Image from:
Prints and Photographs Division,
Library of Congress
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The Williams Gun was invented by Captain R. S. Williams and produced in small numbers for the Confederacy by the Tredegar Iron works in Richmond in 1861.
This small crank-operated breechloading artillery piece saw action at the Battle of Seven Pines in 1862.
The Williams Gun was operated by a crew of three. One man operated the crank, which opened and closed the breech block.
A second man loaded the round, and a third man placed a new percussion cap in a side-mounted lock before each firing.
When the crank was rotated, the breech block closed and a horizontal hammer automatically fell on the percussion cap.
The Williams gun could fire over twenty rounds in a minute to a range of approximately 2000 yards.
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