The Alleghanian. [volume] (Ebensburg, Pa.) 1859-1865, 1861-05-23
Sp{Airsg Cannon.

render cannon Immediately unseryiceablc
has by recent events been brought promi-
nently before the public attention. 1t is
an operation which may be done quickly.
| The officer IN command Of a battery, per-
ceiving that he Will be driven off without
being able TO bring away his guns, spikes
them, SO as to render them useless TO their
captors, as we'll as to prevent them from
being turned against him while retreating,
or on the line on which he intends to fall
back. The commander Of fort, on aban-
! doning 1t, as In the instance Of Anderson
| at Moultrie, adopts the same measure
Frequent cases are on record of an attack
ing party capturing a battery, and being
IN turn driven from it, though not with
out first spikihg the guns. When Paul
| Jones undertook the destruction OF the
English shipping at Whitehaven, his first
movement On landing was to seize the
forts, and render the guns useless in the
same way. The only defences of the har-
Dor thus rendered harmles.by a stroke of
daring which required but few minutes
to accomplish, he could proceed unmoles-
ted to the work of destruction. The great
point achieved By spikinga gun is TO make
it unsericeable for the time being. Even
a temporary interruption Of its fire is Of
| the utmost Importance But no spiking
yet invented has been able to do more than
temporarily disable the gun, though va
rioUs contrIyances have been suggested,
some, however, making Its restoration
more difficult than others.
y ftvorite mode OF spiking is by driving
rat-tail file into the vent, and breaking
it off. Ii the spike be an ordinary nail,
made Of soft iron, the drill will readily
remove it; while the hard steel of the
file viii require far greater time and labor.
The steel spike, rough and Jagged, with
soft point, is also used. If broken off
even with the surface OF the gun, and the
point clinchcd inside by the ranmer, re-
moyal Is made more difficult If the spike
happens TO be SO small as to fit III loosely,
1t may be driven out by gunpowder; but
but il it be made Of hardened steel with
IA accurate ft to the vent, and is driven
in with great force, neither drill nor pow
der viii remove it. A patent spike was
brought out in England during the Cri-
mean war, which claimed to make a gun
permanently unseryiceable 1t consisted
OF a rod of finely-tempered steel, turned TO
fit the vent bat to move freely in it, and
terminating in a torked spring in the bore
Of the gun. 1t was contended that this
spike could not be drilled out, because 1t
would turn with the drill But though
this were true, yet its inventor forgot the
important fact that the forked points in
the bore could be cut off by single blow
OH cold chiscl. When spike is so fixed
as 70 render extraction very difficult, the
remedy Is to drill new vent, which may
be done without impairing the usefulness
Of tae gun. To do this q competent ma
chinist viii require some three hours, or
more Or less according TO the size Of the
gun. But ali spiking at the vent is ad-
mitted to be only temporary eNpedient
to render artillery unserviceable at the
moment. Yet even this has often been
found productive of the most important
results
Wien time is afforded, such as the de-
liberate abandonment of military work,
spiking at the muzzle is sometimes a iopt-
ed, and when thoroughly done, with far
greater embarrassment TO those who subse-
quently come into possession. \ shot is
driven into the bottom o. the bore by
wrapping it with felt, or using iron wedges
and employing an iron rammer to drive
the ball home. When this is done to an
iron gun, the only method of unspiking it
is TO bore q hole in the breech and drive
the ball out, closing the hole with screw.
To do this, the gun, in most cases, must
go back to the foundry. In brass guns,
which usually have vent-picces, these can
be taken out and the ball expelled by
wedges. Various modes for destroying
cannon are adopted. Shells are sometimes
exploded in them, while heavy charges
are put in others, over which sand or shot
is rammed to the muzzle, and bursting
follows. One piece is sometimes fred
against another, muzzle to muzzle, or the
muzZle OF one to the chase of the other
In iron guns the trunnions are broken off
with brass ones, fire is lighted under the
chase, and when struck with heavy
sledge while heated, the gun is bent and
disabled. Had time been allowed Colonel
Anderson to destroy the cannon in Fort
Mouitrie before abandoning it, there can
be little doubt, from his long experience
as an artillery officer, that he would have
left to the rebels legacy of crippled guns
unfit for anything but the foundry.