Columbiad

This article is about the type of cannon gun. For the literary work, see The Columbiad. For other uses, see Columbiad (disambiguation).
Ten-inch Confederate columbiad at Fort Donelson National Battlefield

The columbiad was a large-caliber, smoothbore, muzzle-loading cannon able to fire heavy projectiles at both high and low trajectories. This feature enabled the columbiad to fire solid shot or shell to long ranges, making it an excellent seacoast defense weapon for its day.[1]: 61, 63  Invented by Colonel George Bomford, United States Army, in 1811, columbiads were used in United States seacoast defense from the War of 1812 until the early years of the 20th century. Very few columbiads were used outside of the U.S. and Confederate Armies; nevertheless, the columbiad is considered by some as the inspiration for the later shell-only cannons developed by Frenchman Henri-Joseph Paixhans some 30 years later.[2]

  1. ^ Olmstead, Stark, Tucker (1997). The Big Guns, Civil War Siege, Seacoast, and Naval Cannon. Museum Restoration Service. ISBN 0-88855-012-X.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  2. ^ "Seacoast Fortifications of the United States", Emanuel Lewis, 1970, ISBN 0-929521-11-0