A gun was a heavy cannon intended to throw solid shot by using a large charge of powder. The gun may be signified from other cannon by its length and immense weight. Another distinguishing mark of the gun is a lack of a chamber.

The howitzer was a cannon designed to throw large hollow projectiles by using relatively small charges of powder. The howitzer was shorter, more cylindrical in shape than a gun of similar caliber, has a cylindrical chamber for the receiving of powder and was lighter in weight than the gun. A mortar was a short cannon used to throw large hollow projectiles at vast angles of promontory. The mortar chamber was usually conical in form. The columbiad combined aspects of the gun, howitzer and mortar.

The columbiad was a long, heavy field piece capable of sending both shot and shell at high angles of elevation through the use of heavy charges of powder. First invented by Col Bumford the columbiad was used for solid shot in 1812. Rifle cannon were distinguished from the smooth bore when the rifles or threads of a female screw were cut into the bore. Rifle cannon were a later invention than were the previous field pieces listed.

The carronade was a light cannon of about 6 calibres long in the bore. Weight is about 65 times that of the projectile. It was used before the war primarily on ships of war. A carronade had no trunnions; it was supported on a carriage by a sturdy bolt passing through a loop cast on the under side. The name derives from the Carron foundry where the piece was first cast. They saw little or no use in the Confederate States arsenal.

Terms Astragal and fillets: moulding at the anterior end of the chase. Breech: the mass of solid metal behind the undermost of the bore. The breech extended to the cascable.

Bore: all of the part pierced out: will include the chamber and the junction of the bore with the chamber. Base of the breech: the posterior surface of the breech. Base line: a line traced around the gun in rear of the vent.

Base ring: a projecting band of metal adjoining the base of the breech. The base ring was connected to the body of the gun by a cupped moulding. Cascable: the bulge on the end of the breech of a gun. The cascable is made up of the knob and neck, and in some the fillet. Chase: conical portion of the gun in anterior of the reinforce.

Chamber: the small portion of some bores. This is the part containing the charge of powder. Three kinds of chambers are used in fire arms: conical, spherical and cylindrical. The cylindrical chamber is a cylinder of smaller diameter than the bore. For small charges of powder and short lengths of bore the cylindrical chamber provided better results than the conical.

Confederate howitzers were made with cylindrical chamber. The spherical chamber was a sphere joined to the bore of the piece by a cylinder which served to channel gases. Not used long. Chase ring: band at the anterior of the chase.

Clevis: a U shaped yoke through which a lever, etc can be pinned or bolted. Dispart: difference of the semi diameters of the base ring and the swell of the muzzle, or the muzzle band. It is the tangent of the natural angle of sight to a radius equal to the distance from the rear of the base ring to the highest point of the swell of the muzzle, the sight, or the front of the muzzle band. Ear: a lug of metal cast on some mortars. It is a handle attached to a clevis by a bolt.

Face of the piece: plane ending the gun at the muzzle. Gomer chamber: conical chamber joined to the cylinder of the bore by a section of a spherical surface. Was considered the most advantageous for large charges and was found in mortars.

Handles: flat rings cast on some bronze pieces. Placed with their centers over the center of gravity of the piece. Lock piece: a piece of metal at the exterior aperture of the vent for facilitating attachment of a lock to the gun. Muzzle band: a band which takes the place of the swell of the muzzle in some guns.

Neck: smallest portion of the piece; anterior to the chase. Natural line of sight: a line drawn in a vertical plane through the axis of the piece from the highest point of the base ring to the highest point of the swell of the muzzle or to the top of the sight when there was one. Natural angle of sight: angle which the natural line of sight makes with the axis of the piece.

Preponderance: excess of weight of the component posterior of the trunnions over that in front. It is measured by the weight which the breech bears on a balance, the point of support resting at the rear of the base ring, at the base line or at the bottom of the ratchet, the gun being suspended freely on the axis of the trunnions.

Reinforce: the thickest element of the body of the gun. The reinforce was in front of the base ring or line. If there was more than one reinforce that which is next to the base ring is called the first reinforce; the next is the second reinforce. Reinforce band: a band at the juncture of the first and second reinforce.

Rimbase: shoulder at the base of the trunnions. Swell of the muzzle: largest portion of the gun; anterior to the neck. True windage: difference between the true diameters of the bore and the ball.

Trunnions: two cylinders near the center of gravity of the gun by which it is supported on its carriage. The axes of the trunnions are in a line perpendicular to the bore. In Confederate guns trunnions were in the same plane with the axis.

Reference used: The Field Manual for The use of the officers on Ordnance Duty,

Prepared by the Ordnance Bureau. Richmond:

Printed by Ritchie and Dunnavant, 1862. copyright 2001