Caisson - Chickamauga National Battlefield Visitors Center - Chickamauga, GA
Posted by: 
YoSam.
N 34° 56.415 W 085° 15.597
16S E 658906 N 3867799
Artillery supply coach (Caisson) on display inside the Visitors Center
Waymark Code: WMP76B
Location: Georgia, United States
Date Posted: 07/13/2015
Views: 1
County of display: Catoosa County
Location of display: Location of site: Lafayette Hwy & Post Rd., Visitors Center Chickamauga National Battlefield
Display erected by: National Park Service
"A limber is a two-wheeled cart designed to support the trail of an artillery piece, or the stock of a field carriage such as a caisson or traveling forge, allowing it to be towed.
"A caisson is a two-wheeled cart designed to carry artillery ammunition. Caissons are used to bear the casket of the deceased in some state and military funerals in certain Western cultures, including the United States and United Kingdom.
During the American Civil War, U.S. Army equipment was identical to Confederate Army equipment, essentially identical to French equipment, and similar to that of other nations. The field artillery limber assumed its archetypal form – two wheels, an ammunition chest, a pintle hook at the rear, and a central pole with horses harnessed on either side. The artillery piece had an iron ring (lunette) at the end of the trail. To move the piece, the lunette was dropped over the pintle hook (which resembles a modern trailer hitch). The connection was secured by inserting a pintle hook key into the pintle.
"The quantity of ammunition in the chest, which could be detached from the limber, depended on the size of the piece. An ammunition chest for the M1857 light 12-pounder gun (“Napoleon”) carried 28 rounds. The cover of the ammunition chest was made of sheet copper to prevent stray embers from setting the chest on fire." ~ Wikipedia