In the movie "In the Electric Mist" (2009) General John Bell Hood delivers the following lines:
It's just like when they load their cannon with horseshoes and log chain.
You'd think the barrage would last forever.
Then all of a sudden there's a silence louder than the cannon fire.
Would armies load cannon with "horseshoes and log chain"?
Perhaps when they had exhausted proper ammunition?
Would make sense that it's a sign the barrage may soon be ending.
Bonus Question: How accurate is his introduction?
I'm General John Bell Hood, commander of the Texas Brigade, commander of the 4th Texas Cavalry, the 5th Texas Cavalry, and the 17th Texas Infantry.
I've read two of James Lee Burke's mystery novels , and he does seem to have a thing about Hood appearing in dreams offering wise , though cryptic ,advice. Not sure why he picked Hood. Hood was indeed commander of the Texas Brigade , in 1862. He went on to be general of the Army of Tennessee. With his fondness for frontal assaults it was much smaller when he was done with it, after the battles of Franklin and Nashville in 1864. Losing various limbs, Hood was smaller after the war as well. If Hood appeared to me in a dream offering guidance, I'd probably do the exact opposite of what he suggested.
It is possible someone desperate loaded a cannon with log chain or horseshoes and got away with it for a few shots. However, unless such irregularly-shaped objects were contained in a canister or at least fixed to a sabot they could wedge in the barrel. If a projectile wedged in the bore of a cannon, the cannon could burst. That burst could be very destructive to the crew manning it, leaving them fewer ( like the Army of Tennessee) or smaller ( like John Bell Hood). Another problem with irregular objects is they also fly irregularly, and so are at least as likely to just litter the landscape as hit the enemy. I think you could say it's poetic license, simply a way to say that the battery has shot off all the ammunition it has.