Also known as: artillery piece, gun.
| Definition | A tube that fires a projectile by a powder charge |
|---|---|
| Main types | Gun, howitzer, mortar, and columbiad |
| Bore | Smoothbore or rifled |
| Metal | Bronze, cast iron, or wrought iron |
The family of guns
Cannon is the broad term for artillery, a metal tube, or barrel, that hurls a projectile by the sudden expansion of a burning powder charge. The Civil War cannon fell into several types distinguished by their length, trajectory, and use: the flat-shooting gun, the shorter high-angle howitzer, the very short mortar, and the heavy columbiad.
Cannon were smoothbore or rifled, and cast of bronze or iron or built of wrought iron, and the many combinations of type, bore, and metal produced the great variety of Civil War ordnance.
On this site
Sources & further reading
- United States Army, Ordnance Department. The Ordnance Manual for the Use of the Officers of the United States Army. 2nd ed. Philadelphia: J. B. Lippincott, 1862.
- Gibbon, John. The Artillerist's Manual. New York: D. Van Nostrand, 1860.