Lee's Railway Gun

[Mr. King]

Is this the gun used at Savage Station? I find it odd that it was still around in 1865 for the occupiers to examine.

Can someone please expound upon this thing, please...

 

[Mr. King]

http://civilwartalk.com/threads/petersburg-va-railroad-gun-and-crew.102686/

ahh, I guess I should google first. I looked on this forum, and didn't see. Google did. Thanks

 

[redbob]

13" Seacoast Mortars were also mounted on railroad cars with the tracks being laid toward the front lines. In order to change the direction of fire (left or right), the tracks had to be laid in a curve (left or right) . These proved not to be very practical, not to mention the ride that the crews took from the recoil when they were fired.

 

[AndyHall]

See also:

https://markerhunter.wordpress.com/2012/06/29/railway-arty-savage-station/

https://markerhunter.wordpress.com/2014/06/08/whitworths-and-rail-gun-overland/

http://usmrr.blogspot.com/2012/10/lees-brooke-railway-gun.html
http://usmrr.blogspot.com/2012/12/rail-gun-finished.html

 

[Mr. King]

So that is a rifled and banded 32 lb Seacoast Gun??? The rebs were the only ones rifling these old guns, right?

If so, I'd call it highly unlikely for the Yanks to mount a captured gun onto their own armored railway gun.

I think this is Lee's railway gun...

 

[Specster]

A little off point I was at an 1812 re enactment yesterday in Rockport, MA, hope most of u r OK with it, was at an 1812 re enactment yesterday where a crew of 9 were manning a 24 lb. bronze cannon taken from the USS Constitution. The orator said the cannon would fire a 24 lb round 1 mile in 1812. He also said that most battles took place at 50 - 100 yards at that time. Pretty scary stuff fairly heavy round with significant velocity - in 1812

 

[Specster]

I have pics if anyone is interested

 

[7thWisconsin]

That's been captioned as Lee's gun for a long time, but I'm beginning to doubt it. I suspect it is a gun in front of Petersburg. A good discussion, from a modeling and wargaming perspective: http://www.minecreek.info/railroad-tactics/heavy-batteries.html

 

[Mr. King]

A little off point I was at an 1812 re enactment yesterday in Rockport, MA, hope most of u r OK with it, was at an 1812 re enactment yesterday where a crew of 9 were manning a 24 lb. bronze cannon taken from the USS Constitution. The orator said the cannon would fire a 24 lb round 1 mile in 1812. He also said that most battles took place at 50 - 100 yards at that time. Pretty scary stuff fairly heavy round with significant velocity - in 1812

I'm interested.... did they fire it?

 

[DaveBrt]

That's been captioned as Lee's gun for a long time, but I'm beginning to doubt it. I suspect it is a gun in front of Petersburg. A good discussion, from a modeling and wargaming perspective: http://www.minecreek.info/railroad-tactics/heavy-batteries.html

Lee's gun was in action at Bermuda Hundred June 6, 1864, so its being found after the war in the Petersburg area is no surprise. Why do you believe that this is NOT the Lee gun? I'm not familiar with any reports of a Union ironclad gun at Petersburg -- do you have any such?

 

[Specster]

I'm interested.... did they fire it?

They did not...

 

[redbob]

Lee's gun was in action at Bermuda Hundred June 6, 1864, so its being found after the war in the Petersburg area is no surprise. Why do you believe that this is NOT the Lee gun? I'm not familiar with any reports of a Union ironclad gun at Petersburg -- do you have any such?

Didn't the Union use a 13" Seacoast Mortar mounted on a railcar at Petersburg?

 

[DaveBrt]

Didn't the Union use a 13" Seacoast Mortar mounted on a railcar at Petersburg?

Yes, but that is not an ircon-clad gun.

 

[7thWisconsin]

That's been captioned as Lee's gun for a long time, but I'm beginning to doubt it. I suspect it is a gun in front of Petersburg. A good discussion, from a modeling and wargaming perspective:http://www.minecreek.info/railroad-tactics/heavy-batteries.html

Lee's gun was in action at Bermuda Hundred June 6, 1864, so its being found after the war in the Petersburg area is no surprise. Why do you believe that this is NOT the Lee gun? I'm not familiar with any reports of a Union ironclad gun at Petersburg -- do you have any such?

The article I cited seems to feel that it's the same gun identified as a Federal gun.

 

[Dave G]

A gun like this was used briefly at Savage Station. It was reinforced with railroad iron and was pushed up the tracks from Fair Oaks Station. The gun car was followed by another car (or two) manned by Confederate sharpshooters shielded by cotton bales. It was very impressive to the Union soldiers. Some of its balls hit the farm buildings that had been converted into hospitals but little damage was done except by the sharpshooters. After about 10 minutes, the rebels realized that Union soldiers were moving up behind the engine to tear up the rails. They quickly backed up the cars before a single rail had been affected. They spent the rest of the day firing from a distance but that effort was useless.
Union mapmaker Robert Knox Sneden saw the action and gave a good description in his book of drawings Eye of the Storm.

 

[DaveBrt]

That's been captioned as Lee's gun for a long time, but I'm beginning to doubt it. I suspect it is a gun in front of Petersburg. A good discussion, from a modeling and wargaming perspective:http://www.minecreek.info/railroad-tactics/heavy-batteries.html

The article I cited seems to feel that it's the same gun identified as a Federal gun.

I read the article and he has nothing in it to support the fact of a Federal iron-clad gun. Unless there are Federal reports otherwise, I have to think this IS Lee's gun.

 

[7thWisconsin]

That's true. It doesn't. Assuming that it's the same gun, is that the Drewry's Bluff line in the background? The area around Savages Station is more wooded by the tracks but this section looks flat and clear.

 

[kholland]

13" Seacoast Mortars were also mounted on railroad cars with the tracks being laid toward the front lines. In order to change the direction of fire (left or right), the tracks had to be laid in a curve (left or right) . These proved not to be very practical, not to mention the ride that the crews took from the recoil when they were fired.

I thought that you couldn't get much ability to aim with that setup.

 

[redbob]

I thought that you couldn't get much ability to aim with that setup.

If they wanted to fire left or right, they had to get the engineers to lay track that curved in the direction in which they wished to fire. I don't believe that this moveable mortar met with very much success.

 

[7thWisconsin]

If they wanted to fire left or right, they had to get the engineers to lay track that curved in the direction in which they wished to fire. I don't believe that this moveable mortar met with very much success.

Well, it's a great big mortar with a city for a target. Pinpoint accuracy was never the goal. They moved it by rail because it was just too heavy for other means of locomotion to move efficiently. Given the press that the Dictator received, I'd say it fulfilled its mission pretty well.