CS 3-INCH TENNESSEE PATTERN MULLANE SHELL

CS 3-INCH TENNESSEE PATTERN MULLANE SHELL

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$425.00

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Item Code: 2026-1292

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This is an excavated example of the Mullane shell for the 3-inch Ordnance Rifle that shows signs of being intentionally damaged before completion either to prevent it falling into Federal hands or being salvaged and used by Confederate forces. Versions of the Mullane, also known as the Tennessee shell, were in fact used in all theatres of the war through 1863 and into 1864. Their main feature is a separate cupped copper sabot attached to the base of the shell by a bolt and three rods extending from the bottom of the shell through holes in the sabot to cause the shell to rotate as the sabot expands and takes the rifling of the bore. To remedy the escape of gases through those holes in the sabot, the design was later reversed to use protrusions on the sabot to engage indentations on the bottom of the shell. Neither version seems to have been particularly successful. CS General E. Porter Alexander recalled the shell failed, “about three out of four times breaking its connection with the copper sabot, and it very frequently exploded in the gun; while of those which flew correctly, not one-fourth exploded at all.” Hardly a ringing endorsement. The result was that Read 3-inch rounds became the main projectile for CS 3-inch ordnance rifles.

In the final months of the war, however, the Mullane had a slight resurgence since its manufacture did not require a unified casting of the shell and sabot. This may date to that later period. The nose of the shell shows a flange on one side that would have been removed in final finishing. Further, the nose looks like it was intentionally broken across the fuze hole. Our best guess is that this comes from one of the Confederate arsenals and arms depots captured by US troops, where Confederate troops before pulling out tried to prevent usable weapons falling into Federal hands and Federal troops did their best to destroy or disable what they found to prevent it being salvaged and put into use against them. Sherman’s destruction of the arsenal at Milledgeville, GA, in November 1864 being a prime example of the latter, with arms meeting destruction by fire, by being dumped in the river, or perhaps both.    [sr][ph:L]

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