The

Artilleryman...dedicated to the advancement of safety and skill in the exhibition and competition

shooting of muzzle loading cannon and mortar.

Vol. 7, No.2 Spring 1986 $3.00

Virginia Gun Appears To BeUnusual Lfi-Inch Whitworth

by John MorrisI had heard rumors of a strange,

long, old cannon with an unusual breechmechanism, which was supposedly in abuilding in Alexandria, Va.

I just happened to be in the vicinity,and recalled the rumor, which I had notpaid much attention to initially. Istopped by, and was escorted to a tallcloset where the rusty thing was stan-ding in a corner. Definitely unusual!

It looked to be about seven feet longand several inches in diameter, save forthe trunnion band and breech. It had ahexagonally rifled 1.S-inch bore, but Icouldn't find any markings at all.

The breech mechanism was about 13inches long. Two steel handles mount oneither end of a bar at the breech. Theywere used to unscrew the breech cap(counterclockwise) for loading.

A heavy hinge at the right of thebreech allowed the fully unscrewedbreech cap to pivot out of the way to

the right. The chamber was merely ahexagonal continuation of the bore.

I assumed the gun used hexagonal tincartridges like its larger relatives. Thebreech cap of the gun was frozen andcould not be readily unscrewed. Thevent was drilled through a hex-head boltin the rear of the breech cap and wasparallel to the bore.

Later, I inspected the two 2.7S-inch-bore Whitworths at Gettysburg andfound them very similar to the l.S-inchgun in many ways. The trunnion bandswere made and held on in the same way,with locking keys on the trunnion axis.

The trunnion sight holes were in thesame place. The breech ring and hingewere nearly identical in design. Twoloops under the breech were providedto secure the elevating screw.

The only noticeable design dif-ference, in fact, was that the Gettysburgweapons had large steel balls ter-minating the breech-operating bar, andused these in a "tappet" arrangement so

that the breech could be started openwith an impact force.

Also, one of these pieces had a fric-tion primer guard over the vent to keepthe primer from injuring the crew, sinceit would be ejected rearward in line withthe bore upon firing. The 1.S-inch gunhas no tappet; the handles are connectedfirmly to the breech cap. This may in-dicate that the small gun was an earlierdesign. Sir Joseph Whitworth, the in-ventor of these interesting guns, was apioneering machinist in England duringthe mid-19th century. He developedmachine tools and measuring devices tothen unheard-of standards of precision.

In the 18S0s, he conducted extensivetesting and development to perfect anextremely accurate military rifle for hisgovernment, and later applied the sameprinciples to artillery. His cannon andprojectiles were made with machineryhe designed.

The hexagonal projectiles weremachined with very little windage,

A Whitworth 2.75-inch 12 pdr. breechloading rifle on display at Gettysburg National Military Park.

The Artilleryman Page 9

which increased velocity from a givenpowder charge. Since the projectile hasto twist as the rifling did, there was nouncertainty of spin, as there often wasin the expanding sabots used in manyearly muzzleloading rifled cannon.

Whitworth's light rifled cannons

achieved extreme ranges and superb ac-curacy due to their long, slender projec-tiles with high spin rates (which ensuredstability even during long flights.)

The slender projectiles could notcarry much of a powder charge, and soWhitworths were used mostly as

Breech of a Gettysburg National Military Park 2.75-inch breechloader show-ing tappet handle and primer guard.

THE OFFICER STUDENT BATT ALlON CHAPTER OF THE

FIELD ARTILLERY ASSOCIATIONWILL HOST A

MUZZLELOADING ARTILLERY MATCHAT THE HOME OF THE FIELD ARTILLERY 23-25 May 1986

FOR MORE INFORMATION CONTACT EITHERMAJ Kieran McMullen or CPT James Brenner

ATTN: ATSF-BOFORT SILL, OKLAHOMA 73503-5603

or call (405) 351-6415

Page 10

counterbattery weapons during the CivilWar.

Sir Joseph and his weapons arefascinating topics to study, but there isrelatively little information available inthis country. There are excellent articlesin both Warren Ripley's Artillery andAmmunition of the Civil War, andHazlett, Olmstead and Parks' Field Ar-tillery Weapons of the Civil War. (If youdon't have these books, buy them.)

I really wanted to track down somespecific information on this small Whit-

~I~XTHE MILITARY EXCHANGE ©

* * * * * * * * * *Best Magazine for Gov't Surplus

& War Relics'Hundreds of Ads, Articles, Show

Calendars, Collector QuestionColumns'

* * * * * * * * * * * * * *

SUBSCRIBE NOW!* 1 Yr. "MX" - 12 full issues - De-livered to your door. Save $6.00off Single Issue Price.* BONUS - 20 word ad - FREE.Use now or raincheck.

$14.00 YEARD Yes, start my "MX" subscrip-tion now!D Please renew my "MX" sub-scription

0$14.00 Yr. 0$25.00 - 2 YRS.OSample $2.00

Name _

Street _

City State ZIP

o Check or money orderBill my 0 VISA oro MASTERCARD #__ Exp. Date__

MXPOB3MZTORRINGTON, CT 06790 USA

203-482-7667

The Artilleryman

worth, so I contacted a number of ex-perts who readily shared their informa-tion with me. Among these were GeorgeWray, Jack Wells, Warren Ripley, BillSmith, Mike Kleinpeter, Tom Dickey,Chuck Jones, and John Bartleson.

George and Jack have dug deeply in-to the Whitworth topic and to me, atleast, are the world's leading experts onit.

Warren tentatively lists a 3 pdr.breechloading rifle in his book. It has a1.5-inch bore, 6 by 6 rifling, 72-inchborlength, 200 Ibs. weight, takes an 8oz. powder charge, is made of steel, andis intended for mountain service.

He remembers getting this informa-tion from A Treatise on Ordnance andNaval Gunnery by Edward Simpson,New York, D. Van Nostrand, 1862. Ichecked the 1866 edition, which hadthat information except that the weightwas listed as 208 pounds.

Similar information, always accom-panied by engraving which looks justlike the 1.5 inch gun, appeared in twoother sources. One is a six volume workby Napoleon, Progress de I'Artillery,Paris, 1871. The other is Treatise onOrdnance and Armor, by Alexander L.Holley, New York, D. Van Hostrand,1865.

The latter gave the most completedata, although it does not specificallystate that the gun is breechloading.Weight is not mentioned, but the follow-ing information, which was not in Simp-son's book, is given:

Twist: One turn in 40 inchesInitial velocity: 1300 fps.No. of rev. per sec.: 400

Elevation Actual RangeDegrees Feet

3 470710 1256720 2097035 28740

The above range table, Jack tells me,is from the Record of Test of a 3 pdr.Whitworth rifle at Southport, England,on February 15 and 17, 1860. Twelveand 80 pdrs. were also tested there atthat time.

George wrote to say that he felt I hadone of the five or six 3 pdr. experimen-tal test guns Whitworth made from late1857 through late 1859.

Warren told me that the appearanceof this gun solved a problem, in thatthere had been some doubt, since hisbook was published, as to the actual ex-istence of the 1.5-inch Whitworthbreechloader.

The Artilleryman

ings on the piece, so to the diehardpurist, my identification of this as a1.5-inch Whitworth will remain ten-tative. But the lack of regular markingscould be easily explained if it was indeedone of Joseph Whitworth's early ex-perimental pieces. There would be noreason to mark it if it was only for hisown use.

I eventually managed to acquire theWhitworth, and while, of course,"discovering" it and cleaning it up werefun, the real satisfaction came from dig-ging out and assembling the many cluesand pieces of documentation which toldme what this unusual weapon reallywas.

But I know I don't have the wholestory yet, so if you can add to it, pleasewrite to me, care of The Artilleryman.

(About the Author: John Morris, an An-napolis graduate, served on three shipsand at the Naval Surface WeaponsCenter. He is a civilian project engineerfor the Navy's Mark 45 gun system andcollector of cannon and mortars.)

A l.5-inch Whitworth.

THE COURIER - IT'S DIFFERENT!!If you are a Civil War buff, collector, dealer, genealogical researcher,or if you belong to a CWRT, a "sons/daughters organization," livinghistory group, or the N-SSA, The Courier will assist you in pursuiingyour interests!

Send for your free sample copy today:THE COURIERP.O. Box 262

Williamsville, NY 14221

Measurements of the 1.5-inch are:Overall length: 823

//'

Breech cap: dia: 5lJ2" length: 53/ g"

Trunnion band length: 45/8"Trunnion dia: 21/2"Trunnion length: 25/g"length over trunnions: 11%"Muzzle O.D. 2'/8"Weight: About 240 Ibs.Bore length (including chamber): 75%"Bore dia. (flat to flat): 1.5"Bore dia. (groove): 1.66"

I haven't found any solid evidencethat this exact model of Whitworth gunwas used in the Civil War. I have heardof references to the use of small-boreWhitworths by the South, but I don'thave precise descriptions of them.

The smallest projectiles recoveredfrom Civil War sites thus far seem to be1.65 inches, flat-to-flat.

I would like to learn whether thismodel was ever in service anywhere. Ihave some verbal information point-ing me in the direction of India andSiam, and will follow this up eventually.

I have not found any legible mark-

Page 11