Bachman's German Artillery, Gettysburg-- Part 2: Hood's Division, First Corps ANV

Captain William Bachman's Battery was commanded at the Battle of Gettysburg by Major Mathias Winston Henry (1838-1877).  Henry's Battalion was part of Hood's Division in the First Corps of the Army of Northern Virginia.

This battery was commanded by Captain William K. Bachman who was the son of the prominent pastor of Charleston's St. John's Lutheran Church, Dr. John Bachman.

The unit was formed in 1862 and was also known as the German Light Artillery  and as the Charleston Artillery Battery.  From August 1862 to July 1863 it was armed with four  12-pounder Napoleon cannons.  On May 3, 1864,  it was armed with two 3+ inch Blakely Rifles and two 12-pdr. howitzers.

It was surrendered by Confederate General Joseph Johnston at Durham Station, North Carolina (Bennett Place) on April 26, 1865.

--Old Secesh

Napoleons By-the-Numbers-- Part 2: 1,692, That's A Lot

1,692--  Total number of Napoleons produced during the war, including 1,157 from five private foundries in the North and an estimated 535 from three private foundries and four government factories in the South.

1,227--  Weight in pounds of a standard Union Napoleon.

3,865--  Weight in pounds of the gun, carriage, limber, ammunition and miscellaneous implements required for service.

63.6--  Length of bore in inches.

4.62--  Bore diameter (caliber) of the Napoleon in inches.

1,619--  A Napoleon's range, in yards, when firing a 12-pound solid shot at 5 degrees elevation using a 2.5-pound powder charge.

1,128--  Weight in pounds of the Napoleon's two-wheel carriage.

1,620 Yards--  Where I'd Want To be Standing.  --Old Secesh

Napoleons By-the-Numbers-- Part 1: 8 Men, 6 Horses

From the Fall 2016, Civil War Monitor Magazine.

128--  Number of artillery rounds able to be carried in the Napoleon's caisson and limber.

8--  Number of men assigned to operate the Napoleon.

6--  Number of horses needed to move the Napoleon.

$565-$615--  Cost to produce a standard Napoleon in the North during the war.

--OldNapsech

About Those Napoleons-- Part 2: "They Were Beautiful, Perfectly Plain"

The Model 1857 12-pounder field cannons (12-pounder referring to the weight of a solid projectile they could fire) were popularly referred to as Napoleons.

It was created in response to U.S. Army officers' prewar demands for a lighter 12-pounder, and inspired by a design attributed to Emperor Napoleon III of France (hence the name), the Napoleon became the most widely produced and utilized cannon during the Civil War.

Its mobility, reliability and versatility -- it could fire solid shot (12 pounds), shell, case shot, and canister -- would earn the smoothbore weapon the praise of artillerists on both sides.

As one Confederate gunner noted of his unit's Napoleons,  "We would not have exchanged them for ... any other style of guns.  They were beautiful, perfectly plain ....  We are proud of them and felt towards them almost as if they were human ...."

--Old Secesh

About Those Napoleons (Cannons)-- Part 1: "Nothing Mortal Can Bear a Battery of Six Light Napoleon Guns"

From the Fall 2016 Civil War Monitor Magazine.

"There was one [Confederate] regiment that stood up before the fire of two or three of our long-range batteries and two regiments of infantry, and though the air around them was vocal with the whistle of bullets and screams of shells, there they stood, and delivered their fire in perfect order," wrote Inion Army surgeon Thomas Ellis in his diary about the Battle of Antietam in September 1862.

"[T]here they continued to stand until a battery of six light twelves were brought to bear on them, and before that they broke.  Nothing mortal can bear a battery of six light Napoleon guns...."

He was talking about the Model 1857 12-pounder field gun popularly known as "Napoleons."

A Mean Little Stinker.  --Old SecDuckandCover

Yes, It Was Probably That Rodman Who Inspected the Napoleons at Camp Bragg

Thomas Jackson Rodman, the man who inspected the Napoleons at Oshkosh's Camp Bragg Memorial Park, was the famed ordnance man and inventor of the Rodman guns.

From 7 February 1862 to 7 April 1864, the Revere Copper Co. in Boston built 433 bronze Napoleons. Some 245 are known to still survive today. Rodman probably did not work for the Revere Company, but inspected submissions for the federal government.

I have been writing about the Revere Company also casting the ship's bell for the USS Constitution in my War of 1812 blog this past week. That bell was destroyed in the battle with the HMS Guerriere.

So, Now You Know. --Old Secesh

Wisconsin's Camp Bragg in Oshkosh-- Part 2

From HMDB.

Photo of the Camp Bragg Memorial with a plaque on stone reading: "Near this spot in the autumn of 1862 the 21st and 32nd Regiments Wisconsin Volunteer Infantry were encamped for organization before proceeding to the front. Erected 1915."

Some more information: It was eracted in 1915 by the Camp Bragg Memorial Association on plans drawn by sculptor Karl Bitter. It is flanked by 4 smoothbore Napoleon cannons mounted in concrete. They were shipped by railroad to Oshkosh on June 15, 1915 from the Rock Island Arsenal in Rock Island, Illinois.

The muzzle loading cannon were made by the Revere Copper Company (yes, that Revere as in Paul) in Boston. Each barrel weighs 1216 pounds and were inspected by Thomas Jackson Rodman (was he the man of the Rodman guns?).

Just Some More Info.. --Old Secesh

The Twelve-Pounder Napoleon Smoothbore Cannon

The Dec. 3, 2009 HMDB (Historical Marker Database) featured this cannon and said ut was developed in France in 1853 and made in the US after 1857. It was a "mainstay" of both Confederate and Union artillery because of their maneuverability, ruggedness, dependability and effectiveness at both long and short range.

The tube (barrel) was a mixture of bronze, copper and tin and it fired a 12 pound cannon ball.

the one they were spotlighted was made in Savannah, Georgia by H. N. H. & Co. in 1863, their 178th gun.

The tube weight was 1230 pounds and it was 66 inches long. It took a charge of 2.5 pounds of gunpowder to fire it and a good crew could fire 3-4 rounds a minute. Crews usually consisted of seven men. A total of 1156 were made for the Union and 501 for the Confederacy.

Now You Know. --B-R