Civil War Letter Providence RI 1861 20 & 30 POUNDER PARROT GUNS Wiard Artillery

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Civil War Letter Providence RI 1861 20 & 30 POUNDER PARROT GUNS Wiard Artillery:
$179.00

Providence RI 1861 20 30 Pounder
Hifriends,
After sometime off, I am back selling some of the
Civil War documents frommy personal collection
Civil War Letter Providence RI 1861
20 & 30 Pounder Parrot Guns & Wiard Artillery!

New York Dec. 12, 1861
John B. Anthony Esq
The Providence Tool Co
Providence R.I.
An excellent letter to the Providence Tool Company of Providence, Rhode Island requesting the manufacture and shipping of one 30 Pounder Parrottgun and five 20 Pounder Parrot guns. Also is the discussion of a bill for Wiard Carriages (guns) and the weights of the boxes.
New York Dec. 12, 1861
John B. Anthony Esq
The Providence Tool Co
Providence R.I.Please make for me the iron work for
1 - 30 Pounder Parrott Slide Carriage
5- 20 \" \" \" \"I will be glad if you will send the work
for the now 30 Pounder Carriage
Monday afternoon if you can to be followed
by the work for the five 20 Pounders youwill greatly oblige and convenience me if you will box it up in complete sets - say let the box contain the work complete for one, two three, four or five carriages as the case my be - Number the boxes goingon with or from the old seriesWiard Carriages
John B. Anthony Esq.
Freds Providence Tool CoThe mention of Freds Providence Tool Co refers to
FrederickW. Howe, a former supervisor at the Robbins and Lawrence Armory in Windsor, Vermont, to help start the manufacturing of arms.
Complete TextDear Sir
Please make for me the iron work for
1 - 30 Pounder Parrott Slide Carriage
5 - 20 \" \" \" \"I will be glad if you willsend the work for the now 30 Pounder Carriage Monday afternoon if you can to be followed by the work for the five 20 Pounders - In sending this work you will greatly oblige and convenience me if you will box it up in complete sets - say let the box contain the work complete for one,two three, four or five carriages as the case my be -Number the boxes going on with or from the old series of numbers - I think the last No was 58 - By the middle of next week I will probably bewanting some of the work for the 20 Pounders - Can I count upon you being in time.I wrote to you on the 6th ... but getting no reply I have supposed the letter must have miscarried- as I would like to settle the ola arc as then requested, I annex a copy of the letter
Yours truly
Wm Border(Copy)New York December 6, 1861John B. Anthony Esq.
Freds Providence Tool CoDear Sir
Please send me your account to take including in the account all except bills of 22nd & 23rd. Nov for Wiard Carriages which which I prefer to settle separately.Is the Bill (Wiard Bill) of 22nd November correct? The bill calls for 1677 Lbs. but the marks upon the cases as reported to me by my ... were 88.5 Lbs., 533 Lbs. & 200 Lbs footing 1618 Lbs. This did not come tomy notice in time for me to have them weighed. The work having been nearly used, before I was at the yard where it was sent.Very Respectfully
Wm BordenWm Borden
Dec 6th 1861
Page One CompletePage Two Complete1 Sheet , 2 pages of text.
Very Good condition.
Four 3/8\" tears on left slightly affecting only one word.
Small 1/8\" tear on right fold.
Blue paper and brown period ink.
Note: sale is for the document above.
Photos, charts and additional text shown below this note are historical information only and are not included in the sale.
(photo not part of the sale)
About 30 Pounder Parrott RiflesThe 4.2-inch (30-pounder) rifles were the most widely used of the Parrott siege guns. It was mounted on a conventional siege carriage. The early pattern guns had the elevating screw under the breech, while newer pattern gun had a long screw running through the cascabel. The long elevating screws of the newer models was subject to breaking (Abbot 1867, p. 90).The 30 pdr. Parrott saw service as early as the First Battle of Manassas. A Union 30 pdr. Parrott with Company G,1st U.S. Artillery fired the opening shot of the battle. The gun was given the nickname \"Long Tom\" by it\'s loving crew. Due to the difficulties of moving such a large gun quickly, the gun position was overrun by Confederates. The gun served the South for the remainder of it\'s lifetime.The 4.2-inch Parrott rifles were preferred over the 4.5-inch siege rifles by some gunners because of the superiority of Parrott shells over the various shells available for the 4.5-inch siege rifle.Union 30 pdr. Parrott rifles did not have as many severe problems with bursting as was commonly found with larger Parrott rifles, however Tredegar\'s 30 pdr. Parrott copies were not nearly as reliable.At Fredericksburg, the effect of two Confederate Tredegar 30 pdr. Parrotts was devastating to Union attackers, but both guns burst during the battle, one on the thirty-ninth round, the other on the fifty-fourth round. Lee, Longstreet, and other high officers were standing near one of the cannonwhen it exploded, but miraculously all escaped injury. (Charles B. Dew,Ironmaker to the Confederacy: Joseph R. Anderson and the Tredegar Iron Works, Richmond: Library of Virginia, 1999, p. 187)During the siege of Petersburg 44 Union 4.2-inch Parrott rifles fired 12,209 rounds. Only one gun burst when a shell detonated before clearing the muzzle. One 4.2-inch Parrott rifle also burst during the campaign against Charleston harbor, but only afterit had fired 4,606 rounds (Abbot, Henry L., Siege artillery in the Campaigns Against Richmond, with Notes on the 15-inch Gun, Including an Algebraic Analysis of the Trajectory of a Shot in its Ricochets Upon Smooth Water, Washington, D.C., 1867, p. 87,160,170).
(photo not part of the sale)Parrott GunsThe gun was invented by Captain Robert Parker Parrott, aWest Point graduate. He resigned from the service in 1836 and became the superintendent of the West Point Foundry in Cold Spring, New York. He created the first Parrott rifle (and corresponding projectile) in 1860 and patented it in 1861.Parrottswere manufactured with a combination of cast and wrought iron. The castiron made for an accurate gun, but was brittle enough to suffer fractures. Hence, a large wrought iron reinforcing band was overlaid on the breech to give it additional strength. There were prior cannons designed this way, but the method of securing this band was the innovation that allowed the Parrott to overcome the deficiencies of these earlier models. It was applied to the gun red-hot and then the gunwas turned while pouring water down the muzzle, allowing the band to attach uniformly. By the end of the Civil War, both sides were using this type of gun extensively.Parrottrifles were manufactured in different sizes, from 10-pounders up to therare 300-pounder.[4] In the field, the 10- and 20-pounders were used byboth armies. The 20-pounder was the largest field gun used during the war, with the barrel alone weighing over 1,800 pounds. The smaller size was much more prevalent; it came in two bore sizes: 2.9 inch (74 mm) and3.0-in (76 mm). Confederate forces used both bore sizes during the war,which added to the complication of supplying the appropriate ammunitionto its batteries. Until 1864, Union batteries used only the 2.9-in. TheM1863, with a 3-in bore, had firing characteristics similar to the earlier model; it can be recognized by its straight barrel, without muzzle-swell. Its range was up to 2,000 yards (1,800 m) with a trained crew.Naval versions of the 20-, 30-, 60-, and 100-pound Parrotts were also used by the Union navy.[6] The 100-pound naval Parrott could achieve a range of 6,900 yards (6,300 meters) at an elevation of 25 degrees, or fire an 80-pound shell 7,810 yards (7,140 m) at 30 degrees elevation.Althoughaccurate, as well as being cheaper and easier to make than most rifled artillery guns, the Parrott had a poor reputation for safety and they were shunned by many artillerists. At the end of 1862, Henry J. Hunt attempted to get the Parrott eliminated from the Army of the Potomac\'s inventory, preferring the 3-inch ordnance rifle. During battles when theParrott gun would burst, artillerists would chip out the jagged parts and continue firing. In 1889, The New York Times called on the Ordnance Bureau of the War Department to discontinue use of the Parrott gun altogether, following a series of mishaps at the West Point training grounds.Severalhundred Parrott gun tubes remain today, many adorning battlefield parks, county courthouses, museums, etc. The gun tubes made by Parrott\'sfoundry are identifiable by the letters WPF (West Point Foundry), alongwith a date stamp between 1860 and 1889, found on the front face of thegun tube. The first production Parrott gun tube (serial number 1) stillexists, and is preserved on a reproduction gun carriage in the center square of Hanover, Pennsylvania, as part of a display commemorating the Battle of Hanover. A list of many of the surviving tubes can be found atthe National Register of Surviving Civil War Artillery.
(photo not part of the sale)30 Pounder Parrott Rifle
• Type: Rifled Siege Gun
• Rarity (Field): Rare
• Rarity (Siege and Fortification): Common
• Years of Manufacture: Between 1861 and 1866
• Tube Composition: Cast Iron, Wrought Iron Breech Band
• Bore Diameter: 4.2 inches
• Rifling Type: 5 grooves, 1.3 inches wide, right hand gain twist
• Standard Powder Charge: 3.25 lbs. Black Powder
• Projectiles: 24 lb. Bolts, 24 to 29 lb. Shells
• Range (at 15°): up to 4,800 yards (2.7 miles)
• Max Range (at 35°): 8,453 yards (4.8 miles)
• Tube Length: 131.5 inches
• Tube Weight: 4,200 lbs. (2.1 tons)
• Total Weight (Gun & Carriage): 6,500 lbs. (3.25 tons)
• Carriage Type: No. 2 Siege Carriage (2,300 lbs.)
• Horses Required to Pull: 10
• No. in North America: 391
• Invented By: Robert Parker Parrott in 1861
• US Casting Foundry: West Point Foundry, Cold Spring, NY
• CS Casting Foundry: Tredegar Iron Works, Richmond, VA
TheProvidence Tool Company was the outgrowth of the business ventures of two brothers. In 1834, Joseph and Jeremiah Arnold began manufacturing nuts and washers in Pawtucket. When Joseph retired, Jeremiah joined William Field, named their business William Field & Co., and moved to Providence in 1846. In April 1847 the name was changed to the Providence Tool Company. The company is known for its ammunition production. However, in its early years, it primarily made hammers, pick axes, marlinspikes, nuts, and bolts. In 1856 it merged with the Providence Forge and Nut Company. The Providence Tool Company was successful in supplying machine parts and tools across the nation.
The Civil War created a demand for companies to make munitions for the Unionarmy. The Providence Tool Company took up the call and began weapons manufacturing in 1861. The Company hired Frederick W. Howe, a former supervisor at the Robbins and Lawrence Armory in Windsor, Vermont, to help start the manufacturing of arms. During the 1860 and 1870s the company continued to produce hardware and machinery. The business expanded so much that in 1867 it opened an office in New York and London. In 1869 the London office closed and whenthe company encountered difficulty in 1875, the New York office closed as well. In 1873, it received a contract from Singer Sewing Machines to make sewing machines and made machines under other brand names. From 1872 to 1875, the Providence Tool Company obtained arms contracts with the Turkish government. These contracts helped finance the company\'s expansion from 148 West River St. to additional plants at 41 and 95 Wickenden St. By the turn of the century the Tool Company had produced 850,000 firearms. The Turkish government did not pay for the arms produced by the 1873 and 1875 contracts. The company became involved with legal battles and lost money on interest and defaulted loans. Finally in 1885 the company reorganized as the Rhode Island Tool Company, which still exists in 1999.(photo not part of the sale)Inventor Norman Wiard
Norman Wiard madeboth 6-pounder rifles, like this one, and 12-pounder howitzers. Both barrels could be used interchangeably on the same size carriage. Most contemporary cannons could elevate to five to ten degrees, but Wiard’s cannon could elevate to 35 degrees to fire shells like a mortar, due to the carriage’s unique construction. Both the front and rear sights contained crosshairs for accurate aiming, and the rear sight could be adjusted for windage.The Wiard rifle is a semi-steel light artillery piece invented by NormanWiard. About 60 were manufactured between 1861 and 1862, at O\'Donnell\'sFoundry, New York City: \"although apparently excellent weapons, [they] do not seem to have been very popular\".Wiard described two calibers: a six-pounder rifle with a 2.6 inch bore and a twelve-pounder smooth bore with a 3.67 inch bore.The six-pounder\'s tube was 53 inches long, weighed 725 pounds and had aneffective range (at 35°) of 7000 yards, with a standard powder charge of 0.75 lbs and 6 lb. Hotchkiss bolts.The Wiard rifle was cast in puddled wrought-iron (semi-steel) and was mounted in a special Wiard field carriage that was unique in its design. The rim base was spaced farther apart than any diameter of the tube, permitting unrestricted rotation on the trunnions without interference from the undercarriage. Wiard altered the shape of the carriage\'s cheeks, relocated the axle andprovided a long elevating screw; this made firing at elevation of up to35 degrees possible. It also meant that one carriage could slide beneath the next, allowing for more efficient storage and transportation.Other innovations included a flat trail plate with a metal keel (preventing the rifle digging itself in the ground upon recoil), and a better system for braking the carriage without damaging the iron tires.
6 Pounder Wiard Rifle with Limber • Type: Rifled gun
• Rarity: Rare
• Years of Manufacture: Between 1861 and 1862
• Tube Composition: Puddled wrought-iron (semi-steel)
• Bore Diameter: 2.6 inches
• Rifling Type: 8 grooves, left hand twist
• Standard Powder Charge: 0.75 lbs. Black Powder
• Projectiles: 6 lb. Hotchkiss bolt
• Effective Range (at 35°): 7,000 yards
• Tube Length: 53 inches
• Tube Weight: 725 lbs.
• Carriage Type: Wiard Field Carriage
• No. in North America: about 60
• Invented By: Norman Wiard
• US Casting Foundry: O\'Donnell\'s Foundry, New York City, NYHistorical accounts of events tend to speak in generalities,
and often are written well after an event took place.
What makes letters like this so wonderful, is they are an
accurate portrayal of specific events as they unfolded.
History as it happened.Welcometo Zianon Civil War documents. For over 15 years, I have been collecting and selling original, unique, one of a kind American Civil War memorabilia. I have always been fascinated by Civil War documents. Holding one in your hands and uncovering a bit of lost history is incredibly exciting. It is a pleasure for me to find a new home for these valuable pieces of American history.Items I will be selling include letters, broadsides, diaries, General Orders, and many others. Items marked Civil War are dated from 1861 to 1865. A few items before or after the war are noted byCivil War Era. All items have been stored in and will be shipped in acid-free sleeves, with heavy cardboard packaging to insure safe delivery. All items are unconditionally guaranteed to be authentic and in the condition as described. Documents are accurately displayed, with text transcriptions, andhigh resolution scans. You know exactly what you are getting.I have sold many documents high end collectors and novices, as well as libraries and museums, and of course soldier’s family members. I have been away from for some time so I had to start a new account.
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\"They Brought John Kirk Home In A Box\" \"They Died In The Hands Of The Rebs,
Starved To Death\"
\"I Rode Last Night With A Soldier
Who Was Shot Fair
In The Forehead,
Above The Eyebrows.
The Ball Coming Out Of His Mouth.
And He A Well Man Except One Eye\"\"Was Some Negroes Not Far From Here,
Out In The Country, Killed Their Master,
Burned The House, And Run Off,
Taking With Them Some Horses\"\"Fetched Them Here And Sold.
Then Our Adjutant Bought One.
They Say They Are A Going
To Hang The Negroes\"\"Their Old Master Got Hold Of Her
And Whipped Her So That
She Could Not Sit Down\"\"He Had The Luck To Bring Home
A Secech Bullet In His Thigh
He Was Wounded At The BattleOf Allegany
The Ball Is Still In His Flesh
Though It Does Not Hurt Him Much.
The Doctor Could Not Extract It\" \"Spotted Fever Or Black Death Prevails.
It Kills All Whom It Touches
& Is Fearfully Contagious\" \"He Was So Hungry, It Tasted Good.
He Did Not Look To See
If There Was Worms In The Food\"\"Troops Are Rapidly Marching To The Field.
Thousands Of Tens Of Thousands
Of Wounded Are Coming
To Us From The Battlefield.
I Have Several Hundred Under My Care Now\" \"Tore Up Considerable Of Railroad & Destroyed
Considerable Of Property. For The Rebels Captured,
457 Prisoners Besides A Number Of Horses & Mules\"\"See The Gun Boats As
They Lay At Anchor Waiting
For The Fight Of Some Reb\"

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