"Canister vs Grape shot" Topic

TKindred,

Excellent information. I too find it interesting that canister for rifled guns isn't mentioned. From the canister descriptions you've provided for 6 pounders, 12 pounder Howitzers and Mountain Howitzers, it would appear that the 12pd Napoleon on average had a very effective canister round b/c of the weight per ball… also depending on the terrain conditions.

I've read a lot of mid-war reports which cite 200 yards as effective RM range. Not to say that in the right hands and with cleared fields of fire, such as in the late-war years, 300 yards couldn't have been the effective range. All the same, if 12pd Napoleons--under the right conditions--were able to start firing canister at 350, then for mid-war battles their ability to deliver effective shots of "grape" before a line of attacking infantry could return fire might help to explain the Napoleons reputation during the ACW.

Jim

Jim,

The problem with the "effective" range numbers has more to do with the terrain found on most Civil War battlefields. It was rolling countryside, broken up by trees, houses, ridgelines, whatever. One of the interesting statistics is that, at Gettysburg, there were still a large number of federal regiments armed with muskets, rather than rifles or rifle-muskets, or even rifled-muskets (technical terms for the various arms.. I know, I know..).

Thing is, those regiments were loath to give them up because most of the engagements they had participated in, to that point, were ones where the .69 muskets were at their best ranges, say 150 yards or less. The standard cartridge for the musket was Buck & Ball, a .65 calibre round ball topped with 3-6 pieces of OO buckshot. That was sufficient to provide many casualties at those ranges, especially when using "fire by files", which was the most common type of firing during the war. It provided a literal blizzard of shot.

In point of fact, it wasn't until the Overland Campaign, spring of 1864, that the entire Army of the Potomac was completely armed with rifles or rifle-muskets.

I'll keep going through my files for info on the canister rounds for the Parrot and Ordnance rifles. It's there somewhere, but I still can't seem to locate it.

If there's anything else you need, research-wise, on ACW artillery, I'm happy to see what I can dig up.

Respects,

Tkindred,

Thanks for the offer. I haven't delved much into the artillery aspect of the ACW, but I ought to and probably will some day. What I've gained from this thread and my previous ACW reading is that under certain conditions 12 pd. Napoleons were effective at delivering shots of canister before attacking infantry could get into RM/M range. As you alluded to, one of the difficulties with war gaming is that real terrain isn't as flat as the table top and it can be problematic to represent slight undulations or the effects of variations in terrain types on canister balls, things such as standing crops, fences, orchards, etc… So, it isn't easy to set ranges in war game. But I think a case could be made that 12pd Napoleons in an ACW war game could be given a canister range equal to the normal range of RM's. Add in a rule that restricts its non-OG use to targets within 1'' of wood lines, fences, orchards or fields of standing corn and suddenly those Napoleons look like a nice way to anchor a defensive line.

Jim