Artillery Page |
Battery D fields a full scale reproduction 3 inch Ordinance Rifle. The 3-inch ordnance rifle was the most widely used rifled gun during the war. Invented by John Griffen, it was extremely durable, with the barrel made of wrought iron, primarily produced by the Phoenix Iron Works Company of Phoenixville, Pennsylvania. The rifle had exceptional accuracy. During the Battle of Atlanta, a Confederate gunner was quoted: "The Yankee three-inch rifle was a dead shot at any distance under a mile. They could hit the end of a flour barrel more often than miss, unless the gunner got rattled." The bursting problem that plagued the Parrott was virtually nonexistent in the wrought iron gun. Only one Ordnance Rifle is known to have burst during the entire Civil War (a gun in a Pennsylvania battery burst at the muzzle ) while firing double canister during the Battle of the Wilderness. The Ordnance Rifle was a nearly perfect field piece. The absolute pinnacle of muzzle-loading artillery, it remained the primary rifled field gun in the U. S. inventory well into the 1880's when it finally gave way to breechloaders. |
1st Pennsylvania Volunteer Artillery Battery D and The 62nd Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry |
Service History of 1st Light Artillery Pennsylvania Volunteers Battery D
Recruited in Blair and Philadelphia Counties Organization Organized at Philadelphia August 5, 1861. Service Duty in the Defenses of Washington, D. C., till March, 1862. Losses Lost during service 11 Enlisted men killed and mortally wounded and |