Artillery Through the Ages

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Gunners early began to consolidate ammunition for easier and quicker
loading. For instance, after the powder charge was placed in a bag,
the next logical step was to attach the wad and the cannonball to it,
so that loading could be made in one simple operation--pushing the
single round into the bore (fig. 48). Toward that end, the sabot or
"shoe" (fig. 41) took the place of the wad. The sabot was a wooden
disk about the same diameter as the shot. It was secured to the ball
with a pair of metal straps to make "semi-fixed" ammunition; then, if
the neck of the powder bag were tied around the sabot, the result was
one cartridge, containing powder, sabot, and ball, called "fixed"
ammunition. Fixed ammunition was usual for the lighter field pieces by
the end of the 1700's, while the bigger guns used "semi-fixed."

In transportation, cartridges were protected by cylinders and caps of
strong paper. Sabots were sometimes made of paper, too, or of
compressed wood chips, to eliminate the danger of a heavy, unbroken
sabot falling amongst friendly troops. A big mortar sabot was a lethal
projectile in itself!

ROCKETS

Today's rocket projectiles are not exactly new inventions. About the
time of artillery's beginning, the military fireworker came into the
business of providing pyrotechnic engines of war; later, his job
included the spectacular fireworks that were set off in celebration of
victory or peace.

Artillery manuals of very early date include chapters on the
manufacture and use of fireworks. But in making war rockets there was
no marked progress until the late eighteenth century. About 1780, the
British Army in India watched the Orientals use them; and within the
next quarter century William Congreve, who set about the task of
producing a rocket that would carry an incendiary or explosive charge
as far as 2 miles, had achieved such promising results that English
boats fired rocket salvos against Boulogne in 1806, The British Field
Rocket Brigade used rockets effectively at Leipsic in 1812--the first
time they appeared in European land warfare. They were used again 2
years later at Waterloo. The warheads of such rockets were cast iron,
filled with black powder and fitted with percussion fuzes. They were
fired from trough-like launching stands, which were adjustable for
elevation.

Rockets seem to have had a demoralizing effect upon untrained troops,
and perhaps their use by the English against raw American levies at
Bladenburg, in 1814, contributed to the rout of the United States
forces and the capture of Washington. They also helped to inspire
Francis Scott Key. Whether or not he understands the technical
characteristics of the rocket, every schoolboy remembers the "rocket's
red glare" of the National Anthem, wherein Key recorded his eyewitness
account of the bombardment of Fort McHenry. The U. S. Army in Mexico
(1847) included a rocket battery, and, indeed, war rockets were an
important part of artillery resources until the rapid progress of
gunnery in the latter 1800's made them obsolescent.

TOOLS

Gunner's equipment was numerous. There were the tompion (a lid that
fitted over the muzzle of the gun to keep wind and weather out of the
bore) and the lead cover for the vent; water buckets for the sponges
and passing boxes for the powder; scrapers and tools for "searching"
the bore to find dangerous cracks or holes; chocks for the wheels;
blocks and rollers, lifting jacks, and gins for moving guns; and
drills and augers for clearing the vent (figs. 17, 44). But among the
most important tools for everyday firing were the following:

_The sponge_ was a wooden cylinder about a foot long, the same
diameter as the shot, and covered with lambskin. Like all bore tools,
it was mounted on a long staff; after being dampened with water, it
was used for cleaning the bore of the piece after firing. Essentially,
sponging made sure there were no sparks in the bore when the new
charge was put in. Often the sponge was on the opposite end of the
rammer, and sometimes, instead of being lambskin-covered, the sponge
was a bristle brush.

_The wormer_ was a double screw, something like a pair of intertwined
corkscrews, fixed to a long handle. Inserted in the gun bore and
twisted, it seized and drew out wads or the remains of cartridge bags
stuck in the gun after firing. Worm screws were sometimes mounted in
the head of the sponge, so that the piece could be sponged and wormed
at the same time.

_The ladle_ was the most important of all the gunner's tools in the
early years, since it was not only the measure for the powder but the
only way to dump the powder in the bore at the proper place. It was
generally made of copper, the same gauge as the windage of the gun;
that is, the copper was just thick enough to fit between ball and
bore.

Essentially, the ladle is merely a scoop, a metal cylinder secured to
a wooden disk on a long staff. But before the introduction of the
powder cartridge, cutting a ladle to the right size was one of the
most important accomplishments a gunner had to learn. Collado, that
Spanish mathematician of the sixteenth century, used the culverin
ladle as the master pattern (fig. 45). It was 4-1/2 calibers long and
would carry exactly the weight of the ball in powder. Ladles for
lesser guns could be proportioned (that is, shortened) from the master
pattern.

[Illustration: Figure 44--EIGHTEENTH CENTURY GUNNER'S EQUIPMENT. (Not
to scale.)]

The ladle full of powder was pushed home in the bore. Turning the
handle dumped the charge, which then had to be packed with the rammer.
As powder charges were lessened in later years, the ladle was
shortened; by 1750, it was only three shot diameters long. With
cartridges, the ladle was no longer needed for loading the gun, but it
was still handy for withdrawing the round.

_The rammer_ was a wooden cylinder about the same diameter and length
as the shot. It pushed home the powder charge, the wad, and the shot.
As a precaution against faulty or double loading, marks on the rammer
handle showed the loaders when the different parts of the charge were
properly seated.

_The gunner's pick or priming wire_ was a sharp pointed tool
resembling a common ice pick blade. It was used to clear the vent of
the gun and to pierce the powder bag so that flame from the primer
could ignite the charge.

[Illustration: Figure 45--SIXTEENTH CENTURY PATTERN FOR GUNNER'S
LADLE.]

_Handspikes_ were big pinch bars to manhandle cannon. They were used
to move the carriage and to lift the breech of the gun so that the
elevating quoin or screw might be adjusted. They were of different
types (figs. 33a, 44), but were essentially 6-foot-long wooden poles,
shod with iron. Some of them, like the Marsilly handspike (fig. 11),
had rollers at the toe so that the wheelless rear of the carriage
could be lifted with the handspike and rolled with comparative ease.

_The gunner's quadrant_ (fig. 46), invented by Tartaglia about 1545,
was an aiming device so basic that its principle is still in use
today. The instrument looked like a carpenter's square, with a
quarter-circle connecting the two arms. From the angle of the square
dangled a plumb bob. The gunner laid the long arm of the quadrant in
the bore of the gun, and the line of the bob against the graduated
quarter-circle showed the gun's angle of elevation.

The addition of the quadrant to the art of artillery opened a whole
new field for the mathematicians, who set about compiling long,
complicated, and jealously guarded tables for the gunner's guidance.
But the theory was simple: since a cannon at 45 deg. elevation would fire
_ten_ times farther than it would when the barrel was level (at zero deg.
elevation), the quadrant should be marked into _ten_ equal parts; the
range of the gun would therefore increase by _one-tenth_ each time the
gun was elevated to the next mark on the quadrant. In other words, the
gunner could get the range he wanted simply by raising his piece to
the proper mark on the instrument.

[Illustration: Figure 46--SEVENTEENTH CENTURY GUNNER'S QUADRANT. The
long end of the quadrant was laid in the bore of the cannon. The plumb
bob indicated the degree of elevation on the scale.]

Collado explained how it worked in the 1590's. "We experimented with a
culverin that fired a 20-pound iron ball. At point-blank the first
shot ranged 200 paces. At 45-degree elevation it shot ten times
farther, or 2,000 paces.... If the point-blank range is 200 paces,
then elevating to the _first_ position, or a tenth part of the
quadrant, will gain 180 paces more, and advancing another point will
gain so much again. It is the same with the other points up to the
elevation of 45 degrees; each one gains the same 180 paces." Collado
admitted that results were not always consistent with theory, but it
was many years before the physicists understood the effect of air
resistance on the trajectory of the projectile.

_Sights_ on cannon were usually conspicuous by their absence in the
early days. A dispart sight (an instrument similar to the modern
infantry rifle sight), which compensated for the difference in
diameter between the breech and the muzzle, was used in 1610, but the
average artilleryman still aimed by sighting over the barrel. The
Spanish gunner, however, performed an operation that put the bore
parallel to the gunner's line of sight, and called it "killing the
_vivo_" (_matar el vivo_). How _vivo_ affected aiming is easily seen:
with its bore level, a 4-pounder falconet ranged 250 paces. But when
the _top of the gun_ was level, the bore was slightly elevated and the
range almost doubled to 440 paces.

To "kill the _vivo_," you first had to find it. The gunner stuck his
pick into the vent down to the bottom of the bore and marked the pick
to show the depth. Next he took the pick to the muzzle, stood it up in
the bore, and marked the height of the muzzle. The difference between
the two marks, with an adjustment for the base ring (which was higher
than the vent), was the _vivo_. A little wedge of the proper size,
placed under the breech, would then eliminate the troublesome _vivo_.

During the first half of the 1700's Spanish cannon of the "new
invention" were made with a notch at the top of the base ring and a
sighting button on the muzzle, and these features were also adopted by
the French. But they soon went out of use. There was some argument, as
late as the 1750's, about the desirability of casting the muzzle the
same size as the base ring, so that the sighting line over the gun
would always be parallel to the bore; but, since the gun usually had
to be aimed higher than the objective, gunners claimed that a fat
muzzle hid their target!

[Illustration: Figure 47--SEVENTEENTH CENTURY GUNNER'S LEVEL. This
tool was useful in many ways, but principally for finding the line of
sight on the barrel of the gun.]

Common practice for sighting, as late as the 1850's, was to find the
center line at the top of the piece, mark it with chalk or filed
notches, and use it as a sighting line. To find this center line, the
gunner laid his level (fig. 47) first on the base ring, then on the
muzzle. When the instrument was level atop these rings, the plumb bob
was theoretically over the center line of the cannon. But guns were
crudely made, and such a line on the outside of the piece was not
likely to coincide exactly with the center line of the bore, so there
was still ample opportunity for the gunner to exercise his "art."
Nonetheless the marked lines did help, for the gunner learned by
experiment how to compensate for errors.

Fixed rear sights came into use early in the 1800's, and tangent
sights (graduated rear sights) were in use during the War Between the
States. The trunnion sight, a graduated sight attached to the
trunnion, could be used when the muzzle had to be elevated so high
that it blocked the gunner's view of the target.

Naval gunnery officers would occasionally order all their guns trained
at the same angle and elevated to the same degree. The gunner might
not even see his target. While with the crude traversing mechanism of
the early 1800's the gunners may not have laid their pieces too
accurately, at least it was a step toward the indirect firing
technique of later years which was to take full advantage of the
longer ranges possible with modern cannon. Use of tangent and trunnion
sights brought gunnery further into the realm of mathematical science;
the telescopic sight came about the middle of the nineteenth century;
gunners were developing into technicians whose job was merely to load
the piece and set the instruments as instructed by officers in fire
control posts some distance away from the gun.

THE PRACTICE OF GUNNERY

The old-time gunner was not only an artist, vastly superior to the
average soldier, but, when circumstances permitted, he performed his
wizardry with all due ceremony. Diego Ufano, Governor of Antwerp,
watched a gun crew at work about 1500:

"The piece having arrived at the battery and being provided with all
needful materials, the gunner and his assistants take their places,
and the drummer is to beat a roll. The gunner cleans the piece
carefully with a dry rammer, and in pulling out the said rammer gives
a dab or two to the mouth of the piece to remove any dirt adhering."
(At this point it was customary to make the sign of the cross and
invoke the intercession of St. Barbara.)

"Then he has his assistant hold the sack, valise, or box of powder,
and filling the charger level full, gives a slight movement with the
other hand to remove any surplus, and then puts it into the gun as far
as it will go. Which being done, he turns the charger so that the
powder fills the breech and does not trail out on the ground, for when
it takes fire there it is very annoying to the gunner." (And probably
to the gentleman holding the sack.)

"After this he will take the rammer, and, putting it into the gun,
gives two or three good punches to ram the powder well in to the
chamber, while his assistant holds a finger in the vent so that the
powder does not leap forth. This done, he takes a second charge of
powder and deposits it like the first; then puts in a wad of straw or
rags which will be well packed to gather up all the loose powder. This
having been well seated with strong blows of the rammer, he sponges
out the piece.

"Then the ball, well cleaned by his assistant, since there is danger
to the gunner in balls to which sand or dirt adhere, is placed in the
piece without forcing it till it touches gently on the wad, the gunner
being careful not to hold himself in front of the gun, for it is silly
to run danger without reason. Finally he will put in one more wad, and
at another roll of drums the piece is ready to fire."

Maximum firing rate for field pieces in the early days was eight
rounds an hour. It increased later to 100 rounds a day for light guns
and 30 for heavy pieces. (Modern non-automatic guns can fire 15
rounds per minute.) After about 40 rounds the gun became so hot it was
unsafe to load, whereupon it was "refreshed" with an hour's rest.

[Illustration: Figure 48--LOADING A CANNON. Muzzle-loading smoothbore
cannon were used for almost 700 years.]

Approved aiming procedure was to make the first shot surely short, in
order to have a measurement of the error. The second shot would be at
greater elevation, but also cautiously short. After the third round,
the gunner could hope to get hits. Beginners were cautioned against
the desire to hit the target at the first shot, for, said a celebrated
artillerist, "... you will get overs and cannot estimate how much
over."

As gunners gradually became professional soldiers, gun drills took on
a more military aspect, as these seventeenth century commands show:

1. Put back your piece.
2. Order your piece to load.
3. Search your piece.
4. Sponge your piece.
5. Fill your ladle.
6. Put in your powder.
7. Empty your ladle.
8. Put up your powder.
9. Thrust home your wad.
10. Regard your shot.
11. Put home your shot gently.
12. Thrust home your wad with
three strokes.
13. Gauge your piece.

Gunners had no trouble finding work, as is singularly illustrated by
the case of Andrew Ransom, a stray Englishman captured near St.
Augustine in the late 1600's. He was condemned to death. The
executional device failed, however, and the padres in attendance took
it as an act of God and led Ransom to sanctuary at the friary.
Meanwhile, the Spanish governor learned this man was an artillerist
and a maker of "artificial fires." The governor offered to "protect"
him if he would live at the Castillo and put his talents to use.
Ransom did.

[Illustration: Figure 49--A SIEGE BOMBARD OF THE 1500's.]

By 1800, although guns could be served with as few as three men,
efficient drill usually called for a much larger force. The smallest
crew listed in the United States Navy manual of 1866 was seven: first
and second gun captains, two loaders, two spongers, and a "powder
monkey" (powder boy). An 11-inch pivot-gun on its revolving carriage
was served by 24 crewmen and a powderman. In the field, transportation
for a 24-pounder siege gun took 10 horses and 5 drivers.

Twelve rounds an hour was good practice for heavy guns during the
Civil War period, although the figure could be upped to 20 rounds. By
this date, of course, although the principles of muzzle loading had
not changed, actual loading of the gun was greatly simplified by using
fixed and semi-fixed ammunition. Loading technique varied with the
gun, but the following summary of drill from the United States _Heavy
Ordnance Manual_ of 1861 gives a fair idea of how the crew handled a
siege gun:

In the first place, consider that the equipment is all in its proper
place. The gun is on a two-wheeled siege carriage, and is "in
battery," or pushed forward on the platform until the muzzle is in the
earthwork embrasure. On each side of the gun are three handspikes,
leaning against the parapet. On the right of the gun a sponge and a
rammer are laid on a prop, about 6 feet away from the carriage. Near
the left muzzle of the gun is a stack of cannonballs, wads, and a
"passbox" or powder bucket. Hanging from the cascabel are two pouches:
the tube-pouch containing friction "tubes" (primers for the vent) and
the lanyard; and the gunner's pouch with the gunner's level,
breech-sight, pick, gimlet, vent-punch, chalk, and fingerstall (a
leather cover for the gunner's second left finger when the gun gets
hot). Under the wheels are two chocks; the vent-cover is on the vent,
a tompion in the muzzle; a broom leans against the parapet beyond the
stack of cannonballs. A wormer, ladle, and wrench were also part of
the battery equipment.

The crew consisted of a gunner and six cannoneers. At the command
_Take implements_ the gunner stepped to the cascabel and handed the
vent-cover to No. 2; the tube-pouch he gave to No. 3; he put on his
fingerstall, leveled the gun with the elevating screw, applied his
level to base ring and muzzle to find the highest points of the
barrel, and marked these points with chalk for a line of sight. His
six crewmen took their positions about a yard apart, three men on each
side of the gun, with handspikes ready.

_From battery_ was the first command of the drill. The gunner stepped
from behind the gun, while the handspikemen embarred their spikes.
Cannoneers Nos. 1, 3, and 5 were on the right side of the gun, and the
even-numbered men were on the left. Nos. 1 and 2 put their spikes
under the front of the wheels; Nos. 3 and 4 embarred under the
carriage cheeks to bear down on the rear spokes of the wheel; Nos. 5
and 6 had their spikes under the maneuvering bolts of the trail for
guiding the piece away from the parapet. With the gunner's word
_Heave_, the men at the wheels put on the pressure, and with
successive _heaves_ the gun was moved backward until the muzzle was
clear of the embrasure by a yard. The crew then unbarred, and Nos. 1
and 2 chocked the wheels.

[Illustration: Figure 50--GUN DRILL IN THE 1850's.]

_Load_ was the second command. Nos. 1, 2, and 4 laid down their
spikes; No. 2 took out the tompion; No. 1 took up the sponge and put
its wooly head into the muzzle; No. 2 stepped up to the muzzle and
seized the sponge staff to help No. 1. In five counts they pushed the
sponge to the bottom of the bore. Meanwhile, No. 4 took the passbox
and went to the magazine for a cartridge.

The gunner put his finger over the vent, and with his right hand
turned the elevating screw to adjust the piece conveniently for
loading. No. 3 picked up the rammer.

At the command _Sponge_, the men at the sponge pressed the tool
against the bottom of the bore and gave it three turns from right to
left, then three turns from left to right. Next the sponge was drawn,
and while No. 1 exchanged it for No. 3's rammer, the No. 2 man took
the cartridge from No. 4, and put it in the bore. He helped No. 1 push
it home with the rammer, while No. 4 went for a ball and, if
necessary, a wad.

_Ram!_ The men on the rammer drew it out an arm's length and rammed
the cartridge with a single stroke. No. 2 took the ball from No. 4,
while No. 1 threw out the rammer. With the ball in the bore, both men
again manned the rammer to force the shot home and delivered a final
single-stroke ram. No. 1 put the rammer back on its prop. The gunner
stuck his pick into the vent to prick open the powder bag.

The command _In battery_ was the signal for the cannoneers to man the
handspikes again, Nos. 1, 2, 3, and 4 working at the wheels and Nos. 5
and 6 guiding the trail as before. After successive _heaves_, the
gunner halted the piece with the wheels touching the hurter--the
timber laid at the foot of the parapet to stop the wheels.

_Point_ was the next order. No. 3, the man with the tube-pouch, got
out his lanyard and hooked it to a primer. Nos. 5 and 6 put their
handspikes under the trail, ready to move the gun right or left. The
gunner went to the breech of the gun, removed his pick from the vent,
and, sighting down the barrel, directed the spikemen: he would tap the
right side of the breech, and No. 5 would heave on his handspike to
inch the trail toward the left. A tap on the left side would move No.
6 in the opposite direction. Next, the gunner put the breech-sight (if
he needed it) carefully on the chalk line of the base ring and ran the
elevating screw to the proper elevation.

As soon as the gun was properly laid, the gunner said _Ready_ and
signaled with both hands. He took the breech-sight off the gun and
walked over to windward, where he could watch the effect of the shot.
Nos. 1 and 2 had the chocks, ready to block the wheels at the end of
the recoil. No. 3 put the primer in the vent, uncoiled the lanyard and
broke a full pace to the rear with his left foot. He stretched the
lanyard, holding it in his right hand.

At _Fire!_ No. 3 gave a smart pull on the lanyard. The gun fired, the
carriage recoiled, and Nos. 1 and 2 chocked the wheels. No. 3 rewound
his lanyard, and the gunner, having watched the shot, returned to his
post.

_The development of heavy ordnance through the ages is a subject with
many fascinating ramifications, but this survey has of necessity been
brief._ _It has only been possible to indicate the general pattern.
Most of the interesting details must await the publication of much
larger volumes. It is hoped, however, that enough information has been
included herein to enhance the enjoyment that comes from inspecting
the great variety of cannon and projectiles that are to be seen
throughout the National Park System._

GLOSSARY

Most technical phrases are explained in the text and illustrations
(see fig. 51). For convenient reference, however, some important words
are defined below:

*Ballistics*--the science dealing with the motion of projectiles.

*Barbette carriage*--as used here, a traverse carriage on which a gun
is mounted to fire over a parapet.

*Bomb, bombshell*--see projectiles.

Breechblock--a movable piece which closes the breech of a cannon.

*Caliber*--diameter of the bore; also used to express bore length. A
30-caliber gun has a bore length 30 times the diameter of the bore.

*Cartridge*--a bag or case holding a complete powder charge for the
cannon, and in some instances also containing the projectile.

*Casemate carriage*--as used here, a traverse carriage in a fort
gunroom (casemate). The gun fired through an embrasure or loophole in
the wall of the room.

*Chamber*--the part of the bore which holds the propelling charge,
especially when of different diameter than the rest of the bore; in
chambered muzzle-loaders, the chamber diameter was smaller than that
of the bore.

*Elevation*--the angle between the axis of a piece and the horizontal
plane.

*Fuze*--a device to ignite the charge of a shell or other projectile.

*Grommet*--a rope ring used as a wad to hold a cannonball in place in
the bore.

*Gun*--any firearm; in the limited sense, a long cannon with high
muzzle velocity and flat trajectory.

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