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432 Tredegar In the early months of the war, Southern foundries scrambled to meet the Confederacy’s needs for a wide variety of military ordnance. At this time Tredegar and Bellona Foundries were the only ones that could make large caliber cannons needed by the Confederacy.1 Charles Dew’s book on Tredegar2 and the Tredegar Foundry records,3 indicated that in July 1861 Tredegar developed some hybrid cannon designs and promoted their use with the Confederate Army and Navy. The Confederate Army Ordnance Office ordered from Tredegar hybrid cannon and projectiles for the hybrid cannon at the same time, probably to ensure they worked together. These hybrid rifles were a temporary solution to the urgent need to get large caliber rifles into the field. Tredegar manufactured several types of hybrid rifles. These included 7-inch rifles bored from 9-inch Dahlgren smoothbore gun blocks;4 6.4-inch rifles bored from 10-inch Columbiad gun blocks; 5.82-inch rifles bored from 8-inch Columbiad gun blocks, and 4.62-inch rifles bored from 8-inch siege howitzer and 24-pounder siege gun blocks. The Tredegar name is a new designation for five patterns of large projectiles manufactured very early in the war for these hybrid rifles. The attribution to Tredegar is based on the same criteria applied many years ago in designating the Selma projectiles. Specifically, documentation available in the historical record is quite specific about the design of the hybrid rifles by Tredegar and ties these projectiles to being designed and produced at the Tredegar Foundry. In his book on the Tredegar Foundry, Charles Dew identifies Dr. Robert Archer as the designer of rifled projectiles for Tredegar, so it is likely that he is the designer of these projectiles. However, no known period documentation ties the design of these projectiles specifically to Dr. Archer. Gen. E. P. Alexander wrote an article published in 1883, indicating that James H. Burton had designed some early 3-inch lead-saboted shells that had been used at First Manassas.5 Burton served as Superintendent of the Ordnance Bureau of the Virginia State Armory from 1860 to 1862. This possible design credit was investigated also. However, a review of Burton’s personal papers and of the correspondence files of the Virginia Ordnance Bureau did not produce a single reference to Burton’s role in designing any projectiles. Nor is he mentioned in connection with the design of projectiles manufactured at Tredegar in any orders, invoices, or vouchers of Tredegar or the Virginia Ordnance Department or the Confederate Army Ordnance Office, whereas other designers are mentioned frequently in the Tredegar files and Confederate Army and Navy orders for projectiles. Five related patterns of early war Confederate projectiles have been classified as Tredegar, pending further research to determine an individual designer. These are listed below. TREDEGAR 433 • Type 1 is a pattern of shells and bolts that were made for the hybrid rifles produced in 1861-1862 by Tredegar. All of these are relatively heavy for their caliber (e.g., 92-119 pounds in the 6.4-inch caliber). These have lead or copper sabots preengraved for the rifling and narrow bourrelets. The Type 1 Tredegar projectiles have been documented only in the three calibers, which are the three calibers in which the hybrid rifles were produced at Tredegar: 4.62-inch, 5.82-inch, and 6.4inch . The 6.4-inch projectiles are the only ones with battlefield provenance, at Fernandina, Florida; Charleston, South Carolina; and Vicksburg, Mississippi: locations where the hybrid rifles were sent. The earliest documented usage confirmed on this type projectile is April 1862, although they were almost definitely used much earlier. The 4.62-inch and 5.82-inch projectiles are in the West Point collection without provenance. • Type 2 is a pattern designed for rifled 32-pounder guns. The earliest documented usage of this type was January 1862 when one was recovered after being fired at a Union Navy ship near Cockpit Point, Virginia, near the mouth of the Potomac River.6 This design has also been recovered unfired at Fort Caswell, North Carolina, near Fort Fisher. The shells have heavy smooth lead sabots and narrow bourrelets. The sabots were not pre-engraved because rifled 32-pounders have a variety of different kinds of rifling. The shells were made for both screw-in and wood fuzes. • Types 3 and 4 have different shell body designs but apparently identical methods for attaching the sabots. The Type 3 shell has...

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