Jim,

The 14 yards between pieces was critical. When a gun crew goes "action front" the gun is unlimbered and the horse team and limber do a u-turn to the left and take their position behind the piece. When a command of "move limbered to the front" is given the team and limber pass to the right of the gun and move in front of the gun and the piece is turned 180 degrees and hooked back up. When the command "move limbered to the rear" is given the team and limber pass to the right of the piece and do a u-turn to the left to pick up the gun from the rear. These moves can also be done with the team unharnessed as each cannoneer has a specific duty when moving the piece. Confederate artillery commonly unharnessed their teams and kept them in a sheltered area. Horses were valuable and hard to replace. I've executed these moves without horses with a four gun battery. It's really cool to see when the whole battery or a section of it moves together in sync. This spacing was critical to the maneuvering of the limber.

Keith