WEAPONS of WAR

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Artillery

Artillery was an essential branch of the armed forces during the Civil War. A battery of booming cannons was a terrifying sight to an attacking regiment. Most guns had an effective range of about 1500 yards, although the newer rifled guns were accurate to well over a mile.

Artillery ranged considerably in size, firing distance, and power. Civil War artillery was designated by either the diameter of its bore or the weight of its solid ammunition. Field artillery was organized into batteries, each having four to six guns, and commanded by a captain. A lieutenant was charged with a section of two guns, and each gun had a crew of usually nine cannoneers who would load and fire the weapons. Each artillery piece was attached to a limber, which contained an ammunition chest and was hauled by a six-horse team. A caisson, which held two more ammunition chests, another limber, and a spare wheel, supported each gun.. The team had a driver for each pair of mounts.

"The Napoleon"

"The Parrott"

Confederate Gun

Union Field Gun

The Civil War artillery piece worked on the same principle as the musket, using a cartridge which contained both powder and a missile. The crew members, each of whom had a specific duty, would set the cartridge inside the muzzle and ram it down the tube with a rammer. A soldier at the rear of the gun jabbed a wire pick through a vent in the breech to open the cartridge bag and expose the powder. A primer was placed through the vent, and attached to a lanyard, which was pulled to ignite the powder and fire the shot. After the shot was fired, the crew would swipe the barrel with a wet sponge. This was essential in order to put out any embers that might set off the next round prematurely! A good artillery crew could usually get off about two rounds of ammunition a minute.

Basic Terminology
This is a schematic of a Napoleon, with the addition of a chamber purely for illustrative purposes. (From Dean S. Thomas, Cannons: An Introduction to Civil War Artillery)

a - knob
b - neck
c - vent
d - trunnion
e - muzzle swell
f - muzzle face g - muzzle
h - rimbase
i - cascable
j - breech
k - chamber
l - bore

By the early nineteenth century artillerists in most western countries had settled on a standard method of naming cannon, based on the weight of the solid shot used with the piece. Since all shot was spherical, and typically made of iron, this weight corresponded with the bore size of the piece. Any cannon with a 3.67-inch bore would use a shot weighing six pounds, and would be known as a six-pounder; a cannon with a 4.62-inch bore would be a 12-pounder. (You mathematics aficionados will note that the ratio of the bores is a good approximation to the cube root of two, since the volume of the spherical ball, and therefore its weight, increases in proportion with the cube of its measurement.) The United States system of ordnance using these names is described in the next section.
The advent of rifled cannon threw this system into the proverbial cocked hat, as many existing pieces seemed as outmoded as that article of clothing. Typical rifled ammunition is not a sphere but a cylinder with a pointed nose. Because the rifle bolt can vary in length, there was no longer any direct correspondence between the gun's bore size and the weight of its solid shot. It was logical to refer to these new guns by their bore diameter, but the life of the military has not been logic, and the creators of these designs tried to give them names that would seem familiar to their users.
The system of rifled ordnance designed by Robert Parker Parrott is the best example of the confusion resulting from the attempt to pour new wine into old bottles. His rifled gun with a 2.9-inch bore was designated a 10-pounder Parrott, his 3.67-inch rifle a 20-pounder Parrott, and so forth. However, depending upon the type of ammunition used, these pounder designations were more theoretical than real. Parrot's largest rifles, the 8-inch and 10-inch, were known as 200- and 300-pounders in the Army, but as 150- and 250-pounders in the Navy. Another example of confusion stems from the attempts to rifle existing weapons, particularly the superseded six-pounders. Their 3.67-inch bores meant that the weight of their rifled ammunition could be somewhere between two and three times their original nominal weight.

Common Weapons
The system of ordnance adopted by the U.S. Army in the 1840's was the picture of simplicity: six- and 12-pounder field guns, 12-, 24-, and 32-pounder field howitzers, 18- and 24-pounder siege and garrison guns, and 32- and 42-pounder sea-coast guns. To this were added columbiads and mortars. The principal modification to this system prior to the War was the substitution of the light 12-pounder as the field weapon of choice. However, this system was soon made obsolete by necessity and technology.
The Civil War required a sudden and massive mobilization of military resources. The immediate need for field artillery resulted in the use of a bewildering variety of pieces, ranging from superseded ordnance to modern experimental models imported from Great Britain. Amongst the array of Armstrongs, Blakelys, Wiards, and Whitworths, it is still possible to identify a relatively small number of makes and models of muzzle-loading cannon that served as the workhorses of the Civil War battlefield.
GUNS & HOWITZERS
As a term of art, "guns" are relatively long-barreled cannon designed to fire projectiles with a nearly flat trajectory. Howitzers are shorter-barreled cannon with a chamber at the base of the bore, designed to take a smaller charge. Their range is shorter and the trajectory of the projectile shows more arc.

Name Tube
Length Tube
Weight Bore
Diameter Range¹ Material

GUNS

Six-Pounder, M1841 60 inches 884 pounds 3.67 inches 1520 yards Bronze
Light 12-pounder, M1857² 66 inches 1227 pounds 4.62 inches 1620 yards Bronze
10-pounder Parrott, M1861 78 inches 890 pounds 2.9 inches 2000 yards Cast Iron
20-Pounder Parrott 89 inches 1750 pounds 3.67 inches 2100 yards Cast Iron
3-inch ordnance rifle 73 inches 816 pounds 3.0 inches 1850 yards Wrought Iron
HOWITZERS

12-Pounder 53 inches 778 pounds 4.62 inches 1100 yards Bronze
24-pounder 65 inches 1318 pounds 5.82 inches 1325 yards Bronze
Mountain Howitzer 37 inches 220 pounds 4.62 inches 900 yards Bronze

¹At five degrees of elevation
²Familiarly known as the "Napoleon". It was also referred to as a "gun-howitzer", because it was capable of firing at a relatively high angle, like a howitzer, but this term is not strictly apt because it has no chamber.

6-pounder smoothbore, M1841

This popular workhorse of the Mexican War era was regarded as superseded by the Union artillery, but was still heavily employed by a Confederate army that could not afford to pass up any opportunities. The gun shows the last vestiges of the highly decorated artillery profiles that had prevailed until the beginning of the century: breech band, cascable fillet, fillet and roundel at the throat, and an echinus on the muzzle face were also features of the M1841 12-pounder. All were dispensed with on the M1857 Napoleon that displaced both these weapons as the smoothbore of choice for both armies. Attempts to convert some of these guns to rifles, using the James system of rifling, had only marginal success.
10-pounder Parrott

The family of Parrott rifles is easily recognizable by the reinforcing band of wrought iron, in the case of the 10-pounder about 13 inches wide, covering the breech and reinforce. Although there were several other types of cannon with similar reinforces (Wiards, Brookes, and British imports like the various models of Blakelys) the Parrott was by far the most common. The M1863 10-pounder Parrott was slightly modified; the bore was increased to 3.0 inches, to make its ammunition consistent with that of the new 3-inch ordnance rifle, and the muzzle swell was eliminated.

3-inch ordnance rifle

The design of this rifle, soon a favorite with artillerists in both armies, is recognized by the complete absence of any discontinuities in the surface of the gun. For example, note the "faired" rimbases, smoothly blended into the surface of the piece, and the lack of even a cascable fillet. It was also a major step forward in material, being made entirely of wrought iron. Strips of wrought iron were hammer-welded in criss-crossing spiral layers around a mandrel; this was then bored out and the finished product lathe turned into shape. Though time consuming and expensive to produce, the result was a singularly tough and accurate weapon.

Civil War Cannon Markings
All U.S. cannon, and many of those cast in the Confederacy, were marked by the founders and inspectors with information that provides us with clues to their provenance. Follow the link for a detailed explanation, and click on the thumbnail for a closer look at the muzzle markings on this Parrott.

The Evolution of Ordnance
The Civil War accelerated the technological development of ordnance. Before the War, the typical cannon was a bronze, muzzle-loading smoothbore. Though such cannon were still in heavy use at the end of the War, it was apparent that the next generation of guns would be steel, breechloading rifles.

Rifles vs. Smoothbores
The principles of rifling had long been understood; the spin imparted to the projectile by forcing it into spiral grooves in the bore of the gun made it fly straighter, farther, and with more power on impact. Rifling of bronze guns was not an effective solution, because the friction of the ammunition wore down the rifling in that relatively soft metal. (Many older weapons, particularly the nearly obsolete 6-pounders, were rebored with rifling at the start of the War, and proved to be of very limited use after a very short time.) Effective rifled cannon required harder metal, but cast iron, the logical choice, was too brittle.
Early Breechloaders
As with rifling, the advantages of loading a cannon at the breech are fairly clear, as the men serving at the front of a gun could attest. Breechloading guns required a mechanism that was able to withstand the strain of firing and still operate smoothly and quickly to allow the next round to be fired. This required not only a superior material but expert machining. The famous Whitworth was an early but unreliable example, and its cannoneers not infrequently had to fasten the breech closed and load it from the muzzle.
A Comment on Materials
The disadvantages of bronze as an ordnance material have just been listed, and to them may be added its excessive weight. But bronze had for centuries the signal advantage of toughness; absent a serious defect in manufacture, bronze guns were reliable and safe. Superior smelting techniques developed during the early industrial revolution raised hopes that cast iron might be a suitable material for guns, and there were many experiments. However, the explosion of the Peacemaker aboard the Princeton halted the production of iron cannon in the United States for over a decade, and only the largest, and most over-engineered, guns were made of iron.
Reinforcement of cast iron forward of the breech was an obvious solution, but Robert Parker Parrott was the first to successfully turn out quantities of cast iron cannon. The novelty in his method was not in the reinforce, but in the method of attachment; the wrought iron band was allowed to cool in place while the gun was rotated, which allowed the reinforce to clamp on uniformly around the circumference of the breech. The resulting guns still did burst occasionally, but could be produced quickly and cheaply at a time when they were desperately needed; the cost to the government was about $187, versus about $350 for its nearest rival, the wrought iron 3-inch ordnance rifle. The Parrott system became the workhorse rifle of the artillery for the first years of the War, and continued to be produced in quantity even after the introduction of the ordnance rifle, which was preferred by many artillerymen. Advances in materials superseded both models within a few years; the steel rifle soon took over the field. The Wiard, made of what the designer called "semi-steel" (puddled wrought iron) and the small Whitworths and Armstrongs of true steel, were precursors of the revolution in materials that would take place in the following decades.

Name	Tube Length	Tube Weight	Bore Diameter	Range¹	Material
GUNS
Six-Pounder, M1841	60 inches	884 pounds	3.67 inches	1520 yards	Bronze
Light 12-pounder, M1857²	66 inches	1227 pounds	4.62 inches	1620 yards	Bronze
10-pounder Parrott, M1861	78 inches	890 pounds	2.9 inches	2000 yards	Cast Iron
20-Pounder Parrott	89 inches	1750 pounds	3.67 inches	2100 yards	Cast Iron
3-inch ordnance rifle	73 inches	816 pounds	3.0 inches	1850 yards	Wrought Iron
HOWITZERS
12-Pounder	53 inches	778 pounds	4.62 inches	1100 yards	Bronze
24-pounder	65 inches	1318 pounds	5.82 inches	1325 yards	Bronze
Mountain Howitzer	37 inches	220 pounds	4.62 inches	900 yards	Bronze

Other Notable Weapons

The Four Apostles
These four "cadet" 6-pounders had been ordered especially for the use of the students at the Virginia Military Institute. They were slightly lighter than the regulation M1841 6-pounder and were mounted on smaller carriages. Christened Matthew, Mark, Luke and John "because they spoke a powerful language", the guns were turned over the the Rockbridge Artillery (then under the command of William Nelson Pendleton) at the start of the War. Replaced with heavier pieces as the War progressed, these cannon were sent to the defenses of Richmond, where they were captured at the fall of the capital. After being returned to VMI, the cadets continued to train on them until the pieces were retired in 1913, and placed at the foot of the Jackson monument on the parade ground. It is an odd quirk of fate that these guns, among the prized mementoes of VMI, were not present at Battle of Newmarket.

Stonewall and the Apostles

The "Opening Gun" at Gettysburg
The four 3-inch ordnance rifles of Calef's Battery A, 2nd U.S. Artillery, stand today at the base of the Buford monument at Gettysburg, on the spot where they fired the opening salvo of that pivotal battle. Lt. John Haskell Calef, a 1858 graduate of West Point, won a brevet for his gallantry at Gettysburg. Battery A claimed to have been the first unit to use the bugle call "Taps" at a military funeral, over the grave of one of its cannoneers killed on the Peninsula. The Battery's Regulars passed on their esprit de corps to the volunteers detailed to serve the pieces, taking an especial pride in having been the first assignment of Henry Jackson Hunt, by then commander of artillery for the Army of the Potomac.

The Widow Blakely

7.5-inch Blakely Rifle

This 7.5-inch rifle was called the Widow Blakely because it was the only specimen of British Captain Theophilus Alexander Blakely's design in the works at Vicksburg. While firing on Federal gunboats during the Siege of Vicksburg, a shell exploded prematurely in the tube. The broken end was trimmed off, and the Widow was used as a mortar for the remainder of its service. Taken to West Point as a trophy, the Widow was misidentified as "Whistling Dick", another famous Confederate cannon, which Ripley has identified as an 18-pounder rifle. When her true identity was recognized, the Widow was sent back to Vicksburg, and placed on the bluffs about a mile south of her original position.

The Guns of the Monitor

A turret gun of the Monitor, an XI-inch Dahlgren

The battle in Hampton Roads between the Monitor and the Merrimack (AKA CSS Virginia) on March 8, 1862, was considered a tactical draw, but the entire world recognized it as the death-knell of the days when "the ships were of wood and the men were of iron". Swedish-American engineer John Ericsson's famous "cheesebox on a raft" design featured a revolving turret with only two guns: XI-inch Dahlgren shell-guns of sufficient durability to be used to fire solid shot as well.
The 168-pound solid shot of the Monitor's turret guns might have done more damage if the pieces had been used as designed, with charges of 20 or even 30 pounds of gunpowder. However, the pressure of the situation made Dahlgren cautious, and he decreed a maximum charge of 15 pounds. The two guns are Nos. 27 & 28 made by West Point Foundry in 1859. They currently lie in the turret of the Monitor, wrecked in a storm in late 1862, and are visible in videotapes made of the wreck.

The Dictator

The 13-inch seacoast mortar weighed over 17,000 pounds and, as its common name implies, was intended for seige and fortifications and not field work. This monster was made portable during the Seige of Petersburg by being mounted on a railroad car, specially strengthened with extra beams and iron rods to withstand the strain of firing. Since this mortar threw a 218 pound shell about two and one-half miles with a charge of 20 pounds of powder, this strain was considerable.
The mortar was placed on the car and run up the tracks from City Point toward the Union cordon around Petersburg, where a curve in the tracks allowed the Dictator's gunners to adjust the plane of fire. The power of this weapon was enough to shatter most field magazines and bomb-proofs, and it is credited with causing the Confederate gunners to withdraw their attempts at enfilade fire along the right of the Union line.

13-inch seacoast mortar
Scan courtesy Dave Smith

The Gun that Sank the Alabama

The meeting of the Monitor and the Merrimack was certainly the most far-reaching naval action of the Civil War, but it could not match the gripping drama played out on the high seas off of Cherbourg, France, when the USS Kearsarge finally brought the Confederate raider Alabama to task after almost two years in which she had laid waste the merchant marine of the United States.
This gun is an XI-inch Dahlgren shell gun, shown here with Master J. R. Wheeler and Engineer S. L. Smith. The Kearsarge had two of these guns on board; both have been transferred from the Mare Island to the Chatham Annex in Williamsburg, Virginia, where they will eventually be installed in a museum to be built there.

The forward pivot on the Kearsarge, an XI-inch Dahlgren shell gun


Stonewall and the Apostles


7.5-inch Blakely Rifle


A turret gun of the Monitor, an XI-inch Dahlgren

The 13-inch seacoast mortar weighed over 17,000 pounds and, as its common name implies, was intended for seige and fortifications and not field work. This monster was made portable during the Seige of Petersburg by being mounted on a railroad car, specially strengthened with extra beams and iron rods to withstand the strain of firing. Since this mortar threw a 218 pound shell about two and one-half miles with a charge of 20 pounds of powder, this strain was considerable. The mortar was placed on the car and run up the tracks from City Point toward the Union cordon around Petersburg, where a curve in the tracks allowed the Dictator's gunners to adjust the plane of fire. The power of this weapon was enough to shatter most field magazines and bomb-proofs, and it is credited with causing the Confederate gunners to withdraw their attempts at enfilade fire along the right of the Union line.
13-inch seacoast mortar Scan courtesy Dave Smith

	The meeting of the Monitor and the Merrimack was certainly the most far-reaching naval action of the Civil War, but it could not match the gripping drama played out on the high seas off of Cherbourg, France, when the USS Kearsarge finally brought the Confederate raider Alabama to task after almost two years in which she had laid waste the merchant marine of the United States. This gun is an XI-inch Dahlgren shell gun, shown here with Master J. R. Wheeler and Engineer S. L. Smith. The Kearsarge had two of these guns on board; both have been transferred from the Mare Island to the Chatham Annex in Williamsburg, Virginia, where they will eventually be installed in a museum to be built there.
The forward pivot on the Kearsarge, an XI-inch Dahlgren shell gun

Various pieces of Equipment Used

Carriages
The carriage performs a number of functions in the operation of an artillery piece, some of them obvious, some not. First and foremost, the carriage holds the cannon in place while being fired, and allows the piece to be aimed. In the case of field artillery, whose mobility is critical, the carriage also allows the piece to be easily moved where it is needed. But transport and firing only begin to describe the functions of the carriage; this seemingly simple mechanical contrivance, through years of trial and error on the march and on the field of battle, acquired a set of refinements that rivalled those lavished on the Parthenon.
The carriage for field artillery consists of two cheeks, bolted together and with the stock. The cheeks support the piece by its trunnions, and in turn rest upon the axle-tree supported by two wheels. The back of the stock or trail rests on the ground. The field carriage dissipates the force of recoil by rolling along the ground, and on firm ground can rear back several feet on firing. On softer ground, the trail tends to dig in, which can cause problems in aiming. The trail terminates in an iron ring called a lunette, which is the means by which it is fastened to the limber. Two pointing rings ahead of the lunette hold a handspike, which provides leverage for aiming the piece. Ahead of the pointing rings are two hooks, around which is wound the prolonge, a length of heavy rope with a ring at one end and a toggle at the other. The prolonge is used to loosely attach the gun to the limber, as when firing while slowly retreating, or for other towing jobs.

The wheels of the carriage are of very subtle design. Their 14 spokes are dished slightly inward to make the wheels more "springy" on rough ground, and the ends of the axle are tapered downward to correct for this angle, so that the base of the iron-tired wheel is perpendicular to the ground. This dishing outward also improves the cornering of the vehicle and has the salutary effect of throwing mud outward and away from the men and horses following the carriage.

A Number One carriage, shown carrying a 6-pounder

The pre-War system of ordnance called for three models of field carriage: No. 1 for the 6 pounder gun and 12 pounder howitzer, No. 2 for the 24 pounder howitzer, and No. 3 for the 12 pounder gun and 32 pounder howitzer. The Napoleon (model 1857 light 12 pounder) used a No. 2 carriage, as did the 10 pounder Parrott and 3 inch ordnance rifles, all with some minor modifications where needed. There was also some experimentation with carriage design, most notably the idiosyncratic creation of Norman Wiard for his rifles. Wheels for all three of the standard carriages, as well as caissons, limbers and battery wagons, were 57 inches high, and could be easily interchanged. As will be noted, caissons carried an extra wheel, and changing a broken wheel was part of the standard drill for a battery of field artillery.
Carriages for fortifications were fixed in one position and needed to support much larger cannon, which in turn meant that they were subjected to much larger stresses during firing. The example shown of an immovable carriage is a barbette-carriage, named for the barbette tier of a fortification. In practice, this simply means that it is designed to be fired over a parapet rather than through an opening in a wall, as with the casemate guns. The carriage consists of two parts, the gun-carriage proper and the chassis. The gun-carriage rolls from front to back on the chassis when the gun recoils upon being fired, which dissipates the destructive energy of the recoil as well as putting the gun into position for loading. The gun-carriage is rolled forward into firing position by handspikes or block and tackle. Aiming the piece is accomplished by rotating the chassis. The drawing shows a front-pintle carriage, meaning that the front end is the pivot point and the rear rolls along a track to change the aim to left and right. Note the elevating screw passing through the cascable of this piece, in contrast with that for the field carriage, above, where the cannon simply rests on top of the screw.

A 100-pounder Parrott on a barbette carriage

Limbers and Caissons
The limber for field service is basically a two-wheeled cart, simply an axle, with its wheels, surmounted by a framework for holding an ammunition chest and receiving the tongue. At the back of the axle is the pintle hook, on which the lunette on the trail of the gun carriage can be keyed into place. The result is a four-wheeled cart that pivots on the pintle hook. In theory, the limber chest can be used as a seat for three cannoneers, but after the first few months of the War, it was customary to spare the horses, and cannoneers would ride only when necessary.

A caisson hooked to its limber; note the extra wheel at the rear and the extra limber pole slung under the caisson.

The caisson is intended to transport ammunition, and carries two chests like that on the limber. It has a stock like that on the gun carriage, terminating in a lunette, so that it can be hooked to a limber for transportation. A caisson with its limber thus held three ammunition chests, which with the chest on the limber hauling the gun carriage would make four in all. The caisson with its drivers and crew would be under the direction of a corporal, who would report to the sargeant in charge of the gun to which the caisson was assigned. The line of caissons for the battery would be under the overall supervision of one of its lieutenants.
The battery wagon, also drawn by a limber, is a long bodied cart with a rounded top, which contains the saddlers' and carriage makers' tools, spare parts, extra harness, and rough materials for fabricating parts. The forge is a portable blacksmithy - in this case the chest on the inevitable limber which draws it contains blacksmith tools. Each battery had only one wagon and one forge, and they were expected to accompany the battery wherever it went.

A battery wagon held a variety of accoutrements; note also the forage rack at the back.

Implements
Each of the cannoneers is equipped with specialized implements, some of which have been mentioned in the description of the firing procedure under Drill. Number 1 uses a sponge/rammer, a large ash staff with a wool-covered sponge head at one end, to be wet for cleaning and cooling the bore, and a rammer head at the other for inserting the charge. Number 3 has a pouch with the priming wire or vent pick, which is a pointed metal rod with a loop at the opposite end, and a vent brush, used to clean the vent and avoid fouling. Number 4 wears a leather primer pouch attached to a belt, and holds the lanyard, a length of cord tied to a wooden handle, with a hook at the free end. Number 5 wears a leather haversack for carrying the ammunition. Numbers 6 and 7, who work together at the chest, have tools for preparing the ammunition, including a fuze punch and a fuze saw. The Gunner carries the sight, which takes various forms depending upon the model of gun; for examples of two different types, see this reproduction brass stadia sight for the 10-pounder Parrott rifle, and this drawing of a pendulum hausse for a six-pounder. For some wonderfully detailed pictures of reproductions of these instruments, see the Chapman & Sons page.

Many implements were stored on the field carriages, caissons and limbers. The prolonge, a heavy tow rope, was wound onto two hooks on the upper surface of the trail of the gun carriage, and the sponge-rammers and worms were hung from implement hooks under the carriage. The two handspikes hung from each cheek of the field carriage. The caisson had slots for holding an axe and a pick. The tarbucket (left) hung under the limber and contained the grease for the wheels. The water bucket (right) hung off the axle of the field carriage and held water for keeping the sponge moist.

Artillery Horses
The horse for artillery service should be from five to seven years old (the latter age to be preferred), and should be from fifteen to sixteen hands high.
The saddle horse should be free in his movements; have good sight; a full, firm chest; be sure-footed; have a good disposition, with boldness and courage; more bottom than spirit, and not too showy.
The draft horse should stand erect on his legs, be strongly built, but free in his movements; his shoulders should be large enough to give support to the collar, but not too heavy; his body full, but not too long; the sides well rounded; the limbs solid, with rather strong shanks, and feet in good condition.
To these qualities he should unite, as much as possible, the qualities of the saddle horse; should trot and gallop easily; have even gaits, and not be skittish. The most suitable horse for the pack-saddle is the one most nearly approaching the mule in his formation. He should be very strong-backed, and from fourteen to fifteen hands high.

Detail from the Gettysburg Cyclorama
Paul Philippoteaux and assistants

It is easy to forget that the field artillery was almost as a dependent upon horses as the cavalry. Gibbon held that a battery of six light guns needed 110 horses to take the field, and an even larger number would be required for a battery of mounted artillery. As the principle motive power for the guns, they were a prime target for the opposing force; disabling the horses meant that the guns were at risk of capture. Horses, like the soldiers who depended upon them, were also subject to the rigors of disease, poor rations, and the too-often squalid living conditions of an army camp. The death toll has never been calculated, but the cost of the War in horse flesh was surely enormous.
As their lives and guns so often depended upon their horses, artillerymen were disposed to accept without excessive grumbling the regulations for their care. The bugler would sound stable call after reveille and roll, and water call after breakfast. The same routine for the horses would be repeated late in the afternoon. Morning and afternoon drill also meant a workout for the horses, after which they needed to be walked to cool down, curried, and probably watered again. There were always sick horses requiring care, and those who died requiring burial.
One driver was assigned to each pair of horses, riding the on (left) horse and holding reins for it and the off horse. Skilled riders were required for this service, which combined the daring of the cavalry troopers with the precision teamwork expected of the artilleryman. Drivers were issued a leg-guard, an iron plate encased in leather and strapped to the right leg to prevent the limber pole from injuring them.