Small Talk-Trivia

Artillery Hauls

By Stephen Davis · Originally published July 2019 · pp. 7–15

Artillery Hauls Quick! What was the largest single-event capture of enemy artillery pieces in the entire Civil War? The answer may surprise you…. Here, based on my research (tell me if I’m wrong), are the “top ten” cannon-captures of the war. I list them in ascending numerical order of guns taken. 10. Several days after the fall of New Orleans, this Confederate fort on the Mississippi was surrendered on April 28, 1862. Can you name the fort, originally built in 1792 by the Spanish, who named it Fort San Felipe? 9. Gen. Joseph E. Johnston’s Confederate forces abandoned this point on the lower Peninsula of Virginia on May 3, 1862. Union officers counted 53 workable guns captured. 8. In arguably the Confederacy’s worst rout of a battlefield army, fifty-four cannon were lost in a Tennessee battle fought in December 1864. Which battle? 7. The fall of this Confederate fort on the Cumberland River opened the way to Union forces’ capture of Nashville within a week. It also gave U.S. Grant’s forces sixty-five captured cannon. Which fort? 6. Perhaps the Army of Tennessee’s greatest victory was this battle in northwest Georgia, September 1863, which led to the Confederates capturing sixty-six Northern artillery pieces. Which battle? 5. When Stonewall Jackson captured a U.S. arsenal just before the battle of Sharpsburg, his troops captured seventy-three artillery pieces. Which arsenal? 4. This Louisiana fort, across the Mississippi from that referred to in question #10, was also surrendered by Confederates on April 28, 1862. Federals captured seventy-four cannon. What was its name? 3. The surrender of this Mississippi River island on April 8, 1862 netted Federal forces under John Pope 109 cannon. Which island? 2. When Confederate Lt. Gen. John C. Pemberton surrendered this Mississippi River fortress in July 1863, he turned over 172 cannon. Which garrison? 1. The largest single-event capture of artillery occurred on April 21, 1861, when Virginia state troops seized which U.S. naval base near Norfolk? Answers found on page 7. Steve Davis is the Civil War News Book Review Editor. He can be contacted by email at [email protected].

Small Talk Trivia Answers 10. Fort St. Philip, from which 52 guns fell into Federal hands: 21 twenty-four-pounders 9 thirty-two-pounders 6 forty-two-pounders Digital Issues of CWN are available by 5 eight-inch Columbiads 5 ten-inch siege mortars subscription alone or 1 eight-inch mortar with print plus archives from 2012 to 1 seven-inch rifle present at 1 six-pounder www.CivilWarNews.com 1 twelve-pounder 1 twenty-four-pounder howitzer 1 thirteen-inch seacoast mortar (Battles & Leaders, vol. 2, 75) 9. Yorktown. “We captured 53 guns in good order; 3 guns burst. Total number of guns, 56.” (J. G. Barnard, OR, vol. 11, pt. 1, 337). 8. Nashville, where Gen. John B. Hood’s Army of Tennessee was routed on Dec. 16, 1864. “Our loss in artillery was heavy—54 guns,” Hood admitted in his report (OR, vol. 45, pt. 1, 655). 7. Fort Donelson. “Of the sixty-five captured artillery pieces that had not been spiked, most were generally new and in good order” (Kendall D. Gott, Where the South Lost the War: An Analysis of the Fort Henry-Fort Donelson Campaign, February 1862, 263). 6. Chickamauga, Sept. 19-20, 1863. O. T. Gibbes lists the Confederates’ artillery haul in their rout of Rosecrans’ army (OR, vol. 30, pt. 1, 40-42): 12 twelve-pounder howitzers 10 twelve-pounder bronze howitzers 10 3.8-inch bronze rifled guns 8 six-pounder bronze guns 5 three-inch iron rifled guns 4 twelve-pounder mountain howitzers 3 twenty-four-pounder bronze howitzers 3 twelve-pounder iron howitzers 3 twelve-pounder bronze mountain howitzers 2 twelve-pounder bronze guns 1 twenty-four pounder Parrott 1 twenty-four-pounder howitzer 1 six-pounder howitzer 1 twelve-pounder rifled gun 1 three-inch rifled gun 1 six-pounder bronze rifled gun 5. “Harpers Ferry yielded 73 pieces of artillery” (Dennis Frye, “Harpers Ferry in the 1862 Maryland Campaign” in Gary W. Gallagher, ed., Antietam: Essays on the 1862 Maryland Campaign, 15). 4. Fort Jackson. The Federals’ artillery haul included, according to Battles & Leaders, vol. 2, 75: 25 twenty-four pounders 17 thirty-two pounders 10 twenty-four-pounder howitzers 6 forty-two-pounders 5 eight-inch Columbiads 3 ten-inch Columbiads 2 eight-inch mortars 2 eight-inch howitzers 1 ten-inch siege mortar 1 seven-inch rifle 1 six-pounder 1 twelve-pounder 3. Island No. 10. Pope had boasted of 158 cannon captured (123 heavy guns and 35 field pieces). Recent scholarship has whittled that number down to 109 (Larry J. Daniel and Lynn N. Bock, Island No. 10: Struggle for the Mississippi Valley, 144-45). 2. Vicksburg, July 4, 1863. Grant “captured 172 pieces of artillery” (Terence J. Winschel, Triumph & Defeat: The Vicksburg Campaign, 185). 1. Gosport Navy Yard, where Southerners took fully 1,195 artillery pieces of all types, including 662 thirty-two-pounders, 63 forty-two-pounders, 52 nine-inch guns and 79 eight-inch guns (Message from the Executive of the Commonwealth, Transmitting a Report of Wm. H. Peters, Commissioner, Appointed by the Governor to Make an Inventory of Property Taken from the United States Government, at the Navy Yard, Gosport, and in and Near Portsmouth, Virginia [Richmond, 1861]. Copy courtesy of Greg Biggs, Clarksville Tenn.).