The Guns of N.C.

Despite the fear that cannons or “artillery” caused in the soldiers of the American Revolution, they did not play a major role in the war in North Carolina. Neither the Continental nor British armies had enough here to turn the tide of battle in most cases.

However, cannons play supporting roles in a number of N.C. stories from before the Revolution through to its end. They signaled the start of the Battle of Alamance against the Regulators, and were the source of an early confrontation between rebels and the colonial governor in New Bern. The most famous cannons in N.C.’s war were probably a myth, but the ones that actually were at the Battle of Moore’s Creek contributed to the quick Patriot victory. The Patriots and British tussled over a set of cannons at Fort Johnston. Another myth arose over artillery at Guilford Court House, where the British used it to fight off a Continental counter-attack. A drunken citizen’s firing of cannons in Beaufort caused problems, but those at the town fort could not fight off a raid near the end of the war.

Elsewhere in the young United States, large “siege” cannons and short-barreled guns such as “mortars” were used against defense works. No records indicate these were used in North Carolina, so this page mostly focuses on “field” guns used by armies on the move.

What They Looked Like

A cannon was basically just a large gun barrel: a thick-walled tube of bronze or iron, open on one end (the “mouth”). Iron barrels were cheaper and stronger, so more gunpowder could be used to send their shots further. But bronze was lighter and thus preferred f