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ORGANIZATION AND EQUIPMENT OF FIELD BATTERIES.
THERE are three distinct organizations for field batteries:-
1. The peace organization, or that for instructions, simply.
2. That for the march, or of preparation for service.
3. That for war.
The first organization, that for instruction, requires that the battery of manoeuvre, only consisting of four pieces, with their caissons, should be horsed. As the movements are executed with emptv ammunition chests, the number of horses, and especially in the 6-pounder batteries, may be limited to four for each carriage. The battery wagon and forge, although not horsed, should be at all times with the battery, and provided with the stores and tools for service.
The additional guns and caissons, with their equipments and harness, to complete the battery to the war establishment, should be kept with it, or in store ready for issue.
The second organization, that of preparation for service, requires that the battery of manoeuvre, and also the forge and battery wagon, should be kept fully horsed, manned, and equipped. As the ammunition and stores must be transported, the carriages require six horses each, and the artificers, as well as the chiefs of pieces and buglers, should be mounted. On the inland frontiers, or at interior stations, where batteries, when put in motion, must take the road, they should be kept on this organization.
The third organization requires that the full battery of six or eight pieces should be equipped in all respects for war. When there is no reserve park with the troops, the additional battery wagon, forge, and other carriages which usually accompany it, with their stores and supplies, and the full campaign allowance of ammunition, should accompany the battery under charge of its commanders.
In batteries of horse artillery two men and twelve horses per piece (one horse spare) are required in addition to the numbers given in the table.
When batteries are ordered on service on the plains, the number of spare draught horses should be increased to one pair for each carriage.
The battery is supposed to consist of six pieces. In batteries of eight pieces there are two additional guns, with the materiel required for their service.
The number of friction primers is fifty per cent. greater than the number of rounds furnished the battery. To provide for contingencies, a small supply of port-fires and slow-match is also furnished with the ammunition.
The campaign allowance of ammunition is double what has been here prescribed, or about 400 rounds per piece, of wh
The pieces are cast in bronze or gun-metal, and are much less liable to burst than those made of iron.
Bronze for cannon, (commonly called brass,) consists of 90 parts of copper and 10 of tin, allowing a variation of 1 part of tin, more or less. It is more fusible than copper; much less so than tin; is harder, less susceptible of oxidation, and much less ductile than either of its components. The specific gravity of bronze is about 8'70, being greater than the mean of the specific gravities of copper and tin; that of iron is about 7'25. The tenacity of bronze is also greater than that of iron.
The external forms of the pieces, and their nomenclature, are shown in Plates 6 and 7. The howitzers only are chambered: the 6-pounder gun and 12-pounder howitzer have no handles.
The preponderance, is the excess of the weight of the piece in rear of the trunnions over that in front; it is measured by the lifting power, in pounds, which must be applied at the rear of the base ring, to balance the gun when suspended freely on the axis of the trunnions.
The true windage is the difference between the true diameters of the bore and of the ball.
Gunpowder is composed of nitre, (saltpetre,) charcoal, and sulphur; the proportions of the ingredients and the size of the grain varying with the uses for which it is destined. Powder for the military service is composed of 75 or 76 parts, by weight, of nitre, to 15 or 14 parts of charcoal, and 10 of sulphur. It is glazed, in order to enable it to resist the effects of shaking in transportation, and of exposure to the moisture of the air. For sporting purposes there are 2 parts more of nitre, and 2 parts less of charcoal, and the grain is very small.
Gunpowder burns at a temperature of from 575o to 600o Fahr. If made of pure materials, well glazed, and kept in proper casks in a dry magazine, it absorbs less than 1 per cent. of moisture in from 10 to 15 years. If freely exposed to air saturated with moisture, it will absorb 2 per cent. or more in 24 hours.
The projectile force of gunpowder is ascertained by means of the cannon pendulum, and the musket pendulum. The apparatus shows the initial velocity of a ball fired from a cannon or a musket with the ordinary service charge.
In proving cannon powder, the initial velocity of a ball of medium weight and windage, with a charge of one-fourth its weight of powder, should be:-
From a 24-pounder garrison gun, not less than 1600 feet.
From a 12-pounder field gun, not less than 1550 feet.
From a 6-pounder field gun, not less than 1500 feet.
In proving small-arm powder, the initial velocity of a musket ball, with a charge of 120 grains, should be:
With musket powder, not less than 1500 feet.
With rifle powder, not less than 1600 feet. With fine sporting powder, not less than 1800 feet.
The same ammunition is used for the 12-pounder and light 12-pounder guns. The charges are contained in cartridge bags, made of woollen material free from any mixture of cotton, and of sufficiently close texture to prevent the powder from sifting through.
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