Firing Civil War Cannon Built In 1865

For more Civil War era history, check out https://youtu.be/c0bEtXAuHbo - “The Tale Of Samantha Street” tells the story of a forgotten slave cemetery and a sweet lady, a former slave, who wished to be burried with her family. Also check out https://youtu.be/Nq5RBvEcPmQ the story of a forgotten Confederate fort not too far from where this cannon was fired.

I bet that in an actual combat situation, that loading process would have become much less ceremonial and MUCH faster.

In regard to everyone complaining "not enough explosion" here's why that is: The cannon is likely too weak to withstand a full charge. It's over 150 years old and was sitting underwater for quite some time. While it's still in great shape, rust and time can do a lot of damage to metal. Lots of micro-fractures formed by stresses within the metal have weakened the cannon since its production. Firing a full charge would probably shatter the gun, killing or severely wounding anyone standing near. The volunteers would rather be safe than sorry, so they didn't use very much powder. According to Newton's third law, gunpowder on its own provides very little recoil because it doesn't have much mass. There would be a much larger recoil had an actual shell been placed inside. I imagine a solid cast iron shell of that size would be expensive to make, super heavy, and require extensive machinery and safety precautions to load into the gun. Plus, it would probably get dented or shatter upon impact with whatever it hits on the other side of the river. It would just be too costly, dangerous, and time consuming to load a single-use shell just to put on a show. The people firing the gun are volunteers. They're not professionals. Heck, there were a couple of children in the gun crew. Give them a break. They've probably done this only once or twice before. It's not like they fire this gun every other day.

The best part of this is that it was a real Confederate cannon, super rare. My family fought in that war for Mississippi, 4 members perished and 5 made it home. I just love history, that was great.

Woah. They maintained it. Literally MAINTAINED IT.

Probably one tenth the normal charge.

Prior to loading, the cannon would be well cleaned with a sponge to remove all sparks, filth, and dirt. The powder was added, followed by a wad of paper or hay, and the ball was thrown in. After ramming, the cannon would be aimed with the elevation set using a quadrant and a plummet. At 45 degrees the ball had the utmost range. Then the cannon was fired, by which time the war was usually over. ;)

Must have been a 1/4 load. The gun barely moved. I can't IMAGINE a full charge.....

This needs to be seen on all the news networks.. the first 10 minutes... this is news.

7:23 Thanks me later 😆

Once, my swim practice was canceled Because the coaches and lifeguard thought the cannons from West Point were thunder. It was a lucky surprise!

Imagine hearing bunches of these things going off in the distance, nonstop. Would be surreal.

Somebody's probably on the far bank and just had their potato salad blown off the picnic table

I went to this museum over ten years ago. It was amazing.

China: We have 2 million troops we can defeat America!!! Regular Americans be like

Wow, could you imagine having to heave that cannon in rollin waves at sea!

0:34...they brought General Grant back from the dead! Well worth the price of admission.

It looks like this gun carriage was designed to follow a network of tracks on the deck of the ship similar to the chase gun mounts on HMS Warrior. This allowed one gun to be moved between different firing positions. It was a very new idea at the time and really interesting. Edit: Correction, looking at it more closely, it appears this mount would have followed a circular track and revolved around a central pin similar to the chase gun mount on CSS Richmond.

I can't even imagine the chaos with guns firing, bombs going off, men screaming, and all the labor involved fighting the Civil War. Rest In Peace All You Brave Men and Women.🌹

Imagine being on the receiving end of that bad boy!! That was really awesome to see, many thanks.