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Cannons of the American Revolution                        By Caden Shafer

Cannons in the Revolutionary War

By Caden Shafer

To begin my article, I would like to explain the situation of cannons between the Americans and the British. The British units had a ton of cannons, and the Americans really did not have but maybe 50-100, but the British had a whole war factory, always making rifles, uniforms, bayonets, etc. The deadliest weapon in the manufacturing process was the cannons and the howitzers.

Cannons:  

To begin with, here are some important facts about cannons:  Cannons could shoot far range targets; they could go up several hundred yards, making cannons a very effective weapon. Another important fact about cannons would be that cannons did not always use solid cannon balls. Most of the time they used two different types of shells, for instance grape shot, which is a hollow iron ball that is filled with black powder and loaded into the cannon.  You would probably find pieces of shell that was purposely loaded in parts so that it spread apart on firing and hopefully hit people or take out the enemy cannon.  Field Cannon’s main purpose was to hit enemies in a group like the infantry. It fired a shot low to the ground to bounce the cannon ball across the battle field and into the troops. Another fact is that if you had a Fort with windows that were tiny and hardly any space, you would never get full size cannons in a tiny room. Sometimes cannons were referred as the “Queen of the Battlefield,” because of their destructive force, and they were a critical weapon used in the Revolutionary War. 

Howitzers:  

Now Howitzers are smaller cannons. For instance, howitzers shot up and down and were really effective. These howitzers were mainly hidden behind their front lines. Howitzers were also used for more long range targets, that way the enemy could not see the cannon ball very well, but you could definitely hear them coming down when they were fired.  Howitzers were a lot easier to get to the battle field and retreat if necessary because of their light weight.  Three men could easily carry these small howitzers. Although regular cannons were bigger and stronger, they took a lot more men to move them.

Naval Cannons:

Naval attacks were pretty frequent with warships. They were armed with tiny cannons on the sides of the boats, and if in danger, they could sink the boat. Another important thing about having a Navy is that if troops needed artillery support, the gunners could give them a naval bombardment that would hopefully get the enemies to leave. However, when both Navies were attacking each other, they would try to sink each other’s vessels.

Where Were Cannons Located?  

Cannons were commonly used in a lot of the big battles, like the battle of Valley Forge, Brandywine, and Ticonderoga. . Another important place in the Revolutionary War would be the Fort Bunker Hill. Fort Bunker Hill had cannons set up around it for the purpose of stopping an invasion. First, the British controlled this fort for quite some time. Then they were attacked by the Continental Army, but defeated them with cannons in the fort.  They were most effective on the battle fields and on hilltops. Sometimes they were mounted on a sea port area to protect the harbor from trespassers, and from the British. Howitzers were located behind enemy lines. You would definitely find cannons at the battle fronts.  It was the primary artillery piece.  Sometimes they were hidden so the enemy could not find, or tell, where these cannons were fighting from. Mortars or howitzers were a lot easier to find than cannons. They were unlike the regular sized cannons which you could see clearly. Mortars were really small and easy to hide in the woods, or even in a pile of leaves or sticks.

Who Had the Most Cannons?

The question that comes up a whole lot: “Who has the most guns?” According to records from long ago that have recently been found, the British obviously had more weapons than the Americans, which answers who had the most cannons. The British popular cannons were the 16-pounder, a 3- pounder, a 6-pounder, a 1.5-pounder.  Also, the British had more war factories; in fact, the colonists did not have any cannons at the start of the war.

Why Are There So Many Different Pounded Cannons?  

You may ask why there are a lot of different sized cannons.  This is because they were used for different things.  The pounds stand for how big the weight of the ball being fired was. A cannon ball could be a 3-4 pound ball for just one, but the biggest ball was over 200 pounds with a 13” barrel. There are more according to http://www.motherbedford.com/Cannon.htm

Cannon History Facts:

 By the start of the 1700’s, the cannon was a common weapon in use by European armies and artillery companies. The first appearance of cannons in America was used aboard ships for the purpose of bombarding forts and guarding harbors. By the time of the Revolutionary War, both France and Britain had transported large numbers of cannon to the North American colonies to destroy each other.  Some of the gunpowder used in the cannons was called black powder. Today black powder is a mixture of 75% saltpeter 15% charcoal and 10% sulphur.  But during the revolutionary times, it consisted of 6 parts saltpeter, to one part charcoal, and one part sulphur. In addition, there were five steps in order to fire cannon:  Step 1-sponge, Step 2-ram, Step 3- in battery, Step 4- point and, Step 5- fire. Those were the steps cannon crew’s had to do every day they fought.

In Conclusion:

The British had a lot more cannons because they had factories that sent them over for the British army. The colonists did not have many field cannons because it was impracticable due to the terrain of the area, and the difficulty to move them prior to the French and Indian war. However, the colonists received help from the French by getting cannons, guns, and supplies. This helped the Continental Army get more equipment, and with the help of Von Steuben, the American Continental troops overcame the British and learned new tactics when others had failed. This benefited them greatly, and eventually helped the Americans to win the Revolutionary War.