By Harry Schenawolf, author of the Shades of Liberty Series about African American soldiers in the American Revolution. Whenever there existed the possibility that artillery pieces could fall into the hands of the enemy, the weapons were rendered useless, even if only temporarily. The method most common was called spiking. Spiking involved jamming some metal object into the vent or touchhole of cannon. The vent is a hole drilled through the casing at the base of the gun’s bore and breech. Priming powder was poured into the vent along with the insertion of a fuse once the muzzle-loading gun was charged with canister of powder and ball rammed home. A slow match ignited the powder within the vent firing the gun.
Gun crews or ‘cannon cockers’ would carry metal spikes long enough that when jammed down the vent, it could reach the inside bottom of the bore. As the spike was hammered into the hole, the metal would bend or flair out. Once the spike was flush with the case or barrel, another spike or similar piece of metal was used to set the one driven into the vent below the rim. The weapon could not be fired until a new vent hole was drilled.
Field guns, portable cannon on carriages twelve pounds or lighter, when pulled or drawn onto the battle field were constantly in danger of capture, especially those ordered into a forward position. When an infantry charge was certain to overrun the artillery position before the cannon could be carried off, the crew, if possible, would spike their weapons prior to abandoning them. Many times, either because the infantry or cavalry attack was too rapid or if the crew were killed or wounded, the cannon would fall into the hands of the enemy before they could be spiked. The captured cannon could then be used against their former owners. Often an enemy would overrun an artillery position only to find themselves victim to a strong counter attack. If there were no time to remove the guns, then desperate measures were taken to spike the cannon before a hasty retreat. Infantry could do this by jamming a bayonet down the vent and snapping off the end. This would at least put the weapon out of commission until after the day’s battle played out. The lines of battle would often vacillate throughout the day. The same field pieces could be claimed by both sides several times with each side either turning the guns on their adversary or drastically attempting to spike the guns.
Occasionally, in a moment of crisis, a large rock or mortar would be quickly hammered down the vent, preventing the cannon from immediately being turned onto the retreating soldiers. This was often the case when a fortification or barrier in a set battery was in risk of being overwhelmed by the enemy. Prior to Washington abandoning New York City in 1776, any set cannon that could not be carriaged and moved north was spiked. This including hundred year old Dutch relics that were carted and stored at the Commons at the head of Broadway. Brigadier General John Gibbons wrote an influential artillery manual in 1859. The section, divided into three small subtitles, that succinctly describes the practice to render cannon unserviceable and how to drive out a spike is quoted here in its entirety:
Spiking Cannon and Rendering them Unserviceable
To spike a piece, or to render it unserviceable, drive into the vent a jagged and hardened steel spike with a soft point, or a nail without a head; break it off flush with the outer surface, and clinch the point inside by means of the rammer. Wedge a shot in the bottom of the bore by wrapping it with felt, or by means of iron wedges, using the rammer or a bar of iron to drive them in; a wooden wedge would be easily burnt by means of a charcoal fire lighted with the aid of a bellows. Cause shells to burst in the bore of brass guns; or fire broken shot from them with high charges. Fill a piece with sand, over the charge, to burst it. Fire a piece against another, muzzle to muzzle, or the muzzle of one to the chase of the other. Light a fire under the chase of a brass gun, and strike on it with a sledge to bend it. Break off the trunnions of iron guns; or burst them by firing them with heavy charges and full of shot, at a high elevation. When guns are to be spiked temporarily, and are likely to be retaken, a spring spike is used, having a shoulder to prevent its being too easily extracted.
Unspike a Cannon
If the spike is not screwed in or clinched, and the bore is not impeded, but in a charge of powder of 1/3 the weight of the shot, and ram junk wads over it with a handspike, laying on the bottom of the bore a strip of wood with a groove on the underside containing a strand of quick-match by which fire is communicated to the charge; in a brass gun, take out some of the metal at the upper orifice of the vent, and pour sulfuric acid into the groove for some hours before firing. If this method, several times repeated, is not successful, unscrew the vent-piece, if it be a brass gun, and if an iron one, drill out the spike, or drill a new vent.
To drive out a shot wedged in the Bore
Unscrew the vent-piece, if there be one, and drive in wedges so as to start the shot forward, then ram it back again in order to seize the wedge with a hook; or pour in powder, and fire it after replacing the vent-piece. In the last resort, bore a hole in the bottom of the breech, drive out the shot, and stop the hole with a screw.
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RESOURSES
Gibbons, John Brigadier General. The Artillerist’s Manual. 1863: D. Van Nostrand, New York, NY
Heidler, David S., Heidler, Jeanne. Encyclopedia of the War of 1812. 1997: Naval Institute Press, Annapolis, Maryland.
Jackson, Melvin H., Charles DeBeer. Eighteenth-Century Gunfounding: The Verbruggens at the Royal Brass Foundry. 1974: Smithsonian Institute Press, Washington, DC.