Facts About the Union Artillery at Gettysburg

Civil War cannons were divided into two classifications: the smoothbore and the rifle. The smoothbore lacked accuracy and range of fire, whereas the rifle cannon were more accurate and had greater range.

Smoothbore cannons were very good in firing canister rounds, which were tin cans filled with iron balls, something like a shotgun effect. When fired, the iron balls would spread out in a wide pattern, thus making it very effective against an attacking infantry force.

The rifled cannons had the advantage of firing long range with greater accuracy. These rifled cannons were great against opposing artillery and infantry.

The basic unit of the artillery was the battery. The size of a battery was different in the opposing armies, in the Northern Army a battery generally contained four to six field pieces and was manned by 80 to 100 soldiers.[1] The Confederate Army usually had four cannons per battery. A battery usually needed around 110 horses and was commanded by a Captain, four lieutenants and eight sergeants.

There are five basic "guns", the Six Pounder, range 1520 yards, Light 12-Pounder, range 1620 yards, 10-Pound Parrott, range 2000 yards, 20-Pounder, range 2100 yards and the 3-Inch Ordnance Rife, range 1850 yards. The Howitzers are shorter-barreled cannons designed to fire projectiles with a nearly flat trajectory. They take a smaller charge and have a shorter range. Three types of howitzers are: 12-Pounder, range 1100, 24-Pounder, range 1325 and the Mountain Howitzer, 900 yards.[2]