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At Antietam, the rolling
terrain was of benefit to the artillerists of both armies. Placing
their more than 500 cannons on high ground, blue and gray alike were
able to effectively strike enemy troop positions at great distances.
So intense was the cannon fire, Confederate Colonel Stephen D. Lee,
who commanded the key artillery position located where the Visitor
Center is today, referred to Antietam Battlefield as "artillery
hell."
Artillery
Basics
The Artillery was a separate, specialized
branch of the army that supported the Infantry. The basic
organizational unit for cannons was called a battery, made
up of four to six guns with approximately 70-100 men commanded by a
Captain. There were many models and sizes of Civil War cannon, but there
were two basic types--smoothbore and rifled. A smoothbore
cannon barrel is just like a pipe, smooth on the inside. In contrast,
a rifled cannon has grooves cut into the inside of the
barrel, which forced the ammunition to rotate like a football. A rifled
cannon was more accurate and had a greater range than a smoothbore gun.
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Smoothbore
Cannon:
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1841
Model Gun
- Fires 6 lb. projectiles
- Workhorse of Mexican War, but considered obsolete
by Civil War
- Weight: 1,784 pounds
- Range: up to 1,523 yards
- Approximate number at Antietam: Confederate:
45, Union: 0
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1857
Model Napoleon
- Fires 12 lb. projectiles
- Named after French Emperor Louis Napoleon III
- Weight: 2,355 pounds
- Range: up to 1,619 yards
- Approximate number at Antietam: Confederate:
27, Union: 108
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A Model 1857 Napoleon (smoothbore) on the field at Antietam |
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Rifled
Cannon:
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Parrott
Rifle
- Fires 10 lb. projectiles
- Named for designer Robert Parker Parrott
- Weight: 1,799 pounds
- Range: up to 1,900 yards
- Approximate number at Antietam: Confederate:
36, Union: 42
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3-Inch
Ordnance Rifle
- Fires 10 lb. projectiles
- Lightest and strongest rifled tube
- Weight: 1,726 pounds
- Range: up to 1,830 yards
- Approximate number at Antietam: Confederate:
40, Union: 9
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Parrot (rifled) gun on the field at Antietam |
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Go to Artillery, Part 2
Go to Artillery, Part 3
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