By-the-prolonge???

[jack1492]

In one battle during the CW, six CS cannon (three sections) began the "fire retiring by half batteries" maneuver as its called in the artillery regulations. Their infantry support had been overrun and were fleeing in all directions.

One eyewitness who had served in another CS battery for years said he looked around and these three sections (commanded by a captain) "had limbered up and was retiring…" and then added the guns "retired by what is known to field artillerists as sections or half battery" all the while "hurling death and destruction into the advancing columns…"

A sergeant involved in this noted in his diary, "we engaged them for at least half an hour firing and retreating…"

I want to be historically accurate in my description.

Can I assume this was performed via the prolonge?

 

[JAGwinn]

"The artillery, by using the prolonge, may also continue its retreat while in battery and firing."
Elements of Military Art and Science, Henry Wager Halleck


The following description is from a book of artillery maneuvers:

INSTRUCTION
FOR
FIELD ARTILLERY

PREPARED BY A BOARD
Of
ARTILLERY OFFICERS

PHILADELPHIA:
J.B. LIPPINCOTT & CO
1861​

The right half battery again advances as soon as the left commences firing and the two continue to advance alternately until the captain causes the firing to cease. The battery is then aligned or formed into line to the front or rear by the proper commands from the captain. While advancing by half battery the captain places himself habitually with the most advanced portion of the battery and in six gun batteries is accompanied by the chief of the centre section. The chief of the line of caissons remains habitually with the rear half battery In horse artillery while advancing by half battery the detachments preserve their distance in battery. When the pieces are limbered to the front the horse holders advance to enable the cannoneers to mount more readily but as soon as the pieces advance the detachments resume their distance in battery. To fire advancing by half battery commencing with the left is executed according to the same principles and by inverse means. The movement may also be executed by section the sections advancing in succession according to their positions in the battery


TO FIRE IN RETREAT

When the battery is firing to retire by half batteries the captain commands "Fire retiring by half battery. Right half battery Retire". At the second command the chief of the right half battery discontinues firing limbers to the rear and commands "Caissons left about. March". As soon as the about is completed he commands "Forward Guide right" and conducts the half battery to the ground previously indicated by the captain the pieces preserving their distance in battery by marching 19 yards in rear of the caissons. As soon as the ground has been reached the chief of half battery commands "Halt. Fire to the rear. In battery" and commences firing taking care not to injure the other half battery. The limbers and caissons remain facing towards the rear as long as the firing in retreat continues.

As soon as the right half battery commences firing the left retires with the guide to the left and after passing the right half battery as far as the latter has retired it is formed into battery and the firing again commenced. The movements are executed in a manner corresponding to those of the other half battery. The half batteries continue to retire alternately until the captain causes the firing to cease. The battery is afterwards aligned or formed into line to the front or rear by appropriate commands from the captain. While retiring by half battery the captain remains habitually with the portion of the battery nearest the enemy and is accompanied by the chief of the centre section. The chief of the line of caissons accompanies the other half battery. In horse artillery, the detachments move to the left to facilitate the about of the caissons. They afterwards place themselves behind and follow them during the retrograde movement at the distance of 2 yards remaining faced to the rear as long as the firing in retreat continues. To fire retiring by half battery commencing with the left is executed according to the same principles and by inverse means. The movement may also be executed by sections the sections in succession according to their positions in the battery.

 

[jack1492]

Simplified, the question is - when a prolonge is attached and the gun begins pulling back is this gun considered "limbered up". I think this is the case. That is, just because no one ever says the word "prolonge' these three sections (three half batteries) could not have had time to perform the leap frogging to the rear in half batteries and fully "limbered up" to proceed to the assigned location to the rear and then fully "unlimber" at each assigned location, all the while loading and firing, for half an hour.
No way. The prolonge must have been used here.

 

[rpkennedy]

Simplified, the question is - when a prolonge is attached and the gun begins pulling back is this gun considered "limbered up". I think this is the case. That is, just because no one ever says the word "prolonge' these three sections (three half batteries) could not have had time to perform the leap frogging to the rear in half batteries and fully "limbered up" to proceed to the assigned location to the rear and then fully "unlimber" at each assigned location, all the while loading and firing, for half an hour.
No way. The prolonge must have been used here.

Retiring by prolong was used infrequently enough that there were usually accounts that mention it when it did happen. My guess is that these guns were limbering up, drawing back, dropping trail, firing a shot or two while the other guns passed them, and then limbered up when it was their turn. Their teams were not going to the rear like they normally would have but rather stayed with the guns.

Ryan

 

[jack1492]

Yes, that is the other option. I agree, too that mention of use of the prolonge while firing and retreating is very hard to find during the CW.

Also if these guys were using prolonge here they would have used it in about half a dozen other fixes they were in the previous three years.

But why limber up fully if you could retire via prolonge and not spend the time to unhitch the gun carriage from the limber? Cannoneers, drivers or horse holders and horses were just as exposed to sharpshooters or even more so fully unlimbering and then backing the team up to limbering up again.

Unless I find additional facts suggesting prolonge I'll not suggest this was performed by the prolonge.

 

[John Winn]

This is an interesting question. I, too, have wondered about use of the prolonge and have almost never seen an account or mention of it. It's a bit like another question I had a while back about use of the worm. Other than being listed as a piece of equipment it isn't mentioned in any field manual and I've not found a mention of it elsewhere.

I thus think actual use of the prolonge in combat was very rare (while it might have more commonly been used to cross difficult terrain while on the move). So I think I'd not assume use of the prolonge unless there was actual mention of it, especially since the manuals do describe maneuvers to fire while retreating (as noted by @JAGwinn ). I guess, too, it depends on what type of thing you are writing: fiction or history. I'd try not to assume anything if writing history.

 

[rpkennedy]

Just as a note, retiring by prolong was the absolute last resort for the withdrawal of a battery. In virtually every case that I've seen, prolong was resorted to when casualties among the horse teams were such that there simply were not enough horses to get the guns out. So long as there were horses available, the artillerymen would use the limbers.

Ryan

 

[drezac]

There are actually 2 different types of retreating movements, retreat by 1/2 battery and retreat by prolong.

Retreat by 1/2 battery, 1/2 of the battery limbers up and moves back. They unlimber, keeping the limbers towards the gun. The other 1/2 limbes up and retreats past the first 1/2, unlimbers. The first 1/2 fires, limbers up and retreats, the 2nd 1/2 fires and the process continues as needed. Used for a organized, fighting retreat.

Retreat by prolong, the prolong ( the rope stored on tje trail of the gun) is attached from the lunette on the gun to the limber. The battery fires, then the guns are dragged back by the prolong. The battery fires, and the process repeated as needed.

Similar effects, but two entirely different actions. A retreat by prolong can be done faster, and was frequently used to cover quickly retreating infantry ( after they have just run frantically and disorganized through your battery ) as opossed to an organized, fighting retreat.

 

[jack1492]

This is an interesting question. I, too, have wondered about use of the prolonge and have almost never seen an account or mention of it. It's a bit like another question I had a while back about use of the worm. Other than being listed as a piece of equipment it isn't mentioned in any field manual and I've not found a mention of it elsewhere.

I thus think actual use of the prolonge in combat was very rare (while it might have more commonly been used to cross difficult terrain while on the move). So I think I'd not assume use of the prolonge unless there was actual mention of it, especially since the manuals do describe maneuvers to fire while retreating (as noted by @JAGwinn ). I guess, too, it depends on what type of thing you are writing: fiction or history. I'd try not to assume anything if writing history.

I'm writing a history of a CS Battery and don't want to exaggerate anything.

I have seen worms listed among what these batteries would haul around and seems to me a worm was a must-have to clear the gun of any cotton gunpowder sack residue. Maybe even used to assist in unloading a gun (not sure).

You are correct, mention of use of the prolonge while retreating and firing is rare but was done. I have compiled a list of all I could find.
I'm not sure I have ever found retire firing by half batteries ever happening, except here, during the CW but this must have been done.

I'll look at use of prolonge again.

 

[jack1492]

Just as a note, retiring by prolong was the absolute last resort for the withdrawal of a battery. In virtually every case that I've seen, prolong was resorted to when casualties among the horse teams were such that there simply were not enough horses to get the guns out. So long as there were horses available, the artillerymen would use the limbers.

Ryan

Good point, but standard use of the prolonge (for retreating with cannon) was to attach the hooked end of the prolonge to the pintle of the gun carriage and the other end to the limber (not a team without a limber). But, yes they were taught to leave a limber behind to save a gun, by any means possible.

 

[jack1492]

There are actually 2 different types of retreating movements, retreat by 1/2 battery and retreat by prolong.

Retreat by 1/2 battery, 1/2 of the battery limbers up and moves back. They unlimber, keeping the limbers towards the gun. The other 1/2 limbes up and retreats past the first 1/2, unlimbers. The first 1/2 fires, limbers up and retreats, the 2nd 1/2 fires and the process continues as needed. Used for a organized, fighting retreat.

Retreat by prolong, the prolong ( the rope stored on tje trail of the gun) is attached from the lunette on the gun to the limber. The battery fires, then the guns are dragged back by the prolong. The battery fires, and the process repeated as needed.

Similar effects, but two entirely different actions. A retreat by prolong can be done faster, and was frequently used to cover quickly retreating infantry ( after they have just run frantically and disorganized through your battery ) as opossed to an organized, fighting retreat.

I'm going to look again at when they would decide to pull out the prolonge.
Also, isn't it correct to say a gun is limbered up once the gun and limber are connected, in this case, via prolonge.? The learned eyewitness said they limbered up.
Yes, in this case, infantry was scattered and fleeing in all directions and the menouver would have been performed as quickly as possible. In fact the Captain knew he was going to be ordered to retreat very soon and ordered up the horses before he received the order. Otherwise they would have been overrun. His men were ready, but in what fashion were they ready to commence firing and retreating?

I agree, I don't yet have enough to say this was via the prolonge. However, I have seen nothing that indicates this was not via the prolonge.
I told myself years ago, never concern yourself with what a diary, report or letter home fails to say, no matter how big the omitted event was.
Just because prolonge is not mentioned by these two eyewitnesses means nothing to me.

 

[jack1492]

I am looking at the few times the prolonge was used to bring a gun off the field. Several times they had no horses left and the men used the prolonge to, themselves, pull the gun off.
But I need to revise the question I have. The question should be were these half batteries retiring while firing via fixed prolonge? I know they did not throw a prolonge over their shoulder to retire while firing. Fixed is the key word here.

 

[jack1492]

Thanks everyone for your assistance. I'll not suggest this was performed via fixed prolonge and will focus on the retire firing by half battery maneuver.

 

[drezac]

Simplified, the question is - when a prolonge is attached and the gun begins pulling back is this gun considered "limbered up". I think this is the case. That is, just because no one ever says the word "prolonge' these three sections (three half batteries) could not have had time to perform the leap frogging to the rear in half batteries and fully "limbered up" to proceed to the assigned location to the rear and then fully "unlimber" at each assigned location, all the while loading and firing, for half an hour.
No way. The prolonge must have been used here.

I found the following in the Field Artillery Manual concerning the use of the Prolonge

The command is FIX PROLONGE TO FIRE ADVANCING/RETIRING

....when the piece is limbered, to fix the prolonge to fire retiring or advancing, the same commands are given.
The piece is unlimbered, and the prolonge attached as before.

To coil the prolonge and limber the command is COIL PROLONGE; LIMBER TO THE REAR/FRONT/RIGHT/LEFT
The prolonge is detached and coiled, the piece is run towards the limber and limbered up.

also
the front of the piece, when limbered or prepared for moving, is the direction the pole points; when unlimbered, or prepaired for action, the direction in which the gun points

as both commands specifically mention unlimbered and limbered up, and the description of the front of the piece, I would be inclined to say that a gun is not limbered when under prolonge and only limbered when prepared for transport. there is also a section that specifically states a gun must never be loaded while limbered, it must be fired or the round extracted before limbering. the term limbered/limbered-up seems to be specifically reserved in the manual for the condition where the gun is connected to the limber by the lunette and ready for transport.

 

[jack1492]

I found the following in the Field Artillery Manual concerning the use of the Prolonge

You said you concluded "a gun is not limbered when under prolonge and only limbered when prepared for transport..." -

I agree with this conclusion.