Ridgeway Civil War Research Center, A virtual examination of artifacts of the American Civil War
	Civil War Artillery
	by Harry Ridgeway

Research Center: Artillery1531-Ball32pdr

Smoothbore artillery projectile, spherical ball, bursting shell, wood fuze, smoothbore 32 pounder, 6.4in., with wood sabot Projectile was manufactured in the Federal arsenals for the 32 pounder smoothbore which was the main gun of the 1840's and 1850's coastline defenses. The heavy 32 pounder was set near the water level, and was designed to send a ball skipping rapidly across the water to strike a wooden ship at the water line. Fuze employed was a wood time fuze, Jones Fuzes pg. 2, fuze hole is smooth and tapered, the simple to make fuze could easily be hammered into place, opening 7/8 in. The balls started out with a wood sabot and straps, the wood sabot was designed to position the ball in the bore with a flat surface to propel it, then the straps would break and the ball would fly freely. Few are recovered with the sabot, all fired examples would have been seperated from the sabot on firing and the wood generally will not survive the environment for 100+ years. Projectile measures 6.25in., weight 25lbs. Research Center: Artillery1531-Ball32pdr, Ref: Bell Heavy Ordnance, pg. 49 or 50. Details click: http://relicman.com/artillery/Artillery1531-Ball32pdr.html.

A0129...Smoothbore artillery projectile, spherical ball, bursting shell, wood fuze, smoothbore 32 pounder, 6.4in., with wood sabot Projectile was manufactured in the Federal arsenals for the 32 pounder smoothbore which was the main gun of the 1840's and 1850's coastline defenses. The heavy 32 pounder was set near the water level, and was designed to send a ball skipping rapidly across the water to strike a wooden ship at the water line. Fuze employed was a wood time fuze, Jones Fuzes pg. 2, fuze hole is smooth and tapered, the simple to make fuze could easily be hammered into place, opening 7/8 in. The balls started out with a wood sabot and straps, the wood sabot was designed to position the ball in the bore with a flat surface to propel it, then the straps would break and the ball would fly freely. Few are recovered with the sabot, all fired examples would have been seperated from the sabot on firing and the wood generally will not survive the environment for 100+ years. Projectile measures 6.25in., weight 25lbs. Wood fuze intact and will remove from shell, most of the wood sabot intact with fragment of the straps. Recovered: Fort Isle of Wight County Virginia by Mac Mason in the 1960's. Ref: Bell Heavy Ordnance, pg. 49 or 50.

A2690...Smoothbore artillery projectile, spherical ball, bursting shell, wood fuze, smoothbore 32 pounder, 6.4in., with wood sabot Projectile was manufactured in the Federal arsenals for the 32 pounder smoothbore which was the main gun of the 1840's and 1850's coastline defenses. The heavy 32 pounder was set near the water level, and was designed to send a ball skipping rapidly across the water to strike a wooden ship at the water line. Fuze employed was a wood time fuze, Jones Fuzes pg. 2, fuze hole is smooth and tapered, the simple to make fuze could easily be hammered into place, opening 7/8 in. The balls started out with a wood sabot and straps, the wood sabot was designed to position the ball in the bore with a flat surface to propel it, then the straps would break and the ball would fly freely. Few are recovered with the sabot, all fired examples would have been seperated from the sabot on firing and the wood generally will not survive the environment for 100+ years. Projectile measures 6.25in., weight 25lbs. Wood fuze intact and will remove from shell, most of the wood sabot intact with fragment of the straps. Recovered: Fort Isle of Wight County Virginia by Mac Mason in the 1960's. Ref: Bell Heavy Ordnance, pg. 49 or 50.

This is the "Ridgeway Civil War Research Center", a research tool for educational purposes only, and is provided at no cost to the reader. Some of the relics listed are retained in the author's collection, most reside in other collections and are not owned by the author. None of the items listed in this section are for sale, please refer to relicman.com sales listings for items offered for sale. This is a work in progress, I list items as I get to them, there are many patterns that are not listed yet, this list will be regularly updated as I get pictures and descriptions for more items. I will also correct mistakes, so if you see any please tell me. All items listed are believed to be authentic to the Civil War or as otherwise described. This information is available for research purposes, pictures may be used by permission only.
All excavated artifacts have been recovered from private property with owner's permission.
All projectiles listed have been disarmed.

Most information on this page is from:
Field Artillery Projectiles of the American Civil War, 1993 Edition. by Thomas S. Dickey and Peter C. George.
Civil War Heavy Explosive Ordnance, A Guide to Large Artillery Prjectiles, Torpedoes, and Mines, by Jack Bell.
Artillery Fuses of the Civil War, by Charles H. Jones.
Pictures are by the author, unless otherwise indicated.

Ridgeway Civil War Research Center, A virtual examination of artifacts of the American Civil War. Artillery Research center, artillery, click: http://relicman.com/artillery/Artillery0000-Index.html. Research center, artillery, click: http://relicman.com/artillery/Artillery0000-Index.html.

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