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Re: Fort Sumter Questions?
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As the old timers use to say. 'The devil is in the details'.

Different type of weapons (guns) were made because they had different capabilities as technology improved. A cavalry unit armed with Spencer carbines had a distinct advantage over a cavalry unit armed with doublebarrel shotguns. The same is true with cannons. A rifled cannon had basically the same function as a smooth bore cannon of the same size. But the riflings gave the cannon a different capability to preform those same functions.

David brought up a good point about the federals maybe using a lighter weight shell in the 10 inch Columbiad mounted as a mortar in order to get greater range out of it and hit Charleston itself. This was not unusual either. During WW I the Germans use this same technique to build the Paris Gun, (sometimes erroroniously called "big Bertha") to obtain an amazing range of 75 miles in order to shell Paris, France. It wasn't accurate, but that didn't matter, they were able to shell the citizens of Paris. And that was their only onjective to create terror in those citizens of Paris.

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February 5, 1861
Fort Sumter Questions?
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