English Civil War artillery notes..

The inimitable Rick Scollins, naturally..

Hello, what's your name? MY NAME IS BOB RIVERS! Where are stationed, Bob? I'M IN ARTILLERY! Well, can we play something for you? ANYTHING! JUST PLAY IT LOUD O.K.?

Good Morning Vietnam (RIP Robin) 

...by way of another in an occasional series as I expand on my knowledge of the period...  this time the artillery.. 

Usage:

NB. This is a precis/summation of a Stephen Ede-Borrett article (full link below) which I found fascinating, and well/persuasively argued

1. Guns were widely spaced and their effectiveness reduced by having no overall fire control.
   There are no (surviving, or otherwise) regulations from the 17th century for artillery placement but we do know that in the 18th century, before the advent of a new level of artillery doctrine during the Napoleonic Wars, the normal frontage for guns was 19 yards. This frontage fits well with what we know of English Civil War infantry deployments when there are references to a pair of guns being placed between battalions.  No wheel to wheel grand batteries, then....!


2. Guns are positional - once positioned they didn't move... They were taken to the lines, unlimbered, all of the supplies are dumped around them and the horses are taken back to somewhere safe. A12pdr gun was allocated nine horses for movement (plus any more required for the ammunition and equipment), these would be an obstacle to a second line looking to move up through the guns, and also horses in that number make a target and horses were considerably more valuable to an army than men.


3. Gunners and artillery crew did not fight hand-to-hand - they were poorly armed, few in number, and pretty isolated (see point 1.) - they had case shot, but with the separation distance of guns and the width of an attacking unit and their ability to get off maybe only one round it was VERY unlikely to be an 'attack stopper'. They were more likely to run, often it seems in good time, and without trying to get off a last round…


4. Ammunition was not plentiful. In May 1643 the Royalists organised an artillery train for the forthcoming campaign with 19 guns - they were allocated only 50 rounds of ball and 20 rounds of case each - if we take that a gun could fire two rounds a minute without effort (and three if rushed), then they could have fired off all of their ammunition in less than 25 minutes - for the whole campaign. This implies that the contemporary concept was for only a very small amount of artillery fire in the opening minutes of an action and even then must have been at selected targets.

Food for thought!


Types (and this was the main reason for me reading up on it):

So basically guns can be divided into three broad types:

1. Siege guns (Cannon royal to Culverin);
2. Field pieces (demi-culverins, sakers and minions), and
3. Light pieces (falcons-robinets and galloper guns, and also multi-barrelled 'leather guns' the Scots were fond of). 

NB. The lighter pieces were sometimes attached on a semi-permanent basis to regiments of Foot. Galloper guns had a split trail between which a horse could be harnessed, with others in front of it. Wilmot had a couple of these with him at Roundway Down in what was largely a Royalist cavalry force so they were clearly mobile..

	Calibre (inches)	Weight (lb)	Length of Piece (ft)	Weight of Shot (lb)
Cannon Royal	8	8000	8	63
Cannon	7	7000	10	47
Demi-cannon	6	6000	12	27
Culverin	5	4000	11	15
Demi-culverin	4.5	3600	10	9
Saker	3.5	2500	9.5	5.25
Minion	3	1500	8	4
Falcon	2.75	700	6	2.25
Falconet	2	210	4	1.25
Robinet	1.25	120	3	0.75

Source: Hall

By way of a comment - a Napoleonic 12pd'er weighed 2400lb's - the equivalent English Civil War period gun is almost twice that - which puts weight (did you see what I did there..) to point 2/. above...

Ignoring the siege size guns then, we have the following of interest - I've largely ignored ranges^ as all of these would have comfortably covered a typical battlefield:

1. Demi-culverin - bordering on siege weapon size but classed as a medium cannon - typically  firing an 9-pound round shot (though there were variants firing 8-pound or 10-pound). Much prized for it's accuracy and hitting power - 9 horses or more to pull it
2. Saker - slightly smaller - typically fired a 5.25 pound shot with a maximum range 7,400 ft- required 6 horses to pull it. The most common type of battlefield gun.
3. Minion - from the French word for 'cute' (bet you never knew that!) - primarily an anti personnel weapon firing predominantly case

^ Having said that Rogers has the saker and falcon with point-blank ranges of 360 and 320 yards, and 2,170 and 1,920 yards extreme ranges respectively..

All sides used what they could find, of whatever size and age.

They may have had pre-made cartridges, but more likely not. That meant powder barrel and ladle close to smoking match and one of the reasons for arming the artillery train guard with early pattern flintlocks

17th Century Falconet - Firepower Museum of the Royal Artillery

Logistically, the Train of Artillery was regarded as a sponge that soaked up money. Horse teams were large (7-9 horses), and needed a lot of feed, and the guns used a lot of powder. Gun crews were also large, although they probably only had a couple of skilled gunners to each piece. The Train needed a special guard unit, armed with flintlocks rather than matchlocks, which added to the expense. With all that though these armies did not drag guns around for the fun of it - clearly there was a morale effect even if the attack effect was limited..

Enough to get me going I think..!

Sealed Knot re-enactors...  think they are Robinets - almost a large shotgun on wheels

Sources:

• ARTILLERY THROUGH THE AGES by Colonel H C B Rogers
• Myths and Myth-Conceptions on English Civil War Artillery on the Battlefield Posted on February 9, 2016 by admin By Stephen Ede-Borrett, Chairman of the Pike and Shot Society [clicky]
• British Cannon Design 1600 - 1800 [clicky]
• Hall, Alfred Rupert. Ballistics in the Seventeenth Century: A study in the relations of science and war with reference principally to England. [clicky]
• Artillery through the Ages - Mauncy