Artilleryman Magazine Spring 2018, Vol 39, No. 2

Sherman’s

Vol. 39, No. 2 Spring 2018 $8.00

Bombardment of

Atlanta

Also in this issue: Artillery Sketches of Alfred R. Waud • Belgrade Fortress Museum • Ambulance: An Artillery Support Vehicle Gatling Gun Shoot • 1863 Allegheny Arsenal • Fragments of an Iron 1-Pounder Gun

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The Artilleryman | Spring 2018 | Vol. 39, No. 2

CONTENTS

6

COLLECTION OF ALFRED R. WAUD ARTILLERY SKETCHES Artillery sketches by wartime artist Alfred Waud. By Meg Groeling.

18

THE HISTORICAL ARTILLERY OF THE BELGRADE FORTRESS MUSEUM

24

THE AMBULANCE: AN ARTILLERY SUPPORT VEHICLE

32

SHERMAN’S BOMBARDMENT OF ATLANTA, JULY 20–AUGUST 25, 1864

40

GATLING GUN SHOOT AT FORT ROSS, PENNSYLVANIA

Travel writer’s journey to a must see museum. By Gary Brown.

How ambulances supported artillery units. By Duffy Neubauer.

The destruction of Atlanta by Sherman’s artillery. By Stephen Davis.

Family oriented shoot with Gatling Guns, Cannon and Mortars. By Ericka Hoffmann.

48

1863 ALLEGHENY ARSENAL PENDULUM HAUSSE

52

THE LIBRARY OF CONGRESS COLLECTION

54

LETTER FROM DR. JOHN READ TO CAPT. JOHN A. DAHLGREN

56

FRAGMENTS OF AN IRON 1-POUNDER GUN RECOVERED AT NINETY SIX

62

NEWS FROM THE U.S. ARMY ARTILLERY MUSEUM

60

THE ARTILLERY BOOKSHELF

64

CLASSIFIEDS

Rare cannon sight in full detail. By Thomas Bailey.

Private Henry Augustus Moore of Co. F, 15th Mississippi Infantry Regiment.

Original letter from artillery inventor to artillery and cannon inventor.

Archaeological excavation uncovers a cannon muzzle. By Steven D. Smith and James B. Legg

Recent events at the U.S. Army Artillery Museum in Fort Sill. By Gordon A. Blaker.

Book review of Third Maryland Artillery, CSA: Captain Ritter’s Company, Georgia Light Artillery.

By George L. Sherwood. Reviewed by Peter A. Frandsen.

Subscribe by calling 800-777-1862 or online at www.ArtillerymanMagazine.com 2

The Artilleryman

Consultants:

Lawrence Babits, Ph.D, Thomas Bailey, Craig D. Bell, Jack Bell, Jim Bender, Col. John Biemeck (Ret.), Stephen Davis, Ph.D., Leonard Draper, Glenn Dutton, David Gotter, Richard Hatcher, Butch & Anita Holcombe, Les Jensen, Gordon L. Jones, Ph.D., Mike Kent, Lewis Leigh Jr., William E. Lockridge, Donald Lutz, John Morris, Michael J. O’Donnell, Hayes Otoupalik, Bernie Paulson, Bruce Paulson, Lawrence E. Pawl, M.D., Craig Swain, Matthew Switlik, Bill Tracy and Mike Ward.

Black Powder Explosive Ordnance Assistance Colonel John Biemeck, Ret.

Black Powder Explosive Ordnance Assistance (Identification, threat assessment, handling, storage, technical and deactivation assistance) for Government, State and Municipal Agencies.

Contact Colonel John Biemeck, Ordnance Corps, U.S. Army (Retired), cell 804-366-0562.

This service is offered as a courtesy to government agencies by The Artilleryman in an effort to preserve antique explosive black powder projectiles for future generations.

Printed proudly and responsibly in the United States of America. All rights reserved under International and PanAmerican Copyright Conventions. No part of this magazine may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without permission in writing from the publisher, except by a reviewer who may quote brief passages in a review.

The information contained herein is for the general history and background of our readers and The Artilleryman assumes no liability for loading or shooting data which may be published in this magazine. The circumstances surrounding the loading and discharge of firearms mentioned are beyond our control and are unique to the particular instance being described. We hereby disclaim any responsibility for persons attempting to duplicate loading data or shooting conditions referenced herein and specifically recommend against relying solely on this material. Readers are cautioned that black powder varies according to grain size, type, date of manufacture and supplier, and that firing of antique or replica ordnance should not be undertaken without adequate training and experience in procedures and loads.

Articles, Photographs and Image Submittals: The Author(s), Photographer(s) will indemnify the Publisher against any loss, injury, or damage (including any legal costs or expenses and any compensation costs and disbursements paid by the Publisher) occasioned to the Publisher in connection with or in consequence or any breach of the Author’s warranties and which the Publisher is not able to recover.

Publisher: Jack W. Melton Jr. Founding Publisher: C. Peter Jorgensen Editor: Larry Babits Book Reviews: Peter A. Frandsen Advertising: mail@ArtillerymanMagazine.com Webmaster: Carson Jenkins Jr. Graphic Designer: Squeegie Studios InDesign Guru: Neil Stewart

Contact Information: Historical Publications LLC The Artilleryman 520 Folly Road, Suite 25 PMB 379 Charleston, SC 29412 800-777-1862 Email: mail@artillerymanmagazine.com Website: ArtillerymanMagazine.com Hours 9-5 EST, Monday-Thursday The Artilleryman Magazine (ISSN: 088404747) Copyright © 2018 by Historical Publications LLC is published quarterly

by Historical Publications LLC, 520 Folly Road, Suite 25 PMB 379, Charleston, SC 29412. Quarterly. Business and Editorial Offices: 520 Folly Road, Suite 25 PMB 379, Charleston, SC 29412, Accounting and Circulation Offices: Historical Publications LLC, 520 Folly Road, Suite 25 PMB 379, Charleston, SC 29412. Call 800-777-1862 to subscribe.

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About the Cover: General Sherman in Federal Fort 7 (located

west of downtown Atlanta), photographed by George Barnard in late September 1864. The general sits his horse, Duke. On October 1, Sherman wrote his wife Ellen: “I sent you a few days ago some photographs, one of which Duke was very fine. He stood like a gentleman for his portrait and I like it better than any I have had taken.”

The general dressed up for the cameraman. Usually casual in his uniform, here he is in coat with epaulets, and is even wearing a sash around his waist. Colorization © 2015 civilwarincolor.com, courtesy civilwarincolor.com/cwn (Library of Congress)

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| Vol. 39, No. 2

3

Jack W. Melton Jr. Publisher

Spring is here and it’s time to dust off your artillery for the upcoming events this year. If you attend an event please submit photographs (no phone photos) and/or an article. Those perfectly timed photos that some readers submit are interesting to us all.

In this issue we have new, well-researched articles on Alfred Waud, Sherman’s Bombardment of Atlanta, how ambulances supported the artillery, a rare pendulum hausse, cannon fragments from an early American fort, and much more. If you have any suggestions please feel free to write or email.

Since the last issue there have been no reported artillery accidents. If you have any information on any accidents let us know.

Subscribe by going to

ArtillerymanMagazine.com.

Historical Publications LLC

520 Folly Road, Suite 25 PMB 379, Charleston, SC 29412 Phone: 800-777-1862 • Email: mail@artillerymanmagazine.com Above right: A subscriber sent in his work. This 3/4 scale Civil War Parrott Rifle with accessories was built by Francis Lebeda, 24th Iowa Vol. Inf. RGT (U.S. Army 1960-1962, Heavy Weapons). Barrel machined from steel, fuse used to fire and oak carriage with purchased wheels.

4

The Artilleryman

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Competitors shoot original or approved reproduction muskets, carbines and revolvers at breakable targets in a timed match. Some units even compete with cannons and mortars. Each team represents a specific Civil War regiment or unit and wears the uniform they wore over 150 years ago. Dedicated to preserving our history, period firearms competition and the camaraderie of team sports with friends and family, the N-SSA may be just right for you.

For more information visit us online at www.n-ssa.org.

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| Vol. 39, No. 2

5

Collection of

Alfred R. Waud

Artillery Sketches

By Meg Groeling

“Gettysburg, Pa. Alfred R. Waud, artist of Harper’s Weekly, sketching on battlefield.” Timothy H. O’Sullivan, 1840-1882, photographer. Waud is sitting on a rock in front of Devil’s Den on the Gettysburg Battlefield. (Library of Congress)

I

n today’s world of instant messaging, instant downloads, iBooks, iPads, and iPhones, it is hard to imagine the difficulties of war reporting in the 1860s. Embedded journalists, sending news by telegraph, were the first wave of what we take for granted today—instant news.

Images were as important then as now, creating both an intellectual and an emotional response to events far away. At that time, the shutter speed of a camera was not fast enough to capture battlefield action, so newspapers sent sketch artists into the field to provide the public with a glimpse of the war. Their contributions ended up being much more.

Alfred Rudolph Waud (1828–1891), was recognized, even then, as one of the best Civil War sketch artists. He

drew quickly and accurately, with both an artist’s eye for composition and a reporter’s keen sense of the scene’s importance. Waud was courageous in battle and respected the soldiers and events he drew with a historian’s passion. The combination of these three approaches—artist, journalist, and historian—pulled him dangerously close to the fighting, and his work intimately portrayed the drama and horror of this country’s most devastating conflict.

Originally from England, Waud (pronounced wode) worked as a decorator’s apprentice until he was able to afford the School of Design at Somerset House, in London. There he studied art and worked as a scene painter in a variety of London theaters.

After coming to America, Waud

sought employment producing illustrations for a variety of Boston and New York publications and was successful enough to get married and maintain a studio in New York City.

By 1860, Waud had accepted a fulltime position as an artist with the New York Illustrated News. The News was one of the three leading illustrated weekly newspapers, joining Harper’s Weekly and Frank Leslie’s Illustrated Newspaper, which took pioneering journalistic action at the outbreak of the Civil War. They sent teams of “Special Correspondents” and “Special Artists” to cover the war from the battlefields and war fronts.

In its May 4, 1861, issue the News announced: We have made arrangements to obtain authentic sketches and information

Sketch titled “Awaiting the enemy’s fire.” A gun crew is manning a U.S. Parrott rifle and are ready for action. All of Waud’s sketches in this article are located in the Library of Congress.

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| Vol. 39, No. 2

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13

“Lt. Porter tries spherical case, and shell.” Josiah Porter is reputed to have been the first Harvard College graduate to enlist in the Union Army during the Civil War. He was 1st Lieutenant in the Massachusetts Volunteers, Cook’s Battery, Boston Light Artillery in 1861. The Battery was attached to the 6th Army Corps. Captain Porter’s guns included four 10-pounder Parrott rifles and two 12-pounder smoothbore Howitzers. Published in Harper’s Weekly on March 26, 1864, p. 200-201.

“Gettysburg. View of the hills [Little Round Top and Big Round Top] on the left of our position from the Rebel artillery, last Rebel shot.” Edward S. Duffey (Sam) claims “That shot of mine was the last fired at the battle of Gettysburg.” Duffey wrote to Longstreet after the war to ask if he remembered the event. The letter was published in a Middleburg, Va., newspaper.

Dear sir, I write to ask you if you remember ordering a sergeant of artillery to go fire down the road to the right of the peach orchard at Gettysburg July 3rd, 1863?

You and Gen. Robert E. Lee met the gun that I was sergeant as we came from the peach orchard, after the charge of Gen. Pickett, you asked me if I had any ammunition. I stated that I had little canister. You then ordered me to take the piece and elevate it, and fire down the road to the right of the peach orchard, when the Yanks were advancing. I did as ordered, and this gun of Parker’s Battery, Huger’s Battalion, fired the last shot at Gettysburg. Please endorse the enclosed if they are remembered by you, as I have been looking over my pocket diary kept during the war, and desire to see if what I have written is correct.

Very respectfully, E.S Duffy (Letter courtesy Tyler McGraw) 16

The Artilleryman

By Gary Brown

H

igh above the Serbian capital of Belgrade, a massive fortress offers a commanding view of the confluence of the Sava and Danube Rivers as well as the city below it. That commanding view led to the overlook being one of the most fought over and occupied military sites in the Balkans.

The first recorded inhabitants were a Celtic tribe in the 3rd century BC who used the location more as a camping area with defensive positions rather than a fortress. As Celtic influence declined, the Romans attacked, occupied the area, and the Roman Legion IV Flatiae turned the site into a guardian fortress against barbarian Central Europe from 378–441 AD. The Roman camp was repeatedly attacked by the Goths and Huns (an area below the fortress is one of the many reputed burial sites of Attila).

By 476 AD the fortress had become the delineating border point between the Western Roman Empire and the Eastern Byzantine Empire. Under Byzantine emperors the city became a true walled fortress and following centuries saw sieges and attacks by Bulgarians, Magyars (Hungarians), and other tribes resulting in at least 28 different occupations before the 16th Century.

After the Serbian defeat at the Battle of Kosovo in 1404, Turkish invasions became commonplace and led to a protracted period of alternating occupations by AustrianHungarian and Ottoman armies, each continuously fortifying and expanding the fortress.

Serbia’s role in the commencement of the World War I assured Belgrade and the fortress would be targeted and German forces occupied the fortress during World War II. Although Belgrade was bombed during the 1999 NATO campaign, the fortress fortunately was not involved.

Today Belgrade Fortress is peaceful and quiet except for the large numbers

On the ramparts of the Belgrade Fortress, fifteen historical muzzle-loading cannons overlook the Danube River—just one part of an artillery collection that spans four centuries.

(Photos by Gary Brown) of tourists and children who make this one of Belgrade’s top attractions.

The overlook, including the fortress, is called Kalemegdan Park from the Turkish words meaning “battlefield fortress.” Inside the old fortress walls today is located the Belgrade Military Museum featuring military hardware ranging from the Roman occupation period to a wing section of the F-117 stealth fighter shot down by Serbian forces in 1999. It is the artillery exhibits that make the museum a treasury.

The exhibits are divided into three sections of “newer” artillery from the 19th and 20th centuries located in the moat areas; older muzzle loading cannon on the upper ramparts; and exhibits inside the museum. In all, over four centuries of artillery are on display with background information provided—sometimes in Serbian and English, other times in Serbian only— on many but not all the exhibits.

For those interested in the two world wars, the moat area displays contain an incredible collection of artillery and armor. Several different anti-aircraft weapons are displayed and the earliest armored tanks, including French, Italian, and Polish, represent some crude death-traps

resembling armored coffins.

My interest has always been the older artillery and along two ramparts are located fifteen muzzleloading cannon of various sizes, shapes and origins. Unfortunately there are no descriptions or histories; these cannon are obviously a “collection” without any direct relationship to the fortress.

They range from a French Ruellecast tube to a seemingly out-of-place British barrel.

As with all old cannon collections, some trunnions are missing, some muzzles exploded, and some touchholes spiked. Some are in very good condition while others are badly deteriorated to the point there are no identifying marks at all. The exhibits are well-mounted except for the British tube which has fallen from the muzzle-end of the display; all the pieces are very easy to inspect.

Lined along the ramparts facing the Danube River, they represent a diverse collection of artillery. Some are short and were possibly naval guns while others represent longer, possibly coastal artillery. One badly deteriorated tube has thick reinforcing bands along the barrel while another has a tapered octagonal tube.

ArtillerymanMagazine.com

| Vol. 39, No. 2

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The museum requires a long, uphill hike to the fortress but is worth the effort. The outside exhibits are free and open to the public throughout

the year. Because of Serbia’s role in the Great War, those interested in that period could easily spend a half day just wandering around the vast

outdoor collection of hardware. The museum itself, with a nominal fee of about $1.50, is one of the better organized and displayed I have visited. In addition to armaments, the museum has a huge collection of military flags and life-sized World War II photo exhibits as well as video presentations shot by Soviet military videographers during the 1944 Battle of Belgrade.

The museum website, in Serbian, can be viewed and translated at: http://www.muzej.mod.gov.rs.

The World War II section of the museum featured this small mortar (?) listing it only as “used by Tito’s Partisans against the German Army.” Approximately fifteen inches long and without trunnions, there was no indication exactly how the partisans had deployed it.

Gary Brown is a frequent contributor to The Artilleryman magazine. Over the years, Gary has had articles published in The Artilleryman about historical cannon on every continent except Antarctica.

Positioned in front of the museum entrance, these two 160 mm guns look identical but the one in the foreground is an 1808 French model and the upper gun is an 1828 Austrian piece.

ArtillerymanMagazine.com

| Vol. 39, No. 2

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By Duffy Neubauer

Titled “Zouave ambulance crew demonstrating removal of wounded soldiers from the field.�

(Library of Congress)

T

he ambulance is probably not often thought of when Civil War enthusiasts discuss the finer points of field artillery organization but it should be.

Ambulances were support vehicles found within artillery parks from the very onset of the war and remained present until the very end. While ambulances as artillery support vehicles are not widely acknowledged within the Civil War artillery community, I hope this article at least makes Civil War artillery enthusiasts aware that the ambulances had a definite presence, both in the north and in the south.

Over the past 30 or 35 years, I have read numerous accounts in diaries and letters of Civil War artillerymen discussing ambulances within their batteries. About 20 years ago I found a list of Quartermaster’s Stores submitted by Capt. A.P. Rockwell of the 1st Light Battery Connecticut Volunteers. On July 28, 1862, Capt. Rockwell returned to the Quartermaster Department one light four-wheeled ambulance in good condition (one mattress short) and two

sets of ambulance wheel harnesses (see enclosed). I still did not have any official documentation connecting ambulances and artillery until Terry Reimer, Director of Research at the National Museum of Civil War Medicine, pointed out: GENERAL ORDERS NUMBER 147, HEADQUARTERS ARMY OF THE POTOMAC; Camp near Harrison’s Landing, Va., Aug. 2, 1862: The following regulations for the organization of the ambulance corps and the management of ambulance trains are published for the information and government of all concerned. Commanders of army corps will see that they are carried into effect without delay: …The allowance of ambulance carts will be 1 transport cart, 1 four-horse and 2 two-horse ambulances for a regiment; 1 two-horse ambulance for each battery of artillery, and 2 two-horse ambulances for the headquarters of each army corps.

Each ambulance will be provided with two stretchers…

After the success of the medical department’s ambulance corps at

Antietam in September 1862, General Orders No. 147 was adopted by the other Northern armies. By February 1864, the U.S. Congress passed legislation requiring all U.S. Regular and state volunteer units to follow the guidelines set up by General Orders No. 147.

The Confederate high command also followed the example of the U.S. Medical Department where and whenever possible. As one might expect due to shortages in the Confederate Army, ambulances in Confederate artillery parks were nowhere as common as their northern counterparts.

At the onset of the war, the ambulance was an optional support vehicle acquired by some battery commanders, but after General Orders No. 147 and by mid war, artillery ambulances were a common sight.

With the addition of a Wheeling ambulance to The Starkville Civil War Arsenal, I have added the role of ambulances in the artillery as one of my programs. I am often asked how many ambulances were made during the war years for military use but have not yet found that information.

The Wheeling ambulance built by the author and now on display at The Starkville Civil War Arsenal.

26

The Artilleryman

the rebuilding fell on the shoulders of Lieut. Charles Nelson Warner. I am going to use his words from The War Time Diary of Charles Nelson Warner 1862–1865 to tell some of the story of reorganizing Battery A, 4th U.S. Artillery.

July 18, 1863 Saturday Was relieved from duty with Battery D 2nd Artillery and ordered to report

to Lieut. King commanding A 4th U.S. Artillery.

Boots and saddles at daylight, marched till 12M. 15 miles to Warrenton where we camped.

July 19, 1863 Sunday Got new horses. Marched from Berlin across the river to Leavittsville to Wheatland, 15 miles where we encamped.

Some trouble with the new horses, so many.

July 27, 1863 Monday Went to Warrenton to see about our ordnance stores, shoeing of horses and getting an ambulance.

July 28, 1863 Tuesday Rec’d our battery wagon and forge and other ordnance stores.

July 25, 1863 Saturday

July 31, 1863 Friday Rec’d horse equipment. Battery was inspected.

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30

The Artilleryman

Sept. 22, 1863 Tuesday Had photographs taken of the battery and officers of the battery. Were inspected by the major.

The ambulance and battery wagon that Lieut. Warner writes about are the ones shown in the Alexander Gardner photograph of Battery A, 4th U.S. Artillery. Gardner took the photograph near Culpeper, on Sept.

22, 1863. The officer on the white horse out front is Capt. Rufus King.

Lieut. Warner is the first soldier on horseback to the right of the fourth cannon from the left.

Now that an ambulance is in the rolling stock collection at The Starkville Civil War Arsenal, I believe it is the only facility in the country which has the capability to display all the standard Civil War artillery carriages and support vehicles at one place at one time.

I invite you to make an appointment and come see the collection by calling 662-323-2606 or you can view the rolling stock collection online at StarkvilleCivilWarArsenal.com.

Duffy Neubauer is curator of The Starkville Civil War Arsenal. Graduated from the University of Wisconsin, La Crosse; B.S.–1975, M.S.–1978. Public lecturer. Recipient of the Honorable Order of Saint Barbara Medal, the only military medal awarded to non-military personnel.

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31

By Stephen Davis

32

The Artilleryman

D

uring the American Civil War, Charleston, S.C., endured the longest bombardment conducted by Federal forces, August 1863-February 1865.

Petersburg, Va., was cannonaded by the heaviest Northern artillery projectiles; the “Dictator,” a 13-inch seacoast mortar mounted on a railroad flatcar, fired 220-pound shells.

In their bombardment of Vicksburg, Miss., May 19–July 3, 1863, Union artillerists fired almost 75,000 rounds—an average of 1,630 a day, which could give Vicksburg the dubious distinction of most shells fired into an American city on average per day.

But the bombardment of Atlanta, Ga., personally ordered by Maj. Gen. William T. Sherman, may take the cake in at least one less desirable way: the most civilians killed during its 37-day duration, July 20–August 25, 1864.

The story merits a bit of background.

American wars have a rich history of artillery firing randomly into enemy-held cities. More than a century before the start of our Civil War, in the 1740s, American colonial militia serving obediently in King George’s War fired projectiles into Louisbourg, Nova Scotia. During the American Revolution, patriot cannon sent 157 rounds into British-held Boston. Five years later, George Washington himself fired the gun that hurled the first shell into British-held Yorktown. Six decades later, Capt. Robert E. Lee directed Winfield Scott’s artillery in a cannonade of Vera Cruz, Mexico.

Modern warfare has “conventions”—understandings among belligerents as to accepted practices. One of them at the time of the American Civil War was that military forces planning to besiege or bombard a fortified city were supposed to inform the city’s defenders and give sufficient

time for its civilian non-combatants to get out. Before shelling Vicksburg in May 1862, for instance, a Union naval officer gave the mayor twenty–four hours for citizens to remove themselves.

The window of civility shrank as the war went on. In April 1863, the U.S. Adjutant General’s office issued General Orders No. 100, which stated that “it is no infraction of the common law of war” for a commander not to issue a warning of an impending bombardment. Accordingly, Maj. Gen. Ulysses Grant gave no notice to Confederates when his artillery opened on Vicksburg, May 19, 1863. Three months later, Union Brig. Gen. Quincy Gillmore warned Confederate Gen. P.G.T. Beauregard that his guns would open on the city if Confederates did not surrender Fort Sumter in four hours. Of course, the Federal cannon opened; among them was eventually the “Swamp Angel,” a huge eight-inch Parrott rifle mounted on Morris Island south of the city. It fired its 175-pound shells a full 4 ½ miles into the city. In Virginia the next year, once again Grant gave no warning when his cannon began to shell Petersburg on June 26, 1864. Union Maj. Gen. William T. Sherman thus had strong precedent when he gave no notice that his artillery was about to open fire on Atlanta.

Situation, July 19, 1864: Sherman’s three armies were closing in on the city from the north and east. He knew that they would get closer the next day, so he ordered any guns getting within range to open fire “without the formality of a demand.” Sherman’s army group had started the campaign for Atlanta with 254 field pieces. Most were 12-pounder smoothbore Napoleons, with a few 12- and 24-pounder howitzers. Of rifled cannon there were about a hundred: 10- and 20-pounder Parrotts and 3-inch Ordnance Rifles. The Northern guns bombarding Atlanta would be the rifles, for they alone had the range to lob shells into

Left: The white stucco home of Ephraim and Ellen Ponder, 3/4 a mile outside of Atlanta’s northwest city limits, showing effects of Federal artillery fire. The house was near Confederate fortifications (Fort Hood) and its second story was occupied by Southern sharpshooters.

Mistakenly called the “Potter” house by General Sherman and others, the structure was likely referred to in the report of Lt. W.W. Hopkins, a signal officer who sat perched in a tree behind Federal lines. Observing the effects of Northern cannonfire, on Aug. 9, Hopkins wrote, “the most noticeable effect of the shelling was in front of General Geary’s division at a fort and house. This fort was struck; also the works near it, and the house had a large hole knocked in it besides being riddled.”

George Barnard took this photograph during the Federal occupation of Atlanta, September-November 1864, captioning it “view of Potter’s house on the rebel line N.W. of Atlanta, showing effect of our shots.”

The house did not survive the war; Federal soldiers burned it in mid-November 1864 before they left Atlanta on their march to the sea. Colorization © 2015 civilwarincolor.com, courtesy civilwarincolor.com/cwn (Library of Congress)

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the big guns ordered by Sherman arrived. General Thomas placed them in his lines north of the city in a specially constructed fort. A New York infantryman, Sgt. Rice Bull, got a chance to see the redoubt and described it in his diary: “strongly built, with heavy iron doors in front that closed when the guns were not in action.” Bull added a note: “these siege guns were only used to shell the city.”

Sherman had ordered 30-pounder Parrotts, but he got instead three 4.5-inch siege rifled cannon. He didn’t care, as he was primarily interested in their heavier shells. To Thomas he had written, “send me word when the 4 ½-inch guns come, as I want to come over and watch the effect of a few of the first shots.” By the afternoon of August 10, the three big guns were in position and opened up on the

city, firing around the clock. General Geary, in whose division-front the heavy battery had been built, again wrote home to Mary on the 11th, “during the night a gun was fired every five minutes. It was fearful to listen to the crashing of the shell through the houses as if they were so many eggshells.”

And Sherman wanted more eggshells broken. “Keep up a steady, persistent fire on Atlanta with the 4 ½-inch guns and 20-pounder Parrotts,” he instructed Thomas on the 10th; “I think those guns will make Atlanta of less value to them as a large machine-shop and depot of supplies. The inhabitants, for course, have got out.”

No, they hadn’t. While most Atlantans fled the city when the Yankees approached, some 3,000-4,000 civilians

Barnard took a number of photos of Sherman and his officers in Federal Fort #7, which was constructed by Union engineers when Sherman called for a shorter line of defenses within the Confederates’ twelve-mile perimeter of works around the city. General Sherman rests with his arm on the breech of the Parrott rifle. Near him, with left arm resting on the wheel, is Brig. Gen. William F. Barry, Sherman’s chief of artillery. Colorization © 2015 civilwarincolor.com, courtesy civilwarincolor.com/cwn

ArtillerymanMagazine.com

(Library of Congress)

| Vol. 39, No. 2

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Cullen Bradley’s 6th Ohio Battery was apparently the first to fire hot shot. On the tenth Bradley recorded that his men “erected temporary furnaces for heating shot and threw six shot into the city.”

The Northern artillery did indeed set fires in Atlanta.

Shells ignited cotton bales and wooden buildings; city firefighters, reduced in number, battled blazes, at times working under cannon fire. But downtown water cisterns had dried up in the summer heat, and the firemen had a hard time quelling the conflagrations. One well-publicized fire, reported in the Intelligencer, occurred on the night of August 23-24, when the Atlanta Lard Oil Company factory was struck by a shell that ignited cotton bales stored inside. Several months later, George Barnard photographed the building, standing then as a hollow brick shell.

Federals could see their damage. A Union signal officer, perched high in a tree, reported on August 24, “I have the honor to report that at least three houses were destroyed by the fire in Atlanta this afternoon. Our shells burst in the city to right and left of brick stack,” an apparent reference to one of Atlanta’s factories.

It turned out that the last Northern shells were fired on the evening of August 25. Sam Richards recorded in his diary, Saturday the 27th, “on Thursday the shelling ceased altogether.” That was the day that Sherman, tired of his unproductive semi-siege, gave it up and began marching six of his infantry corps south toward Jonesboro in a final effort to cut Hood’s railroad. When they did so on the afternoon of August 31, Hood had to order his troops to abandon Atlanta.

It is fair to ask what Sherman achieved in his 37-day bombardment of Atlanta.

Poe continued, “that all the shelling we did, did not get us into the town a single second sooner than we would have got in anyhow. It was the movement of our army around to their rear that drove the rebels out, and not the burning & destruction of a few houses occupied by noncombatants instead of rebel soldiers, who were safely and snugly stowed away in their forts, where no shot could reach them.”

Arguably, then, Sherman’s artillery bombardment seemed primarily to bring psychological satisfaction to the commanding general himself. Sherman clearly expressed his determination to pound the city in repeated orders to his officers: “use artillery freely, converging on the town (to Thomas, July 22); “keep up fire on Atlanta all night, each battery throwing a shot every fifteen minutes” (to Thomas and Schofield, July 28); “keep the big guns going and damage Atlanta all that is possible” (to Thomas, August 18).

William T. Sherman’s virtual obsession to destroy the buildings of Atlanta thus remains a puzzling challenge for his biographers to explain.

Stephen Davis of Atlanta is author of What the Yankees Did to Us: Sherman’s Bombardment and Wrecking of Atlanta (Mercer University Press, 2012). Steve drew this article from his work, which includes articles about Sherman’s shelling in the Georgia Historical Quarterly and Atlanta History.

1. Did his shelling disrupt the Confederates’ supply system? No; rations and ammunition continued to be brought to Hood’s army by train and wagon until the very end.

2. Did the Union bombardment reduce Atlanta as a manufacturing center? No, because munitions machinery had already been evacuated before the shells started falling.

3. Did the cannonading demoralize Confederates?

No; Hood remained resolute even after his headquarters came under shellfire on August 9. Other Southerners, such as reporters writing for Confederate newspapers, just got angrier at Sherman the longer the bombardment continued.

The conclusion to be drawn, then, is that the shelling had no tactical impact. Even Federal officers recognized this. Sherman’s chief engineer, Capt. Orlando Poe, wrote his wife on September 7 that he had opposed the bombardment, and that it “did no good at all” beyond killing or wounding some “unoffending people.” “I venture to say,” ArtillerymanMagazine.com

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Gatling Gun

SHOOT

At Fort Ross, Pennsylvania

By Ericka Hoffmann

Image Courtesy of James D. Julia, Inc. – Offered in their Extraordinary Firearms Auction March 21-23,2018 – Exceptional Colt Model 1875 Gatling Gun in .45-70 on Original Field Carriage, SN 166 (Part of the Spectacular Collections of Ray Bentley) – visit jamesdjulia.com for more details.

O

n November 5, 2017, 14 historical machine guns, an original 24-pounder siege cannon, an original 12-pounder Napoleon cannon, and four Civil War era mortars were fired at various targets on Charlie Smithgall’s property (known as Fort Ross) in southern Lancaster County, Penn. This annual Gatling Gun Shoot takes place on the first Sunday in November, and includes a gathering of owners and shooters of Gatling guns and other early rapid-fire machine guns, as well as cannon and mortars. Spectators are welcome, there is no admission charge, and visitors may get a chance to fire a Gatling gun.

Traditionally, the signature target of the day is some sort of motor vehicle. A person who donates a target vehicle has the opportunity to fire the first shot at it with an original Napoleon owned by Smithgall. At the 2017 shoot, Smithgall provided a 2007 Volkswagen Jetta whose previous owner had so badly neglected its maintenance, that the chances of it ever running properly again were slim. Consequently, it

became an artillery target. Smithgall and his crews set up his original 24-pdr siege gun (manufactured by McClurg Foundry in 1837) and his original, bronze Napoleon (manufactured by Ames Manufacturing Company in 1864) to fire at the car. First, they fired test shots at paper targets to sight in the guns and demonstrate them for the crowd of approximately 600 spectators. Next, they fired both cannon at the Volkswagen; the car was in such terrible condition that it burst into flame on impact.

After the cannon firing, the Volkswagen was left to smolder, and the Gatling guns and other period rapid-fire guns took their turn firing at a wide variety of breakable targets, including seasonal pumpkins and gourds, empty refrigerant tanks, milk jugs, and hanging pieces of drywall and particle board. These guns included an interesting variety of Gatling gun models and styles, Gardner guns, a Union Repeating Gun (nicknamed the “Coffee Mill”), a Maxim gun, Hotchkiss guns, and other period rapid-fire original and reproduction arms.

In the afternoon, volunteers repositioned the shell of the Jetta to within range of the mortars. While a bald eagle watched from a safe distance, several well-aimed mortar balls hit, bounced off, or landed in the car. After the mortar event, the vehicle was carefully moved over to the Gatling side of the range, for the crews of the rapid-fire guns to enjoy finishing its destruction. To provide smaller and more reactive targets, a number of still-intact pumpkins and gourds were stacked on the car. After finally succumbing to a hail of lead from the rapid-fire guns, the remnants of the car were removed from the range at the end of the day.

Dave Eppley loads and fires his reproduction Union Repeating Gun, or Agar gun, (nicknamed “Coffee Mill”). It fires a .50 caliber projectile, loaded in an original style reusable metal tube cartridge that uses a modern primer. This model of early rapid-fire machine gun was first developed in the late 1850s, and the original guns fired .58 caliber projectiles and used percussion caps. The Union ordered a total of 64 Coffee Mill guns during the Civil War, of which 17 were captured by the Confederates at the Battle of Harpers Ferry in 1862.

(Ericka Hoffman) ArtillerymanMagazine.com

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Charlie Smithgall aims his 24-pounder siege cannon. The rear sight on this gun Projectiles from 19th Century artillery pieces fly down range at the ill-fated 21st is a reproduction that Smithgall made, Century Volkswagen. Smithgall’s gun was manufactured in 1837 at McClurg Iron based on one of the original rear sights Foundry in Pittsburgh (later to become Fort Pitt Foundry).

(Ericka Hoffmann) in his collection.

(Ericka Hoffmann)

Charlie Smithgall informs spectators about his 24-pounder iron siege cannon. Every year, the day before the Gatling Shoot, Smithgall fires a different cannon that he hasn’t fired before. This year, the 24-pounder shot so well, that he decided to keep it out and fire it on Sunday.

(Ericka Hoffmann) 42

The Artilleryman

Once the car has been sufficiently demolished by the cannons, the Gatling guns fire at various targets. Left to right in this photo are: a Gatling gun reproduction based on an 1862 model, a reproduction Union Repeating Gun (AKA “Coffee Mill”), and an 1877 model “Bulldog” Gatling. A variety of targets await the hail of lead.

(Ericka Hoffmann)

A Gardner gun is fired downrange while the 1877 “Bulldog” Gatling sits quietly in safe mode and the Volkswagen smolders in the background.

(Ericka Hoffmann)

Firing an 1877 “Bulldog” Gatling gun is an enjoyable experience. Spectators are allowed to participate under close supervision and with proper hearing protection. (Ericka Hoffmann)

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By Thomas Bailey

Confederate artillery near Charleston, S.C., 1861. Photograph showing Confederate soldiers around a cannon.

Notice the gunner aiming the gun using a pendulum hausse. Hand written on verso: “Miller, vol. 9, p. 49 (top).�

(Library of Congress)

Pendulum-hausse. The instrument at present in most general use in pointing field guns at objects beyond the natural pointblank, is called a pendulum-hausse, of which the component parts are denominated the scale, the slider, and the seal.

The scale is made of sheet brass: at the lower end is a brass bulb filled with lead. The slider is of thin brass, and is retained in any desired position on the scale by means of a brass set screw with a milled head. The scale is passed through a slit in a piece of steel, with which it is connected by a brass screw, forming a pivot on which the scale can vibrate laterally: this slit is made long enough to allow the scale to take a vertical position in any ordinary cases of inequality of the ground on which the wheels of the carriage may stand. The ends of this piece of steel form two journals, by means of which the scale is supported on the seat attached to the piece, and is at liberty to vibrate in the direction of the axis of the piece. The seat is of iron, and is fastened to the base of the breech by three screws, in such manner that the centres of the two journal notches shall be at a distance from the axis equal to the radius of the base ring.*

ArtillerymanMagazine.com

Reverse

Obverse

T

he subject sight marked “3 INCH RIFLED GUN ALLEGHENY ARSENAL 1863� is an improved version of the pendulum hausse sight first used by the U.S. Army artillery prior to the Civil War. The pendulum hausse was a Russian invention used in sighting artillery over irregular ground.

Standard specifications for the pendulum hausse appear in the The Ordnance Manual for the Use of the Officers of the United States Army, 1861, for the field guns in use at the time.

There is no information on the sight for the newly adopted 3-inch Ordnance Rifle. The first sights for this gun were produced based on the original specifications for smooth bore guns, modified to conform to the dimensions of the Ordnance Rifle.

Prior to the outbreak of hostilities between the northern and southern states, the effectiveness of rifled artillery had not been thoroughly proven in a combat situation by the U.S. military.

Practical use of the 3-inch Ordnance Rifle during the first years of the war proved that modifications to the sight were required for greater accuracy due to the greater ranges achieved by the rifled gun.

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COLL ECT ION

Private Henry Augustus Moore of Co. F, 15th Mississippi Infantry Regiment, with U.S. artillery short sword and sign reading “Jeff Davis and the South!� Photograph shows identified soldier who died from wounds suffered in the Vicksburg Campaign in 1863. The image is a sixth-plate ambrotype, hand-colored and cased.

From the Liljenquist Family Collection of Civil War Photographs.

(Library of Congress) 52

The Artilleryman

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Letter from Dr. John B. Read to Capt. John A. Dahlgren:

Country: USA Name: Dahlgren (inventor) Diameter: 3.97 inches Bore Diameter: 4.0 inches Cannon: 4-inch Dahlgren Rifle “Tuscaloosa [Ala.] June 4th 1861 Overall Length: 9.25 inches Weight: 20.6 pounds Capt. John. A. Dahlgren Construction: Blind Shell Washington City, Fusing System: None D.C. Sabot Material: Lead Provenance: Non-excavated Collection: Michael Ward Dear Sir, I will esteem it quite a favor if you will send me by mail a copy of your official report on Rifle Cannon experiments, rendered I think last December, though I have not yet seen it.

Should there be any unexpected expense in sending me this report please inform me & I will remit it promptly.

Trusting that you & yours are in good health.

I remain Very Respectfully John B. Read“ Above: 20-pounder Dahlgren projectile In pencil Dahlgren wrote the following note: invented and patented by Dahlgren.

“What an impudent rascal!

J.A.D.“

Rear Adm. John A. Dahlgren standing by a Dahlgren rifle (invented by and named after him) on the deck of USS Pawnee in Charleston Harbor, South Carolina.

(Library of Congress)

By Steven D. Smith and James B. Legg

I

n May 2017, the South Carolina Institute of Archaeology and Anthropology (SCIAA) conducted a USC archaeological field school at Ninety Six National Historic Site near Greenwood, S.C. Our research focused on the site of Gouedy’s Trading Post, which was

Archaeologist Heathley Johnson with the cannon muzzle he has just recovered.

(SCIAA photo)

A closeup of the freshly excavated muzzle fragment.

(SCIAA photo)

established about 1751, and was apparently the earliest European occupation in the vicinity of what later became the village of Ninety Six. During the Cherokee War of 1759-61, the trading post was fortified and designated “Fort Ninety Six;” it was attacked twice by the Cherokee. The 2017 field work included formal excavation on the fort site itself, and systematic metal detecting of the vicinity. Easily the most intriguing artifacts recovered during the metal detecting were two fragments of a small iron cannon, found by SCIAA archaeologist Heathley Johnson.

The cannon fragments include the complete muzzle and a portion of the breech of a gun with a bore about 2.13 inches, which would be a 1-pounder.

The length of the gun, of course, is unknown, but the maximum exterior diameter of the muzzle is about 5.0 inches, while the breech is about 6.48 inches. The break on the breech fragment exactly sections the vent of the piece. There are no markings on the fragments.

The historical record for Fort Ninety Six is reasonably detailed, and there is no mention of artillery when the fort was initially constructed in November 1759. Vivid accounts of the Cherokee attacks on the fort in February and March, 1760 also lack any mention of artillery. Finally, the fort was reinforced in April with 50 soldiers and four swivel guns of unstated caliber. Fort Ninety Six played a role in British Col. Archibald Montgomery’s unsuccessful expedition against the Cherokee in May-July 1760, as well as Col. James Grant’s victorious and decisive campaign of May-July, 1761.

The records of neither campaign include any further mention of artillery at Fort Ninety Six, leaving the April 1760 arrival of swivel guns as the only documentation we have seen thus far for the fragments found in 2017. The artifacts are certainly compatible with a swivel gun of the 1760 era.

It is also possible, but not likely, that the gun dates to the Revolutionary War rather than the Cherokee War.

Muzzle face after conservation.

Side view of muzzle.

ArtillerymanMagazine.com

(Brian Mabelitini)

(Brian Mabelitini) | Vol. 39, No. 2

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that other pieces found their way into Robert Gouedy’s forge some 257 years ago, and emerged as some of the nails, horse shoes, hinges, and other artifacts that we are also recovering from the site.

The cannon fragments have completed a six-month conservation process conducted by USC Anthropology Ph.D. student Brian Mabelitini, and are now ready for exhibit. We hope that visitors to Ninety Six National Historic Site will be able to see them at the visitor’s center one day soon.

We would certainly like to learn more about this gun if anyone recognizes anything from what little we have to go on.

The authors would like to thank the National Park Service for the opportunity to conduct a field school at Ninety Six National Historic Site, Ninety Six, South Carolina.

The SCIAA is a state agency and research institute at the University of South Carolina. Established in 1963, its mission is to conduct research on South Carolina’s archaeological heritage, curate the state’s archaeological collections and keep an archaeological site inventory of all sites in the state.

It has an active military archaeology program specializing in archaeological research on the American Revolution and the Civil War. It recently has conducted projects focusing on Spanish exploration across the Southeast.

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Steven D. Smith is Director of the South Carolina Institute of Archaeology and Anthropology, University of South Carolina, Columbia, and is a Research Associate Professor. He is a military sites archaeologist specializing in the Southern Campaign of the Revolutionary War. James Legg is the Public Archaeologist with the Research Division of the South Carolina Institute of Archaeology and Anthropology, University of South Carolina, Columbia. He is an historical archaeologist specializing in military technology.

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