While looking for a gun building project in 1998 I saw some pictures of a Williams Gun, thought it might be an interesting building project and started looking for information.
Robert Fish, at the West Point Museum, replied they had a Williams Gun in their collection and that some pictures were available along with a sketch showing dimensions. He suggested I write to the Watervliet Army Arsenal Museum as they had a Williams Gun in their collection.
Marie Hutchison at Watervliet replied to my letter with a large packet containing copies of the pictures they had and a rough sketch showing dimensions of their gun made earlier by an employee of the museum. In the packet was a letter from Rob Morgan in England inquiring about the gun. I wrote to Rob and that was the start of correspondence that has been most interesting since.
Shortly after I got the Watervliet packet a friend from Michigan, John K. Smith, visited me. I showed him the pictures of the Williams Gun, he said his friend Brian Haack in Michigan had a Williams Gun and had been shooting it. I thought John must be wrong as several other people had told me about Williams Guns that had turned out to be something else.
When he got home John sent Brian’s phone number. The next weekend I called, Brian’s wife answered and said, yes, her husband had built a Williams Gun, he was at the range shooting it and would be home in an hour or so. That was the start of many phone calls. Without Brian’s advice it would have been much harder to build my gun.
Earlier, several things happened to make it possible to build the gun, almost as though someone wanted me to build it. My daughter told me of a friend who had his grandfather’s machine shop for sale. In it was a 1924 Southbend Lathe, 17-inch swing and a 6-foot bed. Perfect for making cannon barrels. Most of the equipment was older than I was but in good condition.
An insurance refund check showed up in the mail January of 1999. My wife who understands about cannons and other projects handed it to me with the comment “here’s your cannon barrel.” Later she understood why a Bridgeport milling machine was a necessity, numerous trips to the steel suppliers, a large pile of expensive oak boards and a couple of years later why a trailer was necessary to haul the gun around behind “her” Chevy van.
A full-scale drawing of the barrel and breech was made, then 6-foot length of seamless steel tubing with 1.25-inch wall thickness was ordered in January of 1999. After a month or so of delays it finally arrived. Mike Colyar, a machinist friend for many years, let me use his milling machine until I got mine and showed me how to do what I wanted to do.
Mike builds things that other people say can’t be done and found the cannon project intriguing. The tube was put on Mike’s milling machine, the muzzle end slung from a cable anchored to one of the rafters so it wouldn’t strain the bed. The tubing weighed 271 pounds at that point.
The breech opening was made and the breech sides and top squared. That ate up two weeks or so. By then I had a practical working knowledge of a milling machine. Later when a Bridgeport milling machine came up for sale locally it became one of my treasures.
The tube was supposed to have a round polished bore. It did have a hole through it — looked like a mole had dug it — lots of mandrel marks and was out of round.
At Boeing Surplus I found two shell reamers that were just what was needed. A 10-foot 1.25-inch diameter mild steel rod was bought to make a reamer handle; later it was used for the axle, the safety handle and operating handle. To pull the reamer through the tube, a “Spanish Windlass” was rigged — four strands of three- quarter-inch nylon rope tied to the reamer handle on one end and anchored on the other end to the trailer hitch of my pickup truck.
A long pipe was used to twist the ropes in one direction while the lathe turned the barrel in the opposite direction. A Rube Goldberg device for sure but it did the job nicely. Shortly I was making about eight inches about every 15 minutes.
Chip cleaning took more time than reaming. Eight hours or so later I had a round bore. The bore was polished using an engine cylinder hone. That took several hours using a large drill motor to turn the hone.
The next step was to cut the taper on the barrel. The old lathe did not have a taper cutting attachment and the barrel was too long to offset the tailstock. The taper was done as a series of “stair steps” along the barrel. The steps were then halved and halved again. Slow but it does the job.
Some large Vixen files held at an angle while the lathe rotated the barrel reduced the taper steps in a few hours. More smoothing was done with a belt sander with 40 grit held at an angle while the barrel rotated. Final polishing was 100 grit with the sander vertical while the barrel rotated. A straight edge was used to check for high spots as I went along.
Finishing the taper cut was a great relief — all the machine work where a screw-up could ruin a lot of hours of work was done. By then I had well over a hundred hours into the barrel. A “real” machinist could have done it in a lot less time but when you have the book in one hand while working it is a lot slower.
Wooden mockups of the breech cam and breech block assembly were made first to see the interaction between the cam and breech block. A lot of the winter of 1999 was spent making the breech block, cam and operating handle.
The breech cam was made of 2-inch thick steel plate. The breech block was of 1.5-inch plate with .5-inch steel side plates. They were rough cut by drilling holes to an outline, then cutting between the holes with a Sawzall, rough shaping with a grinder and finally lots of filing. The curve of the cam face and the back of the breech block match.
The sound of a file was said to be the most common sound in the old machine shops for many years and it was in mine for several weeks.
The hammer and hammer cam were built next. A collar was turned, then a big washer opened up and welded to the collar in the form of a spiral. It took a couple of tries to get the curve needed and the timing right.
One of the things that worried me was in the event of a hang or slow fire the breech might be opened as the charge ignited. The original guns had a safety, but in most of the pictures it is broken. It was a long spring lever that locked into the operating handle as a slot in the handle crossed over the lever.
On this gun it is a tab that prevents the operating handle from being turned beyond the breech locked position until it is moved. The tab and safety handle can be seen in the accompanying photo.
Then came a magic moment when the breech could be cycled. Turning the operating handle clockwise closed the breech, the breech cam locked the breech block in place, cocked the hammer, dropped it at the right time and the musket cap made a loud bang.
It was definitely a moment to remember. I now had a working gun.
The spring of 2000 I had a gun that worked but nothing to mount it on. I checked the price of wheels and decided I’d better learn something about the wheelwright’s trade. Earlier I had noticed two pallets of oak boards in the local Home Depot store. There had been little or no interest in them. The pallet straps were still in place several weeks later.
There were various widths from about 6 inches to about 16 inches, they were either 1-3/4 inches or 2 inches thick and 48 inches long plus or minus a bit. I cut the pallet straps and “high graded” both pallets for 2-inch thick boards with no splits or knots.
A rough carriage was laid out on the floor. There were enough 10-inch* wide boards for the trail and felloes, and enough 6-inch wide boards for the spokes. Two 16-inch wide boards looked like they had the cheek pieces hid in them.
About $240 later I thought I had enough oak to build a carriage. I was off a few boards and had to make a couple of trips to a store about 40 miles away to finish up the carriage.
An old bandsaw came with the lathe. Noah may have used it to saw the ribs for the Ark. With a new 1/2 hp motor and a little tinkering it sawed 2-inch oak like it was butter.
It is not a tool to get careless around. OSHA people on seeing it would be permanently traumatized. Blade guards were something way out in the future when it was built. The builder figured if you didn’t have enough sense to watch for the sharp parts you shouldn’t be using the saw.
A full-scale drawing of the wheel had been made earlier. From the drawing metal patterns were made for the spokes and felloes. The dish was built into the spoke. The rough cuts were made on the band saw. Jigs were made to hold the spokes for the hub angle cuts on a table saw.
The first wheel took about 80 hours, the second one about 40 hours. Making the spokes took much of the time. My friend Joe Paul kept my wood plane blades so sharp the oak shavings sizzled as they came off. Joe also spent many hours with me sorting through the “cut off” bins at the steel shop while we looked for the steel I wanted. “Cutoffs” were sold at scrap prices and saved a quite a bit of money over cutting new stock.
I made metal hubs. There is a plate on each side of the spokes, the axle tube is fastened to the inside plate. The hub is held together by bolts passing through the spoke joints and plates. It became common after the Civil War.
Setting the tires, or rims as they were called where I grew up, was the next step. About 65 years ago I watched my Grandfather “reset” or tighten up the tires on his farm wagons. I didn’t have the knowledge he did, so I did it the easy way. “Strap iron,” 2 inches wide and 1/4-inch thick was run through a roller until I had a circle slightly larger than the wheel diameter.
Two pieces of angle iron with holes in them were tack welded about 6 inches from the ends of the tire. A piece of all thread was run through the holes and nuts on each end were tightened until there was no parts movement when the wheel was moved. The overlapping ends were sawed off flush, a “v” groove filed in for the weld and then arc welded by my son Charles. He did the welding needed on the gun and the trailer later as well as helped me lift the heavy parts many times.
Much of my spare time the summer of 2000 was spent building the rest of the carriage. When it came time to laminate the trail and later to hold the ironware in place while the holes were drilled Joe Paul came up with a dozen or so of the biggest “C” clamps that I’ve ever seen.
The carriage follows the general outline of cannon carriages but isn’t a copy of any one. The description of the Williams Gun carriage don’t have much information other than it was mounted on a pair of small wheels and trailed behind a limber.
Letters show the Confederates were short of men who had the skills to build cannon carriages. There were lot of letters back and forth trying to get men out of the Confederate Army so to build carriages for the guns that had been cast. A country blacksmith who could build something that looked like a cannon carriage would have been welcome. Again I didn’t keep records but a guess would be something over 200 hours to build the carriage.
There’s a lot of truth in the saying that time passes fast when you are having fun and building the Williams Gun was a lot of fun, so I may have spent more time.
February of 2001 most of the ironware for the carriage had been built and trial mounted; it was time to paint. I really hated to cover up all that oak. The local paint store mixed the shade of OD paint I wanted. Since it was too cold in the shop to paint, the gun was temporarily assembled in the sun room of the house. It was a lot of fun to see the double takes of my wife’s friends when they saw the cannon setting there.
May 23, 2001, everything was ready. The cannon-hauling trailer had been completed and licensed. A friend told me I could use his hayfield for the test firing. The gun was loaded on the trailer and we headed for the field. There were a few looks from male drivers but for the most part the gun was ignored as we went through town headed for the field.
The test firing came off without any major problems. The first loads were 540 grains of Fg, then 780 grains At 1040 grains of Fg there was a nice bark along with a little recoil. Video tape showed the breech was sealing properly even with the light loads. My wife said the biggest danger was dislocated jaws from the grins of the firing party.
Much of what has been written about the Williams Gun and its operation is wrong. It was described as a machine gun. I think this was in the sense that it was a machine with moving parts and did not have the connotation that machine gun has today.
It does not have an ammunition hopper. Ammunition hoppers were on the Ager guns, Gatling guns and others.
It is not an automatic weapon. The gunner has to turn the operating handle. The operating handle opens and closes the breech, cocks and fires the gun. It will seize on a hot day — mine did when I was firing it in 106 degree weather. Part of the cause was the oil on the breech block cam face kept evaporating.
Depending on the clearance between the breech cam face and the breech block it can seize due to heat expansion. My wife sprayed the cam face and breech block face with PAM to solve the oil problem. She covered the spray can with aluminum foil so as not to embarrass the gun crew (me) who was trying to figure out what to do next as the oil I was using was not holding up. The contents were secret for quite a while.
Several books have pictures of the gun captioned wrong saying the breech is open for loading, when it is really closed. The breech is not “thrown open by a spring” as described in some articles. The only spring on the gun is for the hammer. The spring on my gun was a Model T Ford front spring found in a Montana hayfield many years ago.
The gun is/was operated by turning the operating handle on the right hand side of the gun in a clockwise direction (see photo). The safety handle is moved forward, so the operating handle can be turned, the breech cam rotates pushing against the rear of the sliding breech block assembly. Movement clockwise pushes the breech block assembly to the rear and opens the breech (see photo).
At this point the projectile and charge are loaded. Continuing in a clockwise direction the hammer cam on the same shaft as the breech cam lifts the hammer to the cocked position (see photo). Then the musket cap is placed on the “tube.” The safety handle is moved to the rear.
Continuing the movement clockwise the breech cam pushes the breech block closed, as the operating handle comes to the nine o’clock position the breech is wedged shut, the hammer falls off the hammer cam and the gun shoots. At this time the operating handle has come up against the safety tab so the breech is locked until the safety handle is moved forward.
Capt. Theodore Allen described the operation as the man on the right loaded the gun, the man on the left capped the gun, the third man behind the gun sighted the gun and turned the crank to fire it.
The gun was not rifled. It fired a projectile that tumbled through the air. The screaming noise it made was described in several articles written after the war. At least once the Union troops thought the Confederates were shooting railroad spikes at them again.
The Williams Gun also fired canister and may have also fired a round ball. The 1.57-inch bore guns were considered 1 pdrs. In some articles they are described as 2-inch bore guns, but if there were 2-inch bore guns none are mentioned in any “official” records that I have seen. My gun was built with a 2-inch bore and scaled up accordingly.
A unique feature of the Williams Gun is the breech sealing system, the projection on the face of the block that enters the chamber of the gun. The front of the projection is a valve that looks very much like the exhaust valve on a modern combustion engine. The valve face is free to move back and forth.
Under this valve is a doughnut-shaped pad. The originals were made of leather. In my gun it is a plastic material that Brian Haack sent me. He uses it in his gun.
When the gun fires pressure forces the valve back against the pad expanding against the chamber wall and breech block face to seal the chamber (see photo). Possibly this is the forerunner of the obiturating pad used on modern artillery.
As I was building the Williams Gun I looked for the history of the gun and the people associated with it. Most records say R.S. Williams from Covington, Ky., was the inventor of the Williams Gun.
He is listed in the Covington, Ky., City Directory in 1860. There is a Capt. R.S. Williams, Artillery in the Official Orders Of the War of Rebellion and in the Confederate Roster of Soldiers 1861-1865. He is listed in the 1867-1886 Covington Directories.
His occupation is that of editor for The Common Wealth and as a reporter for the Sun (Cincinnati). In 1889 Robert S. is listed as a gauger for the US Internal Revenue Service. There are no listings after that. Captain Allen in 1908 says that Captain Williams had died a few years back.
Capt. Theodore Allen was a Union officer. He joined the U.S. Army in 1861 serving briefly in the 2nd Kentucky Infantry and then went to the 7th Ohio Cavalry where he served until 1865. After the war he was the editor of various newspapers and during this time wrote about his experiences during the war in the Confederate Veteran and in Types and Traditions of the Old Army.
The 7th Ohio came up against the 4th Kentucky Cavalry and the Williams Guns at Blue Springs, Tennessee. After the war Allen became interested in the Williams Guns, corresponding with members of the battery and wrote several articles about the guns.
Captain Allen’s articles provided much of what I learned about the Williams Guns use. Capt. J.J. Schoolfield is mentioned as commanding “Schoolfield’s Battery,” known earlier as the “Williams’s Battery,” by Captain Allen in the articles he wrote about the Williams Guns.
At the time the article was written Captain Schoolfield was still alive, an attorney at law, in Iuka, Ill. Captain Allen said that “Captain Schoolfield, commander of the battery, regarded it as a most effective arm at the time, though too light in metal, and sometimes when being actively worked the breech would expand and would not return to its place, and an unpleasant wait was required to let the gun cool off a little.”
References To Williams Guns
George Dallas Musgrove wrote Kentucky Cavaliers in Dixie-Reminisces of a Confederate Cavalryman. In Chapter XVIII he wrote about the Williams Guns attached to the 4th Kentucky Cavalry and describes a battle they were in. He says Captain Schoolfield was the Commanding Officer.
Lt. H.C. Holt is mentioned several times in the War of Rebellion Official Records with the Williams Gun. He seems to have taken command of a section of two guns sometime before the Battle at Blue Springs, Tennessee. He is listed as the commander of the Buckner (Mississippi) Battery. The battery was organized in the spring of 1863 and disappears from the records in 1864.
Lt. Armstrong is mentioned in Lt. Holt’s report as commanding a section of Williams Guns at Wyatt during the retreat of Chalmers’s Brigade. Lt. H.C. Holt and Lt. Armstrong appear to have been section commanders under Capt. Schoolfield.
There are several mentions of the Williams Guns and the officers who commanded the Williams Guns, Capt. Schoolfield , Lt. H.C. Holt and Lt. Armstrong in the Official Orders.
In 1976 the Kentucky Historical Society received the Williams Gun captured by Captain Patrick in 1863. Patrick, called a Union Partisan in some accounts, entered a Confederate camp one night and removed the barrel from a Williams gun. He hid the barrel in some brush, the Confederates moved on and left the carriage.
Patrick and some men went to retrieve the barrel and found the carriage had been left behind. The barrel was remounted on the carriage and sent to the Frankfort Arsenal. Later Patrick claimed the gun. It stayed in his family until 1976 when it was donated to the Kentucky Historical Society and placed in the Frankfort Museum.
(A 1993 press release about the gun says the gun was invented by Capt. R.S. Williams of Covington, Ky. The 1976 press release said the gun was invented by Capt. D.R. Williams.)
Capt. Allen says that “In describing this incident, Captain Schoolfield, the commander of the battery, mournfully says that after Tom Johnson lost this gun “then there were only five.” This would indicate that the battery was six guns.
Brief references to the Williams Guns appear in The Long Arm of Lee by Wise and Confederate Cannon Foundries by Gunter and Daniel. Ironmaker to the Confederacy by Dew also mentions the Williams Guns.
Tredegar foundry records pose an interesting question. I have not been able to read the Tredegar records myself but am told they show a contract between the foundry and the D.R. Williams Co. for Williams Guns. This may be a clerical error, but it is possible that D.R. Williams was involved in the contract. They also mention a Williams Mountain Rifle. There is a Capt. D.R. Williams, Kentucky Artillery, Captain, in the Roster of Confederate Soldiers 1861-1865.
In 1861 R.S. Williams of Covington, Ky., presented a design to the Confederate Ordnance Board for a breechloading cannon. The Ordnance Board was apparently impressed and the fall of 1861 R.S. Williams was at the Tredegar Foundries supervising the construction of a Williams gun.
It appears the gun was ready for a tryout in May of 1862. The Richmond Daily Exchange of May 20, 1862, noted that: “General Floyd attended a trial of the Williams’ mounted breech-loading rifle, which is claimed will throw twenty balls a minute a distance of fifteen hundred yards, will be tried out at a target this afternoon on the river above the Tredegar Iron Works.”
Another trial was held May 27, 1862. It was noted in the Richmond Daily Exchange that: “General Floyd attended a trial today of Williams’ mounted rifle, firing eighteen to twenty balls a minute, and mounted on carriage lighter than a mountain howitzer. It shot accurately one thousand yards.”
I think that this was the gun that was at the Seven Pines/Fair Oaks battle May 31, 1862. H.T. Owen, a Confederate veteran living in Richmond, Va., wrote to Capt. Theodore Allen after the war:
“On Saturday morning, May 31, 1862, the command to which I belonged (then Pickett’s Brigade, of Longstreet’s Division) moved from near Richmond down the Williamsburg Road to attack the Federal Forces near Seven Pines. There had been a heavy rain night before and the roads were filled with pools of water which the artillery and wagons soon cut up into slush and mire, consequentially there were long halts and delays on the roads.
“About a mile west of Seven Pines, while waiting for some other command to file by ours and take position in line of battle a small cannon halted in front of us for some time and we got a good look at it. It was drawn by one horse in shafts, the axle was short, the wheels very low and the barrel was about as big as a man’s coat sleeve. It carried a round ball about the size of a hens egg and was loaded at the breech.
“Mr. Williams, the inventor and five or six other men on horse back were with the gun and this was its first experiment on the battlefield. Mr. Williams readily replied to all the questions asked about the gun by some of our officers who gathered around it while halting.
“There was a federal fort on the Williamsburg road, about one mile west of Seven Pines, flanked by a line of breast-works, rifle pits and abatis in front of them. Our breech loader moved on with other artillery to begin the attack while our command was held in reserve and was not engaged in the battle of that day; so when the uproar began we were silent reports of the little breech-loader.
“They were much louder than a musket and less than an ordinary cannon. We never saw the gun afterwards and wondered what became of it. After Gettysburg, Pickett’s Division guarded about four thousand prisoners from the battle-field to Winchester, and the Federal Officers among the prisoners asked us many questions about the rapid-firing little gun or guns we used on them at Seven Pines.
“In 1880-81 I became acquainted with Capt. George W. Williams, Deputy Clerk of the Virginia Senate, who had served in General John H. Morgan’s Kentucky Cavalry Command during the war. In swapping reminiscences, I mention our little gun at Seven Pines and he informed me that his father was the inventor.“
At this time I don’t know how many guns were made. After Seven/Fair Oaks the Confederate Ordnance Board was impressed enough with the design to order 20 Williams guns to be built at the Tredegar Foundry during 1862-63. Four of the guns were sent to Gen. Sterling Price and used in Trans-Mississippi Department.
The remaining 16 guns were said to have been given to the inventor R.S. Williams. Counting the original there could have been 21 guns made at Tredegar. Samson and Pae are listed as having delivered four guns Jan. 16, 1863. Samson and Pae are listed as a machine shop and not a foundry, though, so the guns they delivered may have been some of the 20 Tredegar guns.
Two batteries of six guns are said to have been made at Lynchburg, Va., and a battery at Mobile, Ala. It appears that as many as 39 guns could have been made.
The official records say the bore was 1.57-inch, the guns are described as 1 pdrs. Some sources say 2-inch bore and various calibers were made. So far I have found no official records of anything except the 1.57-inch bore.
R.S. Williams’ is mentioned in Special Order No. 11 dated Jan. 14, 1863, in the Official Orders of the War of Rebellion but then seems to disappear. The order from the Adj. and Insp. General’s Office noted: “Authority is hereby granted R.S. Williams to raise a light artillery company, to be equipped with Williams’ breech-loading guns, to consist of Kentuckians, under the call of the President and existing law. By command of the Secretary of War.” It was signed by John Withers, Assistant Adjutant General.
Williams Guns appear in the Official Orders on May 9, 1863. R.C. Wood, a major in the Missouri Cavalry Battalion, wrote from “Camp near Batesville, Ark.” on May 9, 1863: “Light artillery and cavalry at Batesville, Ark.: Two officers, 24 men fit for duty, four Williams’ breech loading guns, caliber 1-pounder; 1,000 rounds of ammunition, and solid shot and canister. The men well equipped with cavalry-arms —sabers and holster pistols.”
The June 22, 1863, report of Gen. Dan Ruggles to Gen. Joseph E. Johnston noted: “Subsequently General Buckner very kindly loaned me Major Boyle’s Cavalry battalion about the 15th of May; also a battery of four Williams’ guns, which, in addition to Lieut. Col. Barteau’s seven companies of Second Tennessee Cavalry, and Major Hewlitt’s Alabama Cavalry Battalion, enabled me to begin operations in the field.”
No. 26, Report of Col. James J. Neeley, 13th Tennessee Cavalry Headquarters in Water Valley, Miss., Oct. 18, 1863, reported: “Two pieces of the Buckner Battery came up just here to my support and opened on the enemy retreating to his fortifications. I then sent for Captain Palmer’s battery. When the piece sent reached the position, owing to some unfortunate misunderstanding, the Buckner Battery had fallen back, under the impression that the whole line had retreated.”
The Buckner battery was Holt’s command and appears in several places in the Official Orders of the War of Rebellion. As First Lieutenant, commanding, Holt sent Capt. A.W. Loving, Assistant Adjutant-General, the following report, No. 28, from the headquarters of Buckner’s (Mississippi) Battery in Water Valley, Miss., Oct. 17, 1863:
“Captain: In obedience to orders from Headquarters West Tennessee Brigade I have the honor to submit for consideration of the colonel commanding the following report of the part taken by the Buckner Battery in the engagements at Collierville and Wyatt.
“On the morning of the 11th instant, by direction of General Chalmers I placed my battery on the hill fronting station house at Colliersville, opening fire upon it with two pieces at the same time directing the fire of the other two at a body of the enemy to the right and near the locomotive and train of cars.
“After firing a number of rounds, the regiments in front of me were moved up, when I immediately advanced my pieces by hand about 150 yards and again opened fire, which was directed at the enemy where most conspicuous, with the exception of the two pieces that continued to play upon the depot house.
“At this time the enemy were sufficiently close to use canister, which was fired effectively, as they were seen to move rapidly from their position after the third round. While in this position I was directed by Colonel Richardson to take one section to the hill on the left and to the rear, leaving Lieutenant Armstrong in charge of the other section.
“After firing four rounds from this hill, I was again directed to move my section into the skirt of woods on the left and near the railroad and report to Colonel Neeley. Considerable trouble was here experienced in selecting a position from which to fire, as the enemy were secreted behind a house and in a thick cluster from which they were firing rapidly.
“The open woods being the only place from which the enemy was distinctly visible, the field on the right being thickly covered with high weeds, I placed my pieces in battery and began firing upon the house. At the same time the regiment of Colonel Neeley began to advance. But a few rounds were fired before the enemy left the house and cedar thicket, falling in behind the train of cars.
“I began to fire advancing, when a regiment on my left charged the train, completely routing the enemy from and driving him into the stockade and commenced firing on it. I remained in this position until the regiment on left gave way from the train, when I moved my section a short distance to the rear. However, advanced again when the regiment did although I had but 8 rounds for each piece.
“A short time after this I was ordered to move into the Byhalia road. A short time after I had taken my first position, Private J.L. McLain, detailed from Colonel Inge’s regiment, received a slight wound which rendered him unserviceable for the remainder of the day.
“It devolves upon me (besides it affords me a pleasure) to speak in behalf of Lieutenant Armstrong for the assistance rendered me while with him; also for the coolness and judgment, as I have learned, he displayed in maneuvering his section afterward. Private MacDougald, as well as Corporals Williams, White, and Hoffmeister, deserves credit for the able manner in which they used their guns.
“At Wyatt, on the 13th instant, after reporting to Colonel Inge, as directed, I placed my pieces in battery on the hill near the houses on the right, and but a short distance from where Lieutenant Adams had placed his 6-pounder. After firing 11 rounds from the two pieces I moved them back into the road, as my men were entirely exposed and I had no advantage of position.
“Shortly after the enemy opened with his howitzers I moved my pieces back on the hill near the river until I could receive instructions from the colonel commanding. I was then directed by him to move them across the river with the piece of Lieutenant Adams. I remained with them near the crossing until ordered to move them to the rear.
“It gratifies me to state that of the few men with me every one discharged his duty promptly and efficiently in the two engagements. It is left with the colonel commanding to determine whether I discharged mine; if not I am in hopes that another opportunity will be presented at an early period.”
By October of 1863 the Williams battery appears to have become Schoolfield’s Battery. Lt. Schoolfield is mentioned along with Lt. H.C. Holt in the Official Orders of the Rebellion as having been present at the battle at Blue Springs, Tennessee, Oct. 23, 1863. It appears that Lt. Holt was commanding a section of two guns. In his official report he says that he moved his section.
In the official orders there is mention that: “Lieutenant Schoolfield’s battery of Williams’ guns opened up with grape and canister, mowing them down. And First Lt. H.C. Holt’s Williams’ guns swept the canebrakes and jungles with marked effect.”
Capt. Theodore Allen, USA, wrote in the Confederate Veteran in 1908: “Captain R.S. Williams of Covington, Ky., went to Richmond, Va., early in the War and induced the Confederate government to cast a battery of six breech-loading cannon of which he was the patentee. This was perhaps the only battery of breech-loading cannon in the Confederate Army.
“During its period of service it was attached to Giltner’s Cavalry Brigade and the twenty five young men who worked the guns were detailed or volunteered from Major Bart Jenkin’s Battalion of Kentuckians the battery being in much service with the 4th Kentucky Cavalry. The twenty five young men detailed from Major Bart Jenkin’s Battery were commanded by Capt. J.J. Schoolfield, of Jenkin’s Battalion, and the battery, as stated above, was generally known as “Schoolfield’s Battery” although it was “Williams’s Battery” originally. “
George Musgrove Dallas, author of Kentucky Cavaliers in Dixie - Reminiscences Of A Kentucky Cavalryman, describes the actions of Capt. J.J. Schoolfield’s Battery at one of the actions in Tennessee.
His description of how the gun worked is wrong. He said: “The little battery often did great execution and the Federals were frequently puzzled to know the character of the artillery they were fighting.”
Capt. Allen in an article in Types and Traditions of the Old Army gives a description of the operation of the gun and mentions Captain Schoolfield as a battery commander. He says: “Captain Schoolfield, who commanded this battery, is still living, he being an attorney at law in Iuka, Illinois.
“He tells me that these breech loading cannon were mounted on light carriages, each being hauled by one horse, in shafts, the driver using two buggy lines, sitting on the ammunition box. It required three men to handle the gun; one to cap it, one to place the cartridge in the breech and the third sight it and turn the crank which discharged it. The guns weighed about 275 pounds each; and were made at the Tredegar Iron Works, Richmond, Virginia.
“Each gun with its carriage and ammunition box weighed about a 1000 pounds. The carriage had four wheels, the gun on the hind wheels and the ammunition box in front. When in action the gun and hind wheels were detached and the front wheels with the horse and driver were sent to the rear, the box of ammunition having been detached from the carriage and placed by the gun.
“Each gun could be fired about forty (40) times a minute. It could not be sighted when fired so rapidly. Each gun was provided with a small crank which it was the duty of the man who sighted it to turn, one half revolution throwing the breech out and the other half sending it back to the gun and at the same time discharging the gun.
“The gun was about six feet long, carried a one pound ball and had a range of about one mile. Captain Schoolfield, commander of the battery regarded it as a most effective arm at the time, though too light in metal, and sometimes when being actively worked the breech would expand and would not return to its place, and an unpleasant wait was required to permit the gun to cool off a little.”
G.D. Ewing, a member of the 4th Kentucky Cavalry, wrote an article in 1909 for the Confederate Veteran, “The Williams Breech Loading Cannon and Their Superb Use by Gallant Kentucky Boys.” At the time the Williams Guns were commanded by Capt. J.J. Schoolfield.
Ewing mentions the guns’ use at Raytown, Tenn., and says, “Young Brainard Bayless, the son of Presbyterian Minister, was the capper for one gun.”
The guns were present at the fighting near the Watuga River in East Tennessee. There was a Federal officer who rode a large gray horse in front of his troops. General Crittendon asked Captain Schoolfield if he could make it interesting for the officer.
Ewing says: “It must have been a mile between the lines. All the battery was trained on the intrepid rider, and soon we could see the commotion in the Federal lines, and the horse was shot and fell; but whether the brave rider was hit or not at the distance we could not tell.“
Capt. Allen in the January 1909 Confederate Veteran wrote: “…from the foregoing you will see that the Williams breech loading cannon began their service in the early part of 1862 and we have been able to trace these guns as late as the early part of the winter of 1864, at which time I am informed by Capt. T.M. Freeman of Houston, Texas, who was the Adjutant General of Giltner’s Brigade, the battery was put out of commission because when firing the guns rapidly the breech expanded and refused to lock for refiring, and the men of the battery found themselves at a disadvantage in that they had to take the fire of the enemy and could not reply.
“The battery was then disbanded, the men entering the cavalry or the mounted infantry service in Major Bart Jenkins’s battalion.”
About the Author: Lyle Hegsted of Olympia, Wash., has been interested in cannon and muzzle-loading guns since his grandfather gave him a salute gun. He built his first muzzleloading pistol 50 years ago and has been making them since. Artillery pieces he has made include a Coehorn mortar, swivel gun and half-scale Mountain Howitzer. He says building the Williams gun and rebuilding a 1925 Model T truck have taken up most of his spare time the past three years. He served with the U.S. Army Ordnance Corps during the Korean War, and before retirement was an engineer working on military gun laying radars and, later, missile and satellite systems.