Gettysburg Artillery by Captain M.S. Mears There seems to have been many problems with the Confederate artillery ammunition used both before and during the Battle of Gettysburg; artillery fire failed the Infantry on the third day, overshooting the Union forces on Cemetery Ridge and bombing the wagons several hundred yards to the rear. Because of these problems Colonel Josiah Gorgas of the Ordnance Bureau ordered all primers, and fuses from around the Confederacy tested monthly at the Richmond Laboratories. Lieutenant James Dinwiddie drew the assignment to test the ammunition and fuses from the Charleston and Selma Arsenals. After employing all sorts of tests, Dinwiddie urged “the greatest necessity of contriving some method by which fuses may be driven by machinery so as to perfect uniformity in their burning.” Fuses manufactured in Charleston, which Gorgas shipped to the ANV after the explosion and closure at the Richmond Laboratories, were made very well. The problem was they burned slower then they were intended. “A spherical case shot with a 4” fuse would burst at 5” – that is at least 200 yards beyond where it was intended to burst.” A 5-inch fuse burned at the rate of 5.25 inches, perhaps 100 to 150 yards beyond the target. From mid-July through January of the next year, disturbing results continued to trickle into the Chief of Ordnance Department’s headquarters: There is a lack of regularity in the performance of Artillery shells and fuses. When Artillerist fired shells and case shot, they cut the fuses to a particular length. The blast that propelled the projectile forward also ignited the fuse, which burned down and caused the shell to explode over the enemy position. Fused produced in Charleston, Atlanta and Augusta, however, burned slower and performed more inconstantly then those made in Richmond. Lee’s Artillerist simply assumed a level of uniformity in the manufacture of fuse – that all fuses burned roughly at the same rate. As experienced gunners, most had estimated of distances correctly and cut the fuses at the proper length for fuses and shells manufactured in Richmond. But because many of the shells and fuses came from the Charleston Arsenal, the fuses burned slower, and the projectiles carried beyond the Federal line before the burst. Clouds of smoke and dirt obscured visual confirmation of the gunner’s accuracy, but the explosion of Federal caissons and damage to Federal guns by solid shot convince them that they had estimated determined the range properly. A lack of quality control in the manufacture of fuses undid the Confederate Artillery bombardment on the third day at Gettysburg. References • Letter of Charles Figgot, July 12, 1863 • Report of sample ammunition received from Charleston and Selma by LT. J. Dinwiddie, July 10, 1863 • Gorgas to Mallet, June 4, 1863 • Personal Papers, JW Mallet, Records and Pension Office • Mallet to Gorgas, July 13 and August 3, 1863 • LS, Superintendant of Laboratories, Macon, Georgia April 1863 – April 1864 • WN Smith to Mallet, July 25, 1863 • EP Alexander to Gorgas, November 7, 1863 • Experiment on rate of burning fuses, December 1863 and January, 1864
Posted on: Thu, 28 Aug 2014 10:25:00 +0000
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