13 Pounder "James Rifle"

At Ball's Bluff, Battery B of the 1st Rhode Island Field Artillery manned one cannon commanded by Lieutenant Walter Bramhall. It was a Model 1841 six-pounder smoothbore cannon modified with rifling to fire James system rounds intended to extend the range and accuracy of an obsolete Mexican War vintage gun. The cannon weighed about 2000 pounds, required a full crew of eight soldiers, was pulled by six horses, and fired 13-pound solid shot, shell, conical case shot, or canister. Its effective ranges were 1500 yards for solid shot, 1600 yards for shell, 900 yards for case, and 400 yards for canister. The James system was developed by former Senator and State Militia General Charles James of Rhode Island, who was killed on 17 Oct 1862 while attempting to clear a misfire during a demonstration for foreign dignitaries of a cannon firing rounds of his own design. At Ball's Bluff, the cannon's effectiveness was limited by the short range to the next ridgeline.

Leesburg, Virginia · United States