This was in stark contrast to the similarly sized cast iron 10-pounder Parrott rifles which occasionally burst without warning, inflicting injury on the gun crews.

The Confederate States of America lacked the technology to manufacture reliable copies of the 3-inch ordnance rifle.

In 1844, the 12-inch wrought iron "Peacemaker" cannon burst during a demonstration aboard the USS Princeton, killing the Secretaries of State and the Navy and others.

The company's superintendent John Griffen proposed manufacturing a cannon by welding together a bundle of wrought iron rods and then drilling out the bore.

Samuel J. Reeves, president of Safe Harbor's parent company Phoenix Iron Works, approved of Griffen's method and a cannon was manufactured in late 1854.

[3] The approximately 700 lb (318 kg) Griffen gun was sent to Fort Monroe for trial but it was not immediately tested.

Captain Alexander Brydie Dyer undertook proofing tests of the gun in 1856 with Griffen as a witness.

Ordnance Department requested four wrought iron guns of 3.5 in (89 mm) caliber on 21 February 1861.

Phoenix Iron Company also produced a few 6-pounders of 3.67 in (93 mm) caliber of which seven survivors are dated 1861 and have "PATENTED DEC. 25, 1855" stamped on one trunnion.

[10] However, the Tredegar guns were manufactured with cast iron and earned a bad reputation for bursting in action.

The gunpowder charge weighed 1.0 lb (0.5 kg) and fired the projectile with a muzzle velocity of 1,215 ft/s (370 m/s) to a distance of 1,830 yd (1,673 m) at 5° elevation.

A smoothbore cannon's projectile retained only one-third of its muzzle velocity at that range and its round shot could be seen in the air.

Tumbling occurred when the shell failed to take the grooves inside the gun barrel or when the spin wore off in flight.

Because its projectile was heavier than a 6-pound shot, the 3-inch rifle's greater recoil sometimes caused damage to the trail or the cheek pieces of the carriage.

[22] The teams pulled the six artillery pieces and limbers, six caissons, one battery wagon, and one traveling forge.

[25] A memo from November 1863 stated that rifled guns ought to have 25 common shells, 20 spherical case shot (shrapnel), and five canister rounds in each ammunition chest.

In March 1865, a memo recommended that each chest carry 30 common shells, 15 spherical case shot, and five canister rounds for rifled guns of the horse artillery.

Hazlett, Olmstead, and Parks supposed that the guns in this second batch were warehoused until the patent date, then stamped.

[6] This may have occurred due to bureaucratic errors or because the federal government was not able to provide enough equipment to put the guns in the field.

During the Battle of the Wilderness on 5 May 1864, a 3-inch ordnance rifle in R. Bruce Ricketts's Battery F, 1st Pennsylvania Light Artillery blew its muzzle off when firing double-canister on the Plank Road.

During one of the battles of the Atlanta Campaign in 1864, a Confederate gunner in Lumsden's Alabama battery reported that one of his guns was placed in a fortification with an embrasure about one foot wide.

The gun with registry number 1 served in Gilbert H. Reynolds's Battery L, 1st New York Light Artillery at the Battle of Gettysburg and was captured by the Confederates.