There were many other incidents of artillery taking an active part in the wars of the 1700s, but you may have noticed that where it seems to have had its greatest influence was against static positions. Most of the the guns that participated in these fights could best be classified as Siege Artillery, which differs from the artillery that normally traveled with the armies on the march -- known as Field Artillery. The questions that may have come to you might be, "what effect did Field Artillery have upon the battles in the field?" and "what actually IS Field Artillery?"

Let me begin with a description of what constituted Field Artillery by first giving you an idea of ALL the types of ordnance used throughout the period: There were 4 types of ordnance utilized during the the 18th century: Guns, Howitzers, Mortars, and Carronades.

Guns were mounted on either a field or garrison carriage, had barrels of 12 calibers* or more, fired solid shot, canister, or grapeshot on a flat trajectory, and were usually of standard sizes (3, 4, 6, 9, 12, 18, 24, 32, and 42 pound) as determined by the weight of the solid shot fired by that cannon.

* A caliber is equal to the measure of one diameter of a barrel's interior or its bore. For example, a 6-pound gun would have a bore of approximately 3 2/3 inches. To be classified as a Gun (12 calibers or more), it would need to have a minimum bore length of around 44 inches. (The British Light 6-pound gun's barrel was 4 1/2 feet, or 54 inches, long.)

Howitzers were mounted on a heavier field carriage, had barrels between 5 and 10 calibers, fired explosive shells or canister, were capable of horizontal or high-angle fire, and were usually manufactured with bore diameters of 6, 8, 10, and 13 inches.

Mortars were mounted on wooden "beds" without wheels, had barrels of 3 to 4 calibers in length, fired high-angle fire only, fired explosive shells only, had bore diameters of 4.6, 5.8, 8, 10, and 13 inches, and were mostly used in sieges and other stationary battles.

Carronades (introduced into British service in 1779) were 7 calibers in length, had a light weight iron barrel, had shot weighing 24, 32, and 48 pounds, and were used exclusively by ships and fortifications. They were mounted upon wood or iron garrison carriages.

Field Artillery consisted of Guns (of 24 pounds and less) and Howitzers mounted on field carriages. All of the other types of ordnance were limited to ship-to-ship and siege warfare, and did not normally travel with an 18th cen­tury army on the march. What follows is a description of the basic parts of a field artillery piece.

The barrel of the average gun had five sections, which were (starting from the breech end): the Cascable, the First Reinforce (where the vent hole was), the Second Reinforce (where the Trunnions and (possibly) Dolphins were), the Chase, and the Muzzle. The thickness of the tube was at its thickest near the vent and thinnest at the muzzle. The Trunnions were perpendicular to the bore, were usually on closer to the bottom of the tube, and were where the tube was attached to the carriage.

The Field Carriage consisted of five main parts: 2 Cheeks, the Axel Tree, and 2 Wheels. The Cheeks were joined by multiple Transoms, and often had a separate ammunition box that sat upon the trail and between the Cheeks. The wheels, unlike wagon wheels, were "dished" to better absorb the impact of firing and had much heavier spokes and tires. The Axle Tree had separate axles for each Wheel which were held on with simple pins that went through the axle on the outside of each. The barrel's trunnions sat in Trunnion Holes on each Cheek, and were secured by heavy iron straps and locking pins. The barrel's elevation could be controlled either by using an Elevating Screw or a wooden Quoin. Some types of carriages had ammunition boxes to both sides of the barrel mounted just outside the Cheeks for ease of access during battle. In the rearmost Transom there was a Pintel hole to allow for a limber to be attached to the gun for pulling it by either horses or oxen.

Tools used by the crew in the loading and firing of the gun consisted of a Rammer, a Worm or Wad Hook, a Sponge, a Linstock and slow match, Port­fires, Priming Wire/Picks, Drag ropes/chains, and Hand Spikes/Shafts. The loading of the piece, which became slower as the size of the shot increased, followed this procedure: Load the Powder and Shot, Ram down the ammuni­tion, Punch a hole in the powder bag through the vent hole using a thick brass wire, insert the fuse, light the fuse using the Portfire or Lintstock. Then re­move any remaining wadding and douse any sparks, run the gun back "into battery", and prepare to load again. Ammunition for guns consisted of Solid Shot, Grape Shot, Canister, Bar Shot, Chain Shot, and Howitzers could fire exploding Shell and Canister. Light guns (6 pounds and under) would only fire Solid, Grape, and Canister shot. Limbers were provided for all guns to allow for long-distance transport by horses. Light guns could be pulled by only one horse, while heavy guns (24 pound) might require a dozen or more.