Limbering the Guns

[Pony Soldier]

I am trying to find out how long it took to limber up and start moving a Civil War Artillery Battery. I am conducting research for a magazine article for one of the CW publications. A Re-enactor from Missouri has told me that it took 5-6 minutes. Does anyone else have any other information?

Dan Peterjohn
2/XVI/AoT

[Joe Meyer]

Dan, there are a number of infornative Civil War artillery sites out there, one of them at http://www.ncwaa.com/. Five to six minutes, with a well-drilled battery, good ground conditions, and optimum circumstances sounds about right to me, but I'm just speculating.

[A.Trommel]

Mhm, 5-6 minutes seems rather low to me to be honest. Granted, in calm conditions, with trained crew, flat ground etc it was probably possible.

However the situation on the battlefield was rarely perfect and the quality of the artillery crew most likely had a great impact. Mind you I don't have any proofs for or against but with some gunners and horses disabled and battery under fire the 5-6 minutes seems very short to pack up, limber 4-6 cannons and move.

Just my 5 cents, I also suspect that rifled artillery if properly positioned (a bit further from the battle line) would have easier time.