Canister  "Giant Shotguns"

"The enemy fell like grass before the mower." "It seemed as if whole companies were wiped out of existence." These quotes from Civil War soldiers are typical descriptions of the effect of canister rounds fired from cannons. A canister round was a thin-walled metal cylinder packed with musket balls, or large lead or iron balls, and sawdust. Some canister rounds that have been found were packed with nails, pieces of hinges, and other scrap metal. A wooden block, or "sabot", was attached to the bottom of the canister. The sabot helped to keep the round in the middle of the bore and also prevented the explosion gases from shooting out around the sides of the canister. Attached to the bottom of the sabot was the cloth bag that contained the propellant powder that set off the round. When the powder was set off, the force of the explosion would disrupt the can and the shot would spray out of the muzzle of the cannon with murderous effect.

Canister rounds were the smoothbore canon's most lethal load and probably killed more Civil War soldiers than all other types of artillery rounds combined. Canister was effective only at short range, 600 yards or less, but like the blast from a giant sawed-off shotgun, the mass of slugs from the round would spread out and decimate anything downrange. When the enemy was within 150 yards, soldiers would load the guns with two or even three rounds of canister and fire them all off at one time.

The carnage would be gruesome. Attackers could increase the range of the canister by firing into hard or rocky ground, from which the slugs would ricochet into the mass of men. Union Gen. Alpheus Williams described the effect: "The Rebels followed with a yell but three or four of our batteries being in position they were received with a tornado of canister. Each canister contains several hundred balls. They fell in the very front of the line... stirring up a dust like a thick cloud. When the dust blew away no regiment and not a living man was to be seen."

Fascinating Fact:  Grapeshot was a term that was often used interchangeably with canister during the war. Grape was actually a naval round at this time and was little used by land forces.


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