Artillery of the Napoleonic Wars: A Concise Dictionary, 1792–1815

By Kevin F. Kiley

A comprehensive military history reference book exploring all aspects of the artillery used during the Napoleonic Wars.

Napoleon began his military career as an artillery cadet and artillery played a fundamental part in all his great battles. Until the Napoleonic Wars artillery had been seen merely as a supporting arm to the infantry, but Napoleon changed everything. He massed his guns in huge batteries to blast holes in his opponent’s line. He even used the artillery to charge the enemy, the gunners galloping up to the enemy to open fire at pointblank range.

Napoleon’s opponents did not all follow suit, choosing other tactical deployments. As a result, the Napoleonic era, more than any that preceded or followed it, was one of fascinating artillery maneuvers and critical actions that changed the course of many of the key battles. As the Prussian Field Marshal Blucher once observed, “Against Napoleon you needed guns – and lots of them!”

The Napoleonic Wars was also a time of innovation, with the introduction of shrapnel shells and military rockets. This book will examine the artillery arms of all sides from ‘muzzle to butt plate’. As well as the significant artillerymen of the period, the scientists, and innovators, military and civilian—individuals such as Robins, Belidor, Gribeauval and his colleagues, Maritz, Liechtenstein and his collaborators, as well as the du Teil brothers – will all be examined, as will the important battles and sieges, significant memoirs and documents, and artillery terms that soon became part of the military lexicon.

Written by the renowned historian Kevin F. Kiley, this will be the definitive book on the subject and will cover all aspects of artillery in the Napoleonic Wars.

“This is a wonderfully complete induction into the details of Napoleonic Artillery. As well as defining some of the archaic terms associated with the art of gunnery (note; point blank is not what we mostly believe it to be) it provides background to the careers of the key characters in the science. The book contains many excellent technical drawings to explain, sketches and images to inform and data tables in the appendix to which to refer. Overall, it is an indispensable aid to understanding the artillery of the period.” —Michael McCarthy, battlefield guide

• Language: English
• Publisher: Open Road Integrated Media
• Release date: Mar 15, 2021
• ISBN: 9781848329553

Book preview

Introduction

It used to be our custom to form regiments from the largest men possible. This was done for a reason, for in the early wars it was men and not cannon that decided victory, and battalions of tall men advancing with the bayonet scattered poorly assembled enemy troops – with the first attack. Now artillery has changed everything. A cannon ball knocks down a man six feet tall just as easily as one who is only five foot seven. Artillery decides everything, and infantry no longer do battle with naked steel.

Frederick the Great

The deep rumble of artillery wheels, the familiar and distinctive sound of innumerable horses’ hooves slapping the ground, accompanied by the creak of leather, the heavy breathing and snorts of the animals straining at their harness, and the cajoling and cursing of their drivers marked the passing of an artillery battery along European and North American roads during the long wars of 1792–1815.

The panting and swearing of the foot artillerymen bending under their packs and muskets moving at the marching pace behind their guns, along with the almost-jaunty jingling of the individually mounted horse artillerymen urged on by voice, trumpet, drum, and sometimes the push of their sergeants, followed the now-mute guns that would soon be spouting death and destruction to their enemies. Company commanders, their First Sergeants ably seconding them, were alert to any and all hints of the enemy to their front and when word was passed down the long columns of guns and vehicles to be ready to swing into action, officers snapped their orders, and the trumpeters and drummers alerted the weary gunners that enemy action was imminent.

From long practice, the now-fully awake artillerymen quickened their pace, now-alert team horses responded automatically to the strident trumpet calls and deeper drum rolls without the urging of their drivers. Veteran horse teams knew the drum and trumpet calls by heart, and eagerly responded to them. Gun guides from each crew followed the directions of their NCOs sprinting to the indicated position of their pieces. The gun teams followed their breathless guides, and the guns were skillfully swung into position, the gun crews either sprinting to catch up or the horse artillerymen spurring their animals to their positions, leaping out of their saddles and tossing the reins of their mounts to the horse holders.

Manning their pieces, they as one man lifted their pieces off the limbers and as the gun team moved the limbers away from the gun, the gun crew became a ‘man-team’ and manhandled their pieces into the proper positions and swiftly the pieces were ‘pointed’ onto their designated targets. The pieces were expertly laid, and the ammunition holders fetched the ready rounds from the limbers or coffrets and ran to the waiting, ammunition-hungry mouths of their pieces where the round was rammed and primed and all awaited the command to open fire.

It mattered not what nationality the gunners were as they manned their pieces ready for action. The drill was familiar to them all, and all served their companies and pieces in the best traditions of their respective services, ready to inflict death and destruction upon their enemies and to defend their guns to the last extremity.

The study of the artillery arms of the warring armies from 1792–1815 is not usually covered in any depth. While there have been a few artillery volumes published in the last fifteen years, there is still much that is not in print and information that has not been brought forth to the general readership of the period. This dictionary is an attempt to help fill the void.

And while the artillery of the period is the main subject of this volume, the engineer arms of the various warring powers will also be covered as the two ‘savant arms’ worked together during sieges and in many cases, the engineers had formed part of the artillery arms of various nations before the period and before they became combat arms on their own merits. This last was because of the dedication of engineer officers who wanted to improve their arm and support their countries’ war effort. And many engineer officers of many nationalities died in the trenches during sieges or in assaults on fortified towns and fortresses.

The engineer arms of the various warring nations deserve a volume of their own, as it was during this period that the engineers became a combat arm with their own troops, especially in France and Great Britain. Thanks to Lazare Carnot, French engineer officer, member of the Revolutionary Committee of Public Safety, one-time French Minister or War, and the redoubtable defender of Antwerp in 1814, the French engineers were given their own combat troops in 1793. The British took longer, but dedicated British Royal Engineer officers were instrumental in gaining official ‘permission’ to form the Royal Sappers and Miners in 1812–13 as they were sorely needed in Spain, where the lack of trained engineer troops forced Wellington to order infantry assaults on French fortified cities and suffered heavy losses, especially at Badajoz in 1812.

While the majority of the artillery terms listed, defined and explained are French in origin, it should be noted that a good portion of them were adopted in that language by the other artillery arms of the various nations. The French artillery arm has a long and distinguished history, and though they lost their preeminence in artillery in the mid-eighteenth century to first the Prussians and then the Austrians, they had regained it by 1789 through hard work and valuable innovation. And they were preeminent in technical schooling, both civilian and military, and the other European powers used the excellent French artillery schools as a model for their own, including Great Britain and the United States.

The same can be said for the plethora of artillery and engineer technical manuals that were translated and used by the other European powers. The first comprehensive American artillery manual was written by a schooltrained French artillery officer, Louis de Tousard, and the father of the United States Army’s engineer corps was a French engineer officer, Louis Lebegue Duportail. He volunteered for service during the American War of the Revolution, and, as there were no trained engineers in the new United States, he founded the American engineer arm, including forming the Continental Army’s unit of sappers and miners, predating Carnot’s similar action in 1793. The volume will cover myriad artillery and engineer terms, both familiar and some archaic which are now relegated to the old artillery manuals and no longer used. Artillery and engineer general officers from the armies will also be covered, as well as famous junior artillerymen who may not have made the senior ranks of their service but contributed mightily to their arm just the same. Not all of the French artillery and engineer general officers are listed in this volume. There were in total over 200 French artillery and engineer general officers who played their part and did their duty, as they saw it, during the wars and only the most distinguished and interesting have been chosen for this study. And while they are important, they are not the most important aspect of this study, but one of many. It should be remembered that these are but sketches, not a detailed biography, as are the battles and sieges mentioned in the volume. Hopefully, these rather brief outlines will motivate the reader to further, more detailed research. And hopefully the Recommended Reading List will also aid in further research.

Prologue

‘A Whiff of Grapeshot’

1500, 13 Vendemaire (5 October) 1795, Rue Neuve Saint-Roch, Paris France

The Royalists and their allies, the assorted anarchists and political clubs, all of whom hated the Revolution, its Constitution, and the Convention, the present government of France, were massing on the Paris streets to attack the Tuileries, the seat of government. Their object was to overthrow the Convention and put in its place another government. The rebels greatly outnumbered the troops loyal to the government that had been assembled to stop them, and General of Brigade Bonaparte, commanding on the ground, knew that the way to even the odds was by the employment of artillery.

The only available artillery, however, was on the Plain of Sablons, 6 miles outside of Paris, and General Bonaparte was informed not only of its location, but that the rebels were en route to take possession of the artillery themselves. If that happened, the position of those troops in place to defend the government would become untenable. General Bonaparte summoned Major Murat, an officer of light cavalry, to take his horsemen and seize the guns before the rebels and bring them to Paris.

Dispatched to seize the artillery by General of Brigade Bonaparte, with clear orders to use force if necessary, Murat was successful in seizing the guns before the rebels, and arrived with them at 0600. The deep rumbling of the guns and horse teams on the cobblestone streets was indeed an unwelcome wake-up for the citizens of Paris, and they were indeed the harbinger of things to come. Murat’s quick and decisive action had given the government troops the necessary firepower advantage against the Royalists as the government forces were outnumbered in the capital by at least five to one. There were 5,000 regulars plus 3,000 volunteer militiamen to defend the government against the estimated 30,000 rebels. General Bonaparte realized that the artillery would give him the advantage and more than an even chance to quickly quell the rebellion against the government.

The eight field pieces were quickly directed to the nearest choke points along the probable avenues of approach of the rebels. Two of the newly arrived 8-pounders were directed to the Rue Neuve Saint-Roch by General Bonaparte. The maréchal des logis chef in charge of the gun section led both pieces, each pulled by four-horse gun teams, to follow the gun guides to a selected position in the street where they were manoeuvred into position by each chef de pièce. There the gunners deftly moved the gun tubes from the travelling trunnion plates to the firing plates, and then unlimbered the pieces and dropped trails. The civilian drivers were told to move the gun limbers back up the road to be out of the way, and the ammunition coffrets were placed at the trail of each piece for ready access. Prolonges were not attached to the gun trails from the limbers, for if they failed to stop the rebels, there was nowhere else to go.

General Bonaparte stayed at this position with his artillerymen, ensuring that there was plenty of canister in each gun’s coffret. He dismounted and sent the horse to the rear. He would command dismounted, as there were only two pieces to direct and control.

The noise of the coming action was getting louder as the fighting got closer and the government troops were either being pushed back or were overrun by overwhelming numbers of rebels. As they noisily approached the Rue Neuve Saint-Roch, the two chefs de pièce of General Bonaparte’s guns quietly and competently had the gun crews load with canister. As the rounds were rammed, the powder cartridges in the piece’s bores were punctured with a pricker shoved into the vent at the base of the gun tube. The rounds were then primed with fuses made of reed, and the slow matches were lighted. The twogun section was now ready to engage, waiting only for their targets and the orders of General Bonaparte.

The artillerymen and the rest of the defenders of the government had waited all morning for the rebels to attack, and the sound of firing and the long roll of drums preceded the rebels being sighted breaking through barricades that had been erected to help stop them. The regulars opened fire, but that did not stop the rebel attack. As they came on towards the artillery position, General Bonaparte calmly gave the order to fire.

The gun crews opened fire, portfires being touched to each piece’s vent, and the crash of artillery was deafening in the half-enclosed city street. The guns reacted violently to being fired, the recoil pushing them backwards on the cobblestones. The well-trained gun crews then immediately began pushing the pieces back into battery after each round, and they kept firing into the rebels as no order was given to cease firing. Fire, swab, reload, fire again, the artillery drill was akin to a very intricate ballet, and the well-handled pieces shredded the rebels’ attack.

The rebels failed against Bonaparte’s two 8-pounders, and fell back and regrouped to attack the other positions. The artillery at the other gun positions chosen by Bonaparte made a ‘red ruin’ of each attack, and the rebels finally quit and retreated, pursued by the regulars. The action was over in 30 minutes and once again General Bonaparte had clearly demonstrated what wellserved and commanded artillery could do. Bonaparte’s professional skill, along with that of his artillerymen, had defeated the rebellion and saved the French government from a violent overthrow. The lesson was learned once again....

A

abattage des bois This is a French term denoting the felling or cutting down of timber for various uses. The French believed that the end of spring, the summer, and the beginning of autumn were the optimum times of the year to cut down timber. These seasons were preferred because there was less sap in the trees which could hinder production.

Abbatucci, Jean-Charles (1770–96) Abbatucci was the son of Jacques-Pierre Abbatucci, born in Corsica, and who had followed Paoli in his fight against France, later serving France and dying in 1813. The son entered the École Militaire in 1788 and was commissioned a 2nd lieutenant of artillery in January 1792. He was promoted to 1st lieutenant in May of the same year and in November he was promoted to captain in the 2nd Regiment d’Artillerie à Cheval. In December 1793 he was appointed as an aide-de-camp to General Pichegru. He was appointed provisionally as a chef de brigade in June 1794 and was confirmed in that rank the next month. He served in the armies du Nord and du Rhin et Moselle from 1794–6 and was promoted to general of brigade in 1796. He was a division commander under Delaborde in 1796. He was severely wounded at the siege of Huningue during a sortie and later died of his wounds.

à bombettes See mountain artillery

Aboville, Augustin-Gabriel d’ (1773–1820) In 1789 Augustin-Gabriel d’Aboville was commissioned a sous-lieutenant à la suite in the artillery regiment of Toul (later the 7th Regiment d’Artillerie à Pied) and was a student at the Châlons artillery school the same year. He was commissioned as an artillery officer in 1792 and served with the Rhine armies, including being assigned as an aide-de-camp to his father. He was promoted to colonel and commanded the 1st Regiment d’Artillerie à Pied in April 1805, and served in General Marmont’s II Corps from September 1805 to December 1806. He was then was assigned to the Armée d’Italie from January to July 1807. He served in Spain in various artillery assignments, including replacing Senarmont as the artillery chief of the 1st Corps of the Army of Spain. He again replaced Senarmont as chief of artillery at the siege of Cádiz after Senarmont was killed. He continued to serve in Spain until after the Battle of Vittoria in 1813, then was employed in various artillery administrative assignments through 1814.

Aboville, Augustin-Marie d’ (1776–1823) d’Aboville was commissioned an artillery sous-lieutenant from the Châlons artillery school and he was assigned to the 7th Régiment d’Artillerie à Pied. He was promoted to 1st Lieutenant in September 1792 but was arrested, suspended from duty, and imprisoned from November 1793 to August 1794. Promoted to captain while imprisoned, he was reassigned to his regiment upon his release. An aide-de-camp to his father like his brother, he served with the Rhine armies, the Armée d’Italie, and the Armée d’Angleterre. He was promoted to chef de bataillon in the 8th Regiment d’Artillerie à Pied October 1802 and then to major in the 2nd Regiment d’Artillerie à Cheval in May 1803. He served under Lauriston in the expedition to the Antilles in 1805 and commanded the artillery on the ship of the line La Bucentaure at the Battle of Cape Finistre in July 1805. From August 1806 to October 1807 he commanded the artillery parc of the VI Corps of the Grande Armée under Ney and was promoted to colonel and commander of the 3rd Régiment d’Artillerie à Cheval in June 1807. He was transferred to the Artillerie à Cheval of the Imperial Guard as a major in December 1808. He commanded the Artillerie à Cheval of the Imperial Guard at Wagram in July 1809 and was seriously wounded. He was appointed as the commandant of the artillery school at La Fére in August 1809 and commanded the artillery in the defence of Paris in 1814.

Aboville, François-Marie d’ (1730–1817) d’Aboville was the father of Augustin-Gabriel and Augustin-Marie d’Aboville, a family of artillery officers all of whom became general officers. He had distinguished service in the War of the Austrian Succession, contributing to the great victory of Fontenoy in 1745. He was appointed as the chief of the artillery equipage of Rochambeau’s French Expeditionary Corps to North America from 1780–3 and was present at the allied victory over the British under Cornwallis at Yorktown in 1781. He was promoted to maréchal de camp in 1788 and became a member of the artillery committee the next year. He was the Inspector General of artillery in 1791. The next year he was Rochambeau’s artillery chief in the Armée du Nord. He held various positions, both military and political, during the Revolutionary Wars and was made First Inspector General of Artillery in January 1800. In June 1804 he was made a Grand Officer of the Legion of Honour by Napoleon and held political and National Guard postings during the Empire. He was made a peer of France during the 100 Days, and removed from that position by the returning Bourbons and ‘Louis the Unavoidable’ after Napoleon’s second abdication.

abri The term by itself refers to shelter or cover. When used in the form être a l’abri it means to be under cover as in woods or behind a hill or hillock.

à bras This is a French term which literally means ‘by hand’ which in normal usage would indicate the movement of an artillery piece by hand using the bricole. See bricole

absolute gravity The force by which any body in space, including artillery ammunition, is impelled toward its centre.

accelerated That motion which continually receives accession, or an increase, of velocity.

acceleration The increased velocity of any body launched into space.

accessible That which may be approached. In military terminology a place or fortress may be inaccessible from either land or sea or it may be entered from both sides. Heights are both accessible and inaccessible may be taken with a quadrant; the measuring of them is one of the objects of surveying.

acclivity The steepness or slope of any work inclined to the horizontal, reckoning upwards. Sometimes the use of the term is synonymous with talus, though talus is used to denote all manner of slope, whether ascending or descending.

accoutrements The arms and implements, both personal or crew-served, in the artillery and other combat arms, such as the infantry, cavalry, and engineers. The term ‘arms’ would encompass weapons, both personal and crew-served, and ‘implements’ would be the equipment needed to employ those weapons.

See implements, sidearms

à cheval A French term indicating a mounted unit, either artillery or cavalry, such as a regiment of artillerie á cheval or horse artillery.

action A word of command in both the exercise of field artillery and of artillery in action. For example, the word of command of ‘Action Front’ indicates that the field pieces will be emplaced facing their front against a designated target or imminent danger from enemy action.

adacted This term applies to stakes or piles driven into the ground by large malls shod with iron, or in securing ramparts or pontoons.

addice A type of axe which cuts horizontally. The common term for this tool is an adze.

adit In military mining, it is a passage underground by which the miners approach the part of the place being besieged or defended that they intend to sap and begin their mine.

adjoints du génie Civilian engineers detailed from the service des ponts et chaussées (the Bridges and Roads Service) to the engineer corps were given this title which roughly translated means ‘assistant engineer’. Some officers from the other combat arms were also seconded to the engineers as adjoints.

See engineers, service des ponts et chaussées

advance chains Chains placed on the front of the gun carriage in the Royal Artillery that could be used to manhandle the piece without the use of the horse team.

advantage The state of giving superiority or an opportunity of either annoyance or resistance to either the attacker or defender.

Adye, Ralph Willett (1772–1809) Captain Adye was the author of the British artillery publication The Bombardier and Pocket Gunner. Captain Adye was an admirer of the French Gribeauval Artillery System, and he wrote an excellent artillery reference and compendium with his artillery manual. It was republished numerous times and is one of the best manuals produced during the period. Even after his untimely early death in 1809, new editions were still being published. Captain Adye wrote of the French Gribeauval System, c. 1800:

‘The French system of artillery was established as far back as the year 1765, and has been rigidly adhered to through a convulsion in the country which overturned everything like order, and which even the government itself has not been able to withstand. We should, therefore, conclude that it has merit, and, though in an enemy, ought to avail ourselves of its advantages. At the formation of their system, they saw the necessity of the most exact correspondence in the most minute particulars, and so rigidly have they adhered to this principle that, though they have several arsenals, where carriages and other military machines are constructed, the different parts of a carriage may be collected from these several arsenals, in the opposite extremes of the extremities of the country, and will as well unite and form a carriage as if they were all made and fitted in the same workshop. As long as every man who fancies he has made an improvement is permitted to introduce it into our service, this cannot be the case with us.’

See artillery manuals

aérostier French balloon troops, first activated as a provisional balloon company assigned to the Armée du Nord and deployed at the Battle of Fleurus in 1794. It was deemed successful, especially regarding the morale of both the French and Austrians. The French government then authorized the formation of two regular companies of aérostiers as well as establishing a balloon school. The school and the companies were assigned to the French engineer arm. One company was captured by the Austrians but was freed in 1797 after the Austrians sued for peace. This company was assigned to the Armée de l’Orient and went to Egypt with Napoleon. The balloon was lost when Nelson destroyed the French fleet at the Battle of the Nile. The aérostiers in Egypt were used for a variety of assignments thereafter and proved themselves useful to the army. The Directory deactivated the aérostier company still in France in 1799, as well as closing the school. When the company in Egypt returned to France in 1802 is was also disbanded and the aérostiers were assigned to other engineer units. While useful, the balloon units were thought to be impractical for tactical use in the field. It took time to inflate the balloons for deployment, and by the time they were ready to go the reason for their deployment might have passed them by. It was also nearly impossible to move a balloon in any type of wind. That being said, Carnot (who was an early proponent of the balloons as a military ‘tool’) did employ a balloon successfully in his defence of Antwerp in 1814. He had it manufactured in the city based on the one used at Fleurus in 1794. The original provisional aérostier company had thirty-two all ranks, and the regular companies were composed of seventy-two all ranks. The French, being Frenchmen, named their balloons with suitable titles, such as Le Veteran, Le Precurseur, Le Svelte, L’Hercule, and Telemaque.

affinage The process of converting white crude iron into forged iron. This procedure is performed in the great iron works also known as furnaces. The object of affinage is to disengage the iron from all the oxygen which may have resisted the action of charcoal in the furnace.

affût A gun carriage of any type and calibre. This term was also used for a mortar bed. See gun carriage (affût)

affût à aguille A swivel gun carriage. This was a type of naval gun carriage which was placed on a frame in order that it could be operated, manned, and fired while attached to its limber. While an interesting idea, it proved to be impractical for use with horse artillery and the project was abandoned. The idea was inferior to the regular gun carriages.

affût à banquette A new type of gun carriage proposed and designed for use with horse artillery as replacements for the regular field gun carriages. This experiment proved to be impractical and this gun carriage was not as useful, simple, or practical as the regular field gun carriages.

affût fardier This was a suspended gun carriage, a complicated mechanism which was designed to be used with heavy, or siege, artillery and suspended from a sling cart. It was too heavy, and used two very large wheels and was an excellent target for enemy artillery because of its size. It was cumbersome and bulky and impractical for siege warfare.

affût de siege A siege gun carriage. Usually, these resembled field gun carriages, but were larger, having to support a larger calibre piece. affût traineaux See mountain artillery

affûts de place Garrison gun carriages intended for the defence of fortified places. They were designed to be used on the ramparts.

à froid The French term for cold metal, used when the vent is drilled in the gun tube at the foundry.

agrez Implements used in the construction of bridges.

aide-de-camp Aides-de-camp were usually junior officers, company or field grade, who were members of a general’s personal staff who served as his representative as well as a confidential assistant. Napoleon instituted a new type of aide-de-camp attached to his household who were general officers, each a specialist in their particular branch of the service (cavalry, infantry, artillery, engineers, and sometimes intelligence) who were used as an extension of his eyes and ears and had his authority to enforce the Emperor’s intentions. They were also trusted by French field commanders and could be relied on to tell the Emperor the problems they were having and the particular situations they found themselves in. There were usually twelve serving in this capacity at any one time, but they might not always be with Napoleon and the army as they were capable officers trusted implicitly to carry out difficult assignments from corps commander, to independent missions far from the army, as well as being used on minor diplomatic missions as well. Their relationship with Napoleon was one of uncommon frankness and honesty and while the Emperor might not always listen to their advice and counsel, he heard them out when they had something to tell him.

aiguille These implements were instruments used in military mining. They were used by miners to make small lodgments for powder, to mine a rock, and to make roads by excavating rocks.

aim The pointing of the piece in the direction desired to fire at a target. The common term used in this process was ‘pointing’, the more modern term being laying, as in to lay the piece.

air furnace This was a type of furnace used to heat red-hot shot and was composed of a square stove and an oven where the balls were placed for heating. The oven was placed perpendicular to and adjacent to the stove. Wood was used for the required fire and heat and the floor of the furnace divided into four furrows and inclined towards the stove and in level on its lowest side. Experiments were conducted at Nice in 1796 with air furnaces and it was found that an hour was needed to heat the furnace properly for operation.

alarm The call to arms. An ‘alarm gun’ was used to call and assemble the troops under arms. If in a fortress, the place to assemble once the alarm was sounded was known as the place d’armes.

alay Turkish for regiment.

Alembert, Jean-Baptiste le Rond d’ (1717–83) From 1751–9 was the co-editor, along with Denis Diderot, of the famous Encyclopédie, ou dictionnaire raisonné des sciences, des arts et des métiers (Encyclopedia, or a Systematic Dictionary of the Sciences, Arts, and Crafts).

alert To be on guard – watchful, vigilant, and ready to respond to a call or alarm.

all arms A term denoting all of the different arms and branches of the army. When applied to an officer, it could denote an officer who was competent in more than one branch or arm. See combined arms

Artillery tools used with the horizontal boring machines in the foundries to drill out newly cast gun tubes as well as clear out the residue left over from the drilling. (Louis de Tousard, American Artillerist’s Companion, Vol. III)

allezer To clean the bore of a newly cast gun tube. This was done with the older method of casting the gun tube around a wooden core and the cleaning was done with a drill.

allezoires A tool used when drilling out the gun tube to remove the excess metal, or allezures.

allezures The excess metal which is left over and then removed from a newly cast gun tube after the gun tube is bored out. Sometimes it was reused to cast more new field pieces, but as this was found to construct an inferior gun tube over time, the practice was abolished.

Allix de Vaux, Jacques Alexandre François, de Vaux (1768–1836) Allix was a distinguished French artillery general, as well as being the author of a notable work on artillery, Système D’Artillerie de Campagne Du Lieutenant-General Allix, Compare Avec Les Systèmes Du Comite D’Artillerie de France de Gribeauval, Et de L’An XI.

In addition to being the author of an important treatise on artillery, Allix began his service as a student sous-lieutenant of artillery in March 1792. He was assigned to the 6th companie de ouvriers d’artillerie and served with the Rhine armies from 1792–4. He was promoted to captain in 1793 and chef de bataillon in 1794. He served in various staff assignments until he was promoted to chef de brigade in the 1st Régiment d’Artillerie à Pied in March 1800. He made the 1800 campaign in northern Italy with the Armée de la Reserve, that culminated in the victory at Marengo and then served in Haiti in 1801–2. Having been accused of certain irregularities in Haiti, he missed the campaigns of 1805–7 but was assigned to the service of Westphalia in July 1808 and served there through the Russian campaign. He was promoted to general of division in the Westphalian service and was readmitted to the French Army as a general of brigade in November 1813 and was awarded the Legion of Honour in October 1812. He served during the campaign of France in 1814 and was promoted to general of division February 1814 and was appointed commandant of the 18th Military Division. He served at Waterloo and because of that service he was exiled to Westphalia after the Second Restoration.

alloy A combination of two or more metals to form a metallic compound. The gunmetal of the period, bronze (sometimes known as brass), was an alloy of copper and tin. This term serves for distinguishing all the combinations and intimate union of metals with each other.

alt-feuerwerker Austrian senior artillery NCO responsible for the training of the men in the respective companies and for the preparation of ammunition. The term feuerwerker was a common term for an artilleryman in the various German states.

altimetry This procedure measures the altitude or the height of an object.

altitude The height or distance measured from the ground to the top of an object. The altitude of a shot or shell is the measurement that is perpendicular to the horizon. The highest point in flight that is gained by a shot or shell is the maximum ordinate.

ambit The compass or circuit of any work or place. It is also known as pourtour, and this term was used when setting out the trace of a fortified place to be constructed.

ammunition This category included all types of combustible military stores. The various types of artillery ammunition are: solid shot/round shot; common shell; canister; grapeshot; and special ammunition. Common artillery ammunition includes but is not limited to:

ball This was another term for the solid cast-iron cylindrical ball that was the main artillery ammunition of the period.

boulet The French term for solid, or round, shot.

canister Canister was also known as case shot. This was an anti-personnel round which was produced in two sizes. It was a tin canister that filled with wrought-iron balls, packed in sawdust, and with an iron lid and an iron bottom. This round was much more effective and deadly than grapeshot. Initially, lead balls were used, but through experimentation it was found that because of the relatively low melting point of lead the balls would melt and congeal into a misshaped, non-ballistic mass that would not produce the desired effect on target. The iron balls were in effect small round shot and had the same effect when they struck hard ground – producing an excellent ricochet effect. The round itself, of course, would rupture in the gun tube by the force of firing, giving the piece the effect on target of a large shotgun. Canister could be fired by both long guns and howitzers as well as siege artillery.

‘The balls used for canister cartridges are of three calibres; the best are those made of wrought iron. The balls are contained in tin canisters calibred by moulds; at the bottom is soldered a circle of sheet iron which, together with two small bands of the same metal, sustain the cast or wrought iron cup (culot) upon which the balls rest. The top of the tin canister is scalloped, and is beaten down upon the lid of sheet iron that covers the shot. Hence in the round of canister there are four parts; the tin canister, the cup, the cover, and the grapeshot.

Experience, confirmed by reason, proves that when the balls rest upon the iron bottom or cup they receive the greatest impulsion; and that the culot greatly contributes to increase the range, and diminish the divergency, of the shot.

Formerly the cups both for howitzers and guns were flat; but it was observed and proved that the concave cast iron cups increased the range of the shot, and they were accordingly adopted for both cannon and howitzers; this cup is fixed to the bottom of the canister by the circle of sheet iron and the two bands mentioned. The sheet iron covers of canisters for 24-, 16-, and 12-pounders and howitzers have handles. For 4-pounders and howitzers, the canister is fixed to the cartridge, and the tin is nailed to the sabot, which being concave, receives the culot as it would the ball.’

See Table XXXI and Table XXXII in the Appendices

cartridge There are two definitions of a cartridge. One consisted solely of powder which would be loaded separately from the round, and known as ‘separate loading’ ammunition. The other, introduced by French General Brocard in the 1740s, mated the powder cartridge with the round as well as a wooden sabot, all fastened together by nails or metal straps and loaded as a single round, known as fixed ammunition. Different containers for the powder cartridge were experimented with but the most efficient was found to be flannel. The French term was ‘cartouche’.

Powder cartridges were first developed by Gustav II Adolph, King of Sweden, in the seventeenth century. General Brocard introduced the cartridge affixed to the round in about 1740. Ladles were still carried during the Napoleonic period for use with loose powder if necessary.

The cartridge would not be canvas, though that was experimented with, at least initially. Paper was also tried, but the best material found to be used to make a powder cartridge was flannel. It was sturdy enough for storage and firing, and most, if not all of it, would be burned up in the firing process. Canvas would not be burned up enough in the discharge of the piece and would leave too much residue in the gun tube that would have to be removed with a worm. Flannel was a much better material and is what the French used during the wars, or at least for a very good part of it.

‘Formerly cannon were loaded by conveying the powder to the bottom of the bore in a long handled ladle, and then covering it with the wad and ball. But this mode is no longer practised, except with heavy pieces and in slow and ricochet firing, where the charge is graduated according to the distance and position of the object. The great inconveniences of the ladle have been remedied by the use of cartridges.

The cartridge (gargousse) is a cylinder of paper, parchment, or serge, of the same diameter as the piece, and containing the charge of powder, and covered at the top with a wooden grooved form. Of all the substances used to make cartridges, experience has proved that the common serge, or such like woolen stuffs of straight threads, are best; the powder shifts least through them; they do not burn to coal, like paper and thread, and are sufficiently strong to bear transportation and handling.

The expression round (cartouche), is often confounded with cartridge (gargousse), though it only directly means the shot lying on top of the latter, and to which it is often attached.

There are two kinds of shot (cartouches), round, and grapeshot; the latter have grown into great use against infantry and cavalry; at short distances their effects are most murderous.

The cartouche or shot is fixed upon a bottom or sabot of beechwood,

to which also the cartridge is attached. The sabot is a small cylinder of the diameter of the receiving cylinder, and about 13 lines to two inches in thickness; at the thickness of 4 lines it is grooved; on the upper side it is concave the half of its thickness, in order to receive the ball which should touch the bottom without pressing against the limb. The ball is fixed to the sabot by two thin straps of tin nailed upon the sabot, and crossing and let into each other by a slit at right angles over the shot. The lower part of the sabot is then put into the cartridge, which is tied tightly in the groove; a slip of wet parchment 5 millimeters in breadth (nearly ¼ of an inch) is then tied over the groove and immediately below the sabot, to prevent the serge from chafing where it is most exposed.’

cartouche The French term for powder cartridge, also used to denote canister or case shot.

case shot Another artillery term for anti-personnel ammunition, specifically canister.

common shell This round was also referred to as ‘shell’ or ‘bomb’. It consisted of a hollow iron ball, similar in appearance to round shot, but filled with gunpowder and with a fuse attached in a hole in the round. The fuse was ignited when the round was fired. If the fuse functioned properly, an air burst would be achieved by the shell. When exploding, the round broke up into as many as twenty-five pieces of fragmentation. Shells were fired by howitzers and mortars, and not by long guns. Shells were known to hit the ground and roll into infantry formations which would cause some consternation among the troops, as the fuse would still be smoking before it detonated. There is a documented case of a British officer at Waterloo picking up a shell with a lighted fuse and throwing it out of the infantry square where it had landed.

grapeshot This anti-personnel ammunition preceded the development of canister. Originally, a ‘stand’ of grapeshot was a number of iron balls arranged around a wooden upright attached to a wooden base. The round was then put into a sack, and the overall effect was similar to a bag of grapes, hence the name. Later, tiered grapeshot was introduced in which the iron balls were placed on iron plates with holes cut in them to hold and stabilize the balls. This second type of grapeshot was more efficient until replaced with canister. After the introduction of canister, grapeshot was phased out for land artillery as being a less efficient people-killer, though it would still be used at sea.

hollow shot This was another term for small howitzes or bombs.

‘The hollow shot is an invention entirely modern, and of the advantages of which opinions will remain divided so long as accurate experiments furnish no decisive results. It is nothing more than a howitz without the cup, and in firing is attached to a wooden bottom or sabot: it is evident that neither its force of percussion, range, nor velocity, are equal to the solid shot.’

round shot This is another term for solid shot. The weight of the round shot also determined the calibre of the long guns. See solid shot below, Table XXXIII in the Appendices

solid shot This round was a simple, cast-iron ball used as the principal ammunition in field and siege artillery. It was also called by the more familiar term round shot. It was best used against formed troops and was still deadly after hitting the ground and starting to bounce, or ricochet.

spherical case shot Spherical case shot, developed by the British and something of a secret weapon, was a shell filled with musket balls and had a bursting charge (fuse) attached to it. The two rounds are not the same.

This anti-personnel round was nicknamed shrapnel after its inventor, Henry Shrapnel. This round gave the British artillery arm a reliable antipersonnel round that was detonated by fuse, usually in an air burst, and could be fired by long guns as well as howitzers. It was a hollow shell and filled with musket balls and a bursting charge. It was effectively a canister round that was detonated after firing, not as a result of being fired. No other army developed a similar round during the period.

The French carried out spherical case shot experiments in 1806 using common shell filled with musket balls. There is little information available about this round but production of it was ‘limited’ and nothing much came of it in the end, unfortunately.

Special artillery ammunition, including ammunition used by the naval arms, include:

anchor balls Anchor balls were an incendiary round. They were also called fire balls. It was an artillery round made of an iron shell. Sometimes it comprised a stone filled and covered with various coats of the following composition, until it conglomerated to its proper size, the last coat being of mealed powder. Take two parts of mealed powder, one-and-a-half of saltpetre, one of sulphur, one of rosin, and two-and-a-half of turpentine. But the best method is to take thick brown paper and make a ball the size of the cannon (or mortar for fire balls) and fill it with an equal quantity of sulphur, pitch, rosin, and mealed powder, which, being well mixed, and placed in the warm, will give a clear fire and burn a considerable time. To these balls an addition is made of an iron bar two-thirds of the diameter of the ball in length, and 3 or 4in square. One half is fixed within the ball, and the other half remains without. The exterior end is made with a grappling hook. They were very useful to set fire to wooden bridges, or anything constructed of wood. They were also effective against the rigging of ships. The pile end, being the heaviest, flies foremost, and wherever it touches, fastens to and sets all around it on fire.

ange Chain shot. This was also known as angel shot. See chain shot below

angel shot See ange above

bar shot There were at least three types of bar shot. Cross-bar shot looked like a modern bar-bell: two balls connected by a fixed bar. Jointed cross-bar shot consisted of two ‘weights’ moulded to a bar with a hook on the end. Two of these were joined together with the hooks. Expanding cross-bar shot consisted of two half round shots with a bar attached to each. At the end of each bar was a rounded end to fit over the other bar so that when fired, the round would expand and spin to its target. These types of ammunition were typically used at sea by naval artillery and designed to damage or destroy masts and rigging.

burrel shot This round consisted of small bullets, nails, and stones, discharged from any piece of ordnance.

carcass A fire ball or illumination round. French illumination rounds were filled with tar, turpentine, or rosin and were effectively employed in sieges to illuminate targets. The carcass was constructed of two or three hoops of iron that were joined at the top. The hoops were constructed at right angles to each other and formed an oval and were attached to a piece of iron at the bottom of the oval.

‘Incendiary shot are used for the same purpose as red-hot shot, and have this advantage, that they can be handed about in a vessel without danger. They are composed of iron carcasses covered and filled with combustible matter hard rammed. Their firing is very uncertain and cannot produce any effect at a distance exceeding 300 to 350 meters (330 to 390 yards).’

chain shot This was usually a naval round, used to damage rigging and sails. It consisted of two weights attached by a length of chain that would twist, whistle, and turn in flight and was an excellent round to damage rigging at sea. It was also called branch shot, stang balls, or two-headed balls. Some were made for use on land with a chain 3 or 4ft long and designed to destroy palisades, wooden bridges, and the chevaux-de-frises used with field or permanent fortifications. Chain shot could also be constructed with two entire iron balls, one on each end, instead of half-balls.

fireball The fireball was made of a bag of buckram, also formed into an oval and wrapped in strong cord which give it the necessary shape. They were usually fired from mortars. The composition of the rounds was black pitch, white pitch, mutton suet, linseed oil, and oil turpentine.

fixed ammunition An artillery term that means attached or non-moving. Fixed ammunition had all of the components – powder charge, projectile, and sabot – combined in one piece as a single entity for ease and speed of loading and firing the piece.

grosse balles This term applied to either grapeshot, or the canister round with fewer, larger cast-iron balls in the tin canister packed in sawdust.

hot shot Solid shot heated in a purpose-built furnace to cause an incendiary effect on the target. It was also referred to as ‘red bullets’. Solid shot heated red-hot in a purpose-built furnace in order for the now-heated round to cause an incendiary effect on the target. It was also called a ‘red bullet’ for obvious reasons and was not a popular round of ammunition either for the user or the target.

‘Firing with red-hot shot is a late invention, consequent upon the discovery of quickly heating shot and loading the piece without danger. They are principally used to fire vessels and combustible and wooden buildings; accordingly this mode of firing is always practised in sea-coast and floating batteries. It was at first supposed that the expansion of the metal heated to red-hot, would so greatly increase the calibre of the shot as to prevent its entering the piece; but as the expansion is only 6 points, the windage is sufficient to load with facility.

Grates were first used to heat shot, but were found to be dangerous, tedious, expensive, and imperfect. Reverberating furnaces were then invented, and heated with wood or coal: when the fire is once kindled in this furnace, the shot is heated red-hot in thirty minutes.

The experiments that we witnessed at Cherbourg in 1785, prove that by putting a wad of clay upon the powder and upon the red-hot shot, the gun may be pointed at leisure, and without danger: shot were left to cool in the piece without firing the charge. Instead of clay, wads of hay steeped 15 minutes in water may be used. First ram over the charge a dry hay wad, then a large wet wad, then put in the shot, and cap the whole with another wet wad. In both cases it would be well to use cartridges of thin pasteboard or parchment.

We might be disposed to believe that a red-hot shot lodged in a mass of wood, would extinguish for want of air to feed the fire; and it would be well to determine this fact beyond doubt by proper experiments. In the Cherbourg experiments, where the mass of wood fired into had intervals and interstices, there was no sign of combustion for nearly six hours; but then the fire broke out and raged so furiously as to instantly consume the whole mass. By these same experiments it was found that the depth to which the hot shot penetrated, was very little less than that of the cold shot; the depth of the first being 42 inches (nearly 46 inches), and of the latter 43 inches.’

langrage An improvised anti-personnel round, usually employed aboard ship, that was made up of of bolts, nails, and other miscellaneous pieces of iron which were tied together. They were used against rigging, sails, masts, and any target of opportunity. Also known as langrel.

petites balles The French term for canister.

red bullet Hot shot.

round One complete piece of ammunition ready for loading and firing, consisting of the type of ammunition, powder, and sabot.

sabot The wooden ‘shoe’ placed on the rear of fixed ammunition to help stabilize the round in the gun tube.

sachet A small bag of grapeshot.

separate loading ammunition Artillery ammunition that was loaded with the powder cartridge loaded first, and then the round itself, hence the term ‘separate’. In short, it was not a complete round of ammunition in itself.

shot A general term for all artillery ammunition. Also, the denomination given to all kinds of balls used for artillery and small arms; those for cannon being of iron and those for muskets and pistols, etc., being of lead.

stink pot A round or fire made of ‘offensive combustibles’ for use during a siege.

tourteaux This was also called a ‘tarred tourteaux’. It was an illumination round or device and were constructed of the same material as the carcass and fireball. They were used to illuminate places during a siege, in the passage of rivers and defiles, and were also thrown into the ditches of fortresses at night to illuminate whatever was going on, such as an assault by the besieging force. This was more a ‘firework’ than a round of ammunition.

wad A substance made of hay or straw and sometimes of tow rolled tight in a ball. It was put into a gun after the powder, and rammed home to prevent the powder from being scattered, which would have less or no effect if left unconfined. A wad mill was used to produce the proper sized wads and was made of wood. A wad hook, a strong iron screw, like those that serve for drawing corks, was mounted upon a wooden handle to draw out the wads or any part of the cartridges, which often remained in guns and when accumulated stopped up the vent. It was gradually replaced in field artillery by the sabot, or ‘wooden shoe’, attached to the base of the round.

summary Even though artillery ammunition was very simple compared with today’s variety of artillery ammunition, there was significant progress made before and during the period that made ammunition both more lethal coupled with increased production standards. Solid shot was a cast-iron ball sized to the calibre of the piece.

One of the most important advances in ammunition was the discovery by Bernard Forest de Bélidor, mathematician and artillery instructor, that the usual powder charge could be reduced from one-third to one-half of its weight and still have the range and hitting power of a ‘full’ charge. From this development, cannon could now be cast lighter, as the walls of the gun tube did not have to be as thick. Bélidor was an instructor in the French artillery schools whose work impacted the French artillery arm as a whole.

Another advance was the ability to reduce the windage of artillery pieces because of technological advances in the production of ammunition. Windage is the distance between the wall of the bore and the round; the smaller the windage the better. Better, more exacting, production parameters allowed for a better, or tighter, fit of the round in the gun tube, so that the distance between the inside of the bore and the round was reduced. Both Liechtenstein and Gribeauval worked successfully to improve this procedure, Gribeauval being successful in having a uniform windage, measured to a hundredth of an inch, in the ‘three calibres’ of the French field artillery pieces. The reduction of windage increased range and accuracy of the field piece.

While all guns among the powers were designated by the weight of the round that was thrown, with the exception of some howitzers, which were known by the diameter of their bores, all pounds were not equal. For example, the French pound was heavier than the English and Austrian pounds, so that a French 6-pounder threw a ball weighing almost 7 English pounds and an 8-pounder was almost 9 English pounds with the Austrian ‘equivalents’ being less, for example an Austrian 6-pounder was closer to 5 English pounds, etc.

Lastly, William Congreve developed serviceable and effective rockets for both land and naval operations which were used during the period, the naval rocket being much more effective than the smaller land version. The land rocket could be fired without any launcher, although launchers were designed and used, and the naval rocket could be fired by modified ships’ boats and from slightly modified small warships. The most famous employment of the naval rockets was against Copenhagen in 1807 and Fort McHenry at Baltimore during the War of 1812. See rockets, primers, howitz

ammunition allocation The ammunition allocated per piece was a determining factor on how long an artillery battery or company could remain in action.

French practice with ammunition was to have a double issue for every field piece in the army. The gun companies and the division parcs would have 170 rounds per piece. A further 85 rounds per piece would be in the corps parcs and the mobile section of the army parc. Lastly, the army’s forward depot would have a further 250 rounds per piece ready to be moved forward to the parcs. That would give every field piece in the army 590 rounds, of which 340 rounds would be mobile in caissons ready to move forward to replace expended ammunition.

Regarding the ammunition load for each piece, Napoleon always wanted a double ‘approvisionnement’ (basic load) of between 300 and 350 rounds per piece, Guard or Line. It should also be noted that on campaign, the number of pieces per company might be reduced because of casualties suffered, both from wounds and sickness. And this also applied to the horses per company.

Every gun company assigned to an infantry division would have an additional four ammunition caissons assigned to them to transport infantry ammunition. The caissons would have their interiors realigned to carry musket cartridges, and the four caissons would have at least 15,000 rounds available for immediate resupply of ammunition, with further ammunition in the parcs and depots ready to move forward when necessary. It was noted that on the evening of Eylau, amidst the cold, snow, and heavy losses, that Davout’s caissons were forward with the infantry units resupplying the exhausted infantry with ammunition. See supply and resupply, ammunition ammunition consumption In the Napoleonic period, especially in 1807 and after, ammunition consumption per battle grew as artillery became a battle decider instead of merely a supporting arm. Some batteries/companies were kept in reserve, but Napoleon’s allocation per gun tube was 590 rounds with the Grande Armée. That is much higher than 120–200 rounds per campaign. But it is much too low and is more appropriate to the sixteenth century than the late eighteenth to early nineteenth centuries, especially for field artillery. One of the reasons Napoleon decided to withdraw from Leipzig when he did was because his reserve artillery ammunition train was cut off in Eilenberg to the north of Leipzig and artillery consumption there was very heavy.

Also, once a battle or action began, artillery companies/batteries usually were not in continuous action. Senarmont’s large battery in 1807 expended 2,516 rounds which was approximately 84 rounds per piece, while the overall artillery ammunition expenditure at Friedland was 100 rounds per piece. The average expenditure per piece at Leipzig 6 years later was 267 rounds per piece. While 100 rounds per piece would not have taxed the resupply system, 267 rounds per piece did, as the reserve ammunition trains were cut off in Eilenberg. See supply and resupply

ammunition expenditure See ammunition consumption

ammunition production Solid shot was made of cast iron:

‘The metal running in iron moulds divided into two parts, which are called coquilles, shells, fitting each other exactly. The superior part sets on the other which is laying on its flat side; it should be sufficiently heavy to prevent the liquid metal from raising it. The vent or aperture of the set, through which the metal is to be introduced into the mould and fill it, is made in this superior part. When the cast ball is refrigerated, the upper coquille is taken out of the joint, together with the ball which is held in it by the jet, and is broken from it with a single stroke of the hammer.

The liquid metal should be conveyed into the mould in a small stream, a filet, as soon as it is up to the junction of the two coquilles, in order to prevent external or internal flaws, souflures, which might result from the ebullitions and the interception of air, which would not have time to escape, should the jet which is made perpendicular to the bottom of the coquille, be filled up with the matalic liquid falling through it. This inconvenience would be greater in casting cannon balls of small calibres as they refrigerate much sooner.

The coquilles are moulded in sand as well as the bombs, and their moulding is likewise made in a frame with a wooden pattern.

When taken from the moulds the balls are