Heavy Artillery in the Civil War 

An authoritative presentation from a man gripping his lapels, find me a better way to learn about history.

Fun Fact: These are perfectly legal to own in the US.

Anyone else remember growing up in the early 1970’s in the South and seeing actual Civil War cannons in peoples front yards while riding down the road? You literally never see them anymore unless it’s in a museum.

3:45 POV: You're a soldier, marching up a slope, and you look up and see that looking down on you

As one who has experienced the deafening thunder of 12 pounders at re enactments, I can't imagine the racket those coastal pieces made. Ouch.

Anyone who has served as a mortarman, artillery man, or with high explosives knows how inherently dangerous this job must've been.

Logistics, it’s all about logistics, as the saying goes, “amateurs talk about tactics, professionals study logistics”

I immediately knew where you were within a few seconds of the video: Fort Donelson National Battlefield, Tennessee I went there on a week-long trip to civil war battlefields last year. You can only get a true scale of the guns by standing next to them.

About 15 years ago my son and his friend were playing in a small creek near sharpsburg Maryland we found a bayonet with part of a musket stock laying close by. Along with a metal shoulder pad I'm sure it has a name but I just call it a metal shoulder pad all of these items were started to be exposed from erosion of the creek bank. We also uncovered pieces of clothing material on one of the chunks of clothing was a button from the civil war we found lots of things even a crushed canteen and a small thin metal frying pan along with what looked to be a man's wedding ring. I figured it was a soldier who was killed and layed there and decomposed. Everything we found was things one soldier would have carried. We wasn't looking for artifacts I was just keeping an eye on my young son and his friend playing in the shallow stream ones they found what they thought was a knife I started looking around with them. This stream is only maybe 8 inches deep and 3 feet wide it's a very small stream that runs through farm pastures.

Outstanding presentation! When the Austrians invaded the valley where my family comes from in Northern Italy during WWI there was a great famine due to the vast amount of horses they brought along to pull artillery pieces plus all the baggage that armies carried along. Not a grain of corn was left for the inhabitants of the region. I can't even imagine what must have been like for the non-fighting citizens during the American Civil War, very often during war those who do not bear arms suffer twice as much as those who do the fighting.

This episode was a blast!

I remember watching a History Channel episode on the heavy artillery at Cold Harbor. They got up to fighting at point blank range, the men crouching and laying on the ground to keep themselves better protected as any man that stood up was almost instantly shot down. In front of the men walked their colonel, back and forth staring down the confederates while shouting orders and encouraging his men till he was shot down. The confederates that watched on were amazed as he showed nothing but determination

Excellent presentation. Would like to see demonstration on loading the heavy shells into those monsters.

Very interesting. My 3X Grandfather and his brother fought with the NC 10th Heavy Artillery Regiment in Averasboro and Bentonville. Gives me an idea of what they worked with at the time.

0:03 thats Chattanooga, TN :) one of the most important battles in the civil war

I did not know that there were that many different types of cannons and mortars used during the Civil War

I remember going on field trips to the Fort almost every year for 4-5 years. Such a great place, but I also just love history

Can only imagine the looks men in the army of the Potomac gave the Heavies as they were sent to the front in 64'.

I turned a 1/2 smooth bore Dalgren in High School Metal Shop, which my Dade Co School teacher sugested it would be best to attach trunions outside of Schools property. Heavy Hitters always been my faves. Great peek @ History. TY 👍

Keep coming back to see these Big Boys!!!!

Cool presentation with a lot of good info. Way too short, but I’ve spent a lot of my life in Civil War heavy artillery. The tech is fascinating, cooling processes, compressed shaped powder charges, and moving and assembling guns as heavy as 25 tons. All a historical blink in time as the tech left those guns behind.

I can remember when that Columbiad and most of the other guns were all sitting in a row on a couple of railroad ties on the hillside by the bend in the river. Went back a few years ago and was so proud to see that they all had carriages now and were in their emplacements. I try to stop there on my way home to Paris, TN every couple of years just to see what they've done next. I believe I had 2 ancestors who served in that fort.

Loved learning about these at Fort Macon NC.

I served in the USMC I had the pleasure of being a field artillery cannoneer shot the m777 155mm!

Glad we have a Colombia Cannon in New Orleans, at the Museum next to the Circle. My Great Great Grandfather was Union Navy 💙

Dad took me and my brother to see Vicksburg in the 60s. Above the river on a bluff was a huge mortar,to drop shells on ships.

Very nice collection of civil war photographs, enhanced the already excellent presentation. Good stuff!

Nice. I wish we could have used the coastal defense guns in the Total War franchise.

Excellent video! Glad I found your channel.

Excellent.

Great content and photos. I am surprised I didn’t find this channel sooner. Subscribed. 👍🏻

The whole video I’m thinkin “so you gonna fire that bad boy or what???” 😂😍

wow thats wild all that energy going into killing crazy

More brilliant work... thanks chaps

Excellent summary and introduction. Thanks

Enjoyed this bit of artillery's history. *LIKED* -LT

One thing missing from the uniform for an Artillery video, the red piping.

Very good video! 👏🏼😊

Thanks for the knowledge brother

Great look at civil war armament. I have witnessed these guns discharged; these things are louder than you probably imagine - unbelievably loud. Thanks for the look back. 👍

My Great grandfather, Lawrence Cosgrove, was an Irish Immigrant who moved to Connecticut with his family from Ireland. He was a volunteer with the 1st Connecticut Heavy Artillery. Luckily he did not become an infantryman as the 2nd Connecticut was made to do. He stayed with the heavy artillery defending the Capitol in the Peninsula campaign. He later invented a milling machine as he always had an interest in machinery.

1:49 it’s like me tapping my fingers on he karaoke machine while I look for the biggest and drunkest girl in the bar-this man is doing it on a civil war cannon in military uniform. Love it.

The Rodman guns were officially called the 1861 columbiad.

Really good video. Thanks

Great video my lord

I recommend going to fort Zachary Taylor in Key West Florida if you can and see some of the civil war era guns that have been saved and are on display, one of the best historical places I’ve been to in my life, I had the opportunity to spend one summer in key West, and made a day of visiting the fort, I believe it’s free-of- charge,nice site to visit if your in Key West, one of the highlights of my visit, for a history buff like me.

Why am I watching this at 5 in the morning, whatever it was worth it

I now look at and pat my model 1819, because i have not seen my own cannon since almost that same year.... Good day Sir....

There's a guy around Somerset, KY where I grew up that had a civil war cannon. He would fire it off on July 4th and it doesn't matter where you were in the city you could hear him pop that thing off for miles lol

I visited Shiloh just last weekend, I loved the gun on the limber, It was still sitting near the entrance of the park when i visited.. I'm just wondering how far the sound from these guns traveled.. It had to be pretty crazy hearing just one being fired, but it had to be absolutely epic hearing several going off at once..

Another interesting video. Enjoyed it a lot. Are there plans to make a video about Sharpshooters in the Civil War? Or maybe about the trenches that appeared during the Civil War? Keep up the good work!

You just gained another subscriber!

Awesome history!

I know that in the early war federal artillery was considered some of the best trained in the world (at least from what I can find). Was that reputation maintained throughout the war?

Another great account of American history. Thanks a lot, Colin UK

Man you look like you fell out of an old Civil War photo. Excellent presentation, fantastic video. Cheers from Canada!

Minute 0:57 the War Germany VS Dänemark in the Baltic See

Great work Sir thank you

I sometimes envision smooth-bore Napoleons, placed on the flanks of advancing infantry formations ( think Picket's charge ) firing canister loads . Carnage to the max.

Look man I don’t know how or why you showed up on my recommended but I’m seeing heavy ordinance and I am alright with that

For those learning French and interested in the US Civil war read Les Tuniques Bleues :) It’s fun too

Considering troop sizes at the time compared to Europe, these things must have been pretty goddamn effective against lines. Pretty sure the Americans spread their troops a lot more than Europeans at the time, but I'm sure the production rate of these guns made up for the thin number of troops.

I own a 10” Columbiad, on the 4th of July I always load it with fireworks and fire it at my neighbours house, that’ll fix him for complaining about my lawn.

Your content is underrated

Thanks so much

Outterly disappointed. They didn’t even fire that huge cannon lol

Man if only i live in the U.S. i wanna have an entire museum of civil war weapons

Fun fact: Since the invention of gunpowder, over 60% of the casualties in battle are from artillery.

2 of my ancestors died at Fort Donelson, both infantry that had to be on the artillery.

Amazing how similar 1860s US and Danish uniforms were.

I wonder if Clydesdale stallions were used in the Civil War for transporting heavy artillery.

I have trouble imagining how they handled these heavy pieces and their ammunition. I suspect that they used block and tackle gear hitched to the horses. Also, struggle to understand for mobile pieces how they could get a quantity of rounds to the piece in numbers adequate to make the effort effective. Not to mention the volume of black powder. Amazing.

This soldier/scholar/narrator GOT IT DOWN !! Where can I enlist ?

I bet that big gun was made in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

I honestly would love hearing the bang one of those big pieces make. on the other hand, it'd probably make my Tinitus worse

“…Downrange of the big (Rodman) ten-inch…”

The Army should bring back the red striped trousers for artillery dress uniforms.

Legal to own without registration. Hell yeah for black powder anything.

These are all interiestin knowledge

0:20 hey it's the /k/ sticky

excellent history and learning , thank you, my dad served in the navy for 20 years from korea to end of vietnam, tours on a swift boat as well, but i was born in Va beach , dont remember anything from there, but when he was stationed in charelston, charelston SC was riddled with cannons from top to bottom, even the fort sumpter, , tybee island Ga, savannah has cannons, New orleans, a lot of used relics out there, they were not put there for looks and were used and fired frequently, being cast iron i am curious about the strength of the barrels , i have been aboard the USS constitution and they were very close in size, but wow what a horse population chore that would have had to be , in the mud, and we all know it was the mud and cold that beat napolean in russia, yes the russian burned earth policy assisted, but the southern burned earth policy tactic did not,

I'm a former U.S Army Redleg 13-Bravo 3rd ID. While most of my ancestors fought for The South, I enjoyed your video. I often see such photos of only Union Soldiers with artillery, are there Confederate ones as well?

Great stuff. I would respectfully disagree that rifled artillery was superior to smoothbore in the Civil War, at least as field guns. Though for the purpose of siege I would agree heavy rifled rifled offered substantial benefits that made them superior in that context.

Imagine how loud that shit was

how did their explosive shells work back then?

What I never understood - why did these guns have no sights? Particularly with the long ranges these new guns supported, would a dedicated sighting system not have been essential?

Did each gun have any replacement draft animals? Drawing that much weight, I think a team would get exhausted fairly quickly. Did they change out teams regularly?

What happens if you load up a cannon and it doesn’t fire how do you get the cannon ball out

I just clicked on the video because of your great outfit

The 54th Massachusetts charged towards these guns just imagine the end result.

3:00 A.M. content

Nice

It's always fun to buy those bigger guns in Ultimate General Civil War and use them against the Confederacy

I'm sorry for nitpicking, but it looks like the third piece of the three siege pieces is a 8 inch siege howitzer.

How many men per gun and how many horses, mules and oxen?

0:31 those look like modern shells

5 minutes and 28 seconds, not a single cannon fired. This makes me very sad.

I want to see a corolla get smacked by that 8 inch gun

An ad for sing 2 the movie came on and I have a new furry crush

Can you imagine if they had a couple of MG-42’s ?