Camouflaged Cannons

Tennessee cannoneers positioned two 12-pounder howitzers within this redoubt. Major General Benjamin F. Cheatham ordered the artillery crews to camouflage the earthen mounds with cut underbrush and to hold their fire unless attacked. For the next week, they remained under cover while Union bombardments tried to weaken the Confederate lines. On the morning of June 27, a Union barrage preceded close-packed Federal attackers. The gunners waited silently as blue-clad columns pushed through the dense forest despite Confederate small arms fire. Finally, at pointblank range, the cannon crews opened fire. Flying canister stunned the Federal lines and, according to one Confederate officer, did great execution. Confederate artillery crews normally consisted of a gunner in charge of seven cannoneers, and well-trained crews could reload and shoot four times a minute.

Marietta, Georgia · United States