Holmes County Republican. [volume] (Millersburg, Holmes County, Ohio) 1856-1865, 1861-07-11
The War Made Understandable.

The War Made Understandable.
As war and war materials are now en-
crossing public attention to the exclusion
Of both politics and business, some infor-
NATION relative to new terms occurring 90
frequently in connection with these subjects,
will be interesting to those who see them
used without fully understanding them
All the ordnance for the United States
service is made at private foundries, and
afterwards inspected and proved by officers
Of the ordnance detailed for that purpose,
The foundries where most of our cannon
are cast are the following: The West
Point Foundry, near Cold Spring, N. Y.
Fort Pitt, near Pittsburg; Tredegar, neal
Richmond, Va; Algers, near Boston, and
the Ames Foundry, near Chicopee, Mass
The first two furnish the bronze cannon
and the others the iron. Ely the term ar
tillery, is meant all firearms of large
caliber, together with the machines and
implements used with them. In tho Uni
ted States service the artillery corps is in,
trusted with the use of the arms and mu
nitions, and the ordnance corps with theiI
construction and preservation. The term
ordnance is applied to the guns themselves
and in our service the ordnance is divided
into guns, howitzers and mortars.
A mortar is a short cannon, bell shaped
and is used principally for throwing she'll:
with explosive materials, for crushing and
destroying 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, Oh
shelling it, is perhaps the most horrible
to which it can be subjected. The burst.
ing of single shell spreads havoc and
death among all near whom it may ex-
plode. 1t was these terrible missives
which wrought the complete destruction oil
the quarters in Fort Sumter. Col. Ander-
sons extreme care of the men on that oc-
casion alone saved them from death, by
ksssping lookouts to give warning of the
approach of shot or shell, and requiring
his brave men to take shelter within the
bomb proof portions of the fort. Shell
were rained down upon Sebastopol in such
awful showers that the Russian command
er wrote to the Emperor that it was the
"6re of hell ITSELF" The shell is supplied
with fuse that takes fire when the NOR.
tar is exploded and reaches the powder
within the shell very often at the moment
Of its striking. Long practice has enabled
gunners to know exactly the length of fuse
necessary to the distance which the shell
is to traverse. Many mortars in our SER
vice will throw a shell Is inches in diane
ter. Shells were formerly called bombs,
and hence the word bombardment.
A howitzer is gun with chamber in
it, and is used generally to throw shells
and other hollow projectiles; which act
as well by their explosion as by their force
of percussion, setting fire to towns, ships
and other quarters of an enemy. The
field howitzer is Of course much lighter
gun than the siege or garrison-howilzer,
and is used for service in countries so
rough as not to admit of the passage of
wheeled vehicles. The howitzer and car
riage, 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 projectile,
than the ordinary cannon; the charges
used are smaller; and the accuracy of fire
much less. But this is compensated for
by the greater execution of the she'll when
it bursts. The system of shell guns was
first brought into practical use by the
French General Paixan, in 1922, soon after
which it was adopted by the United States.
What is known among us as columbiad
is in reality modification of the Paixhan
gun. i