Cannon, Armstrong, Dahlgren, Lancaster, Parrott,

REMINGTON and WHIT WORTH GUNS, ORDNANCE, RIFLE, SHELL, . Artillery Corps. ( Mil .) When large balls of iron came to be propelled to great distances by the irresist- ible force of gunpowder, a great revolution gradually took place in military tactics. A body of men were set apart to study the force and action of gunpowder, the flight and range of projectiles, the weight and strength of cannon, and the manœuvring of heavy ma es of troops. The French were the first to make these researches; after them, the English; and still later, the Germans. During the Thirty Years' War, an important step was taken in Germany-that of including the artillerymen, who were till then a sort of guild, as a component in the regular army. Gustavus Adolphus in Sweden, Frederick II. in Pru ia, and Napoleon I. in France, all attached a very high degree of importance to the artillery as an arm of the service. After the great wars in the be- ginning of the present century, all the states of Eu- rope formally recognized artillery as the third great branch of military service; and in many of them, as France, Italy, and Ru ia, A. ranks before cavalry and infantry. The A. of the United States is divided as follows, according to its duties: - Heavy or foot A. is that portion which takes charge of, and manœu- vres the siege, sea-coast, and mountain A. Light or field A. is that portion which manœuvres field-pieces with troops in the field. It is divided into horse A. and mounted batteries. In horse A., the gunners, of which there are 7 to each piece, are mounted on horses, from which they have to dismount before attending to the piece, the two extra men holding the horses of the rest. In the mounted batteries , formerly called foot A. , the gunners are on foot, and remain so during the ma- nœuvres of the battery, except when it is desired to move at a very rapid rate, when they are mounted on the am- munition boxes. The horse A. was originally, and is still, designed for service along with cavalry, receiving the lightest guns, which enables it to move at the same rate as the cavalry, and to keep up with it for a con- sider able time. In time of peace, a battery of field A. is to be composed of 4 pieces; in time of war, of 6 or 8. In peace, each battery will have 76 men and 44 horses; in preparing for war, 100 men and 80 horses; and in war, 150 men and 110 horses. This supposes these batteries to be formed of pieces of the smallest calibre. For heavy pieces, of course, these numbers wouid have to be in- creased. For the effective force of our A. , see UNITED