Artillery Mishap?

[Bob Owen]

I ran across this photo and wondered if anyone knows the story of the incident!

 

[Mark F. Jenkins]

Ouch. Hope that's a planned stunt instead of an accident.

 

[Carronade]

Everyone seems to be just going about their business; if it was planned, they'd probably be watching the limber, waiting to see the bang. Curious how the top ring of the explosion forms.

 

[Bob Owen]

Everyone seems to be just going about their business; if it was planned, they'd probably be watching the limber, waiting to see the bang. Curious how the top ring of the explosion forms.

It appears to be formed by the lid of the limber!

 

[Carronade]

<Homer Simpson voice> d'Oh!

 

[Mark F. Jenkins]

Seems to me that it would be incredibly fortuitous for someone to have snapped a picture at that exact moment... maybe it's one still from a video or film, in which case, I'd wonder if it was part of the film. Just guessing.

 

[jgoodguy]

Seems to me that it would be incredibly fortuitous for someone to have snapped a picture at that exact moment... maybe it's one still from a video or film, in which case, I'd wonder if it was part of the film. Just guessing.

The image is low enough resolution to be part of a video.

 

[C.S.M 1861]

I'd just lit my cigar and dropped the smoldering match, when suddenly....

 

[AndyHall]

This appears to be a pyrotechnic limber used in a reenactment/firing event at Cantigny Park, Illinois. This video is from 2011, apparently not the same event as the still image at top, but the terrain/setup is the same. The limber gets "hit" around 16:30, but note how the camera stays focused on the limber for a couple of minutes before:

Here's another of that same event, limber "hit" at about 12:25:

The unit is Stanford's Battery.

 

[Cumpston1862]

Nice job Andy. Between no one being around the limber for nearly the entire battle and the camera focusing on the limber for long periods of time it reminded me of the expendable crewman with the Star Trek away team.

 

[AndyHall]

. . . reminded me of the expendable crewman with the Star Trek away team.

No! No! Not the red shirt!

 

[Tin cup]

Hey, wait a minute...those boys weren't reenacting the incident where Forrest rides up to a stuck caisson and cursed the officer in charge, the angered officer then opened the caisson, and threw in a flaming torch, with Forrest and all running for their lives?

Oh, but wait, THAT particular Caisson was empty, leaving me to wonder if the boys in the picture had a FULL Caisson by mistake?

Kevin Dally

 

[Mdiesel]

Nice job Andy. Between no one being around the limber for nearly the entire battle and the camera focusing on the limber for long periods of time it reminded me of the expendable crewman with the Star Trek away team.

No! No! Not the red shirt!

Oh ****, our entire unit wears red shirts... Um ... Someone call Wardrobe stat!!!

Cannon fodder...

 

[AUG]

Its a photoshopped image.

 

[Cumpston1862]

No! No! Not the red shirt!

HE'S DEAD JIM!!!!! Well somebody had to do it....

 

[Southron]

Way back in the late 1960's Mike Yeck or his team sponsored a Skirmish in Michigan. During the artillery matches, a spectator wandered behind the guns and balanced a lit cigar on the edge of an open caisson. The cigar accidentally fell into the caisson and there was a huge explosion. I do not recall how many people were killed or injured.

What saved Mike from a civil lawsuit (s) was that the spectator who had triggered the explosion gave a "dying declaration" in the hospital that it was he that put that lit cigar on the edge of the caisson.

 

[Corporal Duguay]

Oh ****, our entire unit wears red shirts... Um ... Someone call Wardrobe stat!!!

View attachment 21690

Cannon fodder...

I was on one of the gun crews on the other side of that field and we didn't hit you at all....... I think your safe in your red shirts....... Its like we're using blanks or something lol

 

[Albert Sailhorst]

I've seen this happen at events......It is a "limber box" made of Styrofoam with an electrical charge planted in it........
As a reenactor, I am OPPOSED to any unit doing this!!......Too many things can go wrong, primarily a three year old spectator getting away from his parents (who are distracted by watching the battle) and wandering over.....
I have been argued with over this issue by other artillery units......I would NEVER join a unit that argues that this is safe.....

 

[Susquehanna River Rat]

.......Ah, yes...but you can put a Scotsman in a red shirt and and you still can't kick his butt......

 

[ole]

We saw the thing some years ago. I don't remember the details. Seems it was staged.