Filley Guns of the ACW

Red Harvest

2nd Lieutenant
Joined
Apr 10, 2012
Last week I came across some references to 4-pounder guns being used in the battle of Marshall at the culmination of Shelby’s 1863 Missouri raid and I decided to see if I could discover what they were. I’m still trying to figure that out, but during the search I came across a candidate that I had never heard of before: the 4-pounder Filley gun. The Filley is absent from both Field Artillery Weapons of the Civil War and Artillery and Ammunition of the Civil War so the authors must not have been aware of its existence.

The re-enactors of Company M, 1st Missouri Light Artillery have what is listed as a “4-pounder Filley gun” on their web page under the Turner Brigade. Randy Baehr is the author of the pages. When I ran across this searching for Woodruff information, I overlooked the Filley. The Turner Brigade link http://turnerbrigade.org/history/filley/ gives details on the inventor and producer of this artillery piece. An image of the tube now on display at the Missouri History Museum is at the link as well. Most of what follows is condensed from Baehr’s articles on the website with my own observations added.

Giles Filley founded and operated the Excelsior Stove Works in St. Louis and his brother Oliver was mayor at the outbreak of the war. Both were strong unionists and did much to support the Federal cause in Missouri.

There is a surviving example of the cannon, donated to the Missouri Historical Society by Giles Filley in 1898. Some details about the tube can be found at http://turnerbrigade.org/com1moa/ The tubes were made of wrought iron in Filley’s foundry in 1861. Filley claimed to have made 30 with half of them being rifled. The length was 42.5” and the bore 2.125”—the same bore as the Woodruff.

Projectiles:
The description of the Filley gun as a 4-pounder is strange. A gun in this small caliber is normally referred to as a 2-pounder. However, there are two reasons to suggest that the heavier pounder rating might have been chosen as a description: half of the pieces were rifled, and they fired a denser elongated lead projectile. (Lead is about 44% more dense at room temperature than cast iron.) According to Filley: “They carried a lead conical ball weighing about four pounds. The balls were grooved and wrapped with woollen yarn. The shooting was accurate with great penetration.” This appears to describe rounds that have been found associated with the Woodruff.

Indications are that the Woodruff and Filley ammunition would have been interchangeable. This would make sense for supplying the ammunition from St. Louis.

It is likely that canister would also have been used with these pieces, and of the same arrangement as for the Woodruff. In several actions involving Woodruffs and unspecified 2 or 4 pounder guns it is noted that only canister was on hand for the engagement, limiting their range and usefulness.

It does not appear that any sort of explosive ordnance would have been available or practical for such a small caliber.

Combat use:
Filley states that these guns were used against guerrillas and by towns (presumably the local militia and Home Guard.) There are presently no confirmed battle accounts of this specific piece.

However, there are some hints that the Filley could have been the pieces mentioned in certain engagements. One of these is the Battle of Marshall, Missouri where Shelby claimed to have captured a Union “4-pounder” but was unable to use it for lack of appropriate ammunition. This would appear to be one of the “2 pound guns” noted by Federal participant Lt. Col. Lazear.

It is most likely that the Filley’s would have been mounted on modified prairie carriages and pulled by a two-horse team, the same as the Woodruffs.

The Filley would have suffered the same limitations as the Woodruff in combat, having insufficient counter-battery potential to contend with any standard field pieces. While the ammunition could be produced easily enough in theater, the longer range balls/conical bullet supply would be prone to depletion since they were uncommon specialty ordnance.
 
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