Re: Civil War Cannon Accuracy...
<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: Cegorach</div><div class="ubbcode-body">What kind of projectile were the smoothbores shooting? </div></div>
It varies but nearly all smoothbore artillery pieces shoot round shot and shell plus canister which looks much like a coffee can on a wooden sabot for a bottom... filled with ~1" iron or lead balls. Canister functions much like a shotgun blast for close range (think:beehive), solid shot is just that, solid lead or iron balls used for all purposes but especially handy for structures and barricades... shell is either a hollow iron round shot fused with a time fuse that explodes into shrapnel when the bursting charge inside goes off... or a hollow iron shot filled with .58 caliber lead balls and the bursting charge for added effect. The solid shot projectile of the brass M1857 Napoleon or the Tredegar Iron Works Napoleon (Confederate iron counterpart), which were called "12-pounders) weighed 12 lbs and was 4.52" in diameter.
Rifled guns shot similar style projectiles but they were called a "bolt" and were oblong and much like the projectiles we have today in form. They generally were much smaller bore... the most popular was the 3" Ordnance Rifle. A good cannoneer could shoot these like a rifle to great distances... many instances exsist where cannon crews engaged single human or hard targets at ranges out to and well over 1200 yards and hit them with one shot.
The pics below are a Union 6-pound (3.58") Napoleon and Limber. The 12-pounder had a larger bore.
This is a 12-pound Confederate Howitzer (short barrel often used by Cavalry and preferred for high angle projectile needs when mortars weren't handy).
This is Private Parallax, Co A, 6th Wisconsin Infantry ... One of "... those damned black hats..." of the Iron Brigade.
Interestingly, the beloved artillery battery attached to the Iron Brigade was Battery B, 4th US Artillery. It was crewed with men detached from the Iron Brigade's Infantry Regiments who joined the few Regulars who made up the "peace time" battery. Their nick-name was "Bloody B" ... they had a high casualty rate and were always in the front with the Infantry delivering canister unlike many of their counterparts who often set-up behind the lines. The infantrymen in the Iron Brigade, being wise-asses and generally more accurate called them "The 140 Thieves".