Also known as: antebellum artillery.
| Period | About 1840-1861 |
|---|---|
| Basis | Standardized bronze smoothbore field systems |
| On the horizon | The Napoleon gun-howitzer and early rifled guns |
On the eve of war
The antebellum decades gave American artillery a settled system of bronze smoothbore field guns and howitzers, refined by the mobile-artillery lessons of the Mexican War. The Model 1857 Napoleon gun-howitzer emerged to combine the roles of gun and howitzer in a single mobile piece.
At the same time European experiments with rifling were pointing toward a revolution in range and accuracy. The Civil War would open with the old smoothbore system in service and the new rifled guns rapidly coming into use.
On this site
Sources & further reading
- CivilWarArtillery.com research archive: manuals, reports, and historical references.
- Benton, James G. A Course of Instruction in Ordnance and Gunnery. 2nd ed. New York: D. Van Nostrand, 1862.