Bullet and Shell Civil War Projectiles Forum

Author Topic: Cannon production  (Read 2233 times)

speedenforcer

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Cannon production
« on: October 31, 2019, 01:40:57 PM »
About how many cannon were produced in the Confederacy a day during the war? including Tredegar and the other factories?
It's not always "Survival of the fitest" sometimes the idiots get through.

CarlS

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Re: Cannon production
« Reply #1 on: November 02, 2019, 11:00:26 PM »
I tired to do a quick look but the effort lies somewhere between 'would take a lot of research' and 'cannot be done'.    Many of the Confederate records are gone so there aren't good counts.  In 'Confederate Cannon Foundries' it looks like at one point Tredegar was making one every 3 days but that was not always the case.  And, especially early on, some significant percentage of them were rejected.  In the book Riley indicates that had the Civil War not come along Tredegar would have likely gone out of business since they had not adopted the Rodman method of casting and the US government would only buy that type.  Then there are the foundries for which there are no surviving records indicating production. 
Best,
Carl

Selma Hunter

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Re: Cannon production
« Reply #2 on: November 03, 2019, 03:59:42 AM »
May I suggest a look at the Quinby & Robinson files in Fold3.  They were making guns of various types from early on.  The Brierfield (Briarfield) Arsenal records will make you a believer in what Carl just said.

FWIW