Musket Drill and Cannon Firing Films from Gettysburg National Military Park Visitor Center
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- Опубликовано: 7 фев 2025
- These films played in the lower level of the National Park Service Visitor Center before operations were moved to the new museum facility. The films were operated by visitors at push-button kiosks.
From a DVD produced at HFC, Harpers Ferry, WV. This video is the work of a National Park Service employee, created during the course of the person's official duties. As a work of the U.S. federal government, such work is in the public domain. (see www.nps.gov/dis...)
Salute to camera men for going back in time for record this
Just waiting for someone to get whooshed
3 rounds per minute from an individual soldier, but 1200 per minute from a whole group. That explains why they still used the massed infantry ranks. Thanks for this video!
But the tactical doctrines changed when breechloaders and repeaters came into their inventories as standard issues.
this guy is really fast. very impressive. i have high respect for the soldiers who did that under artillery and rifle fire.
Discharge your weapon, discharge your weapon! Do it! Do it! Do it! (Watch the film "Glory", you'll understand)
“What makes a good soldier is the ability to fire three rounds a minute in any weather.”
-Richard Sharpe
I did an internship with the NPS at Gettysburg during college... used to work at the old visitors center and gave the Cemetery and Pickets Charge walking tours. This video brought back some great memories!!
Man, I love Civil War weaponry.
As I get older, my taste in firearms seems to also increase in level of antiquity. I'm reading Shelby Foote's Civil War Narrative and I'm absolutely craving a Springfield 61' now. Strange how when I was a teenager, I was absolutely bored by anything Civil War related.
Today as opposed to earlier (as in this video) the Civil War cannon demos include using a complete ball and sabot load. As such the cannon will (as opposed to what is seen here) realistically recoil 6' to 8'. This means that part of an actual reload procedure was running the cannon back up to its original firing position.
Were these played in the 80's? These look VERY familiar and I remember seeing demonstrations of drill and such when I was last there. (they also had a cool topographic map in 3D that had changing lights demonstrating the troop positions - high tech stuff back then) Which was almost 30 years ago. Wow! I'm old.
doggonemess The Musket Drill was filmed on NPS property at Gettysburg by the combined Company C, 2 US and the First Minnesota in 1985, to be shown at the various NPS CW Park Headquarters!
doggonemess FYI the Cannon Drill was filmed at the NPS Richmond Battlefield in 1972 by members of the First Maryland Regiment for NPS CW park Headquarters.
This was shot off the Gettysburg Battlefield Park in the late 1980's for the Park by the Park Service. The Sergeant is Cliff Sophia, of the Second US Infantry, Company C, brigaded with The First Minnesota Infantry.
I just dug out a family history book today and a far back relative was in the civil war and wrote a poem . Anyhow I just thought this was very interesting. Thank you for posting your video.😊
It's always interesting to hear the thoughts and feelings of the individual soldier and what they went through. Must have been truly horrific. Thanks for sharing.
If you have his name and his state, you can find his unit and service record using the National park Service database
I saw it on the internet. Ty
I was thinking about putting it on video. But I've been busy. Maybe soon I'll do it. Maybe.😄
I timed the musket and cannon reload time and so the muskets time was 23sec. and 75m. And the cannon was 24 sec. and 63 mil.. Those arelong relax times!!
The firing in group is PERFECT, the By file is unbelievable...doing it without the rear guys saying when to fire and 7 people HERE: 1:57-2;02(despite misfire) WOW perfect in-sync discharge!!!...the By rank firing is just WOW...THAT and the 'By music'.
I have seen contemporary illustrations in magazines like Harper's which demonstrate many men actually reloaded while kneeling, especially in skirmish formations. It was slightly slower and more awkward but made you half as big a target. Defenders would use field fortification like breastworks or rifle pits. Attackers would kneel behind natural cover when available, eg the large rock formation 60 yards from the summit of little round top.
I'd assume the artillery film is an older production. I'm not sure of installation date for either film. They appeared in push-button kiosks in "the pit" of the old visitor's center. Artillery played adjacent to the cannon and limber. Infantry played in a small corner in the NE of the pit. Neither program appears in the new museum, although inferior new productions covering the same material now play in the lobby.
This is something I appreciate. Forever, I've wondered if the cannon balls exploded or they were solid iron. Heard they were solid but you wouldn't know it from the movies. I realize some had shot in them, but you see people flying in the air and explosions going off in even the best Civil War films. Bowling balls may be lethal. Definitely not glamorous.
during the civil war both solid and exploding shot was used
@@mcRydes Exploding shot, I believe. But shells blowing up when they hit the ground is what all the Civil War movies depict and to my knowledge, never happened.
This is amazing. Greetings from Mexico.
Well done video, very clear in many aspects.
@mecallahan1 After a number of shots, the back end of the powder bags which did not burn up
would build up in the rear of the bore until they started to interfere with the vent, then they would
use the worm. It was also used to remove a unfired round, like a misfire.
The .58-caliber infantry rifle was an arm with a 100+-metre effective range that didn't lose much, speedwise, to the earlier .69- and .75-caliber smoothbores, which had
Few things going on to make them not seem as loud. They are firing blanks and blanks that are about half of a service load. They are a lot louder in person as well, even shooting underpowered blanks. It just doesn't translate to a speaker.
Absolutely fascinating how they did these procedures. And this demonstration is NOT in a battle. Imagine being inside a battle: hell raining all over you, gunfire and explosions booming with lethal aggression, men screaming out in war cries or in wounded agony, cannon balls and live rounds flying overhead and just one stray can end your life, and you HAVE to maintain discipline while doing all these military procedures just to survive. On top of that, all of this is happening not miles away where you can't see your enemy, but probably about ten feet or more, VERY CLOSE in proximity when in in comparison to our stage in modern warfare. Even if this way of warfare is outdated, I still have the utmost admiration for the men who risked their lives fighting like that in the old days.
Historical question: the #3 man whose thumbing the vent of the cannon, is he wearing a glove or some sort of finger protection to do that or is he doing that barehanded? Because wouldn't the cannon be burning his hand, let alone his thumb, from the heat exhaust of the discharge?
Baron Von Steuben war ein ausgezeichneter Bohrmeister. Es besteht kein Zweifel, dass er einen großen Einfluss auf die kontinentale Armee die Fähigkeit Manuevers auf dem Schlachtfeld führen musste. Allerdings wäre es den meisten beeindrucken jemand einen Soldaten Belastung sehen und schießen achtmal aus einer Steinschlossmuskete in einer Minute! Das ist ein RUclips Video, das wir alle sehen möchten!
Fascinating, thank you. :D
I had guessed the latter but the former is news to me. Thanks for the info!
@Bombajs French's Artillery Manual 1864 list the equipment for a battery down to the number of sponge
and tar buckets. According to that manual, there were only 2 worms for an entire battery and they were
carried on the battery wagon. Worming out between each shot is a modern safety measure, not saying its not good to do it, just that they didn't do it. Did you notice that the number 3 man did not
step out until the fire command was given?
Short answer: yes. Actually, artillerists would frequently request pensions for loss of hearing after the Revolutionary War and beyond.
War of Rights graphics got real this time
Great video. Good explaination of the steps. I have a better uderstanding of the cannon crew. Thanks.
No wonder why tens of thousands of men were killed during that time. Reloading was an absolute weakness, unless if you had a place to hide.
This worked out rather well when the tech was fairly new, actually. The Civil War ate up so many casualties mainly because the muskets now had more accurate, rifled barrels and more accurate ammunition.
Think I would have been more concerned about losing my hearing than being shot.
***** Talking about when they demonstrate the group technique and have the weapons right next to the guys heads.
Speaking for experience as a reenactor, it's not as bad as your think. it's still loud as shit but for the historical soldier battles are so rare and the actual fighting so short that it usually won't cause permeant damage
@@jedidls The black powder and low velocity rifles used in the civil war also were not nearly as damaging to hearing as modern high velocity guns are.
@@xq39 velocity has nothing to do with sound, old blackpowder firearms may not only be ,louder, but their BOOMS will last longer and be more annoying.
@hoosieryank1967 it can't be a live round, coz then the camera would be shot off @ 6:05 That and the bag and ball were two separate pieces of equipment. One rammed down after the other (bag, then ball or canister or other shot)
Good stuff. This is ripped from a Laserdisc, isn't it? It has those single-frame shots that are meant to be paused & viewed, not played through, a feature which I've only seen on LDs.
@BugMagnet well, when you think about it, its five guys reloading a cannon, then one guy handling the rifle, though close, it still is faster with the multiples (two heads are better than one kind of deal, but its hard for two people to load a musket for one person lmao)
Extremely instructive. Thank you very much! :)
wow amazing video man, just what i was looking for
where i am the nothe fort in weymouth uk we got a 6ponder which is broken =/ and a 4 pownder which can fire up to 1 and a half mile and about 9 muskets carbines and nice video
It is very interesting that already in 1862 US Army had got uniform-jackets, hats and leather belts ( i thought that soldiers could only be provided with jackets) and that every soldier had got a rifle.
@charlestonchewy even with a place to hide it was problematic because it's very difficult to load if your not standing. When the french went up against the Prussians and there new bolt action Dreyse needle gun it became clear that being able to fire and reload while prone was a huge advantage. The french were cut down while standing and marching into the fire while the Prussians went prone and made themselves a smaller target. It was a huge technological advancement.
It's Brian Blessed! With a Musket!
Probably have a video of the difference between a Musket from the Revolutionary War and a Musket from the Civil War firing side by side showing the design or details that im trying to find i guess the only thing different is the Musket uses a primer instead of pouring some powder
@poodlemeister22314 I know they show it as one piece, but often when I'm at "live" artillery demostrations, the bags and rounds are separate from each other (probably for safety reasons)
Thanks, I wondered about a lot of these things.
Odd, they show the cannon crew loading a live round (with ball), but it doesn't recoil very much at all. Any explanations or am I missing something?
They need more Schnaps!! ;)
Is there any one here that knows where I can get a springfield 1861. That's what he was using right ?
germans use some hand signal for prepare and fire position is the same in the Ua army ???
+Higinio Malave No it is all vocal or done by bugle
thanks a lot
that is so going on my favorites
How does camera doesn't die after the canon shot it
Narrator says 3 shots - one of the reasons everyone feared Frederick the Great's army was the legendary prussian drill, which was twice as fast. Everyone tried to equal it but iirc the best that was managed was some of the better french and british regiments doing 4 shots a minute.
The two krauts below think we actually learned the manual of arms from von Stueben alone. The latter trained only a 100 men. By 1812 we had adopted a translated French 1791 manual because it had proven so effective for them. By the advent of the cap-lock, the flintlock manuals no longer applied because the loading sequence was flipped around around priming.
Europeans can sometimes have a pretty high opinion of themselves ;)
JRT176
Not as high as Americans think of themselves ;-)
Obviously you have never lived in Scandinavia
JRT176
I am danish, so i live in Scandinavia.
Cool, bro. I live in Norway. All that I am saying is that there is nationalism and stupid chauvinism everywhere.
Noticed that the cannon hardly moved as it fired, other video's show quite a bit of movement. Was this gun fired with a reduced charge?
super accurate. cool video
Lost his percussion cap at the second shot. Was he firing with real bullets?
It's just beautiful 😍
Very impresive
What is he putting under the hammer and why?
Comment if you flinched at 6:06
Virtual_Mexican I did
Virtual_Mexican I didn't
To AtheistExplains, Stop trolling your religious Tripe. This is a video about Civil War Arms, not about your unbelief.
Do not confuse a skirmish line with a line of battle. They are totally different.
I always asked myself why would one return the ramrod back into its place? Wouldn't one save precious time just holding it in the left hand?
+JohnJameson18y NO! If for whatever reason you lose that ramrod, you've effectively disarmed yourself. It was drilled in to put that ramrod back into the holder after loading.
As an alternative troops in line often stuck the ramrod in the ground next to where they were standing. It wasn't by the books but it took less time that way.
I once read about a guy out hunting in Georgia in an area small creek running through it. He was walking quietly and hit something. He looked down and there was a ram rod. He pulled it out of the ground. It looked old to him. He walked the creek a little more and found another, and then another. By the time he was done there any hunting going on as he was carrying 10+ ram rods.
From what I understand some soldiers would throw the rod into the ground if they felt that the position they were at could be held or for a shortening up the drill. Much like the scared soldier who rammed five down the barrel and never shot, these men couldn't hold their position, or just plain broke and ran. Leaving behind the most important piece of any weapon of that kind.
This may be a bit late to the party, but I'd like to add my piece as well! In addition to all the points above, part of every drill of the period was to make sure that you actually did return the ramrod to the holder. British drill of the Napoleonic era had soldiers tapping the ramrod with the side of their hand to ensure that they had indeed returned it and not left it in the barrel. While it may be quicker to just throw the ramrod on the ground, that simply wasn't a part of the drill. Part of the whole point of drill (and even military training to this day) is to ensure that when your soldier is under stress, he will fall back on his training and just go through the motions over and over until the combat is concluded or he is incapacitated.
Something tells me it would be rather hard to aim a rifle while also holding a 40 inch steel rod in your left hand...
That looks like the 1st Minnesota Company B
Steve R Correct, and Company C, 2nd US.
Not certain, but I'm guessing the Industrialized North had greater access to uniform weapons and heavy equipment than the South. Did the South have to make do with older weapons from before large-scale importing was cut off from the North?
Northern imports were cut off? By which country?
The 1st Sgt. needs to reread the manual. At the command "load" place the musket in front like he did. The right hand goes to the cartridge box in preparation for the command "handle cartridge".
Very informative!
i see him ramming a bullet down but the gun sound to underpowered and no kick at all. with mine it make so much loud firing sound and one hell of a kick
this looks like an instructional video they would have showed to the cast in the movie gettysburg
Camera man is creative mode
The Napoleonic tactics designed for use against inaccurate smoothbore muskets didn't help, either - considering that weapons were rifled at the time. The miniball's design revolutionized warfare...it's just unfortunate it took so many lives to revolutionize the tactics against it, too.
Is it took 5 minutes just to reload the gun
First use of cannons in Europe was at Crecy in 1215 I think.
I would not have thought that it takes longer to reload a rifled musked than a canon
THE GRONARDS DE L'EMPEUR (NAPOLEONIC OLD GUARD) DID 3 TO 4 AIMED SHOTS IN 45 SECONDS OR LESS WITH FINTLOCK MUSKETS... I SAW THAT IN FRANCE.
oh you weren't talking about which hand you were talking about a command.
Cool.
One of those guys is sporting a cool mullet
There's always one who fires high
wow.......two pounds of powder pushing a 12 pound ball a mile that is serious firepower i love the sound of that cannon
I thought the shots would be louder.
I wonder how often the lanyard man fired the piece before the vent man got his hand out of the way, I see he has that special leather glove but owe, that hot vent of gas would hurt.
+puttputtbuggy Not to mention that the cannon itself would recoil back a good 8 to 12 feet when firing a full charge, the 2 pounds of powder and the 12 pound iron ball.
Believe me, the cannon cockers knew exactly what they were doing as they didn't want some 2500 pounds of artillery running them over.........
you know that bugle theyre wearing on their hat is completely historically inaccurate.That hat was federal property piercing it would get you a fine from your salary
I was told at the battle of Antietam that one Union soldier served the gun after the crew had been killed in the west woods wow!
there was no video camera at this time dude
Os americanos mesmo sem muitos avanços aí conseguiram bom treinamento e conseguem lutas bem numa guerra
Hey! Just curious where you found this video? I would love to use it for a project but NPS cant confirm where it was made.
Less mistakes.... True but don't mistake that to mean they won't make them. I remember learning there were some battles where some people did investigations after the battle or years later as part of a scientific research to see what were most got soldiers killed with and it was discovered during the battle there were surprisingly a lot of men shooting their guns with ram rods still in the gun or had 2.... TWO or more bullets inside the barrel. This happen because the bullet misfired or accidentally had the explosive cap that detonated the projectile to fall off on gun but the soldier didn't noticed it and just pulled the trigger and rammed another one in there thinking it went off. Keep in mind they were getting shot off with a lot of bullets to a point there are accounts of thick trees being sawed in half from the gun fire so yeah it's completely possible to not notice something like if you're being forced into a line and commanded to be orderly. I think stuff like this didn't happen to often to say most people died that way but it was enough to get attention.
It was so loud and terrifying that people forgot how to use their guns
I don't think it was forgetting. The issue is in the heat of battle, with so many guns going off all around you, it's easy not to realize if your gun misfires. So if there was a misfire, a soldier wouldn't realize it, and thus keep going through the loading procedure with a gun that can't fire.
2:21 Didn't they like get deaf if they survived a couple of battles? I'm pretty sure it's still a heck of a blow each 15-30 seconds next to your ear...
Funny how they didn't work the cannon barrel
this soldiers useing springfield rifle muskets and enfield rifle muskets that’s the world here boys
"Die jungere Uhlanen sits 'round wit' open mouth
While Breitmann tells dem shtories about fightin' in der South.
And reads dem moral lesson how, before der Battle pops;
Say a little prayer to Himmel and a good long drink of schnapps."
(Heinz Breitmann's Ballads, 1871).
So these are actual training videos from the Civil War?
Colorized, of course.
Is that the 1863 springfield?
Thats the union Infantry weapon of choice I believe.
Yes it is, springfields have distinctly bigger hammers than enfields.
Its an 1861 Springfield. 1863 Springfields have no barrel band springs
Dam hear the ring of that gun going off
today is it 150 years ago that Gettysburg ended.
it could be a Colt but most were Springfields and Regimental is a good place ,even us Rebs buy from them
This guy needs more beer
Looks more like a platoon than a company...
Not so ,1861 Colt Musket ,look it up , Google the image, read a book or even go to a museum
When was this video originally made?
Regimental Quarter master sells them for about $800.00.