Misnamed As Rodmans
The 3-inch ordnance rifle and the 4.5-inch siege rifle were frequently misidentified as Rodmans. Neither gun was hollow cast. The 3-inch ordnance rifle was made of hammer welded wrought iron and the 4.5-inch siege rifle was conventionally cast.
This error was not limited to those ignorant of artillery; in November 1864 Brig. Gen. J. M. Brannan, chief of artillery in the Union Department of the Cumberland, described the armament of the Chattanooga forts as including several 3-inch and 4.5-inch Rodman guns. First Lieutenant Henry S. Hurter of the 1st Minnesota Light Artillery Battery wrote in his report to Oscar Malmros, Adjutant General for the State of Minnesota, "On the 5th of March captain Clayton exchanged the old guns, two 12-pound howitzers, and two 6-pound rifled guns, caliber 3.67, for four new rifled 3-inch Rodman’s guns." The letter was written on November 11, 1864 in Georgia.
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