Bullet and Shell Civil War Projectiles Forum
Relic Discussion => Artillery => Topic started by: CarlS on December 23, 2018, 11:12:15 PM
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Through a number of good fortunes I was able to line up the purchase of a really rare shell at the summer Richmond Show. I was counting down the days to go to the show for all the normal show reasons (friends, relics, etc.) but I would also be brought a Read bolt for the Parrott rifle. These are so rare I've not seen one before that I recall other than the one in the P&G book. The pictures I had been sent showed it to be in pretty good condition but you never know until you see it in your hand. But then, a couple days before the show, a family issue prevented me from attending the show. I thought I had missed out on it until Mike, the good friend that he is, offered to take care of the deal for me. So it ended up working out and I'm very happy to have it in my collection.
I wanted to post it back when I got it but it needed cleaned badly. The seller had coated it with rust converter and only done the basic cleaning on it. So I figured I'd clean it and then post it. But life being busy as it is delayed that quite a while. Actually I had run it through electrolysis a couple months ago but never took the time to do the detail cleaning and coating. But this past week I took care of that and here we are.
While there are other Read bolts out there they tend to be rather short and weigh less at 7 to 9 pounds. But this bolt is a hefty 12+ pounds and undoubtedly made for the Parrott rifle (10 lber; 2.9"). This round is described on page 240 of the 1993 D&G book. Col. Biemeck discusses it on the bottom of page 844 of Vol III in his incredible series of books but he seems to not have seen one and includes it due to the P&G book having a picture of one. The one P&G pictures is from Montgomery, AL and the text states "all of the few known" have come from Montgomery, AL so mine very well did too though it came with no provenance. Hopefully Pete and/or Col. Biemeck will see this and possibly shed some more light on it. Also perhaps the great shell man Steve in Birmingham will have some experience with these that he can share since they seem to come from over his way. And of course WoodenHead might have some research that Pete and he have dug up on these somewhere along the way. I'd love to learn more.
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Also, here is a view of the bottom and sabot. Of note the P&G book only mentions an iron sabot. This one is cast of copper; I checked with a magnet. Both the one in the P&G book and my copper one are stamped for 3 lands-n-grooves. I'm not sure I've ever seen a copper sabot stamped like that. Also of note the copper is quite porous with lots of small air bubbles in it as you can see in the image below. The iron of the shell body is like that as well. It appears to have been fired but I'm not sure of that. It does show very strong rifling and if fired it must have been a rather new gun. The base shows a faint lathe dimple.
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A great find, a welcome addition to any collection and a most informative post. I'm looking forward to hearing more about it.
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Congratulations Carl on a great find indeed and an excellent preservation job!!
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I don't have a bolt like this. Congratulations, it appears to be pre-engraved like some of the Selma made projectiles are. I guess you mean D&G book.
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Thanks for sharing!
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neat
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Nice !
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Steve: Good catch. Sorry about that. I used to have Procter and Gamble for an account and am very used to saying and typing “P&G” even after a bunch of years. So “P&G” = “D&G”.
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Wow ! What a great shell Carl, Congrats
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Has anyone ever seen a sabot like this made of copper with pre-stamped rifling? I’ve only seen this done with iron. Brooke did have a plate sabot that was pre-engraved and bolted to the bottom. But this is a ring sabot the shell is cast around.
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Carl, thanks for posting that excellent Read-Parrott bolt. It helps fill in some blanks I had with regards to the CS use of copper sabots on their Parrott projectiles. A few years ago, Pete G. and I practically came to blows over his labeling all CS Parrott projectiles as "Read-Parrotts." But Carl, this shell of yours deserves that label more than any other of the hundreds I have examined and photographed. I believe its mold pattern and sabot die were actually designed and possibly produced for a Deep South foundry (I suspect Skates of Mobile - see the documents below) by Dr. Read himself during 1862. At that time, the Alabama and Mississippi foundries were making many rifled bolts to accompany their shells (see below). It has Read's distinctive raised base knob - an essential part of his original 1856 patent and its function was clearly described. It forced the initial propellant charge into the high band sabot causing lateral pressure to ensure it took the rifling grooves. You will find the same "Read knob" in the bottoms of the many bourelled Reads of various calibers (including his 24 pdr. and 32 pounder rifled projectiles) made early in the war in accordance with his patterns. In Virginia, we find it associated with the numerous 3 inch Read bolts fired at Chancellorsville and Gettysburg. These had been sent north with other fuses and projectiles at the urgent request of the Richmond Arsenal.
Carl, are you absolutely sure it was made for a 2.9 inch Parrott and not a 3 inch. As far as I can tell, there were no 2.9 inch guns in the Deep South until late 1862. However, you will see in the Skates invoice below they were making 2.9 inch Parrott shells and bolts during the winter of 1862-63. So, it might date from that period. We know for certain that Dr. Read set up the Skates production line with his patterns. Read was a civilian ordnance agent operating out of Mobile. Despite a February 1862 directive from Richmond to produce only Mullanes in all calibers, Skates continued to make the excellent Reads with the copper cup. Also, documented below is the fact that Skates produced around five Parrott Rifles for the state of Alabama. That would explain the recovery of your projectile around Montgomery.
Look at the first document below written by Dr. Read in Jan. 1862. He mentioned having been asked to supply ammunition for the "iron Parrott guns." In the Deep South, Dr. Read was the projectile expert. Sadly, his excellent work was disregarded by the authorities in Richmond. During 1861, all Read projectiles (heavy and field) were supposed to have wrought iron sabots. At the end of the year, Dr. Read announced a switch to all copper sabots. The iron wore out the bores too quickly and did not take the rifling as well. Therefore, beginning in early 1862, a genuine "Read-Parrott" should have had a copper sabot, a fact that was understood in Alabama but ignored by Richmond. Even the Yankee, Robert Parrott, who called his Parrott ammunition "Read shells," switched to a copper ring sabot before long. This explains the large scale use of copper sabots by some of the Deep South foundries.
I now have a better grasp of a confusing mix of copper-saboted Read-Parrotts dug in Virginia. Many different styles have come from the Gettysburg and Cold Harbor battlefields. Some sabots were cast, others die-struck. The iron shell bodies varied too much to be from a single arsenal or foundry. Still, I thought they all came from Augusta which received special permission from Richmond in March 1863 (letter posted previously) to use copper sabots of their own design and ridged interiors (not in their Parrotts) on all rifled field projectiles and the shipment of their ammo to VA is recorded. Now I realize that many copper-saboted Read- Parrott were received in 1863 and 1864 from CS foundries in Alabama and maybe Mississippi along with the well known sphericals with letter "G" stamped and the beautiful 3 inch Read bolts.
Take a look at the page from Lee's Thunderbolts, below, showing a Read-Parrott dug at Winchester, but probably made in Alabama, using Dr. Read's actual sabot-stamping dies. Note the low convex top and two holes for molten iron to pass thru and secure the sabot. Two holes were recommended by Dr. Read or "notches" in the edge of the central opening of the copper cup. (See the first letter below) When you have 3 holes, it was produced by the Augusta Arsenal during 1863-64 when it tried to recreate Read's initial patterns to improve the performance of the CS field ammo. Like Dr. Read's early-war designs, Richmond ignored the cutting-edge research and production occurring at Augusta under Cols. Raines and Girardey. But it provides us with evidence that can help identify the makers and production time period of many excavated examples of there fascinating rusted iron objects.
So Carl, to sum up all of this rattle trap, you have an actual Read-Parrott bolt likely made in Alabama by Skates for the state of Alabama. If it is 2.9 inch, then it was made around late 1862 or early 1863 when the first 2.9 inch guns arrived from Virginia. If 3 inch, it was made during 1862 in accordance with patterns supplied by Dr. Read in person.
Woodenhead
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Woodenhead, I wish you would come visit me for a couple days. I'm not a good researcher like you are and I would like to spend some time with you and have you look at the Selma stuff that I have. You have a standing invitation.
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Woodenhead: Sorry for delay in replying. The days just aren’t as long as they used to be and I can’t seem to find the time to do everything too often. >:( Thanks for the great reply and super information. I will certainly keep this with my projectile. I have some more info to add to this when I get a chance hopefully tonight. If you get a chance the visit to Steve’s is an amazing experience. If you can make the Marietta Show this year you won’t be far away.
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Steve - I have the fondest memories of my last visit to your great collection accompanied by the late great Chuck Jones. Who else in the world has found a CS shotgun bayonet? I hope by this year's Marietta Show I can handle the long trip down south. It is slow going right now.
I've included four invoices from Churchill & Co. from your neighborhood because they were using Read's copper cups with their Parrott ammunition and big Reads. I could not understand why this was going on in early 1864 when the South had lost its primary source of copper in southeast Tennessee. Why not employ wrought iron which was plentiful in the vicinity? It was clearly intentional. After seeing Carl's fine Read-Parrott bolt, I understand that using copper on their Parrott ammo was regulation in Alabama ever since Dr. Read set up the first production lines in the state. In Richmond, the foundries stuck to iron sabots because they were essentially copying the work of Robert Parrott in New York. So, despite notification from Dr. Read that he had abandoned iron in favor of copper/brass at the start of 1862, VA almost entirely stayed with wrought iron thru 1865. They ignored Read while ordnance authorities in Read's home state listened to him. That helps explains why there was very little production of the terrible Mullane (but beautiful, of course) shells despite orders from the Richmond Arsenal for all Southern arsenals to adopt the copper disc. Deep South foundries choose to make Read shot and shell instead. So, when Churchill & Co. asked around for the correct patterns for their Parrotts in early 1863, they were instructed to employ Read's copper cup. That was the regulation sabot.
Below are four instructive invoices showing Churchill's production. There are many more. In 1862, the firm operated around Columbus, Miss., supplying the Briarfield Arsenal. In early 1863, they moved to Columbiana, AL, and sent their shells to Selma to be finished and distributed. I believe that many of their copper-saboted Read-Parrotts found their was to Virginia. I believe many of the Port Gibson 20 and 30 pounder Parrotts were made by them. Note on the 3rd invoice below, they charged for lacquering their shells. Note on the last invoice they are charging different prices for brass and copper sabots. I recall years ago Pete George identified some of those dug in VA as having brass sabots instead of the usual copper.
Woodenhead
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Hello,
It has taken my much longer than I expected but here is what I wanted to add to WoodenHead's info. The image below is one of the 3.25" Reads from Milledgeville that I got at the Gettysburg Show two years ago. I recently had it cut to see what the inside looked like. Most of the time when a shell is sectioned you get what you expect and it looks like most others. Sometimes the blade goes in just the right place and you see something interesting such as the occasional time when a Hotchkiss is cut and the blade goes right down the casting nail and it is on display. In the case of this Read the saw cut the sabot right at the point where the copper ring contained a hole. This hole was there so it would be filled with iron through the hole to prevent the sabot from slipping and I suspect this is what Woodenhead referred to at the end of his next-to-last post (Jan. 12, 2019). The pass through hole is seen on the bottom right of the cut surface. The 2nd image is the outside of the shell so people can better visualize what type of shell this is. They found a number of them in the river at Milledgeville, GA.
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Here is a close up of the pass through hole in the sabot. Unfortunately the other half does not show really any sign of the hole as the blade just passed though the edge.
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I believe this is the sabot you have on your 3.3 inch Read shell. I strongly suspect it was made by Augusta Arsenal around early 1864. It should have 3 holes for iron to pass thru. The original Reads, as made by Deep South firms like Skates, had only 2 holes. Note the letter below mentions the inclusion of 3 holes in the sabot. With its use of a copper fuze plug, it should date no later than April or May of 1864 when a switch to wooden plugs was mandated by Richmond. The original Reads had die-struck copper sabots with no machining on the exposed high-band portion. This Read of yours appears to have a cast sabot carefully machined as described in the 2-page letter below from Jan. 1864. Augusta was doing extensive testing of 3 inch and 10 pdr. Parrott ammunition at this time and published the results. Please read this letter if you want insight into the contemporary thinking of top ordnance officers. It also discusses the successful testing of Girardey's percussion fuze. We know the invoice, below, listing 3.3 inch shells was from Augusta because they were "fixed." Only Augusta was fixing their rifled field ammunition as the CS Ord. Regs. called for separate cartridge bags.
Woodenhead
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This Augusta sabot deserves a little more discussion. It was developed after much study and testing during the winter of 1863-64. The performance of the CS field artillery projectiles had been abysmal just recently at Chattanooga and Knoxville. Concerned officers like Olandowski and E. P. Alexander turned to Augusta rather than Richmond for assistance. A Board of Artillery Officers was convened at Augusta to test the current crop of projectiles and they published the results for all the Southern arsenals to benefit from. A single page excerpt is the first image, below. Note the 2nd paragraph describes this new shaped sabot with holes as pictured in the previous posting and seen on Carl's cut 3.3 inch shell. It should have been adopted across the entire South. It actually might have been picked up by a couple of Deep South arsenals. I do not know yet. But, of course, this improved copper sabot was completely ignored in Richmond. Below are pictured two 10 pdr. Parrotts dug at Cold Harbor which might give the appearance of Virginia production - but don't be fooled. Know-it-all Col. Broun ignored Augusta's fine research and development, and instead came out with the "Tredegar Read" as a replacement for the 10 pdr. Parrott ammo, and the long rounded-nose 3 inch Broun shell with a copper band sabot to replace the Reads with the copper cups. Both were deeply flawed designs. The first Read-Parrott, pictured below, was found by Mac Mason, the second by Charles Burnette. Both clearly have Augusta's high-band copper sabot machined on the inside as described on the published page below. All of the Read-Parrott ammo made in Richmond used wrought iron. So, where did these variant shells come from? There are two possible explanations.
1) Maybe they arrived at Cold Harbor in the limbers of the artillery of the Army of Southern Virginia and North Carolina which had been hurried to Cold Harbor to reinforce the Army of Northern Virginia. This small army was regularly supplied by Augusta and the Charleston Arsenal.
2) During the spring 1864, the Richmond Arsenal begged the Deep South arsenals to forward all the field ammunition they could spare. Contemporary invoices show somebody sending "Fixed" 10 pdr. Parrott ammo to the Salisbury, NC, Depot for distribution in Virginia. Only Augusta was fixing their field ammo at that time.
This is the kind of in-depth info I am seeking for Lee's Thunderbolts. Its not good enough to just say... "another copper-saboted Read-Parrott from VA." Tom knew there was more to the story and encouraged Pete and I to pursue it. Another interesting feature of the two 10 pdrs. pictured below is the overall length of their iron bodies. An important conclusion of Augusta's Board of Artillery Officers was that the current 10 pdr. Parrott ammunition was too long causing many of them to tumble end-over-end even when the sabots took the rifling perfectly. The shells had to be shortened as you might notice were the two pictured below. Eventually, Col. Broun got the message causing him to shorten his 3 inch Broun ammunition and many of Richmond's 20 and 30 pounder Parrotts. I don't know if Richmond's 10 pdrs. were ever shortened but clearly Augusta shortened theirs, as seen below.
As an interesting aside, read the last paragraph on the printed page below. It discusses the "lubricating ring" i.e., the space between the copper cup and the iron bottom of the shell. It was definitely not a "safety groove," as it is described in current publications. I have found at least one other contemporary letter that also used the "lubrication ring" terminology. "Safety groove" is strictly a modern term based on the mistaken assumption that the Ordnance authorities (other then Augusta) carefully studied their sabots. Most did not.
I hope you find all this detail interesting.
Woodenhead
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Excellent thread. Thank you for the information.
Carl is a good guy and has helped me a lot more than I have helped him. Recently, he found this rifled 12pdr Tennessee sabot bolt for me. It is the same one shown in Jack Bell's book.
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That is a very neat and rare projectile. I once had a similar bolt but it had a copper ring sabot on it. I let it go and am not sure where it is but think you (Mike) may actually have it. The very neat thing about your Mullane and the Read I had is that they are not cast iron but wrought iron. You can see the striations in your image. I had the same with my bolt. While I'm sure they are much harder to manufacture they would absorb the impact against a hard surface better and not break apart.