Union's 24-Gun Battery

For 10 days on and off, four Union six-gun batteries on this ridge bombarded Confederates entrenched on the higher ground of Little Kennesaw and Pigeon Hill. Although the Federals had to fire uphill, they used rifled cannon, a newer and more effective type of artillery than the Confederates' smoothbore cannon. Spiral grooves in the barrel, called rifling, caused the pointed projectile to spin as it exited the muzzle with greater trajectory and accuracy than a smoothbore's round cannonball. Because of the artillery and the differences in elevation, many of the skirmishes at Kennesaw Mountain ended in stalemates. The force here was the 14th Army Corps, 2nd and 3rd Division Artillery: Barnett's 2nd Illinois Battery I with six 10-pounder Parrotts, Gardner's 5th Wisconsin Battery with six 12-pounder Napoleons, Morgan's 7th Indiana Battery with six 10-pounder Parrotts, and Stackhouse's 19th Indiana Battery with six 12-pounder Napoleons.

Georgia · United States