Hey Dave,

I got an answer to your question as to where you get the courage to charge a James Rifle, over and over for four years.

The courage comes from total outrage that the Yankees would try to stomp the rights of your country to determine its own destiny. The courage comes from the conviction that invading armies are to be opposed to the last dying breath.

Dave,
Good question, where did all that courage come from? Conviction? I suppose.
While reading your post I barely got into the second paragraph and I began thinking of a post you made a year or so ago about the battles during the civil war and dead soldiers rifles being found with 2,3,4,5 rounds back to back lodged in the barrel. Soldiers firing under fear and duress, too scared to realize they never pulled the trigger on the previous charge. Perhaps the James rifle or other canons had something to do with it. Nonetheless, fighting because of conviction or courage is admirable regardless of the era your fighting in.

Gun Nut sure enough!

I'd rather charge one of these things than a napolean firing canister, if the rifling meant they didnt want to use canister rounds.

A pound and a quarter of black powder must make a cloud... 80 grains keeps me from seeing a deer fall. I wonder how anyone knew what the #ell was going on in those days. Talk about collateral damage. You can bet if I was facing an open field with tens of thousands of Yanks OR Rebs headed my way with bayonets attached the last thing I would be worried about is hearing loss or letting the barrel cool before I shoved another charge down the muzzle...

for my 2 cents on the off-topic wanderings here, I'll say the War started when Fed General Anderson moved all his troops into Ft. Sumter, destroying the good faith negotiations that were going on... there had been an agreement there would be no troop movements. First hostile act, then, and it was December 26, 1860

And the War ended when the Confederate Raider Shenandoah decommissioned about 7 months after Lee surrendered... November 6, 1865. Or you may pick another event, but it was not Appomattox.

That kind of accuracy is incredible. I've seen them hit large boards with some sort of consistency, but this guy is almost getting MOP! With a cannon!

Want to get angry? Go around asking people when the Civil War was.

Basically Joe exposed himself to enemy fire on foot somewhat reminiscent of Kevin Costner's character in Dances with wolves. He ran out on the battlefield found, picked up and carried his wounded Commanding Officer back to safety while the other side blasted away. Bullets kicked up dust all around him for several minutes. The CO was shot through the body and died soon after. IMO today that incredible act of bravery would not likely be considered for the CMH.

To Big O: You are correct. James rifles were used for counterbattery fire and, of all things, for countersniper fire. A Confederate sniper with a good rifle was effective up to 600 yards, and the James Rifle had not only more range, but was apparently accurate enough to make a sniper think seriously about doing something else. I would not have believed this unless I had seen what the gun did to the bull's eye.

I would almost rather die while reloading this thing rather than fire it for 3-4 years and try living the rest of your life without the use of your ears! The best form of hearing protection back then was what? Cotton stuffed in your ears? No thanks.

I sometimes ponder what it was like to be in the first row of the wave of any southern regiment standing in the trees looking across an open field at the opposition watching from behind substancial fortifications. Specifically I refer to what was finally called Pickett's Charge although the same situation took place many times with each side alternating the starting positions. Nevertheless, by far the majority of the men in the charge were not slaveholders and perhaps actually had not faired as well in life as many slaves. They were not "down there" and they had walked barefooted "up north". Even the generals did not want to fight on that site and it all happened almost by pure accident. When those soldiers on the front row made that first step they knew it was the beginning of only a few more moments to be alive or in one piece. Courage, convection, orders, and even the fact that if the private soldier did not advance for Marse Robert he just might be shot shortly into his personally selected withdrawal by one of his own. Under any examination it was very grim being one of those guys as even smooth bores were adequate to cause great damage let alone a James Rifle. God rest their souls, all the thousands both blue and gray.
I think I have mentioned before that my great great grandfather was wounded near Richmond, VA. The specifics were never clear but apparently he lost an arm or most of one in some skirmish. The old folks lack of memory or concern and the years seem to have wiped out the name of the exact battle. Supposedly he was an artillary man in a Georgia unit even though he hailed from Alabama. When he was discharged he was sent on his way to walk home. Somehow he made it.

Ah, artillery! The "Queen of Battle".

Have you seen the print, possibly by Remington, showing an officer about to light the fuse of a field piece on a crowd of fighting soldiers from both sides. The caption said something like, " Artillery lends dignity to what otherwise would be a common brawl."

Being an old infantryman I can tell you WA Mtnhunter is correct. For you civilians the redlegs are the Artillery men and they do think they are king. Most are like me and CAN'T HEAR any opposing opinions.

Someone said these old guns are loud. You should listen to a modern Howitzer or the main gun on an M1 Abrams. Either will clear your sinuses!

If you make it across the pond go to the Tower of London and check out the old cannon on display. Most were captured during various wars fought by Her Majesties Armed forces. Some date back well before the American Revolution.

DP,

S. Foote declared the sense of courage....and fatalistic approach to Life.....was much different in the 1860's. The Civil War causality rates on today's battlefield would get commanding officers relieved in short order, yet the 1860's slaughter went on for three-years.

BTW did those re-enactors dig up the cannon balls? I understand they're made of zinc.

Indeed.
thanks, Dave.

Hal

Trying to really think about what it would be like to see one of these on the other end of a mile long field is powerful. To charge and cover ground as fast as possible might seem like suicide but what other option do you have? It isn't like you are going to hide behind a tree or a bush, or a rock or ...anything really. The only place of safety would on a field would be the place where all of the opposition is gone. The only place safe is standing behind this mammoth on top of a pile of dead bodies. When that moment came for those soldiers the only way out was through and it probably only took them a brief second to realize that on the battlefield. It is a shame on one hand and an awesome, powerful display of human survival on the other.

>Grapeshot in a smoothbore

I believe you are referring to what was usually called 'canister', in prepared rounds this was sort of a bucket filled with musket balls.

Grapeshot was for farther range and was indeed used, but the primary anti-personell Round for longer range was Cased Shot, sometimes called Shrapnel.

Douglas, is it possible you could post a picture of this Williams Gun? I have some books on all this stuff, but no picture of the Williams Gun. If you can, put it in your photos and we could find it under your user name. Hope you took a picture!

Incredible stories like these are forever erased by the liberal slant and "new" history texts. If you doubt that, go read your kid's and grandkid's text books used in the schools today and find a copy of the texts used 50 years ago and compare.

After doing that, convince us that there is not a movement to subvert American liberty.

Shane's post above is so true. Most of today's HS grads can't tell you when the Civil War was, WWI, etc. Now the War of 1812 gives them a clue.

WMH

WA Mtnhunter:

The school system is bad but getting worse with Kevin Jennings' appointment! He wrote the forward to the book: Queering Elementary Education.

This probably a good time to "cling to guns and religion"!

Ziggy, I'd be pretty surprised a civil war event involving cannon happened in Baltimore. War of 1812 maybe. Plenty of rounds were solid shot, too, not always or even typically exploding shells.

My great grandfather fought heroically in the battle of shiloh, one of the bloodiest battles. He fought for the good old South.

Elmer, you are of course right. Yesterday I could not remember the correct word so used grapeshot. At that time I had been awake for more than 24 hours is my only excuse. Slept until 7 this morning though.

Thanks, Douglas, I have a picture now and will just insert it into one of my books!

shane-
The War of Northern Aggression started either
on 20 December 1860, (date of South Carolina
secession) or 12 April 1861, (date of firing
on Fort Sumter, in Charleston harbor). Historians differ. The end date was 9 April 1865, Palm Sunday, at Appomattox, at the house of one Wilbur McLean.
duckcreekdick-
Artillery, Queen of Battle? Always heard that it was the Infantry.

I think the gun actually fired into Baltimore sometime. It's funny, but if you go take a bus tour there, you'll see a cannonball lodged into the side of a large brick house, which hasn't exploded. They sometimes wouldn't blow up, and would become stuck on things, or simply take the person's head completely off or blow up the house completely.

Del in KS

The first thing out of an old artilleryman's mouth when you say something to him is:

"Huh?"

WA Mtnhunter-
Very inspiring site- I now have it in favorites. Thank you. One small thing, it was mostly a leg site, do you have any links to the airborne? Anything other than the Sky
Soldier website?
I won't get off on the Redlegs, other than to say that at times, they need to check their elevation and windage before they fire.

crm3006

No sir, I just put up that site to show those cannon cockers that Infantry was 'Queen of Battle' and it had that nice updated poem.

Here is a link to the 82d Abn Association website that I just found:

http://www.82ndassociation.org/default.aspx

All the way!

My late dad was in the 6th Field Artillery in the South Pacific from mid-1942 until returning to the States in late 1945. Mostly he served as a gunner on a 105 mm. You probably know the campaigns in which he was involved. As long as I can remember I usually had to tell him something 2 maybe 3 times before he understood me. He never would wear a hearing aid.

Do believe our Caliber of guns we hunt with are too small? But a lot easier to carry arund. Heck: don;t neeed a larger gun, just need to hunt more and different places. I just received a letter from a friendin C0 wher they hunted many days and only saw one 3 pointer Elk and few cows.C0 hada bad winter for pst 2 years, add thoe to the Wolves, cougars and the herds will drop.A friend of mine in MT got a Wolf last month that had killed one of his prized Herfords. Been tlling those guys they need to hunt Wolves, Cougars and Coyotes and leave the animals alone for a couple hears. But to much $$$ made off us NR hunters.

All you Southern Boys do go on as if it would have been a good thing had the South won the war. The author Harry Turtledove wrote a series of alternative history novels where he explored how the world might look Had the South Won. The scenarios are not good, it is not as if the Confederacy, having won Gettysburg and forced the North to terms ever got to live happily ever after, In Turledove's alternative world North America suffers many subsequent wars, all stemming from unresolved issues and left over resentment from the previos conflicts. World War I occurs with the Confederacy allied to the British and whats left of the Union allied with the Kaiser! Canada gets invaded and Quebec revolts and succeeds as well. I highly reccommend Turtledove's writing, He hold the attention and created engaging characters. Of course there are many possible alternative histories and the history that actually happened is the important version, as long as the historical revisionists are prevented in substituting politically correct versions of the history intended to make the deeds of survivors more palatable to their descendants. Fortunately relics of the past still turn up to remind us how our ancestors actually fared.
Your ancestor wore gray at Shiloh, Mine wore blue and held Little Round Top. Both are dust now, it is best to remember their heroism, hope we measure up when (or if) it becomes our turn and not waste time fighting over old arguments over and over and over again. Enough blood was spilled, Ares was satiated, let it never happen again.

excuse my accidental double posting...

I think that the James rifle would have been a nice piece of artillery to have on your side for wiping out opposing artillery bunkers and the like, but for stopping an artillery charge i would say a smoothbore with shrapnel canisters and a nice volley of muskets would be more efficient. The James rifle would be the equivalent of demolishing the target, unneccessay but nice at times, while shrapnel would simply put enough holes int he target to stop it in its tracks 95% of the time. Except for you are stopping 10-20 targets dead in there tracks, which would be 9.5-19 of the targets dropped, or one smoothbore would be firing the equivalent of 15 James rifels. But it is definitely a fine piece of artillery for the time.

That'd bust a T. rex.