Military terminology tends to have quite precise meanings, some of
which vary with time. Here's a set of definitions from a Glossary of
Artillery.

CANISTER: A metal cylinder made of tin, iron, or lead, with a removable
thin iron top. A heavy iron plate is usually located between the
canister balls and the wooden sabot at the bottom. The cylinder
contains iron or lead balls which are arranged in rows with sawdust
packed between them. The top edge of the vertical cylinder wall is bent
over the iron top plate to help keep the canister contents in place and
the bottom edge is nailed to the wooden sabot. Canister was designed to
be used close range against enemy troops with the desired effect being
that of a huge shotgun blast. It was recommended for use at ranges
under 350 yards. A 12-pounder canister for the Napoleon smoothbore
contained twenty-seven iron balls while the 12-pounder howitzer
contained forty-eight iron balls. Canister was used in field, mountain,
siege, and seacoast weapons.

CASE-SHOT: Also known as spherical case-shot. Similar to the common
shell except that the walls of the projectile were thinner. In both
spherical and rifled projectiles, the bursting charge was usually
located in a thin tin or iron container and placed in the center of the
internal cavity. The case-shot was placed around this container. The
cavity was usually filled with lead or iron balls in a sulphur or pitch
matrix. The small bursting charge of black powder was designed to
disperse the case-shot balls in a cone-shaped pattern. The concept was
to give the same effects of canister, but at much longer ranges.
Spherical case-shot was invented by an Englishman named Lieutenant
Henry Shrapnel of the Royal Artillery in 1784. For an example of a
cross-section of a case-shot projectile.

GRAPESHOT: Iron balls which, when bound together, formed a stand of
grapeshot. Also known as "grape." See Stand of Grape.

STAND OF GRAPE: A projectile consisting of a cast iron bottom and top
plate with a specific number (usually nine) of cast iron shot arranged
in three tiers between them. The unit was held together by an axle bolt
through the two plates and two iron rings around the shot. A hemp rope
was attached to the top plate for ease in transportation and loading.
When the projectile was fired it broke apart and spread with a shotgun
effect. Grapeshot was used at relatively close range against advancing
enemy but, by the time of the Civil War, it had been almost wholly
replaced by canister.


Case shot is what Henry Shrapnel invented. It's simply a cannon ball
that is hollow, filled with powder and which bursts into small pieces
that disperse into "shrapnel" that do the damage to opposing forces.
Later variations, especially around the Civil War era, were also hollow
shot that had .69 caliber ball shot in them, as well as elongated shot
similarly outfitted. Other spherical case were filled with Minie balls.
Powder inside them ignited and caused the fillings to disperse.

Lyle Browning

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