AMERICAN AGEICULi'QRIST, 
Q1V 
18G1.J 
Fig. 1. — A Mortar. 
Explanation of War Terms. 
As a people, we have been so long in a state of 
peace with all the world, that the technical terms of 
war are little understood. We have found ourselves 
somewhat at loss in this respect, as we have read 
of regiments, brigades, battalions, squadrons, pla¬ 
toons; of generals, lieutenant generals, major gen¬ 
erals, brigadier generals, colonels, adjutants, lieu¬ 
tenants ; of howitzers, mortars, columbiads, paix- 
hans, caronades, dahlgreens; of shell, grape, canis¬ 
ter, bombs, grenades ; and of the hundreds of other 
terms of war. It occurs to us that a brief plain ex¬ 
planation of some of these terms will be interesting 
and useful to our young readers, and aid them in 
understanding the newspaper accounts daily pe¬ 
rused. We will first describe some of the implements 
of war, and afterward explain the organization of 
an army, its officers, etc. 
Gunpowder.—With this all are somewhat ac¬ 
quainted. It is a condensed compound which, on 
the application of heat, springs into a large volume 
of gas (or kind of air) with great power. Half a 
gill of powder will suddenly produce gas enough to 
till a barrel, or 2000 half gills. Powder in very line 
grains bums so fast and expands so quickly as to 
burst a cast iron gun ; hence very coarse powder is 
used for cannon and large guns. Gunpowder is 
a mixture of about 0 ounces of niter (saltpeter) with 
I ounce of sulphur, and 1 ounce of charcoal. 
The charcoal used, is made of small willows careful¬ 
ly burned or heated in close vessels. The niter, 
sulphur,and charcoal, are ground separately, then to¬ 
gether moist, and afterward pressed into solid cakes 
and dried. These cakes are broken into small frag¬ 
ments, which are put into cylinders and kept re¬ 
volving until the sharp corners are worn off and 
me surface of the grains is polished, when they 
are passed through sieves to assort the coarse and 
fine grains—the fine being used for small guns, and 
the large for cannons, for blasting rocks, etc. The 
hue dust, if packed in a solid mass so that the flame 
can not spread easily through it, burns slowly upon 
one side, and is used for fuses in bomb shells 
and in blasting, for fire-works, etc. 
Percussion Powder is composed of materials which 
are set on fire by the simple friction of a blow. The 
first guns used, were fired with a lighted match. 
Then a flint was arranged to strike off small bits of 
steel from a pan cover. These hits of steel took 
fire by the friction, and falling into the powder in 
the pan, set it on fire also. The fire burned through 
Fig. 2. —A Howitzer. 
the touch-hole into the gun barrel. This took lime, 
and very often a well aimed gun would be moved 
out of place before the powder burned enough to 
throw out the hall. Now, a little percussion pow¬ 
der placed in a copper cap, is ignited by a blow of 
the lock, and the percussion powder being very 
quick, the flame is driven into the barrel,and the gun¬ 
powder explodes before the gun is moved. Such 
guns are also surer than the old flintlocks, in which 
not unfrequently the flints missed, or the powder 
got wet, or failed to burn through into the barrel. 
Guns.—These are of many sizes and forms, and 
have different names. They consist of a tube, gener¬ 
ally round, in the bottom of which is placed some 
powder, ar.d over it a ball or a charge of shot. Gen¬ 
erally, the powder is put down from the muzzle, 
either poured in loosely, or put in a hag. Soldiers 
carry prepared cartridges, which are commonly made 
of little paper tubes, the ball iri one end, and a meas¬ 
ured charge of powder behind it. For cannons, the 
powder is tied up in flannel bags. Some modern 
guns are arranged to be opened at the breech, and 
the charge is put in there. These are called breech 
loading guns. -All guns, large and small, may 
be divided into two classes, viz.: the Smooth Bore, 
and the Rifled Bore. At first, all were made smooth¬ 
bore; then hunter’s rifle-bored guns, or “rifles,” 
were made; but muskets, shot-guns, and can¬ 
nons were still retained with smooth barrels; then 
rilled army muskets were made, and just now they 
are makingrified cannon. The seare so much better, 
that it now seems strange that they have not al¬ 
ways been made so. It is impossible to east a lead 
or iron ball so that it will be equally heavy in every 
part, and exactly fit a gun barrel. When a gun is 
fired a few times, it expands by the heat, so as to be 
too large for the ball. When a ball is sent 
through the smooth barrel, it moves from side to 
side, and when it goes out into the air, one side hap¬ 
pening to be a trifle the heaviest, it keeps moving off 
to that side, which may chance to be up or clown, 
or to the right or left, so that it is next to impossi¬ 
ble to send it exactly straight forward. If its for¬ 
ward end or side be irregular, it will dart off a little 
to one side or the other as it cuts through the air. 
Fig. 3.—-A COLUMBIA!) OR Paixhan. 
The Rifle Bore prevents this difficulty thus : On 
the inside of the barrel are little groves, or railway 
tracks, so to call them. These do not run straight 
along the barrel, but spirally around it. Thus, if 
one of these grooves begins at the upper side of the 
breech of the barrel, it gradually winds around to 
the bottom or to one side, and in very long guns the 
grooves go nearly or quite around, but generally 
only about half or three quarters of the way round 
so as to turn the ball once in from five to ten feet. 
When lead balls are used, the sides of the ball are 
forced into these grooves, and when driven out, the 
ball is given a rotary motion, that is, it moves along 
just as if it were a bead sliding on a string, and kept 
turning around the string at the same time. The 
great advantage of this is, that the inequalities in 
the weight and shape of the ball are turned, now to 
this side, now to that, now up, and now down, and 
the ball is thus varied as much one way as the oth¬ 
er, in other words it goes straight forward. The 
balls can also he made long and pointed, which en¬ 
ables them to go through the air better, with less 
resistance in proportion to their weight. 
Rifled Cannon. —In the old smooth-bore can¬ 
non the iron balls could not be made to fly exactly 
in a straight line. The same gun aimed in the same 
direction, would vary the ball from side to side of 
a mark, several feet in shooting a mile or less. By 
rifle boring the barrel, a good gunner can now hit a 
man a mile or two, or as far as he can be sighted. 
As iron cannon balls can not he pressed into the 
grooves, a ring or cup of lead is put on the back pari 
of the hall, and this on firing is expanded or forced 
into the grooves, which not only gives the ball its 
rotary motion, but the lead also stops up the 
space around the hall, and prevents the escape of 
gas, thus giving greater power to the powder. Thu 
space necessarily left between a solid iron ball and 
the barrel, is called the “ windage » 
DIFFERENT KINDS OF CANNON. 
Mortars. —These are short, stout guns, having a 
large bore (See fig. 1). They are not set upon 
wheels, but upon a heavy low framework, and are 
used for throwing heavy balls and shells high in 
the air, to fall down upon fortifications, into forts, 
towns, etc. They are too short to throw a ball hor¬ 
izontally against the side of a wall. Owing to 
Fig. 4.— A Whitworth Gun. 
their shortness, they are comparatively light in pro¬ 
portion to the large ball or shell which they carry. 
The Howitzer, (fig. 2,) is longer than the mortar, and 
carries a smaller ball or shell. The powder cham¬ 
ber back of the ball is smaller than the rest of the 
barrel, in which it differs from other cannons. 
Mountain Howitzers are merely Howitzers of light 
weight, which can.be easily carried over mountains. 
A Garronade is like the howitzer, hut differs from 
it in being fastened to the carriage by a loop of iron 
under the middle, instead of resting on “ trunnions,” 
or projections from the side. It is named from 
Caron, avillage in Scotland, where it was first made. 
The Columbiad, (fig. 3,) differs from the howitzer 
in having no chamber, the bore being of equal di¬ 
ameter throughout. It is also made much thicker 
at the breech than at the muzzle, which gives great 
strength to that part of the piece where the princi¬ 
pal force of the powder is exerted, so that lighter 
cannon of great bore, for large shells, can be cast in 
this form with less danger of their bursting. Botli 
solid shot and shell are fired from the Columbiad. 
Our engraving shows the most recent, improved 
form; the older Columbiads tapered regularly 
from the breech to the muzzle. 
The Paixhan is only another name for the Co¬ 
lumbiad, and is so called from Gen. Paixhan, of 
France, who introduced the invention from Ameri¬ 
ca into the French army. 
The Dahlgreen Gun, somewhat resembles the Co¬ 
lumbiad. It is used for firing both solid shot and 
shell. It is named after Captain Dahlgreen of the 
United States army, who devised it. 
The Whitworth Gun, (fig. 4,) is a rifled cannon, 
loaded at the breech. It carries a long coni¬ 
cal ball, (fig. 5,) cast with projections on its 
sides to fit the grooves of the gun. The 
breech is screwed off, when the load is put 
in, and then screwed on again for firing. ||||1 
The Armstrong Gun is also a rifled piece. Mil 
Its principal peculiarity is in the ball used, 
which has bands of lead cast upon it, to fit Fig-f>. 
the grooves. It is somewhat objectionable for field 
use, because these bands are apt to fly off, and kill 
those standing near the gun when it is discharged. 
Parts of a Cannon, etc. — Muzzle .—The mouth, 
where the ball leaves the piece. Breech .—The end 
where the fire is applied. Caliber. —The size of the 
bore. Cascabel. —The knob at the extremity of the 
breech. Chamber —The smaller cavity at the hot- 
