New Blog Series on Artillery at Emerging Civil War

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https://emergingcivilwar.com/2018/06/08/artillery-an-introduction/#more-175118

Artillery: An Introduction

by Emerging Civil War
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Cannons sit as quiet markers on battlefields, often causing us to underestimate their force when the conflicts raged. Now, it's time to refocus on their firepower and gain a better appreciation for the artillery during the Civil War.

At Emerging Civil War, we cover many historic topics on the blog, but there's one military, battlefield topic that hasn't received much spotlight time. That's artillery. When the editors noticed this trend, they voted to publish a special series devoted to the big guns. Read more of this post
 
After my trip last week to Monocacy and Gettysburg, I made the startling discovery that I would sure like a working cannon in the back pasture! My husband, the physicist, likes to plot ranges. Darn, maybe we could run to a signal cannon sometime but I don't think our town will approve a cannon.:confused:
 
Pat and I are going to starting shooting up the east coast with potato guns!
 
when I was at a radar site in Michigan (754 Radar Sq) a civilian in the motor pool made what I think he called a carbide cannon. He took a section of pipe capped one end of it. Then he drilled and tapped it for a spark plug. He mounted it to the back half of a Toro riding lawn mower, When we were ready to shoot it he ran what I think was carbide down the pipe then he put a golf ball down the pipe. He attached a magneto to the spark plug turned the magneto and poof the golf ball would shoot 300 yards. It worked great until we fired it just as the site commanders car was coming up the access road came within about 2 feet of hitting it. Nothing was ever said but that ended the cannon shooting. I think it was carbide he used it looked like charcoal and I was told it was what miners use to fuel there head lamps in the 1800s.
 
when I was at a radar site in Michigan (754 Radar Sq) a civilian in the motor pool made what I think he called a carbide cannon. He took a section of pipe capped one end of it. Then he drilled and tapped it for a spark plug. He mounted it to the back half of a Toro riding lawn mower, When we were ready to shoot it he ran what I think was carbide down the pipe then he put a golf ball down the pipe. He attached a magneto to the spark plug turned the magneto and poof the golf ball would shoot 300 yards. It worked great until we fired it just as the site commanders car was coming up the access road came within about 2 feet of hitting it. Nothing was ever said but that ended the cannon shooting. I think it was carbide he used it looked like charcoal and I was told it was what miners use to fuel there head lamps in the 1800s.
Carbide + water = acetylene gas. We did that at a fire station that I worked at, but substitute potato gun, oxygen and the Fire Chief's car and the result is the same.
 
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