Civil War Heavy Explosive Ordnance: A Guide to Large Artillery Projectiles, Torpedoes, and Mines

Canister

90 Canister Canister are always cylindrical. They were designed as antipersonnel projectiles used at short range against enemy troops or naval crews. Canister contain no explosive charge. They are usually made with thin sheet metal sides that disintegrate as the canister is fired. At very close ranges, cannon crews might be ordered to use double canisters for each firing, creating a deadly wall of balls and metal debris directed against enemy troops. However, canister did virtually no serious damage to enemy guns, ships, or equipment. By the beginning of the Civil War, canister was recognized as the most deadly form of short-range antipersonnel weapon. Charges of double canister were even more deadly. The larger number of smaller canister shot created a wide cone of destruction immediately in front of the cannon. For example, a single 7-inch canister contained 112 iron shot 1.3 inches in diameter compared to 9 shot 3.15 inches in diameter for a 7-inch grape stand.1 In large calibers, the canister shot used were iron. Miscellaneous ammunition records found by the author2 confirm that canister was carried for each of the cannon aboard the Monitor gunboats, including the XI-inch Dahlgrens, the XV-inch Dahlgrens, and the 8-inch Parrott rifles. According to Ripley,3 shot for navy canister were standardized at 1.3 inches, except for the 12-pounder caliber where they were 1 inch. The size (in inches) of shot in army canister varies with the caliber, as shown below: 8-inch 42-pdr. 32-pdr. 24-pdr. 18-pdr. 12-pdr. 6-pdr. Gun 1.84-1.87 2.22-2.26 2.20 - 2.06 1.84 - 1.87 1.67 - 1.70 1.46 - 1.49 1.14 - 1.17 Howitzer .46 - 1.49 1.32 - 1.35 1.05 - 1.08 Surviving large caliber canister are rare, because of the fragile nature of the sheet metal sides. A number of 7-inch canister were recovered some years ago in the Trent’s Reach area of the James River in excellent condition. However, these were not conserved well and many have deteriorated badly. Others in the 32-pounder size were recovered from Drumgould’s Bluff in Mississippi, but these were in poorer condition. Almost all of the surviving nonbattlefield large caliber canister are in collections of the army at West Point and of the navy at the Naval Academy. However, the most impressive surviving canister is the 15-inch canister in the collection of the Atlanta History Center. The only canister that required wooden sabots were canister for the 8-inch siege howitzer and the 8-inch seacoast howitzer. The former specified a hemispherical wooden sabot, and the latter a tapered sabot.4 CANISTER 91 1 Author’s count of a disintegrated 7-inch canister. 2 “Ammunition Inventory Records, USS Passaic, USS Nahant, USS Catskill, and USS Lehigh, December 1863 to January 1864,” US Navy Box 137. 3 Ripley, 379. 4 Confederate Ordnance Manual, (a modified reprint of the U.S. Ordnance Manual of 1861), 270. 92 LARGE SMOOTHBORE PROJECTILES CANISTER 93 94 LARGE SMOOTHBORE PROJECTILES CS 6.4-inch Canister Diameter: Length: Weight: Gun: 32-pounder Rifled or Smoothbore Gun or 6.4-inch Brooke Rifle 6.29 inches 8.25 inches 34 pounds Sabot: None Fuze: None Rarity: 10 (nonbattlefield) Provenance: Nonbattlefield. Battlefield recoveries of canisters in this caliber from the CSS Neuse, the USS Cairo and from Drumgould's Bluff, Mississippi. Comments: This crudely made canister is Confederate. It lacks a bottom plate and the bottom is sheet metal so thin that the canister balls have made an indentation in it. The top is wood and lacks a handle. The skin is firmly soldered on to the base plate. The markings on top were added after the war. Courtesy of the United States Naval Academy Museum CANISTER 95 US/CS 7-inch Canister Diameter: Length: Weight: Gun: 42-pounder Smoothbore Gun, Rifled 42-pounder Gun, or 7-inch Brooke Rifle 6.85 inches 8.25 inches 48 pounds Sabot: None Fuze: None Rarity: 10 (nonbattlefield) Provenance Nonbattlefield. Probably CS origin. Battlefield recoveries from the James River at Trent's Reach, where the CSS Richmond ran aground in 1865. Recoveries are likely from the CSS Peedee. Comments: The tinned sheet metal side is soldered to the base plate but only crimped...