Artillery Battery In The Civil War

A standard field artillery battery in the civil war consisted of six guns, each attached to and pulled by six horses. The gun was attached to a limber, which was supported by a caisson, also pulled by six horses. Each caisson was responsible for carrying the ammunition for the battery, twelve hundred rounds total.
A battery was lead by a captain as a commanding officer, a lieutenant responsible for the caissons, and one lieutenant in charge of each of the three firing sections. Each section had two cannon crews and were called the left, center, and right sections. Similar to the way today’s MLRS firing sections are composed, a sergeant was the chief of each cannon and had a corporal acting as the gunner beneath him. There were also seven
privates assigned to each gun, all with different roles assisting in the fire mission process. During a battle, after the cannon was in place, the gunner would decide the range and tell one of the privates what round was required. The gunner would then attach the site, and begin the aiming process while the round was prepared, carried to, and rammed in the bore. Once the gunner was satisfied with the aiming, everyone would back away from the weapon and the chief would give the fire command. After firing the cannon, three privates would push it back into place and the process would start over again.