Pulling a few logistics threads

[Rhea Cole]

Thank you! For my own edification, a "Parrott" just refers to the banding at the breech? So any model would be a "Parrott" if it had been banded?

A Parrott rifle is a cast iron barrel with a wrought iron reinforcement over the breech.

Parrott rifles came in 10 - 100 pound sizes.

Before reinforcing bands were invented, cast iron cannon had existed for 500 years.

Because of the inevitable flaws in the iron, cannon were cast at three times the thickness that was necessary. Even with that hefty rule of thumb margin, cast iron cannon were prone to becoming giant pipe bombs.

It was witnessing the carnage inflicted by such a failure that inspired Parrott's quest to find a better solution.

The direct answer to your question is that every cast iron cannon ever produced before wrought iron reinforcements were the same as the Parrott's barrel.

It had been the custom to cast iron cannon with fanciful decoration. By the 1850's it was discovered that even the modest bands cast into contemporary guns held a fatal flaw.

Cast iron is brittle. It cannot be shaped by hammering. The crisp 90 degree corners of the band's & decorative elements caused stress cracks. The presence of slag & other imperfections would cause catastrophic failures.

Parrott Rifles suffered failures near the muzzle. It was found that flaws in the casting was not the cause. Instead, friction between the black powder & rough surface inside the spinning shell was causing a pre-detonation. The solution was coating the interior with naturally appearing "asphaltium."

The innovative Wierd cannon also had wrought iron reinforcements.

The Ames shell referred to above turned an obsolete model 1841 six pound smoothbore into a 14 pound rifle. (+/-) 1/2 of the existing six pounders were rebored & rifled.

Pictured at Chicago Board of Trade Battery position Stones River National Battlefield.

New model one Ames 14 pounders are identical in profile to the six pounders.

The Ames model 2 reflected the modern looking smooth lines of the 3" ordinance rifle, often referred to as a Rodman.

The bronze Ames 14 pounders were in use as late as the Vicksburg & Gettysburg Campaigns.

Link:

Chicago Board of Trade Battery

Horse artillery batteries were a much rarer commodity in the western theater than they were in the east. During the Atlanta campaign, for example, there was only one battery assigned to each cavalr…

regularcavalryincivilwar.com

The best reference there is on Civil War artillery is General Gibbon's Manuel. Intended for instructing West Point cadets, the manual was reissued to reflect wartime experiences.

Link:

The artillerist's manual : Gibbon, John, 1827-1896, comp : Free Download, Borrow, and Streaming : Internet Archive

Appendix and Index (p. [501]-568) numbered as p. [1]-67, 568

archive.org