"ACW horse artillery/horse guns" Topic

Hi, another newbie question. Was there a certain caliber/size of artillery used by the cavalry of both sides. Did they tend to be any lighter in caliber than those used by the field artillery? Also, any major differences in uniforms between field and horse artillery men (CSA and USA)? Know this covers a lot. Thanks for any help or a point in the right direction!

They did assuredly tend to be lighter. With the exceptions of the Federal artillery in the East, the primary horse artillery guns were 6# smoothbores, several types of 6# that had been modified to rifles (usually on the James system), 12# Firld Howitzers, 2.25" Mountain Rifles, and 12# Mountain Howitzers on prairie carriage.

Also used were the 3.8" James Rifle and various types of 3"/10# Parrott Rifles and 12# Napoleons (Light Guns), but they all are much heavier and wore down the horses much faster.

Especially in the East, the light 3" Rodman Rifle came to be the standard horse gun, but it was never as commonly available outside of the Army of the Potomac and usually ended up in Field Artillery batteries while the horese Artillery did with the older light gun types, at least until the winter of 1863-64.

Hope this helps.

Mark

The one really big difference between the field artillery and the horse artillery was that the horse artillery were completely mounted. These batteries were designed to accompany the cavalry brigades and dicisions, and thus had a need for every member of the battery to be mounted in some fashion.

The field artillery had no mounts for the gunners themselves, they having to walk or jog alongside the guns. As they were supporting the Infantry, that was no big deal. Most of the time…. :)

On the subject of uniform – there is no difference between the Horse and Foot batteries, both use the red branch of service colour. This is true for both sides.

Please, there is no Rodman 3" rifle. It is an Ordnance Rifle. Rodman is a method of casting large size cannon used in seacoast fortifications.
Field Artillery Canoneers could ride on limbers and caissons "for rapid moves except in presence of the enemy" which is when the most rapid moves were needed.
In ACW, Horse Artilllery was pretty much exclusively Cavalry support unlike Napoleonic Corps Artillery.

US Army horse gunners liked the Ordnance rifle for the weight – Rebs used whatever they could get

The US Army shell jacket with red trim was supposed to be for horse artillery only, just like the shako was – difference was, no one wore the shako, but the shell jacket was very popular with gunners of all sorts, field and horse alike

To be honest, the majority of period images show federal artillery crews in sack coats. They were issued both the uniform jacket and the unadorned 4-button blouse, or sack coat, and the latter was the overwhelmingly popular choice for use in the field.

And the use of all those red-trimmed uniforms by Confederates after 1861 drops off remarkably. In fact, by 1863, CS arsenals stopped issuing uniforms with branch trim except for very specific situations. The only exception being in the west where the "Columbus Depot" pattern was widely used by ALL branches until late in the war.

The notion that artillerymen rode on the chests is way over blown. It was VERY dangerous. There are numerous incidents and stories written by the artillerymen themselves of guys getting bounced off and either seriously hurt or killed. It had no springs and over rocky roads or while moving fast it was a death ride.

In fact, Don hits on a good point. The artillerymen RARELY rode on the limbers and caissons, not only because it was dangerous, but it overloaded the axles and pole.

Artillerymen were issued, and carried, haversacks, canteens, and knapsacks, just like their brothers in the infantry. They wore the haversack and canteen, but their knapsacks were often strapped to the limbers and caissons. This practice was so widespread that regulations came out limiting the number of knapsacks which could be strapped to each unit.

When the knapsacks were thus attached, it was nigh impossible, anyway, to find a place to sit, as they were strapped in front of the chest, where the foot boards are located.

Riding on the chests added another 300 pounds or more to each limber (two men each) and not only could over-stress the carriage, but put a further strain on the horses.

Like Don says, it was rarely done, and then most times in an emergency.

Respects,

Shell jackets are popular with artillery reenactors and may have been used early in the war but by the mid/late war period the sack coat seems to be the basic dress.

except in very cold winter months, the most popular "in action" dress for the gunners may have been shirts, underwear or topless! Manning these guns was hard, dirty, exhausting work at times. No place for anything restricting or something fancy that might get ruined!!