"The General James Dearing"
The Slidell Battery has one of these type weapons, mounted on a Number 1, Field Carriage, when connected to a Limber Caisson, it requires normally a four horse team.
1841 -- 6-pounder, Field Gun
The 1841 6-pounder Field Gun
By comparison the following
applies for solid steel shot:
Piece Weight Range (yards @ 5 deg el)
6-pounder
Field Gun
860 (barrel) 1,523
12-pounder Napoleon Field Gun 1,200 (barrel) 1,619
12-pounder Field Howitzer 1,400 (barrel) 1,072
All of these pieces were outranged with the invention of the rifled pieces such as the 10-pound Parrot Rifle (2,000 yards) and the 3-inch Ordinance Rifle (1,835 yards). Many of the larger guns remained in service along with the rifled guns, however the 6-pounder was now doomed due to low impact and in-effectiveness.
In spite of these limitations, the 6-pounder Field Gun saw extensive service before, during and after the Civil War.
More information can be found in
the following book, Cannons: An Introduction to Civil War Artillery, by Dean S.
Thomas among others to numerous to mention.
Typical Ammunition
Shell
- as its name implies, is a hollow iron projectile filled with a
bursting charge of black powder. All round shell, and some rifle shell, used a
time fuse to ignite the bursting charge; Rifle shells could also use percussion
fuses.
1.25 lbs powder
**** inches in length
3.67 inches in diameter
6 lbs 1 oz
Case
Shot - also called shrapnel or shrapnel shell
after its inventor, British artilleryman Henry Shrapnel, case shot was an
improvement on the simple shell by the addition of small lead or iron balls to
the interior of a thinner-walled projectile. The balls were embedded in a
matrix of sulphur or coal-tar. Case shot was designed
to explode in the air, so nearly always used time fuses.
1.25 lb powder
**** inches in length
**** inches in diameter
3 lbs 4 oz
Canister
- is simply a tinned-iron can full of iron or lead balls packed in
sawdust. When fired, the effect is that of a giant shotgun blast. Canister is
essentially short-range anti-personnel ammunition.
1.25 lbs powder
**** inches in length
**** inches in diameter
39, 1.14-1.17" diameter shot
**** lbs **** oz
Grape
Shot - is similar in concept to canister, but has fewer and larger balls,
held together with iron rings or trussed up with fabric and twine. (The latter
is "quilted grape shot", sometimes referred to as "quilted
grape" or "quilted shot".) It is often erroneously stated that
this was purely naval ammunition, but grape was at least occasionally issued to
field and foot artillery.
1.25
lbs powder