Overview History of Artillery Ordnance at Sandy Hook Proving Ground
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J r~ r, This report is not a detailed history of the ^andy Hook Proving Ground itself, but it is or. attempt to £ive an overview history of what, kind of artillery ordnance v:us beiri£ tested at Sandy Hook botwecn 1&7^ and 1919, and what types of ordnance have been found at the Hook cince it became a National Recreation Area. The report includes the following sections: Pages 1-2. .Introduction . ;-S;Vv * ' Pages 2-15........Small Arms Ammunition K^; ; .: Pages 16-19.......Sandy Hook Ordnance Proving Ground: An Overview; Pages 20-32. Weapons tested at the Proving Ground from "°nh " Information) - . ;;^V| is>s?. Pages 33-^3 Types of Artillery & Artillery Projectiles? fir<i^it^e Prbv Ground from 187U to 1919 (listing probable; areas on: Sandy Hook). ' ;•-....£ Pages M*-l<6 Artillery Projectiles & Fuses, a short historyj ! Pages ^7-50 Smoothbore Ammunition (cannonballs) ; - Pages 5O-6U Rifle Projectiles: Field and. Coast Artillery Pages 65-67.. Bursting Charges in Projectiles: 1900, 1907, Page 68. .....Types of Projectiles for U.S. Cannon;'(-191Q)» •: Pages 69-70.......Colors for Projectiles • - .' Pages 70-71 Interior coatings of projectiles, shell bases,; ' ' '-,. V • •• ' Rockets. • •,"'••'.•"• Y' ' •"^-•'-'"": •••;... • ," '•••w. • ." - • - Pa«eu72 Types of. Shells . ", Bages 73-81 Artillery shell's and other ordnance found'at 1 . of Gateway National Recreation Area (yith lofei Pages'£2-87.......Sa,fety j^roceduKes to follow \-/heri .dealing with oiSdnance ^ .Large .Map shpwing ordnance ir.pact and target areas at 'the Sanfiy _ •'"'Proving Ground. (pz>c> L '>.r>"-Ji J '' •• •." -\M 200.1f C02NJ000402_0l.05_0001 This report wan put together at the request of the Vinitor Protection* Resource Management Ranger Division of the Sandy Hook Unit of Gateway National Recreation Area. The report is an effort to help the Park Ranger Staff identify any ordnance that is bound to be found on the beach and in dune areas from North Beach south to the surfing beach, the old Proving Ground Range. •'Of! For ^5 years Sandy Hook served as the U.S. Army's first official Proving Ground, from 187^ to 1919. With the passing of time the Proving Ground's 5 historical significance and myriad activities have been forgotten, but it was here at Sandy Hook that the Proving Ground had a key role in the deve- If lopment of the weapons employed by the U.S. Coast Artillery and U.S.^Field i Artillery during the vital years (1898-I9I8) that our Nation emerged as a world power. Historian Edwin C. Bearss researched the Sandy Hook Proving Ground Historic Resource Study. Historian Bearss consulted all primary manuscript materials at the National Archives preserved in Record Groups 77 and 156, focusing on the Sandy Hook Proving Ground from its establishment until 1891, when it was established as a separate facility. For the period 1891-1919 the principal sources Historian Bearss relied upon were the.Executive Documents, the Annual Reports of the commanding officer, and the Returns for U.S. Military .Posts. The New York JTiraes Index for the years 187^1919 were examined and articles describing Proving Ground activities read. ' ', Unfortunately, in regard to the many types of guns, carriages, artillery shells, powders, etc., Bearss1 study istfeither det.ai.led'fcr complete. He skipped Fiscal Years 190** and 1905 activities at the Proving Ground,' and for Fiscal Years 1906 through 1919 gave very general outlines as to what was beingjtested.at Sandy Hook. Historian Bearss is not to be faulted however, 'because he was facda with an enormous research tabk. In his Preface he noted ' • f i* ''. ••••'•' >k ,«"...within;the constraints imposed by funding, there wae insulffib£«nt time "' available to examine the huge number of documents in Record Group 156 for (the years 1891-1919)." When one takes into account that Bearss' study is the first of it's kind about the Sandy Hook Proving Ground, it should be considered the most de- tailed and complete. It appears that another resource study regarding all the guns, carriages, artillery shells, gun powders, fuses, etc., could be done in detail to follow up on Historian Bearss1 priceless research. v worr ninny dirOrnil. Uindn of ordnance t«M.p donu «t Sandy Hook, but which are not covered in Bearss1 report. A few of the teats not mentioned are the following: From Frank Leslie'6 Illustrated Newspaper of June 2nd, 1877, there is an engraving captioned "Testing Life Saving and ?^ . Hale war rockets in the presence of the United States Ordnance Board at Sandy Hook." Apparently the teats took place, on May 12th and the etory appeared in the June 2nd newspaper issue. j-.$_ Another illustration; sketched by Rufus F. Zogbuam, shows nine soldiers & }•'/ff^K wearing Winter overcoats getting ready to fire a field piece. This sketch appeared in the November 15» 1&79, issue of Harper's Weekly, and was captioned "Long Range-Target Practice. Standing Gun Drill. Artillery School for Militia- men at Fort Hamilton with a view of Long Range Target Practice at the Sandy Hook Proving Ground, Sandy Hook, New Jersey." As sketched by Zogbuam, the cannon barrel strongly resembles either a 12-pounder Bronze Confederate Field " i ; / Gun (Figure 122, Warren Ripley's Artillery & Ammunition of the Civil War, page v| 27) t and also the Bronze Confederate 3-inch Field Rifle (Figure 1X33-and 3*S •J page 1?8, Ripley, Artillery & Ammunition of the Civil War). The accuracy of ;| my observations and assumptions depends, of course, on the accuracy of ''& Zogbuam's sketch. •..-•.*..' *$• Small arms were also test fired" at the Sandy Hook'Proving Ground, 'in the 'J November-December 1977 issue of Rifle Magazine there was an article written ;| ' ' by W.'.Oohn Farquhanaon.• entitled V.A5T7O at Two Miles."- This article details I the results of long'range tests of U.S.* Army Model 18731' .^5-caliber rifles, : / I \;- % M/'the British Army •577- *5O Martini-Henry lever-operated,'- drop-^locfe action rifles, and Sharps-Borchardt Model 1878 rifles using 405 and 500-grain lead bullets, including variations in muzzle velocity and penetration of lead bullets through one-inch target boards and into sand. These tests were made at the request of the Chief of Ordnance, whose interest had been aroused by . reports of long range infantry fire, up to 1# miles, during the 1877-78 Turko- Russian War. In formation on these tests was found in The Report of the Secretary of War, I88O, Volume III, under the chapter titled, "Extreme Ranges of Military Small Arms." The first long range tests were made at ranges of up to 1,500 yards on the Springfield Armory test range at Long Meadow, Massachusetts. These tests compared the JLong distance shooting and penetration performance of the .^5 caliber trapdoor Springfield and the .^5 caliber Martini-Henry rifles. The report of October 15» 1879* covers long range firing at Sandy Hook, New Jersey. This was done along th.e beach to make the location of the bullet strike easier ^r-^ to find. Also, the long beaches allowed shooting back to 3,200 and «ven 3,500 • • - yardsl •.;-."»'• •"..•'' i ...•*«• . 1 .--.-.•... 'M:- • • ' • •• • -v\-..-.- : I ,H The lead slugs shot from these rifles were found to have struck point on into j ;! the sand and they generally penetrated to depths of k% 5t 6, 8, and 10 inches, >;] sometimes more, depending upon distance. On the, November 13* 1879» firing test er ;:*\i a maximum long range distance of 3«-68O yards was achieved with the *'&5^<?*lib .J long range, 1-in-i8 twist Springfield rifle firing at a 32* angle of elevation! ; :;^ An angle of about 25° placed bullets all around the target at 3»500''yards range. fi: '• • ' y •• • • '-'i Vfhile the tests may be considered oddities today, they proved extremely useful <i at the time. The fact that a 500-grain lead bullet .penetrated through 1 to 3 ;? inch thick wood plank targets and- then into 8 o"r more inches of sand*meant that it could kill or wound enemy troops at extreme distances, even if they were "? • . partially protected. This was significant military information in a period ; % . • )« when it was • ^uite""usuMi.. • •' l' , fo"^ r large '•*•'.'masses' of. troops • to'for• ai ug within-view..••••' , of ' )- , ,. defendens. •. •* • 1 '!. 1"* ••' h "»•' '"• A number of bullets and cartridges have been found at Sandy Hook over the years. A sampling of those found here, as well as others that might possibly be found here, are illustrated below. The illustrations and accomparing historical information come from the book "Cartridges: A Pictorial pigest of Small Arms Ammunition" by Herschel C. Logan. CALIBER 50 (50 Smith, brass and paper) iri Total length l i,t in. l:!Ji in. thin brass and paper wrapped case, .630 dia. Conical lead bullet -CALIBER "69 Used in the .50 Smith B. L, Percussion Rifled Carbine On Dec. 15,1863, Thorites J» Rodman (69 Musket) and Silas Crispin secured a patent Total length 2'/i« in. (No. 40,988) for a "metallic cartridge Buff colored paper tied with case formed of thin gapped sheet light colored tord metal . combined wijth^an.internal Since the regulation smooth bore mus- or external strengthening disk or cup. Whether this disk is made of paper, ket of .69 caliber gave way to the .58 3 caliber musket with a rifled barrel metal or elastic material. " This patent using a conical bullet in 1855, the life was assigned to Thomas Poultney at ; of.t£is, cartridge must ha^ye.been very^ Baltimore, Md. Hence from the label brief. It is known that some Of the - ft ivjll be seen that thg&'&mith'. car- tridges were produced, ^tirtder this 1842 muskets and musketoons were ; rifled to take the new conical bullets, patent.