From the Shiloh Hiker's Guide - Cannons and Artillery

I'm sure @TomP is familiar with this. It was posted on FB last night and I thought it was interesting and other people might like to see it. Certainly I don't have the knowledge and this is something I can study...
This graphic was used for years (and years) as part of the Boys Scouts Shiloh Military Trails hikes. Apparently the online site is down and I hope this is just a temporary thing. The hike had a number of stops where the boys would look at a specific cannon and answer questions about it. Once completed, they would receive a special patch.

The Artillery Hike was in desperate need of an update as the park has moved cannons on the field from time to time but the guide for the hike was never altered to reflect the changes.
Besides the patch for completing the Artillery Hike, they also had a medal. Shown below are both the patch and medal. They are really nice hikes, but the two longest were the Albert Sidney Johnston and the Lew Wallace Approach were the toughest hikes. ASJ Hike is now called the Confederate Military Advance Trail. It is 20 miles, Corinth to Shiloh. The Lew Wallace Hike is only 16 miles. The toughest hike of all is the Pea Ridge. It was 20 miles or so, around the whole battlefield. The hikes were tough, as well as answering question about the subject.
I was extremely frustrated back in 2018 when I FINALLY had the time necessary to attempt to use the Cannon Trail guidebook I'd invested in many years earlier. I started walking along Grant's Last Line but by the time I reached the position of the siege guns - not very d8mn far! - I disgustedly gave up on THAT plan.

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I was extremely frustrated back in 2018 when I FINALLY had the time necessary to attempt to use the Cannon Trail guidebook I'd invested in many years earlier. I started walking along Grant's Last Line but by the time I reached the position of the siege guns - not very d8mn far! - I disgustedly gave up on THAT plan.
It's too bad that you had such a bad experience.

The artillery hike mentioned in several of the previous posts was an activity created and maintained by the Boy Scouts of America, not Shiloh National Military Park. It has been in desperate need of an update for years and I hope that is what is currently happening with it. The park has offered to assist in updating the hike but as yet has not been called upon to do so.

Nevertheless, the park has an amazing collection of artillery and I hope you got to view some of the others.

Tom
 
It's too bad that you had such a bad experience.

The artillery hike mentioned in several of the previous posts was an activity created and maintained by the Boy Scouts of America, not Shiloh National Military Park. It has been in desperate need of an update for years and I hope that is what is currently happening with it. The park has offered to assist in updating the hike but as yet has not been called upon to do so.

Nevertheless, the park has an amazing collection of artillery and I hope you got to view some of the others.

Tom
I got to view PLENTY of the others - I was just looking forward to having a description of them in addition, plus pizzed at having missed the opportunity to put my long-ago investment to use!
 
Tina I am so glad you are interested in the artillery of Shiloh. Wiard rifles are pretty and elegent but the true Shiloh Bells are the 24-pounder howitzers! The picture below is from behind McAlisters' Battery (D), 1st Illinois Light Artillery facing South across Review Field. This battery held this position for 2 hours Sunday morning attempting to stem the Southern army as they advanced in a vain effort to drive the Union forces from Pittsburg Landing.

I truly hope you have the opportunity to visit the Park and see the beauty of Shiloh yourself.
Regards
David

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The view of the 5.82" maw of a 24-pounder howitzers that attackers faced.
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Tina I am so glad you are interested in the artillery of Shiloh. Wiard rifles are pretty and elegent but the true Shiloh Bells are the 24-pounder howitzers! The picture below is from behind McAlisters' Battery (D), 1st Illinois Light Artillery facing South across Review Field. This battery held this position for 2 hours Sunday morning attempting to stem the Southern army as they advanced in a vain effort to drive the Union forces from Pittsburg Landing.

I truly hope you have the opportunity to visit the Park and see the beauty of Shiloh yourself.
Regards
David

View attachment 378175

The view of the 5.82" maw of a 24-pounder howitzers that attackers faced.
View attachment 378178
Very nice shot of the piece on Cavalry Road.
 
Tina I am so glad you are interested in the artillery of Shiloh. Wiard rifles are pretty and elegent but the true Shiloh Bells are the 24-pounder howitzers! The picture below is from behind McAlisters' Battery (D), 1st Illinois Light Artillery facing South across Review Field. This battery held this position for 2 hours Sunday morning attempting to stem the Southern army as they advanced in a vain effort to drive the Union forces from Pittsburg Landing.

I truly hope you have the opportunity to visit the Park and see the beauty of Shiloh yourself.
Regards
David

View attachment 378175

The view of the 5.82" maw of a 24-pounder howitzers that attackers faced.
View attachment 378178
As soon as this virus gets under control in some way, I’ll be traveling again and want to come South to see you Rebs!
 
It's too bad that you had such a bad experience.

The artillery hike mentioned in several of the previous posts was an activity created and maintained by the Boy Scouts of America, not Shiloh National Military Park. It has been in desperate need of an update for years and I hope that is what is currently happening with it. The park has offered to assist in updating the hike but as yet has not been called upon to do so.

Nevertheless, the park has an amazing collection of artillery and I hope you got to view some of the others.

Tom
Being a currently registered BSA Member and Eagle Scout and all, and I've been on a lot of those hikes, but not that one.... they are usually very good, in fact excellent.

To hear that this hike has fallen so far out of date is disappointing. Would be a neat project to rebuild this hike, but I don't have easy access to this area, and don't know it well enough to write the guide book.

Hopefully one day someone would take up the challenge!
 
I did extensive research over 2 months or so, read everything I could get my hands on to learn about him and his guns.

Wiard would do stuff like put ads in the New York Times for the public to read, with reviews of his guns that he solicited from the Artillery Officers, he would make it sound like he was making a big contribution to the war effort. Would make lots of claims before the guns actually did what he said they were going to do. When he would be permitted to speak in front of congress, he would also bring testimony, and it's congressional testimony, so you can find in in Google Books and read it word for word, but it doesn't come across like a scientifically sound test, it's like a sales pitch. He couldn't help himself it seems, he just was always selling his product, and it makes his credibility look bad....

He wrote this pamphlet to turn public opinion in his favor:


Here is one of his days testifying in front of congress, although I originally picked this one because he was trying to get paid for the guns he delivered, and was angry about how the guns had been proofed, not using a standard test....


So, since he aimed his efforts at selling, I have some reservations about the claims that he promotes about his guns. I don't know if he's edited or embellished the claims, the claims are all submitted by Wiard, so it's practically second hand....
I've done similar work. No question that he was good at self-promotion but some of that may have resulted from Ripley being tone-deaf and from Wiard being stiffed by the Government for a long time regarding guns that he turned out and delivered. There were actual users who were enthusiastic about his guns and I don't attribute that entirely to Wiard. In any event I'm always inclined to put a partial check mark in anybody's corner if they crossed hairs with Ripley. Ultimately we'll never know.
 
I've done similar work. No question that he was good at self-promotion but some of that may have resulted from Ripley being tone-deaf and from Wiard being stiffed by the Government for a long time regarding guns that he turned out and delivered. There were actual users who were enthusiastic about his guns and I don't attribute that entirely to Wiard. In any event I'm always inclined to put a partial check mark in anybody's corner if they crossed hairs with Ripley. Ultimately we'll never know.
Another issue on which Ripley put up obstacles.
I can't argue with these points, they are good ones... I don't think you can settle these questions unless you can sit-down and talk to these gentlemen, and even then, it might be a challenge with all the years trying to position themselves at the top of whatever mountain they were trying to claim, they may even believe their own B.S.

Look at me acting like they are still alive to sit and have a chat with, what a laugh...
 
I can't argue with these points, they are good ones... I don't think you can settle these questions unless you can sit-down and talk to these gentlemen, and even then, it might be a challenge with all the years trying to position themselves at the top of whatever mountain they were trying to claim, they may even believe their own B.S.

Look at me acting like they are still alive to sit and have a chat with, what a laugh...
Agree. Anybody who has the "wherewithal" to risk making contracts with Sickles and Fremont is definitely a guy I'd like to meet. 😎
 
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Being a currently registered BSA Member and Eagle Scout and all, and I've been on a lot of those hikes, but not that one.... they are usually very good, in fact excellent.

To hear that this hike has fallen so far out of date is disappointing. Would be a neat project to rebuild this hike, but I don't have easy access to this area, and don't know it well enough to write the guide book.

Hopefully one day someone would take up the challenge!
I thought it was high time to actually show a bit of the book in question from the OP in order to show exactly why I was disappointed when it proved no longer relevant, so I managed to get my home computer and scanner/printer working again to copy this. It's a 52-pp booklet dated 1975 by Rev. Larry Daniel who it says also authored articles about Confederate cannon manufacture for Civil War Times Illustrated and the West Tennessee Historical Society Papers. The first half or PART ONE is devoted to chapters Cannon Classification, Types Of Cannon, Foundries, Organization of the Field Battery, Firing a Civil War Cannon, Ammunition, and Artillery At Shiloh, with an appendix of tables on Ranges, Markings, and Inspectors.

PART TWO in the second half contains specific information and instructions for following the trail on the enclosed center-spread map and filling out the questionnaire insert, necessary for scouts wanting to earn their trail badge. Rather than try to describe it, the double-page spread below featuring that part of the trail along the line of Ruggles' Batteries gives an idea of the scope of the information. (The small Confederate flag symbols denote throughout the booklet tubes of Confederate manufacture.) As can be imagined, now after forty-five years (!) of the NPS moving pieces around, the booklet has been seriously compromised; though this particular section probably remains largely unchanged, I made no attempt to find out. (Notice also the footnote stating that over TWO HUNDRED individual cannon were accessible to view by utilizing this manual as it was originally written!)

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A portion of the line Ruggles' Batteries, containing the many original Confederate-manufactured tubes:
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