Union Eleventh Corps Artillery

In 1863, Eleventh Corps artillery units were equipped with 3-inch ordnance rifles and 4.62-inch model 1857 Napoleon cannon, often called 12-pounders. Ordnance rifles could fire solid or hollow 3-inch iron, bullet-shaped projectiles nearly 2,800 yards, and explosive shells carried iron or lead shot around a black powder charge. Napoleon guns also fired solid and explosive cannonballs. Both kinds of guns could fire canister shot, iron balls packed in a tin container and propelled by an iron plate between the powder and the shot; once fired, canister spread rapidly and was very lethal against massed infantry out to 400 yards. If Napoleon guns were double-shotted, with a second round stripped of its powder bag and placed on top of the first, 96 iron balls more than 1 inch in diameter could be fired at one time. Artillery placement in this area would have been shaped by terrain, visibility, range, and the threat. Battery #2, with exceptional visibility and range in three directions, likely used ordnance rifles. Battery #1 covered the Potomac Church road and Daniel Bridge, both possible avenues of enemy attack. Battery #3, with more open and less steep terrain, may have used 12-pounders, which had shorter range and were more lethal in close combat. Letters and diaries from several 11th Corps soldiers describe the construction of batteries or fortifications in and around this park, including deployed artillery, but documents found to date do not identify the specific units or type of artillery in each preserved fortification. Research is continuing. The 11th Corps Artillery Brigade units included 1st New York Artillery, Battery I; 2nd New York Battery; 13th New York Battery; 1st Ohio Artillery, Battery I; and 1st Ohio Artillery, Battery K.

Virginia · United States