Tell me more! Spiking The Guns

[The Walking Dead]

Spiking a gun was a method of temporarily disabling a cannon by hammering a barbed steel spike into the touch-hole; this could be removed only with great difficulty. If a special spike was unavailable, spiking could be done by driving a bayonet into the touch-hole and breaking it off, to leave the blade's tip embedded.Guns could also be rendered useless by burning their wooden carriages or blowing off their trunnions.

Can someone post a photo of the spike nails used for spiking the guns in the Civil War?

Does anyone know of a detailed account written by an artilleryman describing how they spiked their cannon in the midst of battle? Does anyone know of an instance where bayonets were used to spike the guns?

 

[UCVRelics]

Here is a great thread we had on this subject.
https://civilwartalk.com/threads/question-on-the-spiking-of-guns.75576/

 

[redbob]

A rat tail file crammed down the touch hole and broken off also worked rather well.

 

[UCVRelics]

A thermite grenade down the barrel works great also.

 

[redbob]

A thermite grenade down the barrel works great also.

Putting it is the breach and closing the breechblock was the Marine preferred method, except all that you had after that was scrap iron.

 

[The Walking Dead]

Gentlemen, while I appreciate your responses, could we please keep posts centered on the Civil War. Thank you.

I know first hand how well thermite grenades work.

 

[redbob]

Good for you.

 

[Dan Kohli]

Spiking the gun with a bayonets seems unlikely with the small size of the vent holes. Since bayonets were not normally issued to light/field artillery they were more likely to use nails or other equipment the battery would have on hand.
As for the special spike I didn't find anything of that type in the ammunition chest carried by the limber. Accounts stating the use of bayonets as spikes would definitely be interesting, but I didn't see much evidence that would indicate such use. If John Billings mentioned it I had missed it.

Daniel Kohli

 

[UCVRelics]

Gentlemen, while I appreciate your responses, could we please keep posts centered on the Civil War. Thank you.

I know first hand how well thermite grenades work.

OK, You take a round from the gun, pull the fuse out stick a long wick fuse down in the round, shove it down light and run

 

[Pollaco]

There is an old cannon at the Alamo that had it's trunnions knocked off by sledge hammers. Santa Anna ordered his men to do so after the battle.This gun was already over 100 years old at the time, so the trunnions just popped off. Plus it was originally a 12 pounder that had been bored out to be a 16 pounder, so it was thin walled. Would the artillery pieces from the Civil War be as "brittle"? And could the trunnions just be just whacked off?

 

[Pollaco]

Oh, I almost forgot that cannon was also spiked with just a nail.

 

[redbob]

There is an old cannon at the Alamo that had it's trunnions knocked off by sledge hammers. Santa Anna ordered his men to do so after the battle.This gun was already over 100 years old at the time, so the trunnions just popped off. Plus it was originally a 12 pounder that had been bored out to be a 16 pounder, so it was thin walled. Would the artillery pieces from the Civil War be as "brittle"? And could the trunnions just be just whacked off?

The Alamo gun would have been made of cast iron which is naturally brittle, plus the iron was over 100 years old. Iron technology had progressed considerably from the 1740's to the 1860's, but iron guns did fail during the Civil War and the trunnions that I have heard of being knocked off during the War came from being struck by projectiles.

 

[bayonet]

OK, You take a round from the gun, pull the fuse out stick a long wick fuse down in the round, shove it down light and run

Nah load the cannon then pour rocks, mud, dirt, and other debris down the barrel filling it all the way up to the muzzle end. Pound it in good with the Rammer. Then have Mr. The Walking Dead pull the lanyard after the rest of us have run away to a safe distance.

 

[Rhea Cole]

A very effective way to spike a gun was to ram a ball into the breech. Then wedges were driven in next to it using the sponge rammer. Even a simple wooden wedge could do the job.

There is no need to hammer a spike into the touch hole. A nail or piece of metal of the correct length could be inserted & clinched with the rammer or a ball. This could easily be done with the priming wire to temporarily block the vent. I saw that happen during a training drill with new recruits.

If a battery was about to be overrun, there was danger of the attackers turning them against the defenders. The simple expedient during the Civil war was to a run off with the friction primers. During the Battle of Nashville the man with the friction primers was last seen bounding like a rabbit to the rear leaving his comrades in a bastion no choice but to follow him as the attackers in blue approached.

If the vent was plugged, it was a simple process to replace the vent plug & return the gun to service.

Knocking off the trunnions was a possibility. My understanding is that was done to unserviceable
guns that had been shot out or iron guns that had been honey combed due to corrosion. However, with bronze guns especially, simply deforming the muzzle would have been a preferred method. I have seen bronze barrels in parks with obvious hammer marks on the muzzle. I assume that was done postbellum to disable them for display. The same could be done to the touch hole, I have seen that as well.

A simple expedient for un-spiking a large cannon was to drill & thread the spike. A ring bolt could then be screwed in & with some penetrating oil the spike could be levered out.

Steps for forging a square nail. Rutherford County Blacksmith Association, Murfreesboro TN
​

I have never seen a purpose forged spike. In a time when nails were forged with square shafts, the simple square peg driven into a round hole & clinched would have been very effective.

 

[FedericoFCavada]

There is an old cannon at the Alamo that had it's trunnions knocked off by sledge hammers. Santa Anna ordered his men to do so after the battle.This gun was already over 100 years old at the time, so the trunnions just popped off. Plus it was originally a 12 pounder that had been bored out to be a 16 pounder, so it was thin walled. Would the artillery pieces from the Civil War be as "brittle"? And could the trunnions just be just whacked off?

Thanks a lot for the great post! Actually, the guns at the Alamo remained there and intact until after news of Santa Anna's capture at San Jacinto arrived... At that point, it was General Vicente Filisola who sent a letter to General Juan Jose Andrade to destroy all defective small arms and to render unusable any artillery that couldn't be removed given the numbers of mules at his disposal, and/or their condition or caliber... The ammunition was chucked into the river.

The Mexicans made a thorough job of spiking the guns, which while not Civil War-era, being almost 30 years before the Civil War, might prove instructive about how to utterly disable muzzle loading artillery:

First, the guns were "dry balled" with shot rolled down the bore absent a powder charge. Difficult to extract. Then a spike was driven down through the touch hole into the round shot. The surviving cannon of the Alamo recently went to Texas A&M for cleaning, analysis, and a dip in tannic acid that basically "blued" them for protection from the elements. They are temporarily on display, muzzle downward at the Alamo, and one has the spike visible. I can try to see if I can reach it with my phone camera, if you'd like?

Next, the cascabel was knocked off. Then the trunnions were pounded and knocked off. The gun was thus thoroughly wrecked and impossible to use. I tell this story to youngsters at the Alamo, and they raise their hands and ask why they just didn't put in a bunch of gunpowder and blow them up? I mean, wouldn't that be easier? I ask them to consider what the downsides of such a method might be, and it makes for entertaining and educational speculation on their part!

Sorry to be so pedantic, I just wanted to "piggy back" on the post about the Alamo guns' destruction... Incidentally, there is temporarily a mock-up of the Swedish-made 18-pounder that was on the southwest bastion, and famously fired Travis' reply to Santa Anna's unconditional surrender demand. Turns out it was also a cannon progressively "overbored" and "refreshed" periodically by boring out the rust or pitting, making it too light for the size of projectile it threw. The gun on display at the Alamo entrance now was a similar piece. The folks who built the carriage had to get creative and build a sort of steel cradle with new trunnions in order to mount it.

 

[Pollaco]

Thanks a lot for the great post! Actually, the guns at the Alamo remained there and intact until after news of Santa Anna's capture at San Jacinto arrived... At that point, it was General Vicente Filisola who sent a letter to General Juan Jose Andrade to destroy all defective small arms and to render unusable any artillery that couldn't be removed given the numbers of mules at his disposal, and/or their condition or caliber... The ammunition was chucked into the river.

The Mexicans made a thorough job of spiking the guns, which while not Civil War-era, being almost 30 years before the Civil War, might prove instructive about how to utterly disable muzzle loading artillery:

First, the guns were "dry balled" with shot rolled down the bore absent a powder charge. Difficult to extract. Then a spike was driven down through the touch hole into the round shot. The surviving cannon of the Alamo recently went to Texas A&M for cleaning, analysis, and a dip in tannic acid that basically "blued" them for protection from the elements. They are temporarily on display, muzzle downward at the Alamo, and one has the spike visible. I can try to see if I can reach it with my phone camera, if you'd like?

Next, the cascabel was knocked off. Then the trunnions were pounded and knocked off. The gun was thus thoroughly wrecked and impossible to use. I tell this story to youngsters at the Alamo, and they raise their hands and ask why they just didn't put in a bunch of gunpowder and blow them up? I mean, wouldn't that be easier? I ask them to consider what the downsides of such a method might be, and it makes for entertaining and educational speculation on their part!

Sorry to be so pedantic, I just wanted to "piggy back" on the post about the Alamo guns' destruction... Incidentally, there is temporarily a mock-up of the Swedish-made 18-pounder that was on the southwest bastion, and famously fired Travis' reply to Santa Anna's unconditional surrender demand. Turns out it was also a cannon progressively "overbored" and "refreshed" periodically by boring out the rust or pitting, making it too light for the size of projectile it threw. The gun on display at the Alamo entrance now was a similar piece. The folks who built the carriage had to get creative and build a sort of steel cradle with new trunnions in order to mount it.

I think the Swedish cannon is also mounted upside down with the vent pointed downward. I may be wrong,I have a very small screen and sometimes details escape my poor eyesight.

 

[drezac]

One thing I thought of ( but have not seen that it was ever done) would be to remove the cap square ( or the pins holding them on)- while they were attached with a chain, you could break it off. Firing a gun after that would result in a very unpleasant surprise for those firing it as the tube launched backwards off the carriage....

 

[Story]

Had to look it up, turns out someone wrote a book on just the Alamo's artillery.
https://www.amazon.com/dp/1721229043/?tag=civilwartalkc-20

 

[FedericoFCavada]

Had to look it up, turns out someone wrote a book on just the Alamo's artillery.
https://www.amazon.com/dp/1721229043/?tag=civilwartalkc-20

Thanks! Yes, that James V. Woodrick book, albeit an earlier edition, I was consulting in my reply. As for the origins of the guns, the A&M researchers, conservationists, and preservationists did a lot of work on determining the possible history or what could be known about the surviving guns. It now appears that the 18-pounder--missing since 1917 when it disappeared from a local park--may also have had Swedish commercial merchant origins as well as one of the smaller pieces. There were photographic images of a man straddling the broken gun, which were meticulously analyzed to determine the proportions and size of the unbroken gun. A replica, cast in Ohio, is temporarily on display on an artificial "southwest bastion" wedged into a corner of Alamo Plaza where it once stood. The replica bastion had to make allowances for modern safety concerns, so by no means is it very detailed or "accurate" There's ADA accessibility, for instance, and a railing so people don't topple over and get hurt, a beaten earth ramp was a modern-day no-no, so there are stairs instead, and a small child already lost a ball down the muzzle, so now it has been roped off to prevent people from mischief.

 

[Pollaco]

I was under the impression it was the real gun and not a mock up. The original was recovered off of the wreck of the ship that sank in Matagorda Bay. I think the spelling of the ship is the Ellen Tooker. The Spaniards took the gun to San Antonio. (Texas beloved to Spain at the time). The Mexicans took it from them and The Texicans took it from the Mexicans .