action at Pleasant Hill

below is a photo of the 4th Louisiana, Cameron's Battery, in action at the battle of Pleasant Hill reenactment last weekend. We had come 20 or so cannon at the event, that commemorates the largest battle west of the Miss River.

P.S. I am the gunner (center) and the gun is a 10 pd Parrot Rifle.

 

[bob1961]

cool pictures, i bet that was a blast (yes pun intended) :rotf: :v ...........bob

 

[Titus]

huge amounts of smoke. I like it. :hatsoff: :hatsoff:

 

[PitchyPine]

Shock and awe. cool picture.

 

[PreglerD]

Very great pic. Do you handle the gun with the original drill rules for artillery of the former time. so each gunner has his special place and is only allowed to move when he gets the order?

 

Very great pic. Do you handle the gun with the original drill rules for artillery of the former time. so each gunner has his special place and is only allowed to move when he gets the order?

We follow the standard period drill for Civil War era artillery firing and servicing. Each man on the crew has a specific task and is under the control of the Gunner (which happens to be me right now). It takes about 7 men to man the gun, 4 at the gun loading, priming, firing and cleaning it; the Gunner behind them, in control, aiming, etc; the "powder monkey" who ferries the cartridges; and a man at the ammo box (limber)in the rear who controls the ammo and feeds it to the "powder monkey". In the real war the man (men) at the limber made up the charges as needed. In reenactments we "pre-roll" the blanks and store them in the ammo box.

 

[PreglerD]

Very interesting the drill of the "canonmen", especially when it is well done. Do you have any expiriences about how it was in the real battle. How long could the artillerymen stand the pressure of enemy fire and behave as the drill rules told them (battle stress)?

 

[tmdreb]

How was the Miss Battle of Pleasant Hill this year? She's usually quite attractive.

 

[shmrck1]

Mike,
Can almost smell the powder.....Nice pic!
snake-eyes:thumbsup:

 

How was the Miss Battle of Pleasant Hill this year? She's usually quite attractive.

Very pretty young lady.

 

Very interesting the drill of the "canonmen", especially when it is well done. Do you have any expiriences about how it was in the real battle. How long could the artillerymen stand the pressure of enemy fire and behave as the drill rules told them (battle stress)?

Artillerymen did carry on with the drill in the heat of battle as far as I can tell--it's in their training to do so. Artillerymen often sustained high casualties, as incoming cannon fire and sniper fire was aimed at them. Part of the drill is for the Powder monkey and the #2 man to protect the round from enemy fire--the #2 man keeps the round "sheltered" as much as possible while loading, for example, running it along the base of the barrel before inserting it into the muzzle. A very good look at Civil War artillery action is the book about the Washington Artillery of New Orleans by Owens. It was written from this junior officer's detailed diary kept during the war. One of the best books about the war from a southern viewpoint. Written by an educated and excellent observer and writer, who was in the thick of the action with Lee's army throughout the war.

 

[hawkeye1755]

How was the Miss Battle of Pleasant Hill this year? She's usually quite attractive.

Very pretty young lady.

What , no pic from the young lady?
Must be a BIG BANG when 20 cannons firing at the same time or as a 'rolling fire'.
Btw, Mike great pic.
:hatsoff:

 

[PreglerD]

Will there also be a shooting with live rounds? And if which bullets are used at which distances?

 

Will there also be a shooting with live rounds? And if which bullets are used at which distances?

We don't fire live rounds at reenactments, of course. At Fort Sill, OK, live rounds can be fired from these old timey cannon. The true rifled Parrot guns can be very accurate--a friend has taken his to Ft Sill and has been able to hit a 3'x4' cardboard "target" at 400 yds with its 3" diam bullet. We have a smoothbore version of the Parrot gun and have only fired grapeshot from it so far--this on private land here, where we fired across a lake to see the pattern. Awesome--I would not want to charge into it!
I don't remember the actual max range offhand of the Parrot, but it was probably several 1000 yards.