Civil War Armament

Civil War Armament (HMCNH)

Location: Sullivans Island, SC 29482 Charleston County
Buy South Carolina State flags at Flagstore.com!
Country: United States of America
Buy United States of America flags at Flagstore.com!

N 32° 45.537', W 79° 51.419'

  • 0 likes
  • 0 check ins
  • 0 favorites
  • 420 views
Inscription

1861 - 1865

The row of cannon in front of you dates from the Civil War, when radical advances in technology increased power, range, and accuracy.

Union armories produced new, larger rifled cannon; the South had few foundries and used existing weapons, often "rifling and banding" older smoothbore cannon to increase firepower. Confederates used a wide variety of weapons at Fort Moultrie. If you look into the cannon barrels here you can see some smoothbores and some that are rifled.

Banding cannon increased its firepower. A band of wrought iron expanded by heat, was slipped over the cast iron barrel. The band cooled, shrinking tightly in place, strengthening the breech to withstand the pressure of a greater powder charge. For more strength, additional bands were added.

Rifling (cutting spiral grooves in a weapon's bore) gave a stabilizing spin to a projectile. Rifled cannon had greater range than smoothbores of similar size, and their new projectiles were usually more accurate and destructive than the old round shot and shells.

The new elongated shells had an aerodynamic shape, and were larger, heavier, and could be filled with explosives.

Lanyard
To fire mortars and cannon, the hook of the lanyard was attached to the friction primer. When the lanyard cord was pulled, the primer's flame ignited the powder charge.

The short-barreled mortar fired spherical shells with timed fuses. Mortars were designated to fire upward in an arc, while cannon fired in a low trajectory.

Details
HM NumberHMCNH
Tags
Placed ByNational Park Service U.S. Department of the Interior
Marker ConditionNo reports yet
Date Added Monday, October 27th, 2014 at 1:50am PDT -07:00
Pictures
Sorry, but we don't have a picture of this historical marker yet. If you have a picture, please share it with us. It's simple to do. 1) Become a member. 2) Adopt this historical marker listing. 3) Upload the picture.
Locationbig map
UTM (WGS84 Datum)17S E 607068 N 3625142
Decimal Degrees32.75895000, -79.85698333
Degrees and Decimal MinutesN 32° 45.537', W 79° 51.419'
Degrees, Minutes and Seconds32° 45' 32.22" N, 79° 51' 25.14" W
Driving DirectionsGoogle Maps
Area Code(s)843
Closest Postal AddressAt or near 1301 Poe Ave, Sullivans Island SC 29482, US
Alternative Maps Google Maps, MapQuest, Bing Maps, Yahoo Maps, MSR Maps, OpenCycleMap, MyTopo Maps, OpenStreetMap

Is this marker missing? Are the coordinates wrong? Do you have additional information that you would like to share with us? If so, check in.

Check Ins  check in   |    all

Have you seen this marker? If so, check in and tell us about it.

Comments 0 comments

Maintenance Issues
  1. Is this marker part of a series?
  2. What historical period does the marker represent?
  3. What historical place does the marker represent?
  4. What type of marker is it?
  5. What class is the marker?
  6. What style is the marker?
  7. Does the marker have a number?
  8. What year was the marker erected?
  9. This marker needs at least one picture.
  10. Can this marker be seen from the road?
  11. Is the marker in the median?