Cypress Gun Carriages?

[Rusk County Avengers]

Reading a shiny new copy of Gibbon's Artillerist's Manual that the good mail lady chunked on my porch steps in pouring down rain, (seriously, not a honk or knock at the door, just the dog going crazy when he finally noticed the mail jeep and it leaving), on page 104 among all the other things I never knew reading this book, something surprising as could be jumped out at me:

"Cypress, is a soft, light, straight grained wood, which grows to a very large size. On account of the difficulty of procuring oak of a suitable kind in the Southern States, cypress has been sometimes used for the sea-coast and garrison carriages. It resists better than oak, the alternate action of heat and moisture, to which sea-coast carriages are particularity exposed to casemates; but, being of inferior strength, a larger scantling of cypress than of oak is required for the same purpose; and on account of its softness, it does not resist sufficiently the friction and shocks to which such carriages are liable."

Growing up in NE Texas cypress and its attributes is no stranger to me. Hence why I never thought of it as suitable for a gun carriage, as I can picture a carriage breaking easily. But I never expected or heard of it being used as such, and apparently it was peculiar to Southern States.

So I got to ask, has anyone ever read first hand account of this? I know that I doubt any have survived, but it still brings an interesting picture to my mind with a Columbiad on one.

(The gun in picture is mounted on a concrete carriage and not in a coastal fort's casemate, but hey it halfway fits.)

 

[mofederal]

Cypress gets to be like iron when it ages, and it resists bugs and water, but I have heard of it being used as a gun carriage, but anything is possible. I would think the shock from firing would be pretty great. I know about Cypress living in Southeast Missouri. One can go down to New Madrid and see the broke Cypress from the earthquakes there in the 1811-12. A pretty strange sight when you consider how tall the stumps are in the photo. Below is a Civil War Columbiad mounted on a custom built Cypress carriage. it is for sale for only $135,000. I suspect the carriage is recent.

 

[CowCavalry]

One can go down to New Madrid and see the broke Cypress from the earthquakes there in the 1811-12

Wow, that is amazing. I would love to see that. Having read some of Alan Eckert's books years and years ago, I have always been fascinated with those quakes as they played heavily in one of his books.

 

[Rusk County Avengers]

Cypress is famous for how long it'll last.

For a gun carriage I would've thought it not absorbent enough a single shot from a big gun. I guess I was wrong.

 

[Lusty Murfax]

Growing up on a cattle and row crop farm, I had ample experience building wooden gates. We preferred Cypress for use in gates intended for use in close confinement, such as cutting and sorting pens. It is very difficult to drive a nail into cured and aged Cypress lumber. It is not near as hard as Oak, but much more flexible. The gates we built would flex upon impact or heavy pressure and usually not shatter.

 

[DaveBrt]

Several southern railroads specified cypress for the ties under the rails. They were projected to last much longer than oak and would save money in reduced replacements from rotting.

 

[UCVRelics]

As a builder of cannons I can tell you working green oak is impossible. I have to put them in a kiln for 2 months then make my base cuts and put them back in the kiln for another 2 months. I can tell you that even then its still very hard to work with even with power tools.

 

[mofederal]

It is not hard to find cabins in Southeast Missouri built with cypress logs as the foundation. They are so incredibly heavy, we took a dogtrot apart for a college course and rebuilt the cabin elsewhere. I believe we might have had to replace one of the logs in the foundation.

 

[Lubliner]

When I was working in a woodshop I took a small piece of oak and a bandsaw and made a slingshot. My first attempt proved the grain running width instead of length. It snapped on the second pull.
Lubliner.

 

[Rusk County Avengers]

By the way the reprint of the manual I found this surprising bit on carriages to me came from our own @Mark Lambert Bookbinder.

Excellent work binding books on his part!

https://civilwartalk.com/threads/morningside-press-books-resurface.173073/

 

[Rusk County Avengers]

My own wood working experience with cypress came from Dad years ago, trying to make fancy columns for a house we built. (Did not go well, de-barked Cedar trunks got used instead.)

Before that my Dad had an idea to make me as a kid around 12 years old self wade around in a snake filled river bank to dig around some small ones so he could re-plant them at his pond. The digging them up, went in a nightmarish direction with water moccasins, and to add insult to injury the three poor young trees died after re-planting them.

Everyone told my Dad it wouldn't work but as usual he had to be hard-headed and ignore them. Now I wonder if that's where I got that trait typing this, but then again I could've got it from my Momma! Two harder headed people never walked the Earth than them...

 

[Mark Lambert Bookbinder]

By the way the reprint of the manual I found this surprising bit on carriages to me came from our own @Mark Lambert Bookbinder.

Excellent work binding books on his part!

https://civilwartalk.com/threads/morningside-press-books-resurface.173073/

Thanks for the feedback! This has been a popular title, especially at only $29!

 

[limberbox]

View attachment 368083

Reading a shiny new copy of Gibbon's Artillerist's Manual that the good mail lady chunked on my porch steps in pouring down rain, (seriously, not a honk or knock at the door, just the dog going crazy when he finally noticed the mail jeep and it leaving), on page 104 among all the other things I never knew reading this book, something surprising as could be jumped out at me:

"Cypress, is a soft, light, straight grained wood, which grows to a very large size. On account of the difficulty of procuring oak of a suitable kind in the Southern States, cypress has been sometimes used for the sea-coast and garrison carriages. It resists better than oak, the alternate action of heat and moisture, to which sea-coast carriages are particularity exposed to casemates; but, being of inferior strength, a larger scantling of cypress than of oak is required for the same purpose; and on account of its softness, it does not resist sufficiently the friction and shocks to which such carriages are liable."

Growing up in NE Texas cypress and its attributes is no stranger to me. Hence why I never thought of it as suitable for a gun carriage, as I can picture a carriage breaking easily. But I never expected or heard of it being used as such, and apparently it was peculiar to Southern States.

So I got to ask, has anyone ever read first hand account of this? I know that I doubt any have survived, but it still brings an interesting picture to my mind with a Columbiad on one.

(The gun in picture is mounted on a concrete carriage and not in a coastal fort's casemate, but hey it halfway fits.)

Great picture! Where was it taken?

 

[Rusk County Avengers]

Great picture! Where was it taken?

Fort Donelson.

 

[limberbox]

I thought that might be it! I've never been there but it looked as I would expect it to be.

Thanks

 

[Seduzal]

Cypress trees grow usually in Water around river banks and swamps. The tree is cut down and allowed to dry manny years before milling . The wood becomes very hard almost like cement.. most of the log is cut into timbers and used to support the weight of a building. Also sometimes it is used on bridge supports. The lumber is used to make sliding for houses, barns. Also the wood is used to make fence posts and rails because over time it won't decay or rot for many years.