in masses.

Field artillery smoothbores, under conditions prevailing during the
war, generally gave better results than the smaller-caliber rifle. A
3-inch rifle, for instance, had twice the range of a Napoleon; but in
the broken, heavily wooded country where so much of the fighting took
place, the superior range of the rifle could not be used to full
advantage. Neither was its relatively small and sometimes defective
projectile as damaging to personnel as case or grape from a larger
caliber smoothbore. At the first battle of Manassas (July 1861) more
than half the 49 Federal cannon were rifled; but by 1863, even though
many more rifles were in service, the majority of the pieces in the
field were still the old reliable 6- and 12-pounder smoothbores.

It was in siege operations that the rifles forced a new era. As the
smoke cleared after the historic bombardment of Fort Sumter in 1861,
military men were already speculating on the possibilities of the
newfangled weapon. A Confederate 12-pounder Blakely had pecked away at
Sumter with amazing accuracy. But the first really effective use of
the rifles in siege operations was at Fort Pulaski (1862). Using 10
rifles and 26 smoothbores, General Gillmore breached the
7-1/2-foot-thick brick walls in little more than 24 hours. Yet his
batteries were a mile away from the target! The heavier rifles were
converted smoothbores, firing 48-, 64-, and 84-pound James projectiles
that drove into the fort wall from 19 to 26 inches at each fair shot.
The smoothbore Columbiads could penetrate only 13 inches, while from
this range the ponderous mortars could hardly hit the fort. A year
later, Gillmore used 100-, 200-, and 300-pounder Parrott rifles
against Fort Sumter. The big guns, firing from positions some 2 miles
away and far beyond the range of the fort guns, reduced Sumter to a
smoking mass of rubble.

The range and accuracy of the rifles startled the world. A 30-pounder
(4.2-inch) Parrott had an amazing carry of 8,453 yards with 80-pound
hollow shot; the notorious "Swamp Angel" that fired on Charleston in
1863 was a 200-pounder Parrott mounted in the marsh 7,000 yards from
the city. But strangely enough, neither rifles nor smoothbores could
destroy earthworks. As was proven several times during the war, the
defenders of a well-built earthwork were able to repair the trifling
damage done by enemy fire almost as soon as there was a lull in the
shooting. Learning this lesson, the dete