New-York daily tribune. [volume] (New-York [N.Y.]) 1842-1866, 1863-03-26
,,,,., certainly betray them to disasters, if not

.lmost certainly betray them to disasters, If moi
.nnbilaton. The so-called Parrot projectiles are
designed upon principles that make it impossible
for half of them 10 fully take riAng, and Lot one
IN ten ever passes steadily along its line Of fight
turning on its axis.
These projectles were invented by DR.. John W.
Read of Montgomery, Ala, rank Secession'sl' hhu
now in the Confederate army, who has fnrnlsneu -
the South large number ofthem, improvea oy /" ii"s
on the forward part to make them turn Oh 'n'" w.
tor Several hundred Of these shells were o"P'1,
ut Shipping Point, and now lay among inc 'roP",'
Of Admiral Dahlgren at the Washington navy i"''
DR.. Read WAS engaged here, at West Point, ana
Old Point Comfort for nearly two years uiocr
Eqovd,s administration of the War Department. ID
.xnerimepts upon his shell. He disposed OF por-
t;on of his invention TO Capt. Parrot, and onereu
another portion 10 q gentleman now IN THIS 0'!'
with view Of getting it introduced into service
his idea being to furnish it the proectle for the
old cast.iron guns that the late Gen. James bad
contract for riApg from Floyd. The Parrot guns
are specially designed TO thisproectile and more
than one written protest from PARROT against the use
of any other, and especially the Hotchkss has oeen
made to tho Army end Navy Departments, which
have received respectful attention, and to very
great extent have been regarded as authoritative
The lO.pounder Parrot gun has a caliber Of 9-lo
inches or one-tenth less than The bree-inch rifle gun
designed by the Ordnance Department. The Par
rot a0pounder gun has caliber Of 67-l0O, instead
of the $1,000 rife bronze gun designed TO use the
James projec,ile; and his 30-pounder differs tenth
Or two from any other 30.pounder caliber; varis'
ton admirably designed TO secure the exclusive use
Of the Secessionist Reeds invention, bearing Par
ro.,'s name, himself graduate of West Point.
The oyer" projeciile, 80 called, was simply
mechanical absurdy utterly worthless. The
Shepkle projectile when new and perfectly made,
has some good qualities when fired from guns prop
sry riAed; their defects such 10 compel even
the Ordnance Department to refuse to order more of
them. All of these shells are known to have failed
In their fight, and TO have killed our own officers
and men, and all of them liable to do 30 when
fred over the heads Of troops in advance under the
cover Of batteries.
Special efforts have been made by the Ordnance
Bureau TO throw discredt upon my guns with Regu-
lar Army officers, educated at West Point and no
one Of these officers has ever been allowed TO make
. comparative trial, or to use one Of my guns 10
service. Thus, any opinions that may be expressed
by that class Of officers must be theoretical and Of
but little weight, as compared with the following
testimonies from Volunteer officers of distinction and
large experience, who have used them in service,
and on many hard fought battlefield.
The most favorable opinions of my guns have been
elected from every officer that has had them in
vice. The following is
From Major-Geaeral Sieel:
HEADQUARTERS ilTn CoRPs; Amy OF THE PoIosAo,}
FAIRFAX Court. HOUSE, Va, Oct l. 1852 )
EoRxAs WIZARD, ESQ, arlington, u. c.
SiR: Early in September made requisition for
Q battery OF your Wiard's) 12-ponnder steel rifed
guns. l was assured that such battery oOnld be
made ready for service, complete, within two hours,
from batteries now at the Washington Arsenal.
have had in my corps twelve ParrSst guns,
eleven Of which broke their axles in action, and all
Of them were inferior in all respects to the Wizard
batteries.
also had six Of the wrougbt.iron ordnance guns
and FIVE of their axles broke down. These guns,
with Hotchkisss projectiles, were much more edec.