Indiana State sentinel. (Indianapolis, Ind.) 1861-1865, 1863-08-31
the Bombardment OF Fort sumner
The Effect of our Fire-Modern Guns
and Modern >ieges.

and Modern >ieges.
Our aGvices received Yesterday by the Star of
the South, from Charleston, are very interesting.
According to these accounts ard rebel telegraphs
of the 10Th inst, our two hundred FOUNDER Par.
rott guns, directed by the skillful hand of Gen.
eral Gilmore, were transforming Fort Sumter
into a mass OF ruins, and probably ere this that
work has been made untenable TO the enemy, and
perhaps is now in the occupancy of our troops.
Events thus far have proven what has hitherto
been theory that the heavy ordnance now used
in our army and navy will destroy any masonry
iorti6eatons, even at a distance of three thou
sand yards.
The ingenuity of the present day is fairly taxed
to its utmost to produce new engines of war, and
almost every day brings to notice some new in
vention OF this description. The present rebellion
has done more TO develop these machines and
prove their practicability than n thousand years
Of theorizing and speculation. Not only have
we developed the best war machines, but have
introduced new and important systems of man
aging great armies. strategy. tactics, and the
manner of conducting modern sieges. Writing
of sieees reminds US of their indispensable con-
comitant, big guns Since the year 1854, when
Sir William Armstrong. in England, commence
the construction of the first piece OF his great
rihed ordnance that was to revolutionize the Use
Of those Of anterior fabric, to the present day.
scarcely a month passes that the leading English
| Differs nave not SOmetUl08 u say dDuub tuc
Armstrong guns. The English people. for a
score of years or more, having found themselves
outwitted by their cousins across the water in
many departments of the arts and sciences,
thought, as a set-on, when Sir William Arm
strong invented his rified ordnance. that his
branch would counterbalance all their deficiencies
ard lack of inventive genius. Columns upon
columns OF the English journals have been de
voted to the publication of statistics and tabular
lied statements of experiments with the Arm
strong gun. from the first experiment against Il
wooden target with small ~caliOers, and then with
iron ones, until the present day. when the in
ventor has reached the maximum Of his genius
by making n six hundred FOUNDER of immense
range. which he asserts has power sufficient TO
throw a shot that will penetrate any iron ship
now aaoat, or destroy any forti6cation now ex-
tant. But the power of this gun is yet to be
proved.
With all this blow and buster incident 10 the
John Bull family. a wide margin must he made
between the promise and the Performance. Be
fore we pin our faith to any system or theorem
we would rather see it practically tested. The
Armstrong gun Is a very good machine; but,
Notwithstanding its inventor has been ~knighted.
and dined and wined from one end of the British
kingdom to the other. the only practical result
he has given of the efficiency of his guns was
during the Anglo French war with China, where
u battery or more OF Armstrong field guns were
arrayed against the enemy, who had u few old,
Ineffective guns. The accounts of the wonder.
full performance OF these guns were sounded
throughout England in English style. This is
all that is practically known Of the great Arm
strong gun Then, again, there is the great
Whitworth gun. also OF English invention. 1t is
the rival of the Armstrong gun. Both of these
weapons have their friends. both their relative
merits, and. although the Whityorth gun. i'm a
trial of efficiency, exceeded the Armstrong gun,
WhitwOrth has not yet Deen kuighted. We do not
propose. however. to discuss the merits of either,
except To dismiss the subject by saying that the
Whitworih field pieces have been tried in our ar.
my in this rebellion, a battery having been sent
on here by loyal Americans in London. Ah,ra
fa;r test of them in the field they were condemned
as inferior to guns OF our own manufacture. The
rebels. in their late defense OF Vicksburg, had
severalO of ihese guns, which were furnished them
by neutral John Bull. These were also con
demned by the rebels as not being eqnal to Their
own manu- lacture and the guns taken from Us at
Norfolk.
While the English people were crying "Eure
ka" over their great guns. Sir William Arm
strong's transatlantic cousin, in the person Of
Capt. r z. PIrrott, was devoting in a quiet way
his genius to the perfection of ri1ed ordnance
which was to be in all its essential features Amer
lean. and designed TO surpass-as Dahlgreen has
surpassed Paixhan-in efficiency all modern ord
nance. not excepting the great Armstrong and
Whitworth guns. The efforts of our country
man were first devoted to field artillery. The
gun is made out of cast iron, bored aud riAed in
the ordinary way. It's chief original popularity
Is the addition of a sleeve of wrought iron mt the
breech Of the gun. This sleeve is made by
twisting bar iron spirally around the breech, and
welding it under the hammer into a compact
mass. Ii furnishes an absolute protection against
explosion at the point Of the gun most exposed
a. that aociiapt In all tie aScaDtf,l foa.,.oa -
is radically different from the Armstrong or
Whitworth gun. has proved itself in actual com
bat more serviceable than anything claimed by
the English public for theirs, and they are furn
ished ut one tenth OF the cost of English guns.
The great utility of the Parrot gun, contrary TO
the general rule, early attracted the attention Of
the Washington authorities; il was adopted by
them forthwith. and its working merits repeated
ly tested by severe and special experiments. In
the year 1861 our government had three hundred
of these guns-ten. twenty and thirty FOUNDERS
in the field. Since that time this number has
been greatly increased, and improved ~calibres, in
the shape of Fifty. one hundred, two and three
hundred FOUNDERS made. The two latter have
not had a fair trial. The two hundred FOUNDER
has recently been tried against the walls Of Fort
Sumter. and proved a great success, every shot
displacing a CARLOAD or more of the masonry OF
that work. From the three hundred Founders
we expect still greater results.
The Yankee nation having taught the world
how to construct masonry fortifcations and su-
perior war vessels. wooden and iron clad, we are
now going to teach them how TO destroy the for
mer. The first great test OF big guns against ma
sorry notifications Is furnished in tie case Of the
siege Of Fort Pulaski. in the months of Februa-
~. March and April. 1862. which affair was CON
Quoted on our side by General Quincy A. GILL;
more, the present efficient cDmminder of our
forces conducting the siege OF Charleston. The
labors of preparation by our army occupied. by
day and night. a period OF ne,rly eight weeks.
During this time n hercule, IN task was performed
in getting big guns into position, in which were
quite a number of the Pirrott and james patterns.
The history of this siege. embraced in the report
of General Gilmore, gives the whole history Of
that affair. The rebel fort succumbed to our
forces on the llth of April, 1862 The rebels
did not surrender until the walls OF the fort
seven and one half feet in hickness-had been
preached in several places and the fort becoming
"A monster heap of ruins. General Gilmore says
that with heavy James or Parrott guns the
practicability of reducing the best brick scrap at
towo thousand three hundred TO two Thousand
five hundred yards, with satisfactory rapidity ad
mits of very little doubt. How we possessed
our present knowledge of their power previous to
the bombardment of Fort Pulaski. the eight
weeks OF laborious preparation could have been
~curtailed to one week, as heavy mortars and co
lumbiads would have been omitted from the arm
ament of the batteries"
The result of the siege Of Fort Pulsske estab-
lished the fact tn for the re lucti0n of masonry
notifications there is no better arm than our Par
rott and james guns. fresi at high elevations. IL
this assertion needs additional proof we will refer
those ~skeptical ON the subject To the siege Of
Charleston and the effect of our new two hund
red FOUNDER PARROTS against its walls. At the
- ..,fa thai fort haA haon nn.foriallv dan,