[Bryn-gwlad] [OT] Civil War fact-checking help, please

[Ray Smith]

Basically, I was approaching it from the other side...not at all familiar with civil war artillery, but there's a line in that chapter where I try to describe what a character's arm looked like after getting hit by a cannonball, and didn't know how "accurate" it was.
   
  Andre


  Message: 1
Date: Sat, 25 Aug 2007 03:32:08 +0000
From: Jerry Self 
Subject: Re: [Bryn-gwlad] [OT] Civil War fact-checking help, please
To: Barony of Bryn Gwlad 

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I may be able to help some with that. 

As far as cannonball damage is concerned, I'd need to know which type of cannonball your battlefield was being subjected to.

Both sides in the civil war used five basic types of cannon ammunition. The first was solid shot, which as the name suggests, was a solid iron ball, normally used against fortifications. It used brute force to hammer at walls and "hardened targets.

The second was an explosive charge that used a large "slow fuse" that was ignited when the cannon's propellent charge was fired. It was a "timed" explosive. The fuse was cut on a line marked in seconds. It was crude, often didnt work and sometimes went off within feet of the cannon that fired it.

The third was the classic "shrapnel" round. It was a variation on the "timed" fuse round, but had a much lighter case that was meant to come apart into many small, sharp shards. It was named after the man that invented it.

The fourth was "hotshot". These were incendiary rounds meant to ignite flammable items that it hit. The solid iron shot was heated red hot, and then placed in the muzzle of the cannon with a wet plug in between the poweder charge.

The fifth was in my opinion the worst. It was called "Cannister shot" and was basically a lightweight fabric container filled lead shot. This lead shot varied in size, but averaged about a 1/2 to 3/4 of an inch in diameter.

It was used against troops by bringing the muzzle of the gun level and firing it like a shotgun into massed troops. Really nasty!

Late in the civil war a new type of artillery piece made it's appearance. It was called a parrot gun and was the ancestor of what we have come to know as modern artillery, being what is called a "breech loader" and firing a rifled projectile.

Let me know if I can help with anything else.

Nomaan


Date: Fri, 24 Aug 2007 17:40:42 -0700From: cuteolpuddytat at yahoo.comTo: bryn-gwlad at lists.ansteorra.orgSubject: [Bryn-gwlad] [OT] Civil War fact-checking help, please
Greetings, Bryn Gwlad.

I have a bit of a dilemma I'm hoping someone more knowledgeable in matters of the Civil War era than I can help me with.

I'm working on a story to be included in a fantasy/science-fiction anthology for (overseas) publication. The story itself it set in the Old West circa 1867.

The opening scene takes place on a Confederate battlefield in 1864 (I had originally pictured it in Georgia, 1863, but found that there weren't any Georgia battlefields in 1863, so had to either move it to Mississippi or 1864.)

What I would like is if someone could possible give it a look to see if (1) the setting itself isn't jarring, and (2) if I did a reasonable job with cannonball damage (I could not find any quick good sources for that).

If anyone interested would please contact me off-list...any help would be greatly appreciated.


Andre de Chartres



       
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