Bellows Falls times. [volume] (Bellows Falls, Vt.) 1856-1965, 1861-06-07
War Weapons and Terms.

AZ war and war aerialS are now en-
gros Ing public attention. TO the exclusion
of both po'i,ics and business, some infdrma-
ton relative 10 The new terms occurring so
frequently in connection with these SUI jects.
will be Interesting to those who see them
used without fully understanding them. All
the crlnance for he United States service
is made nj private foundries, aud afierward
inspected and proved by officers of the
ordna, ce detailed for that purpose. The
fiunArits where most of our cannon are
male. are the following The West Point
foundry, near Cold Spring, n. Y; Fort
Pit. near Pi;tsburg, Tredegar, near Rich
mond. Va: Algers, near Boston and the
Am 5 f,undry, in Chicopee, Mass. The
last two furnish the bronze cannon, and the
other. the iron. By the term artillery is
meant all firearms Of large calbre, togeth-
er with the machines and implements used
with them. In the United States service
the artillery corps are entrusted with the
use of the arms and munitions, and the ord
nance CORPS with their construction and
preservation. The term ordnance is ap.
piled to the guns themselves, and in our
service the ordnance is divided into guns,
howilxers and mortars.
A mortar j. short cannon, bell shaped,
and is used principally for throwing shells
filed with explosive materials for crushing
and d sroying buildings in sieges. They
were used in Europe four centuries ago,
but their destructive powers have acquired
such terrific energy from modern improve
ments that the bombardment of city. or
shelling it, is perhaps the most horrible fate
to which it can be subjected. The burst
ing of sii Gle shell spreads havoc and
death among all near whom it may explode.
Ii was these terrible missives which wrought
the complete destruction Of the quarters Of
| Fort Sumter. Col. Anderson's extreme
care of his men on that occasion alone saved
them from death, by keeping lookouts 10
give warning of the approach of shot or
shell, and required his brave men to take
shelter within the boom-proof portions of
the fort Shells we're raned down upon
Sevastopol in such awful showers that the
! Russian commander wrote to the emperor
that it was the /" fire of hell itself" The
| shell is supplied with fuse, which takes
| fire when the mortar is exploded, and
reaches the powder within the shell very
often at the moment of its striking. Long
| practice has enabled gunners to know ex-
actly the length Of fuse necessary to the
distance which the shell is to traverse
| Many mortars in our service will throw
shell l3 inches in diameter. Shells were
/ formerly called bombs, and hence the word
| bombardment
| A howitzer is gun with chamber in
| it, and is used generally to throw she'll and
I hol .ob II
by their explosion as by their force of per-
cussion, setting fire to towns, ships and 9TH
er quarters of an enemy. The field howit-
ger is of course much lighter gun than the
siege or garrison howitzer, and is used in
! light batteries. The mountain howitzer is
a very light l2-pounder, and is used for SER
vice in countries so rough as not to admit
the passage of wheeled vehicles. The how
| itzer and its carriage, when taken to pieces,
are carried on the backs of mules, which,
when the roads are favorable, may be used
| to draw the common two-wheeled carriage,
| with the mounted piece. The howitzer is
! lighter and shorter, in proportion TO its pro-
iectile, than the ordinary cannon; the
charges used are smaller, and the accuracy
of the fire much less. But this is compen-
sated for by the greater execution of the
shell when it bursts. The system of she'll
guns was first brought into practical use
| by the French general Paixan, in 1902,
soon after which it was adopted by the
| United States. What is known among US
as a columbiad is in reality modification
| of the Paixan gun. There are two sizes
carrying h:lls eig't and ten inches in diam
eter, either hollow or solid. This gun,
| therefore combines the essential qualities of
/ the ordinary cannon, the howitzer and the
mortar. IL discharges shot or shell with
much greater precision than mortar, and
! is terribly d. struciive. In casting columhi-
ads, it has been fo1nd almost impossible to
make them strong enough 10 withstand the
/ proper number Of discharges. 1t is a re-
markable fact that the length of time that
| piece has been cast has much intiuonee on
| its power Of endurance, On trial of three
S-inch columbiads, cast in the same mold
| and at the same time, one of them, few
days after casting, burst at the 72d round
OF the other two, after lying six years, one
burst after 500 rounds, the other sustained
2jS2 fires without yielding. 1t is consid-
cred that all iron guns, after 1900 rounds,
are no long.r safe.
The Armstrong gun is n rifed cannon of
/ English invention, and is loaded at the
breech. All accounts agree in represent
ing il as throwing bali farther and more ac-
eurately than any other gun. 1t tlIrQws an
explosive ball filled with percussion powder
which explodes when the ball strikes, tear
ing 10 pieces everything near it. The Brit
i>h have introduced il extensively into the
army. In their recent campaign in China
it proved 10 be a terrific engine of DEATH
At 600 yards target no larger than a
mans hat has been struck at almost every
discharge, and at 5000 yards an object nine
feet square, which can barely be seen at
that distance, can be struck by every other
shot. The largest Armstrong guns yet
made. carry balls weighing 12o pounds
The number of guns made last year was
i 7S0. at an average cost of $3.50. 1t was
said the Charleston rebels had imported
several Armstrong guns to make sure of
capturing seventy men in Fort Sumter.
their nineteen batteries not being enough
without them. There are very few such
guns in this country, perhaps none.
The steam iriga;e Niagara is armed with
sixty Dahsren guns, weighing nearly five
tons each. SIX OF them carry l0-inch
ball or shell, the remainder a-inch, and will
throw thein from two to three miles, This
gun was cuntrised by Capt. Dahlgren of
/ our navy affar n ,nulfifu1a rf frials fo do