to the hills above Barber's Creek. There, on August 2, Gilleland's double-barreled weapon was positioned on a ridge in the bottom tier of several cannons rolled into place by Lumpkin's Artillery Company. Both barrels were loaded with canister. Upon the approach of Union troops, who greatly out-numbered the homeguard units, a four-shell barrage was fired, and the enemy quickly withdrew from the area. The cannon saw no other action after that skirmish. It was moved back to town and sat in front of the town hall for some time. After the war, the gun was sold, and its whereabouts remained unknown until it was relocated in the 1890s and restored to its original condition. Today, the double-barreled cannon is on display in the City Hall Plaza in downtown Athens.
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And therein lay the problem. How many were slaughtered becasue of out of date tactics?
You are appreciated for all that you do here!
Thanks ruoflaw
Happy Valentines Day to all in the Foxhole.
LOL! Thank God he decided to use it too.
We expect him to be released soon.
His pacemaker has about a year left before it needs to be replaced.
Thanks for the update on your Dad.
THE INVENTION OF BARBED WIRE Joseph F. Glidden of Dekalb, Illinois attended a county fair where he observed a demonstration of a wooden rail with sharp nails protruding along its sides, hanging inside a smooth wire fence. This inspired him to invent and patent a successful barbed wire in the form we recognize today. Glidden fashioned barbs on an improvised coffee bean grinder, placed them at intervals along a smooth wire, and twisted another wire around the first to hold the barbs in a fixed position.
THE BARBED WIRE BOOM The advent of Glidden's successful invention set off a creative frenzy that eventually produced over 570 barbed wire patents. It also set the stage for a three-year legal battle over the rights to these patents.
THE FATHER OF BARBED WIRE When the legal battles were over, Joseph Glidden was declared the winner and the Father of Barbed Wire.
Linda Glidden in my grade school and high school alluded to her relative's invention, maintained a fascination with horses, and at the funeral of our eighth-grade teacher was looking for "somebody to build me a barn".
What if both side had nukes?
Another one of those CW stories that slips under the radar . . . but the Foxhole vets dig it up.
Thus the projectiles, fired separately but simultaneously, would pull the chain taut between them as they hurtled across the battlefield, somewhere between waist- and chin-high, cutting down troops like a giant scythe.
In some ways I'm glad this weapon was a failure. Of course when you consider the effects of "double cannisters" fired over (and through) approaching infantry . . . no words can describe. What I do find interesting is that no one suggested simply utilizing this cannon as a regular part of an enfilade wherein at least one barrel is always loaded so that there is never a pause to reload along the column of cannon fire. But that's just the view from the "cheap seats". Great read.
HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY
This rare wildbird says . . .
LOL. My goodness that picture scared me!
So w, have you given up steak so you can afford Nyjer seed?
I had a Northern Flicker show up at my suet feeder. Cool!
Afternoon Phil Dragoo.
Barbed war also started a lot of "Cattle Wars" in the West.
I'd love to have that M230 mounted on my SUV roof. :-)
Afternoon Victoria. Cute picture. You just gotta love puppies.
The way feelings were at the time, I think they'd have used them.
Defoliate this.
That was interesting. Thank you for the ping!
Fort Sumpter would have been glass.
I think you are right, there is no question they would have used them.
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