United States Government Printing Office

United States Department of the Interior

Fred A. Seaton, Secretary

National Park Service

Conrad L. Wirth, Director

For sale by the Superintendent of Documents U. S. Government Printing Office Washington 25, D. C. · Price 35 cents

(Cover) FRENCH 12-POUNDER FIELD GUN (1700-1750)

Historian Southeastern National Monuments

Drawings by Author

Technical Review by Harold L. Peterson

National Park Service Interpretive Series History No. 3

WASHINGTON: 1949 (Reprint 1956)

Many of the types of cannon described in this booklet may be seen in areas of the National Park System throughout the country. Some parks with especially fine collections are:

Castillo de San Marcos National Monument, seventeenth and eighteenth century field and garrison guns.

Chickamauga and Chattanooga National Military Park, Civil War field and siege guns.

Colonial National Historical Park, seventeenth and eighteenth century field and siege guns, eighteenth century naval guns.

Fort McHenry National Monument and Historic Shrine, early nineteenth century field guns and Civil War garrison guns.

Fort Pulaski National Monument, Civil War garrison guns.

Gettysburg National Military Park, Civil War field guns.

Petersburg National Military Park, Civil War field and siege guns.

Shiloh National Military Park, Civil War field guns.

Vicksburg National Military Park, Civil War field and siege guns.

The National Park System is dedicated to conserving the scenic, scientific, and historic heritage of the United States for the benefit and enjoyment of its people.

Contents

THE ERA OF ARTILLERY
The Ancient Engines of War
Gunpowder Comes to Europe
The Bombards
Sixteenth Century Cannon
The Seventeenth Century and Gustavus Adolphus
The Eighteenth Century
United States Guns of the Early 1800's
Rifling
The War Between the States
The Change into Modern Artillery

GUNPOWDER
Primers
Modern Use of Black Powder

THE CHARACTERISTICS OF CANNON
The Early Smoothbore Cannon
Smoothbores of the Later Period
Garrison and Ship Guns
Siege Cannon
Field Cannon
Howitzers
Mortars
Petards

PROJECTILES
Solid Shot
Explosive Shells
Fuzes
Scatter Projectiles
Incendiaries and Chemical Projectiles
Fixed Ammunition
Rockets

TOOLS

THE PRACTICE OF GUNNERY

GLOSSARY

SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY

The Era of Artillery

Looking at an old-time cannon, most people are sure of just one thing: the shot came out of the front end. For that reason these pages are written; people are curious about the fascinating weapon that so prodigiously and powerfully lengthened the warrior's arm. And theirs is a justifiable curiosity, because the gunner and his "art" played a significant role in our history.