Britain's American Civil War (6 Viewers)

Ken & Ericka Osen/H&A Studio said:
Well Mike you really stirred up a hornet's nest shooting at my Black Hats...
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Are your Rebs going to hold their ground?
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Ken
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Not only will they hold their ground Ken, I believe they are going to take some more ground . . . . . . . . . Mike
 
As I promised Ken. The Confederates are coming to take the artillery you keep talking about. It will take more than double canister to stop these "Southern Patriots"
Mike

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Very nicely done from both the Northen and Southern ends of the conflict and like most I'm such looking forward to the following chapter from both ends. Thanks Mike and Ken for sharing your playtime and the enjoyment your both having doing it.
 
Great story line Mike and Ken, thoroughly enjoying it:cool:

Cheers

Martyn:)
 
mestell said:
As I promised Ken. The Confederates are coming to take the artillery you keep talking about. It will take more than double canister to stop these "Southern Patriots"
Mike

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A fine illustration of "those d***ed red flags of rebellion". One can feel the movement in the charge. Take the guns! -- lancer
 
My, my Ken, a photo of what's to be I hope. Nice looking artillery set. I really like the addition of the figure with the "beehive" hat.
Mike
 
mestell said:
Gatling guns were not used in the American Civil War - just a little to early for them.
Mike
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Thank god, can you imagine those already incredibly bloody exchanges like Antietam, Chancellorsville or Gettysbury with Gatling guns on both sides?:eek:
 
Gatling guns were used during the Peninsula battles of the American Civil War. They were unreliable. They used steel chambers and percussion caps.They weren't used again in the Civil War. They were redesigned and became more reliable during the Indian Wars using metallic cartridges.
The Requia gun could be an interesting and obscure piece to make. This was also a failed experiment.
An interesting argument developed in the U.S. Army about who would be responsible for the Gatling Guns. The Artillery because it was a towed piece of ordinance like a canon, or the Infantry because it fired an small arms bullet. The Army never did develop satisfactory tactics for the Gatlings. The most famous use of Gatling Guns in battle was at Kettle Hill, during the Spanish American War under Lt. Parker.
 
Spitfrnd said:
Thank god, can you imagine those already incredibly bloody exchanges like Antietam, Chancellorsville or Gettysbury with Gatling guns on both sides?:eek:
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Too true Bill but Gatling intended them for Union use only-this Indiana dentist if you want to believe the history books- stated that he invented his MG for "humanitarian" reasons by the fact that they would shorten the length of the war or even eliminate war altogether.

As stated the 1861 model which had four barrels was fraught with problems but he improved his 1862 model with six barrels firing 600 rounds per minute at 100 per barrel but even this model had a tendency to jam. Gatling tried to sell it to the Union Chief of Ordnance- a very difficult man- Brig.Gen.J.W Ripley but he was having none of it rejecting it completely stating that the Union soldier would "waste ammunition". This despite some officers who also watched the demonstration stating that such a gun could well end the war by killing every Reb on the battlefield.

One of the officers who witnessed one of Gatling's demos was one Benjamin Butler (The Beast of New Orleans) a political general-absolutely inept on the field of battle-but rich and very powerful in Washington who became the bane of Lincoln's life during his time in the White House.

He ordered 12 of Gatling's gun for the princely sum of $12,000 and paid for them himself. These MK II guns to my knowledge were the only ones purchased during the war and the only recorded active service they saw was in 1864 on the Petersburg front. Reports stated that they were extremely successful but the gunners quickly used up all the ammunition of .58 caliber rim fire cartridges and Butler had by then been sacked by Lincoln after winning his second term and no-one wanted to purchase any further Gatling ammo even though it was supposed to be standardised.

What happened to theses particular guns is unfortunately lost to history

Reb
 
Well I know that Ben Butler didn't mount them on his yacht "America." There were still some of his family around here on Cape Ann when I was a kid.

Ben did get Massachusetts troops to Washington early in the War and his troops saved the USS Constitution from being seized by the Confederates. Pretty good work this early in the War when DC was surrounded.

As for gadgets, Ben also tried to blow up Fort Fisher in NC but the version of a "fire ship" wasn't brought in close enough. He had some reason to think it would work based on another ship explosion.

Burnside was another victim of a failed gadget as at The Crater July 30, 1863.
 
UKReb said:
Too true Bill but Gatling intended them for Union use only-this Indiana dentist if you want to believe the history books- stated that he invented his MG for "humanitarian" reasons by the fact that they would shorten the length of the war or even eliminate war altogether.
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Actually I figured that but assumed any weapon deployed would eventually be captured. So much for making war more humain or less likely;:rolleyes: I wonder if Gatlin lived to see how wrong that was?

Thanks for the history on the weapon, most interesting.
 
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