From The Pages Of American History

[mac56]

[TomSlick]

1. I had to find the original.

I found what purports to be a painting of 2nd U.S Artillery Battery "G" of 2nd United States Artillery.

[link:|

With the piece depressed, my guess is they were firing canister, essentially artillery shotgun rounds, only used when the enemy was at very short range.

[Wounded Bear]

2. Good catch...

If you look at the background, it looks like the gun in front is firing covering fire as the rest of the battery withdraws.

One note, though. Real US Artillery would have red piping on their uniforms and trousers.

[TomSlick]

3. I think you may be right. FA types ain't called Red Legs for nothing.

There was a lot of variation in civil war uniforms. I can find illustrations of a lot of US civil war artillery uniforms with red piping but some without. (The state units are all over the map.) I have not found a clear answer to the question for the 2nd US artillery.

[Wounded Bear]

4. I'll give you that. Lots of variations...nt