CIVIL WAR ARTILLERY LANYARD

CIVIL WAR ARTILLERY LANYARD

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$395.00

Quantity Available: 1

Item Code: 2026-9247

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Call 717-334-0347,
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The second Civil War artillery lanyard from the artillery portion of an old and respected collection we recently acquired. A very good condition example, complete with turned wood handle tapering to the raised rounded ends, providing a better grip, with the rope cord secured around its middle and holding a small iron hook at the end. An excellent example of the Civil War artillery lanyard. A turned, hardwood handle tapering from the center to the ends with raised rims for a secure grip, with rope cord attached at the center of the grip, with a small iron hook fixed at the end. The cord measures about 120” long, but has some curls and we did not try to pull it taught.

This would be one of the tools carried in the implement or “tube” pouch of “Number Four” on crew of a field gun, who would place a friction primer in the loaded cannon’s vent, put the hook at the end of the cord into a loop in the end of the serrated wire in the primer, and then stand back with lanyard played out, waiting for the gunner’s command to fire. Friction primers, using a serrated wire rapidly pulled through a combustible compound in a small, brass T-shaped tube to ignite the cannon’s propellant charge had been used experimentally in the Mexican War and were officially adopted soon after in preference to percussion locks or the older linstock methods of firing the cannon.


A sharp yank on lanyard set off the primer, whose flame ignited the propellant charge, and the round was then on its way. The crew would then reposition the gun from its recoil if necessary and again perform their prescribed tasks to ready the gun for its next shot. It was a complex series of steps that had to be performed in the right order even under fire, something requiring precise teamwork and instilled by hours of drill. We show a photo of a Civil War gun crew posed as if in action, with the artilleryman at right putting his weight on his left leg and his right arm slightly extended, as if to pull the lanyard.

This is a complete and very good example of a key piece of artillery gear with original handle showing good light wear, a full-length cord and original wire hook.    [sr][ph:L]

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