double barrelled cannon at Gettysburg

[barrett]

I was wondering if any of the artillery experts have ever seen a reference to a double barrelled Civil War era cannon. I found this on the Battle of Monterey website at :

http://www.emmitsburg.net/archive_list/ ... nterey.htm

in the Monterey Pass: The Gateway of Agony section:

"During the afternoon the artillery sat watching General Ewell’s wagon train moving westward as it traveled the old Iron Springs Road. This road led over Jacks Mountain and Piney Mountain where it cleared the South Mountain range. During the wait Mooreman’s Battery was ordered to move back through Fairfield where it encountered and drove a unit of Federal Cavalry back. Captain W. K. Martin Acting Adjutant of Jones’ Cavalry Brigade noted his regiment was in line of battle, supporting Moorman's battery on the road leading from Fairfield to Emmitsburg. During this small fight Gunner George McDonald was using a newly imported double barrel rifled cannon."
Thanks for the help-
Barrett, 7th Va Infantry

[cannonmn]

The article you linked is interesting reading but I'm not sure how accurate it is. The author doesn't footnote his material, so we have no idea where he got the various facts he presents; for all we know he wrote down something he thought he heard somewhere.

The last paragraph in section 4 gives us some clues to the overall accuracy of his article. I cannot figure out what he means in the last sentence, "....let us not abandon the history of this great battle as this cannon is rumored to be." Also, I have no idea what he means by "6-pounder howitzer."

"On July 5th we were still marching, at 2 p.m. we took up camp on the South Mountain (near Monterey). The 6-pounder and 12-pounder howitzers, having merely the gun-carriage attached, were abandoned necessarily for the want of the proper means of transportation." The Battle of Monterey is one of the great forgotten battles of the Civil War, let us not abandon the history of this great battle as this cannon is rumored to be.

[barrett]

Right- I have never run across any other reference to a double-barrelled cannon. I wonder if something like that would even work. It seems like it would be impossible to get the two barrels to discharge at exactly the same time. I'm not sure what would happen to the cannon if they didn't. As far as the howitzers go, I think he was quoting an OR entry. The last awkward sentence is referring to the abandoned cannons in the quote.

[NJArtillery]

Here is a famous Civil War double-barreled cannon reference:

http://civilwartalk.com/Resource_Cen...annon-a15.html

It's located in Athens, Georgia, pretty far from Gettysburg....

[barrett]

Mike- Thanks for the reference. Nice little article. I guess maybe there must have been more than one, eh?-Barrett, 7th Va Infantry

[cannonmn]

maybe there must have been more than one

That was the only one of that pattern made, at least that we know of in the US.

Come to think of it, I do know of one bronze breechloading double-barrel cannon that was used by Thailand. It was built (as I recall) by Needham in England. It is about 3" bore and the barrels diverge somewhat. It was in a collection in Florida when I saw it. The Royal Thai coat of arms is engraved on the breech. I can't recall whether it was rifled or not.

Most of the experimental double cannons I've seen were made for the same reason as the one in GA, to fire two balls connected by a chain. It seems that none of them worked as designed.

I've found US patents for double-barrel chain cannons with drawings from about the 1850's.

[barrett]

So I wonder where the "imported" double barreled cannon would have come from?-Barrett, 7th Va Infantry

[barrett]

By the way, I just received the following from the author of the article:


The source is from the Virginia Regimental Series by Robert Moore, II. Chew's Ashby, Shoemaker's Lynchburg and the Newtown Artillery. For any other resources I used on the articles you may wish to visit: http://www.emmitsburg.net/archive_list/ ... ources.htm

-Barrett, 7th Va Infantry

[cannonmn]

Thanks for posting what the author said regarding his sources. Now someone who has those books or articles needs to go and check where they, in turn, got their information. This is like a "chain of custody" for evidence in police work, anywhere the traceability is broken tends to invalidate the subsequent use of it.

If anyone finds what they think is a "prime source" document that mentions a "double-barreled breechloading rifled cannon" or something similar, I'd certainly like to know.

[RaiderANV]

They had a story on the History channel(I believe it was) like 8-10 years ago about the Confederate attempts at two different types of double barrel cannons. One was for chain connected "bolts" and the other had a slight degree between the two intened for double cannister on advancing troop formations.

The idea was neat until they tired it and kept killing the crews. One barrel went off before the other and the chain spun around the cannon killing some of the crew. Another barrel blew up.