Cannon provides history lessons

Firing a cannon isn't as simple as it seems, especially when manning a cannon in a battle.

Mathematics, including trigonometry, is essential in understanding the precepts in firing artillery which includes "skipping" cannon balls to decimate the opposing forces' artillery.

During the Battle of Pea Ridge in 1862, there was a two-hour long artillery barrage on March 8.

"It was the largest Civil War bombardment up to that point," Troy Banzhaf said. There were 21 guns and the shooting was sustained for two hours. He said the federal troops had the ammunition and were trying to decimate the Confederate cannons. "They pounded the Confederates into the woods."

The artillery barrage "probably demoralized the Confederate Army more than anything. Curtis asked for over 5,000 rounds of artillery to replace what he had shot in two days."

Banzhaf, supervisory park ranger at the Pea Ridge National Military Park, is a certified artillery specialist. He and several volunteers hold artillery demonstrations every other Saturday at the park.

"It (firing a cannon) was an art form. A lot of times it was the smartest kid in the class (in charge of artillery). There is a lot of math involved in the artillery."

"I just got into it because I like to hear stuff blow up," Banzhaf said, explaining why he began shooting the cannons.

"I had never fired a cannon until 2006."

Now, he's been to three National Park Service historic weapons certifications courses. He is required to attend every four years.

"Since the Union artillery played such a role here, this was primarily an artillery battle," Banzhaf said, explaining one of the reasons for the demonstrations at Pea Ridge National Military Park.

"This program is solely to show the public the cannons here at Pea Ridge -- what it took to load and fire them and how the terrain affected the battle."

There were a larger number of artillery here, Banzhaf said, "... there was an exceedingly large number of cannons here for the amount of infantry -- there were 23,000 troops and over 100 cannons. That's pretty unusual for such a small -- for two small -- armies."

"The process -- what it took -- what these guys had to endure ... The time it took, standing out here exposed, loading these guns while thousands of guys are standing here trying to shoot at you... and, also the fact, that even though we're just demonstrating, it's not an exact representation ... it's very noisy.

"Every time one of those things went off, somebody on the other side of that died. It's not a toy. It's not something to climb on and have your picture taken. They are tools of death. We're firing a small blank round that's not near the charge if we were firing a cannon ball," Banzhaf said, adding that he read that when the Battle of Pea Ridge was going on, the cannons could be heard in Fayetteville.

The 3,484 casualties at the Battle of Pea Ridge includes killed, wounded and missing.

"These aren't video games. These involve human beings with stories," he said. "There were men who fought and died here who never got to go home, were buried in a mass grave and left here until after the Civil War."

Banzhaf shows the different sizes of cannons and the different kinds of shot used including canisters -- case shot and shells.

"The lion's share here were six-pounders; there were a few 12-pounders," he said.

Case shot has bullets inside it that rain down on the troops; shell canisters are designed to explode and rain shrapnel down. He explained that solid shot was often "skipped" and was most effective to counter battery fire. It was fired low and skipped off the ground with great velocity before hitting its target.

"You could use the shot to hit an axle or wheel of a gun. It will obliterate it knocking the gun out of action," he said.

A native of Rogers, Banzhaf graduated from Rogers High School and the University of Arkansas. He began working at the Pea Ridge National Military Park while a student in college and worked in maintenance.

"They were doing some historic preservation.... repairing cannon carriages. It morphed into something completely different. I fell in love with this place."

Banzhaf remembers visiting the military park when he was in the fifth grade at Eastside Elementary School. He said he bought three books on the Civil War and has been in love with history ever since.