Description
Jack Bell covers more than 360 projectiles in smoothbore calibers of 32-pounder and up and rifled projectiles of 4-inch caliber and larger. Bell also documents twenty-one Union and Confederate torpedoes and mines, both those from historical records and those who have survived to up to date times. Every projectile and torpedo is presented in a data sheet showing a couple of views of the specimen and providing data including, but not limited to, diameter, weight, the gun used to fire it, rarity index, and provenance.
Over the years those studying Civil War ordnance have been relying at the out-of-print 1973 publication by Sydney Kerksis and Thomas Dickey, Heavy Artillery Projectiles of the Civil War 1861-1865, which covers not up to half the material presented in Bell’s book. Beautifully illustrated with more than 1,000 photos of projectiles from private and non-private collections, Civil War Heavy Explosive Ordnance is the new standard reference volume and will likely be of great interest to Civil War historians, museum curators, field archaeologists, private collectors, dealers, and consultants on unexploded ordnance.