GUN FALL 2015
The live portion of this session begins on Monday, October 5, 2015.
FINE AND HISTORIC CIVIL WAR US MODEL 1861 3-INCH ORDNANCE RIFLE RECENTLY DISCOVERED IN MASSACHUSETTS BARN.PIC18615343Cal. 3". This was the most widely used rifled cannon of the American Civil War, and was made of wrought iron of John Griffen’s patent. It has a 3” bore, is 69” long and weighs 816lbs. A correct carriage would add about 900lbs. A one-pound charge will fire a 9.5lb solid projectile 1,830 yards (5 degree elevation) at 1,215 feet/second. These 3” Ordnance Rifles were made at the Phoenix Iron Co., Phoenixville, PA, by modifying a procedure being used in the production of wrought iron for lighthouse construction, which involved welding together bundles of wrought iron rods and then processing them through a rolling mill. Wrought iron was expensive and difficult to work with at the time. The Phoenix foundry took strips of wrought iron ¾” wide and 4.5” thick and wrapped them by lathe around an iron core. Five layers were built around the core with a thin iron covering on top. Then the core was removed and a plug was driven into the breech, which closed the breech and formed the cascabel. The tube was then heated to welding temperature and up-set 2” in a press. It was rolled out from 4.5 to 7 feet and the bore was reamed out. The rifle was made with .5” wide lands and grooves that were .84” wide. Finally, the case was turned down to proper size in a lathe and trunnions were welded on. This produced a lightweight 3” rifled, muzzle-loaded gun, with clean lines of almost exact weight throughout manufacture. It was an enormously strong gun tube and exceptionally safe. The other wrought iron weapons of the day, the most popular being the Parrott gun, were prone to bursting, as wrought iron is brittle. This cannon was indeed the workhorse of field guns during the Civil war both North and South. The light weight of the 3” Ordnance Rifle made it highly mobile and thus, the preferred weapon of the Horse Artillery. This weapon was popular with Artillery on both sides and prized for its endurance, efficiency and long-range accuracy. It normally fired Hotchkiss, Parrott or Schenkel shells, canister & caseshot. The Phoenix Iron Co. supplied the U.S. Army with 1,100 of these weapons by war’s end, each marked on the muzzle. This example has the inspector’s initials “CCC” (Lt. Clemens Clifford Chafee), the registry number “534”, the weight, “816lbs” and date of manufacture “1862”. The Confederacy acquired many of their 3” Ordnance Rifles through pre-war purchases and captures. The 3” Ordnance Rifle was an important technological advancement in artillery leading to modern weaponry. It typifies the truism that the American Civil War was the last 18th Century war and the first 20th Century war. The 3” Ordnance Rifle was the epitome of muzzle-loading artillery of the American Civil War and remained the primary field gun in the U.S. inventory well into the 1880s when it finally gave way to steel, breech-loading artillery. This particular tube has had a long association with Gettysburg battlefield with consecutive registry number 533 owned by the park. It is noted that this tube mistakenly was added to inventory by an accompanying letter from Gettysburg park superintendent Edward Clark that states its clear title being offered here. Of the 67 Ordnance rifles inspected in October and November 1862 by Lt CC Chaffee, 25 survive and half are owned by the National Park Service, mostly at Gettysburg. Inspector Chaffe graduated near the top of his class at West Point in 1862 and was immediately stationed inspecting cannons before he was given a field command as engineer in Grant’s army at Vicksburg using some of the same cannon he had inspected. Lt. Chaffee was breveted Captain for Gallant Service and Meritorious Services during the siege at Vicksburg on July 4, 1863. Chaffee would return to services as Ordnance Officer first at the Allegheny Arsenal in Pennsylvania and later at the Springfield Armory where he died suddenly July 5, 1867 at the age of 26. This is a fine Civil War field artillery cannon that would mount on carriage easily. CONDITION: Cannon is very good overall with good iron patina and discernible markings as can be seen in photographs, though the last digit of registry number on muzzle is only partially seen but still distinct. The US surcharge on top of bbl is crisp and well defined. Rifling in bore is discernible though pitted. Brass vent is very good with smooth green patina. Pendulum sight mount is still attached rear of vent though ears to hold pendulum axle are beaten down. 49540-1 JS (20,000-30,000)