3-inch Ordnance Rifle #931 is the highest numbered 3-inch Ordnance Rifle at Gettysburg National Military Park. It was manufactured in 1866. The grooves/rifling inside the barrel are easily visible in this photograph. The Evergreen Cemetery Gatehouse is visible in the left background. This view was taken facing southwest at approximately 3:30 PM on Sunday, July 5, 2009.
In today’s Gettysburg Artillery post on East Cemetery Hill, Licensed Battlefield Guide George Newton presents the highest numbered 3-inch Ordnance Rifle at Gettysburg National Military Park, and the positions of the artillery pieces today representing Cooper’s Battery and Rickett’s Battery.
This map shows the locations of the videos that we shot on East Cemetery Hill. Videos #1-#13 were presented in our first three artillery posts. Video #14 was filmed on East Cemetery Hill at the headquarters marker for Major-General Oliver O. Howard. Videos #15 and #16 were filmed by the artillery marker for Cooper’s Pennsylvania Battery. Videos #17 and #18 and shot by 3-inch Ordnance Rifle #931. Video #19 was shot just southeast of the Equestrian monument to Winfield Scott Hancock. This map was created facing north at approximately 4:00 PM on Monday, July 6, 2009.
Gettysburg Licensed Battlefield Guide George Newton is standing next to 3-inch Ordnance Rifle #931. The monument to the 4th Ohio Infantry Regiment is in the background, and Evergreen Cemetery is in the background on the other (southwest) side of the Baltimore Pike. This view was taken facing southwest at approximately 3:30 PM on Sunday, July 5, 2009.
In Video #17 (Videos #1- #16 were shown in our previous artillery posts) Gettysburg Licensed Battlefield Guide George Newton shows us 3-inch Ordnance Rifle #931, the highest numbered 3-inch Ordnance Rifle at Gettysburg National Military Park. This view was taken facing southwest at approximately 3:30 PM on Sunday, July 5, 2009.
The 3-inch Ordnanced Rifle was one of approximately 1000 manufactured during the Civil War by the Phoenix Iron Works in Phoenixville, Pennsylvania. The United States Army used 1400 3-inch Ordnance Rifles during the war. This view was taken facing southeast at approximately 3:30 PM on Sunday, July 5, 2009.
In Video #18 Licensed Battlefield Guide George Newton shares with us that even though the war was finished in 1865, Phoenix Iron Company kept making these weapons until 1866. This view was taken facing southwest at approximately 3:30 PM on Sunday, July 5, 2009.
Licensed Battlefield Guide George Newton is standing on East Cemetery Hill just southeast of the Hancock Equestrian Monument. The monument to Rickett’s Pennsylvania Battery is in the left background. The 1879 marker for Cooper’s Battery is in the center background. The 1889 monument to Cooper’s Battery is in the right background. This view was taken facing northeast at approximately 3:30 PM on Sunday, July 5, 2009.
In Video #19 George Newton explains the positions of Rickett’s and Cooper’s batteries according to the War Department’s placement of the artillery pieces. This view was taken facing northeast to northwest to southwest at approximately 3:30 PM on Sunday, July 5, 2009.