Item Description
Original Item: One-of-a-kind. This is a Confederate 32lb cannon ball shell that measures approximately 6.25 inches in diameter. This would have been used in the 32-pounder Smoothbore, 6.4-inch calibre gun. Weight is approximately 23 pounds. Overall condition is very good with fantastic eye appeal.
Note- Historical image shows a seven-man gun-crew from the 4th New York Heavy Artillery Regiment, photographed during an exercise with a 24-pounder gun in Fort Corcoran near Arlington Heights, Virginia, sometime during the spring of 1862.
Despite the minor external differences between multiple varied generations of 32-pounders, they could all meet one important criterion: being iron cannon with bores uniformly cast at 6.4 inches in diameter, so as to be able to effectively discharge a spherical round with a caliber of 6.25 inches, weighing slightly more than 32 pounds. The guns themselves measured roughly 10 feet, five inches in length and weighed approximately 7,200 pounds apiece, being designed to be seated atop a wooden gun-carriage that was identical to those used for the next smallest class of 24-pounders.
And just like these lighter pieces, the 32-pounder and its gun-carriage then had to be evenly balanced atop a barbette-chassis made of thick wooden beams, this whole towering structure:
Because of their size and combined weight of more than four-and-a-half tons, such heavy cannons mounted on barbette-carriages had to be emplaced upon a firm, level surface known as its platform. At its front, an iron pintle would be driven deep into the ground, from which fixed point the gun could be aimed (with considerable effort) by rotating the entire superstructure in an arc on a set of wheels at the rear of the chassis, rolling over an embedded semi-circular metal track known as a traverse circle.
A detachment of four artillerymen and a non-commissioned officer (usually a sergeant or corporal), were required to work and fire a 32-pounder gun, the same as for most other heavy U.S. Artillery pieces of that era. The privates were officially designated as cannoneers according to War Department manuals, and the non-com in charge of each crew as the gunner or chief of piece, although all of these men were often collectively referred to as “gunners”.
Note- Historical image shows a seven-man gun-crew from the 4th New York Heavy Artillery Regiment, photographed during an exercise with a 24-pounder gun in Fort Corcoran near Arlington Heights, Virginia, sometime during the spring of 1862.
Despite the minor external differences between multiple varied generations of 32-pounders, they could all meet one important criterion: being iron cannon with bores uniformly cast at 6.4 inches in diameter, so as to be able to effectively discharge a spherical round with a caliber of 6.25 inches, weighing slightly more than 32 pounds. The guns themselves measured roughly 10 feet, five inches in length and weighed approximately 7,200 pounds apiece, being designed to be seated atop a wooden gun-carriage that was identical to those used for the next smallest class of 24-pounders.
And just like these lighter pieces, the 32-pounder and its gun-carriage then had to be evenly balanced atop a barbette-chassis made of thick wooden beams, this whole towering structure:
Because of their size and combined weight of more than four-and-a-half tons, such heavy cannons mounted on barbette-carriages had to be emplaced upon a firm, level surface known as its platform. At its front, an iron pintle would be driven deep into the ground, from which fixed point the gun could be aimed (with considerable effort) by rotating the entire superstructure in an arc on a set of wheels at the rear of the chassis, rolling over an embedded semi-circular metal track known as a traverse circle.
A detachment of four artillerymen and a non-commissioned officer (usually a sergeant or corporal), were required to work and fire a 32-pounder gun, the same as for most other heavy U.S. Artillery pieces of that era. The privates were officially designated as cannoneers according to War Department manuals, and the non-com in charge of each crew as the gunner or chief of piece, although all of these men were often collectively referred to as “gunners”.
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