"Gun crew placement" Topic

Does anyone know the proper gun crew placement around a cannon for the different armies? I know at reenactments safety concerns are more important than rate of fire. When the gun is fired where would the crew be possitioned? Would they all be directly behind the gun or might some be next to the wheels or in a place even less safe?

What I have to glue down at the moment are two Royal Artillery crews. One crew has the following:

1. man firing gun
2. man with bucket in motion
3. officer yelling
4. man with gun aiming tool standing around.

The other crew:

1. officer searching with telescope
2. man with large tool rotating gun from the back
3. man standing with bucket
4. man with aiming toil standing around

Thank you inadvance.

this sounds like Lawrence :-)

Phil

You would basically have three different functions that you could depict: laying the gun/running it back into position; loading the gun; and firing the gun.

Most figure companies do only the firing poses for obvious reasons (that is what they do and you don't sell a lot of artillery crew, so might as well have them firing. A few have loading poses too. Very few companies depict the running up of the gun or the laying of the gun.

Suggested firing poses: NCO with linstock or lit fuse to fire the gun, one gunner holding his ram rod, one gunner holding either the sponge bucket or some other tool

Loading poses: carrying a sabot/ammo round, holding ram rod, holding water bucket or other tool, officer directing things.

Laying/running of gun: gunner pushing on each wheel, NCO leveling the gun, maybe gunners pull on a rope (the dreaded bricole).

In the Royal Artillery, this was the general position for a gun crew (3pdr or 6pdr):-

A…BARREL…B

..…WHEELS

C…….…….D

..…TRAIL

…….I………….K

E…..F…..G…..H

(some way back)

…..L

…..M

…LIMBER

A is the loader,
B the man with the rammer
C is the man who fires the gun,
D is the vent man
I is the gun commander,
K is in charge of the slow match and water bucket
E, F, G & H are extra "muscle" for the dragropes
(A, B, C & D also assist on the dragropes)
L runs ammunition from the limber to gunner A
M replenishes ammunition from the caissons

For the AWI, a company (eg Capt Smith's Coy, RA) would normally supply enough artillery personnel (E-H were often infantry) to crew four guns; it was then known as a brigade (Capt Smith's brigade of 6-pounders). A junior officer and senior NCO would command each pair of guns, and a junior NCO each individualgun detachment.

Most re-enactment units recreate the positions of A, B, C, D and L, with the gun commander I. Usually L stands behind the gun commander with the ready box. There are not changes for safety in the crew positions, that I am aware of. The nods to safety are to double worm and sponge. Some sites restrict firing times, but that does not affect position.

Thank you Gentlemen.

Supercilius Maximus, when they actually fired the gun would A and B still be standing next to the barrel? How close would they be to the gun barrel while firing?

Also there is a tool that looks like a hockey stick. What is the tool called, what was its purpose and how was it used?

As an artilley reenactor when the gun is fired A & B stand outside of the wheels and behind the mussel. They turn away from the gun. A covers his right ear with his hand and B his left.

I believe that the "hockey stick" tool is the lever that is inserted into metal rings at the base of the gun trail. The "hockey stick blade" inserts into the rings and then the "handle" part is used for mechanical leverage to move the gun for aiming purposes.

Here is how I positioned some of my Fife & Drum Continental artillery crew. One section is loading and one section is firing:

On the left, loading, you have one man holding the sabot/shell, and one many with the rammer and one ventsman and the fourth fellow in the rear is holding the trail spike (hockey stick tool).

On the right, the NCO with the portfire is lighting the fuse, the officer is yelling his order to fire, another man is covering his ears, and the fourth man is holding the rammer.

I've seen plenty of diagrams for ACW artillery, but not so many for AWI. Here is one from the internet:

11thpa.org/artillery.html

I must confess that I was under the impression that trail spikes were used in pairs with "split trail" gun carriages (either extending to the rear of the gun carriage for lateral movement/aiming, or one into each side of the carriage to lift the trail and move the gun backward or forward by hand). It was only when the solid "block" carriage was introduced by the British during the later French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars, that the single trail spike was used for aiming.

I know from personal experience that when you fire a live round out of a heavy six, the carriage jumps and you don't want to be too close to the thing, especially the wheels. Ouch.

Those positions are taken from the CL black powder safety rules, were are likely based on period manuals. Same for British Brigade ones.

Thank you Gentlemen for all the information.

Beautiful and well thought figures as always Der Alte Fritz!

The CL Black powder safety rules are indeed authentic because my unit wrote them some 30 years ago!

There is no such animal as a "period" manual as none of this was ever written down at the time. RA Officers were taught theory of gunnery and engineering at Woolwich but were expected to make their own notes on arrival at their unit following established practice. The Continental Artillery followed RA procedure – naturally, since Henry Knox trained under visiting RA officers with the Boston Militia pre war.

In 1797, some thought was given to drawing up a formal tactics manual (as von Steuben had done with the infantry), and Colonel William Stevens published his "System for the Discipline of Artillery of the United States". Stevens had been a Captain during the revolutionary war, and his book details the actual artillery procedures that were followed during the conflict. Later authors such as de Tousard all draw heavily from Stevens' original work. Our reenactment gun drill is taken directly from this book.

Only one hand spike is needed to traverse a gun, the other just gets in the way and is laid on the ground. Gunners don't walk around with it!

The crew positions are numbered 1 thru 6:

1 fires the gun (left side of the piece)
2 tends the vent (right side, opposite #1)
3 sponges and rams the round (right side)
4 loads (left side of the piece)
5 carries ammunition (behind and to the left of #4)
6 serves ammunition from the chest

NCO directing the piece

In this illustration the #1 man has handed off his linstock (match) to the # 2 man while he traverses the piece at the direction of the NCO pointing the gun. Not that #5 is in position with the large leather haversack used to carry rounds from the ammo chest. This is a large 6pdr gun, so the #2 and 3 men are working inside of the gun wheels. Once it is loaded and ready they will stand upright, still inside the wheels and watch the muzzle

Not shown are the three matrosses who stand each side of the wheels manning drag ropes to move the piece back into battery once it has fired. These can be seen in the painting 'The mock Attack" showing maneuvers at Warley camp in 1778

Very nice! Thank you Number 4.