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Field ArTillery - US Army Center Of Military History

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diverging missiOns<br />

The Gatling Guns, July 1, 1898, by Charles Johnson Post<br />

breechloaders that the following year six converted wrought-iron breechloaders<br />

(designated as 3.2-inch) were issued to the troops for tests in actual service. 21<br />

In 1881, a board of seven artillery officers, headed by Col. John C. Tidball,<br />

convened in Washington to consider recent innovations in materiel for field batteries.<br />

The board recommended improved field guns and a short steel mortar or howitzer<br />

for high-angle fire, noting that the low trajectory of contemporary field guns was<br />

of little value against entrenchments, rifle pits, forts, and any temporary cover used<br />

by soldiers. It accepted the breechloading mechanism modifications already begun,<br />

but also proposed new steel designs in two sizes for future development: a light gun<br />

similar in size to the 3-inch Ordnance rifle and a heavier piece similar in size to the<br />

20-pounder Parrott used as a siege gun in the Civil War. The board also sought the<br />

addition of telescopic sights and new carriages that would allow sufficient elevation<br />

for curved fire. As the Chief of Ordnance, General Benét directed his department<br />

to develop the lighter gun and its carriage, with work on the heavier gun to follow.<br />

The Ordnance Department was successful, and the new 3.2-inch steel breechloading<br />

gun with its carriage containing spring recoil brakes was completed in 1885.<br />

21 Annual Report of the Secretary of War, 1879, 3:9, 179; ibid., 1881, 3:503; Konrad F. Schreier,<br />

Jr., “The U.S. <strong>Army</strong> 3.2-Inch <strong>Field</strong> Gun,” <strong>Military</strong> Collector & Historian 24 (Fall 1972): 77.<br />

81

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