Artillery of the Civil War

The shot that began the Civil War was fired on the Union's Fort Sumter from a Confederate mortar across the Charleston harbor at Fort Johnson, South Carolina. For the Union, or United States, Army artillery was plentiful with over four thousand artillery pieces and many foundries that were quick to gear up for making artillery pieces. The CSA, or Confederate States of America, on the other hand was at a huge disadvantage when it came to artillery and was largely dependent on captured cannons and armories.

Artillery technology improved more quickly during the Civil Way than during any other time in artillery history. Prior to the war the U. S. artillery inventories largely consisted of smooth bore mortars and cannons. This soon gave way to the rifled bores, with a few exceptions and had extended range and accuracy. These cannons can be loosely divided by their function. Field and mountain artillery was light and fairly easy to move where siege and seacoast artillery was large and more stationary.

Civil War artillery came in a wide range of bore sizes, or calibers, and projectiles. The guns were defined by the pound weight of the project and were called pounders. A couple of favorite models were the Model 1857 smooth bore 12 pounders and the Model 1841 pounders, which came in a variety of projectile sizes.

You'll find many different types of cannon balls, projectiles and associated gear right here at our Civil-War-Costumes online store's Civil War Relics department. Thanks for shopping with us and come back soon!