Researching the History of a tube?

[Gary Van Kauwenbergh, 101]

Our re-enacting group uses an original 12 pound Napolean tube manufactured in 1863 by the Revere Copper Company with a serial number of 276. How do I go about finding out it's history?

[tkavanagh]

Unfortunately, most battery level documents, such as quarterly returns which would include gun numbers, either did not survive or were too detailed to be included in the "Official Records" (OR). Indeed, in my database of about 5000 field guns made, North and South until 1865, of which about 2500 are extant, I can link only about a dozen +/-guns with their batteries, and some of those are problematic.

tk
2883v
Co. B,Wheat's Tigers
1st Louisiana Special Battlion
Member: Military Order of St. Barbara
Cannon Hunter since the 1970s

[cannonmn]

TK, good info. I thought I'd throw in my two cents. As far as the quarterly returns, I've found a number of them in the National Archives, and have taken pix of a few. I haven't found one yet which as any gun numbers on it, just type of gun and how many were present with the unit. I'm not saying that now and then someone in the field didn't include gun numbers, just that I haven't found it yet. The form they filled out for the quarterly return has no column for gun numbers or other such unique identifying info, so it isn't surprising to me that such info wasn't included. A friend found a long list termed "inspection" for a very large field fortification in early 1865 which had complete data on over 70 guns, including some field pieces, and the story on it is here: http://gs19.inmotionhosting.com/~milita ... /read/8823

Of the handful of field pieces ID'd in that inspection report, unfortunately none are known to survive.

As far as the number of surviving CW tubes, as I recall the National Register of Surviving CW Artillery is up to nearly 6000 pieces now. This register is maintained by Jim Bender of Indiana.

I've spent hundreds of hours in the National Archives researching gun numbers, both to support my own collection and on a fee basis for others. Basically here's what I've found. Almost all US Navy guns cast since about 1827 have overlapping records in the Archives. I can tell you all the ships they ever served in, plus all the marks on each one if any aren't legible now, plus repairs, donations, public sales, those melted down for re-use by the gov't etc., basically more than most people want to know. The original Navy ordnance returns (circulars) as I recall did have columns for the detailed info, or if not, the shipboard personnel entered it anyway as it was customary in the Navy. Many of those original returns for the CW period are on file in the Archives in DC.

The Army didn't routinely keep records like that, since as I mentioned there's no column for that info on their ordnance return. There are exceptions, particularly for 3" ordnance rifles, where probably one in 30 has a notation in the gun ledger regarding a location or conversion to salute gun ca. 1900, and the location of that conversion. Siege and seacoast guns are another exception since I've found data on where many were, and the date, but I haven't had time to write an article on that yet.

If anyone wants to see one of the Army ordnance returns sent in during the CW, I can dig up some photos I took at the Archives.