Makes me think of Kershaw’s Brigade at Gettysburg. Given the wrong order, and 2 of his regiments lined up with their lefts to Union guns firing from the Peach Orchard. The Union guns fired down their ranks with grape and canister
Some objective measurement of the shot distribution, both vertical and linear down-range would have made this more interesting, (and probably more useful to archaeologists).
The complete research was compiled and published. It has already been used by active battlefield archaeologists in the field at several places. This is just a very rough video that was done ad hoc by a participating member :)
More or less this is a just for fun video. We do have the compiled research along with the entire study that was conducted and published from these firings.
I think of the movie "Gettysburg" and the south advancing on the northern positions over an open field and facing something like this!! My god, thats SUICIDE !
THAT was educational beyond belief! To think of the utter decimation incurred by entire batteries utilizing cannister shells adds a level of horror that is indescribable. Reviewing major battles like Gettysburg and Antietam that took place over the course of days emphasizes the scale of destruction wrought by artillery alone.
Is there high speed photography of canister shot from a civil war type canon? If not, is it because the propellant of the era is too smoky for photography of the balls in flight?
Can you imagine the courage it took to march up and then charge into a 6 or 8 gun battery knowing that they're going to start firing these "behave" rounds at you? Like Pickett's (et al) charge at Gettysburg where they actually used Double Canister after firing a few rounds of Canister???
Damn, imagine marching in the civil war when these cannons are going off and getting hit by one of the rounds. Lines of men on both sides were getting taken down by these cannons. War is hell.
And those were only solid shot, cannister and bursting shells that would throw pieces of iron everywhere were worse. Just the thought of a battery aiming at you once it's found it's range and waiting for the shell to hit you or men you know from home was terrifying enough
Not to mention those are normal sized field guns that could be easily transported with the army, the Confederates had a couple of whitworth cannons at Gettysburg with octagon shaped rounds
I did not see any muzzle flash. Could have been the smoke or that the propellant was complerely burnt within the barrel, which is good in that all the propellant was used to accelerate the projectile up the barrel.
Just went to Antietam and finished a book on the battle and read that many of the batteries were actually firing double canister at approaching infantry. I cannot imagine what those men on both sides experienced. This video makes it all the more real
I see the devastation of grape shot. Question why not set up more targets behind. The original target. To show how many targets grape shot would go through? After the first target. How far could the grape shot go?
