"What color was ACW Artillery?" Topic

The guns themselves? Half the Pictures I have seen seem to be plain wood. Others seem to be some sort of olive.

I have two napoleons right down the street from me, next to captain Pickets house when he was involved in the Pig war. They are a sort of dark olive, which none of the pictures I have seen seem to be. And Troianis book just talks about tje uniforms, I dont see anythin about the guns themselves.

So what color are they?

Owen

Check the ACW Painting Guides message board: asked and answered many times. Standard for the Union, and followed (mostly) by the Confederacy, was olive, made by mixing yellow ochre and lampblack to a prescribed recipe. See "Composition and Preparation of Paints" here:

link

Allen

aecurtis: Great resource! Thanks!

Thanks Allen, I knew the answer was here, just had not thought to look there, duh!

Owen

Many, many thanks. Not only did I find a specific recomendation, it is one thqat I already have.

Are you talking the guns/tubes, or the limbers and caissons?…

Limbers and caisons. I got that the tubes and iron work where black or bronze. I just bet prewar those poor gunbunnys spent many hours polishing the tube. Just the sort of thing to make an Officer smile.

Couple of things: The lids/tops of limber boxes were covered with sheet copper. This was polished, as were brass/bronze tubes. Often strapped to the tops of the limber chests were the battery paulins, or canvas tent flys. These were used to make shelters for the crew by stretching over the limber poles though the primary purpose was to shelter the gun in inclement weather.

Also, artillerymen carried knapsacks, just like their infantry brothers. Often, these were strapped to the fronts of the limbers, where the footrests may be seen, and sometimes to the tops as well.

ALL of the iron surfaces were painted with a gloss black. That would slowly weather over time, but would still be at least a satin finish. Same with the gun carriages, limber boxes, wheels, etc. The army used gloss paints, and these would slowly transfer to a satin finish, but would never become an actual matte finish. In winter quarters, the metal would have been repainted, and any touch-up to the wood surfaces would also be done then.

On the black, in any gaming scale the gloss black would be better painted with a satin finish. Just my opinion. In our gaming scales gloss black would just be too shiny.

Maybe some dulcote or similar spray would matte and protect the non gloss painted wood,and somewhat dull up glossy black metal enough at the same time. Don't know for sure, never tried it!

Nah, a matte coat would make everything matte, even the glossiest paint. I've seen it and tried in many times on plastic models.

I'm surprised that no one mentioned the red confederate limbers and guns in the 93 movie "Gettysburg".

I'll have to watch Gettysburg to see the red guns, but Jackson had a battery of 4 12 pounders he called Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, and the gun carriages and limbers I believe were painted red, and to see them in Gettysburg would have made sense because I doubt they would have painted them after his death.

The 4 guns you mention are 6-lbers, and they can be found at VMI to this day, well, not right now…

link

But they'll be back!

Very good.

Oh man, I have never heard of them. Now just one more thing I will compulsively collect, paint display, and probably never play with.

but the fun when somebody corrects me……

Owen

Hey there firstvarty1979, thanks for the info, I had always thought they were twelves……..Good thing my confederate artillery is still waiting to be painted!

I've been researching this question myself and ran across these nice photos from the Atlanta Historic Center:

I've seen that display. The Atlanta History Center has a fantastic ACW collection.

The four guns in question were the practice guns from VMI, and were on red carriages.

The wheels have metal rims. A few miles of rolling over sand or stone roads would make the rims to shiney silver/metal colour. Is this true?

The wheels have metal rims. A few miles of rolling over sand or stone roads would make the rims to shiney silver/metal colour. Is this true?

Given the state of roads in the south where much of the fighting occurred, a few miles would probably have left the guns either dusty or muddy, depending on the weather.