."

As gunners gradually became professional soldiers, gun drills took on
a more military aspect, as these seventeenth century commands show:

1. Put back your piece.
2. Order your piece to load.
3. Search your piece.
4. Sponge your piece.
5. Fill your ladle.
6. Put in your powder.
7. Empty your ladle.
8. Put up your powder.
9. Thrust home your wad.
10. Regard your shot.
11. Put home your shot gently.
12. Thrust home your wad with
three strokes.
13. Gauge your piece.

Gunners had no trouble finding work, as is singularly illustrated by
the case of Andrew Ransom, a stray Englishman captured near St.
Augustine in the late 1600's. He was condemned to death. The
executional device failed, however, and the padres in attendance took
it as an act of God and led Ransom to sanctuary at the friary.
Meanwhile, the Spanish governor learned this man was an artillerist
and a maker of "artificial fires." The governor offered to "protect"
him if he would live at the Castillo and put his talents to use.
Ransom did.

[Illustration: Figure 49--A SIEGE BOMBARD OF THE 1500's.]

By 1800, although guns could be served with as few as three men,
efficient drill usually called for a much larger force. The smallest
crew listed in the United States Navy manual of 1866 was seven: first
and second gun captains, two loaders, two spongers, and a "powder
monkey" (powder boy). An 11-inch pivot-gun on its revolving carriage
was served by 24 crewmen and a powderman. In the field, transportation
for a 24-pounder siege gun took 10 horses and 5 drivers.

Twelve rounds an hour was good practice for heavy guns during the
Civil War period, although the figure could be upped to 20 rounds. By
this date, of course, although the principles of muzzle loading had
not changed, actual loading of the gun was greatly simplified by using
fixed and semi-fixed ammunition. Loading technique varied with the
gun, but the following summary of drill from the United States _Heavy
Ordnance Manual_ of 1861 gives a fair idea of how the crew handled a
siege gun:

In the first place, consider that the equipment is all in its proper
place. The gun is on a two-wheeled siege carriage, and is "in
battery," or pushed forward on the platform until the muzzle is in the
earthwork embrasure. On each side of the gun are three handspikes,
leaning against the parapet. On the right of the gun a sponge and a
rammer are laid on a prop, about 6 feet away f