Sturdy, Accurate and Reliable

Sturdy, Accurate and Reliable. . , 3-inch Ordnance Rifle, This gun is a replica, non-firing 3-inch ordnance rifle. John Griffen with the Phoenix Iron Company of Phoenixville, Pennsylvania, developed this gun in the late 1850s. His prototype passed U.S. government tests in June 1861. Soon afterward, the Ordnance Department ordered 300 guns., Before the Civil War ended in 1865, Phoenix Iron Company had supplied over 1,100 of these weapons to the Union army. The Confederate army also used 3-inch ordnance rifles - both copies made by Southern foundries and guns captured from the Union army., Sturdy and Accurate, With a pound of powder, the 3-inch ordnance rifle could fire a nine-pound projectile over a mile. Sturdy and accurate, this weapon was more reliable than the 10-pounder Parrott also used by the Union army., Specifications - , Bore Diameter: 3.0 inches , Tube Material: wrought iron , Length of Tube: 73 inches , Weight of Tube: 816 pounds , Powder Charge: 1 pound, Men and Horses, Lieut. Edwin O. Lanphere commanded the Union artillery at Richmond - an improvised eight-gun battery made up of parts of two batteries. The only gun mentioned in reports is a Rodman, a name often given to 3-inch ordnance rifles., Each gun required two six-horse teams. One pulled the gun (or piece), which was hooked to a limber. The limber carried an ammunition chest and tools. The second pulled the caisson, which held three ammunition chests. Each team had three drivers. The gun crew consisted of nine men. A sergeant - the chief of piece - and two corporals commanded the gun-and-caisson unit, called a platoon., A traveling forge, supply wagons, and six additional caissons accompanied each battery. A lieutenant commanded the line of caissons. Two staff sergeants, five artificers, two buglers and a guidon-bearer completed the staff., Captions , Union officers pose with a 3-inch ordinance rifle in Virginia., Pvt. Davis Shepard (mounted), 11th New York Light Artillery, next to a 3-inch, A battery of six 3-inch ordinance rifles in Virginia, ca. 1862.