Civil War Journal - Artillery at Gettysburg

Shortly after 1 p.m. on July 3, 1863, Confederates near the Sherfy peach orchard fired on the Union position about a mile away on Cemetery Ridge, near the area now called the “High Water Mark.” For the next hour, more than 160 Confederate soldiers unleashed a massive artillery barrage in an attempt to smash a hole in the center of the Union position on Cemetery Ridge by killing, wounding and demoralizing the Union defenders. This bombardment preceded Pickett’s Charge. The objective of Pickett’s Charge was to scatter or capture the dazed and confused survivors of the bombardment and drive the Union army remnants from the field. Clearly, artillery—or cannons—and the men who manned them played an enormous role in preparation for, and the repulse of, Pickett’s Charge, climaxing the Battle of Gettysburg.

There are 370 cannons on the more than 6,000 acres of battleground. Like the 1,300 monuments, cannons seem to be everywhere in Gettysburg National Military Park. Most of the cannon barrels at Gettysburg date from the Civil War. At least one cannon visible today was used during the Battle of Gettysburg. Located under the statue of Union Brig. Gen. John Buford on McPherson’s Ridge is the cannon that fired the first Union artillery shot of the battle.

Both armies were heavily equipped with cannons at Gettysburg; the Union army had 360 and the Confederate army had 275. Cannons could weigh anywhere from 1,775 pounds to 2,400 pounds each. The barrels were made of iron or bronze, and the gun carriage and wheels were made of wood.

Two types of cannons were used in the battle—smoothbore and rifled. The first is the bronze-barreled smoothbore cannon called the Napoleon that fired a 12-pound cannonball about a mile. As you drive around the battlefield, the Napoleon cannons appear greenish-blue, due to oxidation.

The second is a cast-iron rifled cannon called the Parrott gun. The Parrott gun could fire a 10- or 20-pound shell up to 1 ½ miles. Another type of rifled cannon, called the three-inch Ordinance Gun, is named for its three-inch bore in the cannon barrel. This rifled cannon fired an eight-pound shell about 1 ¼ miles. The rifled cannons are painted black. The principal difference between the smoothbore and rifled cannons is the groove in the rifled cannon barrel that provides extra distance and accuracy.

The cannons were attached to small wagon called a limber and pulled by a team of six horses. Nine men served on each gun crew, although many crews operated with fewer men. Accompanying the cannon was a small wagon, called a caisson, that was pulled by another team of six horses. The limber and the caisson could carry up to 270 ammunition rounds.

The nine-man gun crews serving each cannon worked in a team with other manning crews called a battery. A typical battery would have four (Confederate) to six (Union) gun crews working together to coordinate their fire on enemy cannons, disrupting opposing infantry or cavalry formations, and repulsing infantry or cavalry assaults. An experienced gun crew could fire twice per minute.

At maximum strength, a six-gun battery numbered about 155 officers and men: 110 horses, six limbers, 12 caissons, a battery forge for repairs and a wagon. The gun crews often took heavy losses in men and horses. Casualties in some of the Union batteries near the High Water Mark averaged 25 percent.

In general, there were four kinds of artillery ammunition. A solid cylindrical shot or cannonball would be used against fortifications, enemy artillery or to break up enemy battle lines at longer distances. Two kinds of airburst shells or case shot (also known today as shrapnel) would explode over the enemy, sending hot metal fragments and/or round metal balls down on the heads of the enemy. The airburst shell and shrapnel were also used at distance of a half-mile or longer. For ranges within 400 yards or closer, the artillerymen utilized canister rounds. The Napoleon’s canister round was a metal can filled with 27 cast-iron metal balls. When fired, the tin can would explode 200 to 300 yards from the cannon, sending a pattern of 27 metal balls 20 to 40 yards wide, inflicting devastating wounds on the advancing enemy.

A single six-gun Union battery covering an 85-yard front could fire about 40 rounds of solid shot, case shot and canister in the 20 minutes it took the Confederates to march across the 1,400 yards of open ground between Seminary and Cemetery ridges during Pickett’s Charge. The effect on the advancing Confederates was exceptionally lethal, particularly as they approached the Emmitsburg Road and came into canister range. Some Confederate infantry units lost up to 60 percent of their men against this intense fire.

Gettysburg National Military Park’s best spot to view cannons, limbers and caissons is Cushing’s Battery in the Angle near the High Water Mark. There is a wayside marker in the Angle that has information on the artillery at Gettysburg.

For more on the artillery at Gettysburg, I highly recommend Silent Sentinels: A Reference Guide to the Artillery at Gettysburg, George W. Newton, Savas Beattie LLC, New York, NY, 2005 and Civil War Artillery at Gettysburg, Philip M. Cole, DaCapo Press, New York, NY, 2002.

Jim Martin serves as a licensed battlefield guide at Gettysburg. These guides are independent contractors licensed and supervised by the National Park Service as historical interpreters of the Battle of Gettysburg. To book a battlefield tour, call the Gettysburg Foundation at 877-874-2478 or 717-334-2436.

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