The FReeper Foxhole Remembers The Battle of 1st Manassas(Bull Run)

Here are the Medal of Honor Recipients either for, or at least involve this battle. As usual, the citations are from the Army Center for Military History

AMES, ADELBERT

Rank and organization: First Lieutenant, 5th U.S. Artillery. Place and date: At Bull Run, Va., 21 July 1861. Entered service at: Rockland, Maine. Birth: East Thomaston, Maine. Date of issue: 22 June 1894. Citation: remained upon the field in command of a section of Griffin's Battery, directing its fire after being severely wounded and refusing to leave the field until too weak to sit upon the caisson where he had been placed by men of his command.

BENJAMIN, SAMUEL N.

Rank and organization: First Lieutenant, 2d U.S. Artillery. Place and date: From Bull Run to Spotsylvania, Va., from July 1861 to May 1864. Entered service at: New York, N.Y. Birth: New York, N.Y. Date of issue: 11 June 1877. Citation: Particularly distinguished services as an artillery officer.

COOKE, WALTER H.

Rank and organization: Captain, Company K, 4th Pennsylvania Infantry Militia. Place and date. At Bull Run, Va., 21 July 1861. Entered service at:------. Birth: Norristown, Pa. Date of issue: 19 May 1887. Citation: Voluntarily served as an aide on the staff of Col. David Hunter and participated in the battle, his term of service having expired on the previous day.

HARTRANFT, JOHN F.

Rank and organization: Colonel, 4th Pennsylvania Militia. Place and date: At Bull Run, Va., 21 July 1861. Entered service at: Norristown, Pa. Born: 16 December 1830, New Hanover Township, Montgomery County, Pa. Date of issue: 26 August 1886. Citation: Voluntarily served as an aide and participated in the battle after expiration of his term of service, distinguishing himself in rallying several regiments which had been thrown into confusion.

KNOWLES, ABIATHER J.

Rank and organization: Private, Company D, 2d Maine Infantry. Place and date: At Bull Run, Va., 21 July 1861, Entered service at: ------. Born: 15 March 1830, LaGrange, Maine. Date of issue: 27 December 1894. Citation: Removed dead and wounded under heavy fire.

McGOUGH, OWEN

Rank and organization: Corporal, Battery D, 5th U.S. Artillery. Place and date: At Bull Run, Va., 21 July 1861. Entered service at:------. Birth: Ireland. Date of issue: 28 August 1897. Citation: Through his personal exertions under a heavy fire, one of the guns of his battery was brought off the field; all the other guns were lost.

MERRITT, JOHN G.

Rank and organization: Sergeant, Company K, 1st Minnesota Infantry. Place and date: At Bull Run, Va., 21 July 1861. Entered service at: ------. Birth: New York. Date of issue: 1 April 1880. Citation: Gallantry in action; was wounded while capturing flag in advance of his regiment.

MURPHY, CHARLES J.

Rank and organization: First Lieutenant and Quartermaster, 38th New York Infantry. Place and date: At Bull Run, Va., 21 July 1861. Entered service at:------. Birth: England. Date of issue: 5 April 1898. Citation: Took a rifle and voluntarily fought with his regiment in the ranks; when the regiment was forced back, voluntarily remained on the field caring for the wounded, and was there taken prisoner.

WALKER, DR. MARY E.

Rank and organization: Contract Acting Assistant Surgeon (civilian), U. S. Army. Places and dates: Battle of Bull Run, July 21, 1861; Patent Office Hospital, Washington, D.C., October 1861; Chattanooga, Tenn., following Battle of Chickomauga, September 1863; Prisoner of War, April 10, 1864-August 12, 1864, Richmond, Va.; Battle of Atlanta, September 1864. Entered service at: Louisville, Ky. Born: 26 November 1832, Oswego County, N.Y. Citation: Whereas it appears from official reports that Dr. Mary E. Walker, a graduate of medicine, "has rendered valuable service to the Government, and her efforts have been earnest and untiring in a variety of ways," and that she was assigned to duty and served as an assistant surgeon in charge of female prisoners at Louisville, Ky., upon the recommendation of Major-Generals Sherman and Thomas, and faithfully served as contract surgeon in the service of the United States, and has devoted herself with much patriotic zeal to the sick and wounded soliders, both in the field and hospitals, to the detriment of her own health, and has also endured hardships as a prisoner of war four months in a Southern prison while acting as contract surgeon; and Whereas by reason of her not being a commissioned officer in the military service, a brevet or honorary rank cannot, under existing laws, be conferred upon her; and
Whereas in the opinion of the President an honorable recognition of her services and sufferings should be made:
It is ordered, That a testimonial thereof shall be hereby made and given to the said Dr. Mary E. Walker, and that the usual medal of honor for meritorious services be given her.

Given under my hand in the city of Washington, D.C., this 11th day of November, A.D. 1865.

(Medal rescinded 1917 along with 910 others, restored by President Carter 10 June 1977.)

WHEELER, HENRY W.

Rank and organization: Private, Company A, 2d Maine Infantry. Place and date: At Bull Run, Va., 21 July 1861. Entered service at: Bangor, Maine. Born: 1842, Fort Smith, Ark. Date of issue: 5 April 1898. Citation: Voluntarily accompanied his commanding officer and assisted in removing the dead and wounded from the field under a heavy fire of artillery and musketry.

WILLCOX, ORLANDO B.

Rank and organization: Colonel, 1st Michigan Infantry. Place and date: At Bull Run, Va., 21 July 1861. Entered service at: Detroit, Mich. Birth: Detroit, Mich. Date of issue: 2 March 1895. Citation: Led repeated charges until wounded and taken prisoner.

WITHINGTON, WILLIAM H.

Rank and organization: Captain, Company B, 1st Michigan Infantry. Place and date: At Bull Run, Va., 21 July 1861._ Entered service at: Jackson, Mich. Born: 1 February 1835, Dorchester, Mass. Date of issue: 7 January 1895. Citation: Remained on the field under heavy fire to succor his superior officer.

Weaponry

Basic Terminology

This is a schematic of a Napoleon, with the addition of a chamber purely for illustrative purposes.

(From Dean S. Thomas, Cannons: An Introduction to Civil War Artillery)

a - knob

b - neck

c - vent

d - trunnion

e - muzzle swell

f - muzzle face g - muzzle

h - rimbase

i - cascable

j - breech

k - chamber

l - bore

Nomenclature

By the early nineteenth century artillerists in most western countries had settled on a standard method of naming cannon, based on the weight of the solid shot used with the piece. Since all shot was spherical, and typically made of iron, this weight corresponded with the bore size of the piece. Any cannon with a 3.67-inch bore would use a shot weighing six pounds, and would be known as a six-pounder; a cannon with a 4.62-inch bore would be a 12-pounder. (You mathematics aficionados will note that the ratio of the bores is a good approximation to the cube root of two, since the volume of the spherical ball, and therefore its weight, increases in proportion with the cube of its measurement.) The United States system of ordnance using these names is described in the next section. The advent of rifled cannon threw this system into the proverbial cocked hat, as many existing pieces seemed as outmoded as that article of clothing. Typical rifled ammunition is not a sphere but a cylinder with a pointed nose. (See the Ammunition page.) Because the rifle bolt can vary in length, there was no longer any direct correspondence between the gun's bore size and the weight of its solid shot. It was logical to refer to these new guns by their bore diameter, but the life of the military has not been logic, and the creators of these designs tried to give them names that would seem familiar to their users.

The system of rifled ordnance designed by Robert Parker Parrott is the best example of the confusion resulting from the attempt to pour new wine into old bottles. His rifled gun with a 2.9-inch bore was designated a 10-pounder Parrott, his 3.67-inch rifle a 20-pounder Parrott, and so forth. However, depending upon the type of ammunition used, these pounder designations were more theoretical than real. Parrot's largest rifles, the 8-inch and 10-inch, were known as 200- and 300-pounders in the Army, but as 150- and 250-pounders in the Navy. Another example of confusion stems from the attempts to rifle existing weapons, particularly the superseded six-pounders. Their 3.67-inch bores meant that the weight of their rifled ammunition could be somewhere between two and three times their original nominal weight.

Modern authors tend to reserve the traditional "pounder" names for the smoothbores to which they more logically apply, and refer to all rifles by their bore diameter, with a parenthetical reference to their popular names. Readers of contemporary accounts should be aware that references can be ambiguous, and that authors used names inconsistently. Given the context, the "3-inch rifle" might be a reference to the wrought iron ordnance rifle, or to any rifle with a bore of three inches, including both that design and the M1863 10-pounder Parrott.

Common Weapons

The system of ordnance adopted by the U.S. Army in the 1840's was the picture of simplicity: six- and 12-pounder field guns, 12-, 24-, and 32-pounder field howitzers, 18- and 24-pounder siege and garrison guns, and 32- and 42-pounder sea-coast guns. To this were added columbiads and mortars. The principal modification to this system prior to the War was the substitution of the light 12-pounder as the field weapon of choice. However, this system was soon made obsolete by necessity and technology.

The Civil War required a sudden and massive mobilization of military resources. The immediate need for field artillery resulted in the use of a bewildering variety of pieces, ranging from superseded ordnance to modern experimental models imported from Great Britain. Amongst the array of Armstrongs, Blakelys, Wiards, and Whitworths, it is still possible to identify a relatively small number of makes and models of muzzle-loading cannon that served as the workhorses of the Civil War battlefield.

GUNS & HOWITZERS

As a term of art, "guns" are relatively long-barreled cannon designed to fire projectiles with a nearly flat trajectory. Howitzers are shorter-barreled cannon with a chamber at the base of the bore, designed to take a smaller charge. Their range is shorter and the trajectory of the projectile shows more arc.

6-pounder smoothbore, M1841

This popular workhorse of the Mexican War era was regarded as superseded by the Union artillery, but was still heavily employed by a Confederate army that could not afford to pass up any opportunities. The gun shows the last vestiges of the highly decorated artillery profiles that had prevailed until the beginning of the century: breech band, cascable fillet, fillet and roundel at the throat, and an echinus on the muzzle face were also features of the M1841 12-pounder. All were dispensed with on the M1857 Napoleon that displaced both these weapons as the smoothbore of choice for both armies. Attempts to convert some of these guns to rifles, using the James system of rifling, had only marginal success. Some have also been converted to "false Napoleons" by the National Park Service, grinding off the moldings and the sharp discontinuity between the reinforce and the chase, and enlarging the last few inches of the bore. The result can be quite confusing for the battlefield tourist.

10-pounder Parrott

The family of Parrott rifles is easily recognizable by the reinforcing band of wrought iron, in the case of the 10-pounder about 13 inches wide, covering the breech and reinforce. The method of construction is described in more detail in the "Evolution of Ordnance" section, below, and in the biographical materials on its inventor, Captain Robert Parker Parrott. Although there were several other types of cannon with similar reinforces (Wiards, Brookes, and British imports like the various models of Blakelys) the Parrott was by far the most common. The M1863 10-pounder Parrott was slightly modified; the bore was increased to 3.0 inches, to make its ammunition consistent with that of the new 3-inch ordnance rifle, and the muzzle swell was eliminated.

3-inch ordnance rifle

The design of this rifle, soon a favorite with artillerists in both armies, is recognized by the complete absence of any discontinuities in the surface of the gun. For example, note the "faired" rimbases, smoothly blended into the surface of the piece, and the lack of even a cascable fillet. It was also a major step forward in material, being made entirely of wrought iron. Strips of wrought iron were hammer-welded in criss-crossing spiral layers around a mandrel; this was then bored out and the finished product lathe turned into shape. Though time consuming and expensive to produce, the result was a singularly tough and accurate weapon.

The Evolution of Ordnance

The Civil War accelerated the technological development of ordnance. Before the War, the typical cannon was a bronze, muzzle-loading smoothbore. Though such cannon were still in heavy use at the end of the War, it was apparent that the next generation of guns would be steel, breechloading rifles.

Rifles vs. Smoothbores

The principles of rifling had long been understood; the spin imparted to the projectile by forcing it into spiral grooves in the bore of the gun made it fly straighter, farther, and with more power on impact. Rifling of bronze guns was not an effective solution, because the friction of the ammunition wore down the rifling in that relatively soft metal. (Many older weapons, particularly the nearly obsolete 6-pounders, were rebored with rifling at the start of the War, and proved to be of very limited use after a very short time.) Effective rifled cannon required harder metal, but cast iron, the logical choice, was too brittle.

Early Breechloaders

As with rifling, the advantages of loading a cannon at the breech are fairly clear, as the men serving at the front of a gun could attest. Breechloading guns required a mechanism that was able to withstand the strain of firing and still operate smoothly and quickly to allow the next round to be fired. This required not only a superior material but expert machining. The famous Whitworth was an early but unreliable example, and its cannoneers not infrequently had to fasten the breech closed and load it from the muzzle.

A Comment on Materials

The disadvantages of bronze as an ordnance material have just been listed, and to them may be added its excessive weight. But bronze had for centuries the signal advantage of toughness; absent a serious defect in manufacture, bronze guns were reliable and safe. Superior smelting techniques developed during the early industrial revolution raised hopes that cast iron might be a suitable material for guns, and there were many experiments. However, the explosion of the Peacemaker aboard the Princeton halted the production of iron cannon in the United States for over a decade, and only the largest, and most over-engineered, guns were made of iron.

Reinforcement of cast iron forward of the breech was an obvious solution, but Robert Parker Parrott was the first to successfully turn out quantities of cast iron cannon. The novelty in his method was not in the reinforce, but in the method of attachment; the wrought iron band was allowed to cool in place while the gun was rotated, which allowed the reinforce to clamp on uniformly around the circumference of the breech. The resulting guns still did burst occasionally, but could be produced quickly and cheaply at a time when they were desperately needed; the cost to the government was about $187, versus about $350 for its nearest rival, the wrought iron 3-inch ordnance rifle. The Parrott system became the workhorse rifle of the artillery for the first years of the War, and continued to be produced in quantity even after the introduction of the ordnance rifle, which was preferred by many artillerymen. Advances in materials superseded both models within a few years; the steel rifle soon took over the field. The Wiard, made of what the designer called "semi-steel" (puddled wrought iron) and the small Whitworths and Armstrongs of true steel, were precursors of the revolution in materials that would take place in the following decades.

Ammunition

Types of Ammunition Solid Shot

For smoothbores, cast-iron solid shot is the familiar spherical cannonball; for rifles, the elongated projectile is called a "bolt". Both were useful for counter-battery fire or attacking fortifications; the superior power of the rifle bolt was the technological development that made masonry fortifications obsolete, a fact graphically demonstrated by the ease with which the walls of Fort Pulaski were breached early in the War.

Shell

Shell, as its name implies, is a hollow iron projectile filled with a bursting charge of black powder. All round shell, and some rifle shell, used a time fuse to ignite the bursting charge; Rifle shells could also use percussion fuses.

Case Shot

Also called shrapnel or shrapnel shell after its inventor, British artilleryman Henry Shrapnel, case shot was an improvement on the simple shell by the addition of small lead or iron balls to the interior of a thinner-walled projectile. The balls were embedded in a matrix of sulphur or coal-tar. Case shot was designed to explode in the air, so nearly always used time fuses.

Canister

Canister is simply a tinned-iron can full of iron or lead balls packed in sawdust. When fired, the effect is that of a giant shotgun blast. Canister is essentially short-range anti-personnel ammunition.

Grape Shot

Grape Shot is similar in concept to canister, but has fewer and larger balls, held together with iron rings or trussed up with fabric and twine. (The latter is "quilted grape shot", sometimes referred to as "quilted grape" or "quilted shot".) It is often erroneously stated that this was purely naval ammunition, but grape was at least occasionally issued to field and foot artillery.

The mechanisms of rifled ammunition.

Just as rifled cannon were in an experimental phase at the beginning of the Civil War, so ammunition for those cannon were developed in bewildering variety. Each of the types shown here employed a different method of engaging the rifling on a gun. The James shot allowed gas to pass through slots in the lower part of the projectile, forcing the thin metal sabot to expand outward and engage the rifling. The Read and Parrott designs, which were substantially similar though not identical, relied on a soft metal cup (usually brass or wrought iron) in the base to expand and take the rifling. Hotchkiss ammunition was manufactured in three parts; the upper bolt was separated from the lower base by a lead ring sabot around the exterior. The firing forced the two iron parts together, accordian-like, expanding the intermediate lead ring to engage the rifling. Finally, Shenkl's ammunition employed a papier-mache sabot over the tapering rear half of the shell; when the explosion forced it forward, it expanded to take the rifling.

Fuses

Solid shot, canister and grape all operate on the same principle as musket fire; the projectiles are simply flung at the enemy by exploding a large charge of powder behind them. Shell and case shot are somewhat more complex, being designed to explode at or near the target. To accomplish this, some sort of fuse is necessary. (The word was typically spelled "fuze" during the period.) The fuses used by the artillery in the Civil War were of two very basic types: time fuses, which burn slowly enough to ignite the main charge of the projectile after a number of seconds, and percussion fuses, which explode on impact.

Time Fuses

The oldest and simplest form of time fuse was a tapering cylinder of wood (left), hollowed almost to the point and packed with a composition of mealed powder moistened with whisky or alcohol. When dry, the rate of burning would be determined by experiment, and marked on the fuses packed with that lot. The fuse, marked in tenths of inches, would be cut with a fuse saw to the length necessary to burn for the desired period of time. The rate of burning for a composition packed into the tube was unreliable, however, because the packing would result in uneven stratification of the powder.

The paper fuse of substantially similar form overcame this difficulty because it could be packed longitudinally before being wrapped. They could be cut to length with a sharp knife, and were inserted into a wooden fuse plug in the hole of the shell. (More sophisticated fuses might use a metal fuse plug that would screw into the fuse-hole of the shell.) Paper fuses were color-coded: yellow burned 5 seconds to the inch, green 7, and blue 10. The Union ordnance department decreed that only the Frankfort Arsenal would manufacture paper fuses, in order to ensure a uniform product. The Confederate ordnance bureau could not afford this luxury, and the unreliability of their fuses, in comparison to their Union counterparts, was a regular source of frustration to the Confederate artillerymen. Both wooden and paper fuses continued to suffer from the defect that the shocks of field use tended to break up the solid composition, allowing fire to penetrate too quickly to the main charge.

As in so many areas, however, the War stimulated experimentation. This relatively simple technology was soon supplemented by a large variety of time fuses. All continued to be based on the concept of a substance (powder or quickmatch) that would burn at a known rate. The most successful of these was the Bormann fuse (left), which is worth a detailed description because so many other fuse types were based upon its design. A Belgian state secret for many years, it leaked out in the 1850's and achieved instant popularity as an easily-manufactured, reliable, and waterproof fuse.

The form of the Bormann was quite simple. Within a squat threaded cylinder of metal was a groove running around the circumference; a channel at one end of the groove led to the center of the fuse, which was in turn perforated to communicate with the charge inside the shell. The top of the fuse was sealed with a thin sheet of tin, graduated as shown in seconds. The cannoneer at the limber chest would screw the fuse into the shell and punch a hole in the fuse at the desired number of seconds. The Bormann fuse and its derivatives (such as the Baden and Breithaupt fuses) were very popular with artillerists by the time of the War, but the expense and time of manufacture made the continued use of paper and even wooden fuses necessary.

All time fuses were ignited by the main charge behind the projectile; the necessary windage for the piece would allow flames to lick forward around the shell and light the fuse. By the use of a sabot, the gunners could be sure to load the ammunition with the fuse facing forward, else the main charge might force the fuse into the shell and explode it prematurely, with potentially disastrous consequences.

Percussion Fuses

As the name implies, percussion fuses explode on impact. As a very general rule, they employ some sort of spring or slider mechanism to arm the ammunition by inertia, throwing a plunger to the rear upon firing and then allowing it to fall against a percussion cap upon striking. Many patents for percussion fuses were issued during the period of the War, but none were used extensively, being limited to specialized purposes like destruction of fortifications. Their complex and often delicate construction made them unsuitable for regular field use, and there was always the concern that their mechanisms would become armed during the transportation and loading.

Friction Primers

The age of the linstock and quill had not quite ended by the time of the Civil War - Gibbon gives detailed instructions for the manufacture and use of slow-match, quills, and even portfires. However, this cumbersome method of firing had been superseded by the remarkably effective friction primer. The primer consists of a brass tube, open at one end. At the closed end, a small hole of about the same diameter of the tube is drilled to one side, and short length of similar tubing is inserted and soldered into place. Opposite this short length of tubing is a hole to receive the priming wire, which is a length of brass wire with a flattened and serrated end. The short tube is lined with a friction powder similar in composition to the head of a friction match, and the priming wire is inserted through the head of the primer and into the short tube, which is then crimped to hold the end of the serrated wire in place. The long end of the priming wire is twisted into a loop.

The head of the primer is then sealed with shellac, and when dry the main body of the primer is filled with musket powder, the open end being sealed with wax. The resulting product is effectively waterproof, which is one of the signal advantages of the friction primer over the linstock. In use, the primer is simply placed in the vent hole of the piece, with the lanyard hooked to the loop of wire at its head. When the lanyard is pulled, the serrated end of the priming wire ignites the friction composition, which in turn sets off the musket powder in the body of the primer, which flashes down the vent to set off the main charge. The effect is almost instantaneous. For more information about the manufacturer of primers, see Craig Joksch's Primers page.

Before the introduction of the friction primer, many pieces were equipped with a lock mechanism to use percussion caps, similar to those used to fire muskets.

THE EQUIPMENT

Carriages

The carriage performs a number of functions in the operation of an artillery piece, some of them obvious, some not. First and foremost, the carriage holds the cannon in place while being fired, and allows the piece to be aimed. In the case of field artillery, whose mobility is critical, the carriage also allows the piece to be easily moved where it is needed. But transport and firing only begin to describe the functions of the carriage; this seemingly simple mechanical contrivance, through years of trial and error on the march and on the field of battle, acquired a set of refinements that rivalled those lavished on the Parthenon.

The carriage for field artillery consists of two cheeks, bolted together and with the stock. The cheeks support the piece by its trunnions, and in turn rest upon the axle-tree supported by two wheels. The back of the stock or trail rests on the ground. The field carriage dissipates the force of recoil by rolling along the ground, and on firm ground can rear back several feet on firing. On softer ground, the trail tends to dig in, which can cause problems in aiming. The trail terminates in an iron ring called a lunette, which is the means by which it is fastened to the limber. Two pointing rings ahead of the lunette hold a handspike, which provides leverage for aiming the piece. Ahead of the pointing rings are two hooks, around which is wound the prolonge, a length of heavy rope with a ring at one end and a toggle at the other. The prolonge is used to loosely attach the gun to the limber, as when firing while slowly retreating, or for other towing jobs.

A Number One carriage, shown carrying a 6-pounder

The wheels of the carriage are of very subtle design. Their 14 spokes are dished slightly inward to make the wheels more "springy" on rough ground, and the ends of the axle are tapered downward to correct for this angle, so that the base of the iron-tired wheel is perpendicular to the ground. This dishing outward also improves the cornering of the vehicle and has the salutary effect of throwing mud outward and away from the men and horses following the carriage.

The pre-War system of ordnance called for three models of field carriage: No. 1 for the 6 pounder gun and 12 pounder howitzer, No. 2 for the 24 pounder howitzer, and No. 3 for the 12 pounder gun and 32 pounder howitzer. The Napoleon (model 1857 light 12 pounder) used a No. 2 carriage, as did the 10 pounder Parrott and 3 inch ordnance rifles, all with some minor modifications where needed. There was also some experimentation with carriage design, most notably the idiosyncratic creation of Norman Wiard for his rifles. Wheels for all three of the standard carriages, as well as caissons, limbers and battery wagons, were 57 inches high, and could be easily interchanged. As will be noted, caissons carried an extra wheel, and changing a broken wheel was part of the standard drill for a battery of field artillery.

Carriages for fortifications were fixed in one position and needed to support much larger cannon, which in turn meant that they were subjected to much larger stresses during firing. The example shown of an immovable carriage is a barbette-carriage, named for the barbette tier of a fortification. (For a more detailed description of the barbette, see Civil War Field Fortifications.) In practice, this simply means that it is designed to be fired over a parapet rather than through an opening in a wall, as with the casemate guns. The carriage consists of two parts, the gun-carriage proper and the chassis. The gun-carriage rolls from front to back on the chassis when the gun recoils upon being fired, which dissipates the destructive energy of the recoil as well as putting the gun into position for loading. The gun-carriage is rolled forward into firing position by handspikes or block and tackle. Aiming the piece is accomplished by rotating the chassis. The drawing shows a front-pintle carriage, meaning that the front end is the pivot point and the rear rolls along a track to change the aim to left and right. Note the elevating screw passing through the cascable of this piece, in contrast with that for the field carriage, above, where the cannon simply rests on top of the screw.

A 100-pounder Parrott on a barbette carriage

Limbers and Caissons

The limber for field service is basically a two-wheeled cart, simply an axle, with its wheels, surmounted by a framework for holding an ammunition chest and receiving the tongue. At the back of the axle is the pintle hook, on which the lunette on the trail of the gun carriage can be keyed into place. The result is a four-wheeled cart that pivots on the pintle hook. In theory, the limber chest can be used as a seat for three cannoneers, but after the first few months of the War, it was customary to spare the horses, and cannoneers would ride only when necessary

A caisson hooked to its limber; note the extra wheel at the rear and the extra limber pole slung under the caisson.

The caisson is intended to transport ammunition, and carries two chests like that on the limber. It has a stock like that on the gun carriage, terminating in a lunette, so that it can be hooked to a limber for transportation. A caisson with its limber thus held three ammunition chests, which with the chest on the limber hauling the gun carriage would make four in all. The caisson with its drivers and crew would be under the direction of a corporal, who would report to the sargeant in charge of the gun to which the caisson was assigned. The line of caissons for the battery would be under the overall supervision of one of its lieutenants.

The battery wagon, also drawn by a limber, is a long bodied cart with a rounded top, which contains the saddlers' and carriage makers' tools, spare parts, extra harness, and rough materials for fabricating parts. The forge is a portable blacksmithy - in this case the chest on the inevitable limber which draws it contains blacksmith tools. Each battery had only one wagon and one forge, and they were expected to accompany the battery wherever it went.

A battery wagon held a variety of accoutrements; note also the forage rack at the back.

Implements

Each of the cannoneers is equipped with specialized implements, some of which have been mentioned in the description of the firing procedure under Drill. Number 1 uses a sponge/rammer, a large ash staff with a wool-covered sponge head at one end, to be wet for cleaning and cooling the bore, and a rammer head at the other for inserting the charge. Number 3 has a pouch with the priming wire or vent pick, which is a pointed metal rod with a loop at the opposite end, and a vent brush, used to clean the vent and avoid fouling. Number 4 wears a leather primer pouch attached to a belt, and holds the lanyard, a length of cord tied to a wooden handle, with a hook at the free end. Number 5 wears a leather haversack for carrying the ammunition. Numbers 6 and 7, who work together at the chest, have tools for preparing the ammunition, including a fuze punch and a fuze saw. The Gunner carries the sight, which takes various forms depending upon the model of gun; for examples of two different types, see this reproduction brass stadia sight for the 10-pounder Parrott rifle, and this drawing of a pendulum hausse for a six-pounder

Many implements were stored on the field carriages, caissons and limbers. The prolonge, a heavy tow rope, was wound onto two hooks on the upper surface of the trail of the gun carriage, and the sponge-rammers and worms were hung from implement hooks under the carriage. The two handspikes hung from each cheek of the field carriage. The caisson had slots for holding an axe and a pick. The tarbucket (left) hung under the limber and contained the grease for the wheels. The water bucket (right) hung off the axle of the field carriage and held water for keeping the sponge moist.

Artillery Horses

The horse for artillery service should be from five to seven years old (the latter age to be preferred), and should be from fifteen to sixteen hands high. The saddle horse should be free in his movements; have good sight; a full, firm chest; be sure-footed; have a good disposition, with boldness and courage; more bottom than spirit, and not too showy.

The draft horse should stand erect on his legs, be strongly built, but free in his movements; his shoulders should be large enough to give support to the collar, but not too heavy; his body full, but not too long; the sides well rounded; the limbs solid, with rather strong shanks, and feet in good condition.

To these qualities he should unite, as much as possible, the qualities of the saddle horse; should trot and gallop easily; have even gaits, and not be skittish. The most suitable horse for the pack-saddle is the one most nearly approaching the mule in his formation. He should be very strong-backed, and from fourteen to fifteen hands high.

It is easy to forget that the field artillery was almost as a dependent upon horses as the cavalry. Gibbon held that a battery of six light guns needed 110 horses to take the field, and an even larger number would be required for a battery of mounted artillery. As the principle motive power for the guns, they were a prime target for the opposing force; disabling the horses meant that the guns were at risk of capture. Horses, like the soldiers who depended upon them, were also subject to the rigors of disease, poor rations, and the too-often squalid living conditions of an army camp. The death toll has never been calculated, but the cost of the War in horse flesh was surely enormous.

As their lives and guns so often depended upon their horses, artillerymen were disposed to accept without excessive grumbling the regulations for their care. The bugler would sound stable call after reveille and roll, and water call after breakfast. The same routine for the horses would be repeated late in the afternoon. Morning and afternoon drill also meant a workout for the horses, after which they needed to be walked to cool down, curried, and probably watered again. There were always sick horses requiring care, and those who died requiring burial. (This last was described by John Billings, with the humor that can only be the product of a long passage of time, in his Hardtack and Coffee.)

One driver was assigned to each pair of horses, riding the on (left) horse and holding reins for it and the off horse. Skilled riders were required for this service, which combined the daring of the cavalry troopers with the precision teamwork expected of the artilleryman. Drivers were issued a leg-guard, an iron plate encased in leather and strapped to the right leg to prevent the limber pole from injuring them. The duties of a driver are described in more detail in Field Artillery Positions and Duties, by R. B. Hansen. For a more extended discussion of artillery horses, see James R. Cotner, Horsepower Moves the Guns.

The Story of an Artillery Horse:

Loomis Battery's Sam

The Coldwater Light Artillery had been a crack militia unit well before the commencement of the Civil War, and when hostilities began, this unit from Branch County, Michigan, was one of the first to offer its services for the cause of the Union. The people of Coldwater were justifiably proud of their Battery, and donated everything needed to complete the equipment of the unit. Among these donations was the use of Old Sam, a horse owned by Mr. Clark, a local innkeeper. Old Sam had been employed for several years as a cab horse, bringing passengers from the train station to the inn. When the Battery left Coldwater in May, the thoughts of those left behind were all of the men; few could have spared concern for a horse. But the men themselves had apparently already adopted Old Sam as something of a pet, the sight of him pulling his cab down the old post road being familiar to them all.

This is not the place to tell the entire history of Loomis's Battery, save to say that it was often found where fighting was the thickest, and that the toll on the Battery's horses was even more fearsome than the toll on the men. In savage fighting at Perrysville 33 horses were killed or disabled. The Battery was again heavily engaged at Murfreesboro, losing nearly 40 horses. Finally, in the debacle at Chickamauga, the Battery lost five of its guns and nearly 50 horses. In the course of the War, many others were lost to disease, or simply wore out their lives in the hard work and scant forage that were the lot of the artillery horse.

But somehow, through all of this, Old Sam plugged along. His seemingly charmed life made him a symbol of survival to the men of Loomis's Battery, and he continued to be a reminder of the home they had left behind so many months before.

After mustering out, the men of the Battery were sent home to Coldwater, and so was Old Sam. When the ramp from his railroad car was lowered, Sam needed no one to tell him that he had reached his old familiar station. Not waiting to be bridled, he simply trotted down the ramp and went directly to his old stable, his empty stall waiting for him. Again like the soldiers with whom he had spent four years, he returned to the work he had known before the War. He retired to a local farm a few years later, but continued to be a special participant in every Decoration Day parade and GAR encampment.

When at last his time had come to an end, the veterans with whom he'd served had long since come to regard Old Sam as one of them, and were loathe to part with him, even in death. Though the law forbade his being buried in the local cemetery, those veterans felt there was a higher law to be followed. Local legend, passed on from father to son for over a century, says that they buried Sam in an unplotted area of the town's cemetery. There are still a few descendants and relatives of those men who can point to a large shallow depression in a disused corner of the cemetery as the final resting place of Old Sam, the artillery horse.

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