American Civil War Game Club (ACWGC)

Tony,
Since a battery cannot fire if it is limbered, how can increasing its firepower at 1 hex make it into an offensive weapon? If it moves to within a hex of an opposing unit it must stop (limbered). If it is still there in the following turn, it unlimbers but cannot fire. Therefore, 40 minutes later if it has not been all shot up or uncrewed it can fire. Hardly seems worth the effort given that it has already been established that guns are not sufficiently strong in melee. This tactic would seem to be of little use.

BG Robert Frost
Army of Cumberland

This has to be the most intelligent thread I have read. Man, what happened to these discussions Great points brought up in this!

Here is something I came across that I didn't know before about artillery in the Civil War.

http://civilwartalk.com/threads/out-of- ... hot.75644/

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MG Mike Mihalik
Forrest's Cavalry Corps
AoWest/CSA

Interesting about them using shells that way. However, the problem with artillery is it is difficult to determine just how guns were used. Guns were rarely overrun. Most times they limbered up well before the enemy was in melee range and rode off. Guns that couldn't the crews usually abandoned the guns and got infantry to help take them back. I suspect that what we read, hand to hand fighting around the guns, is the exception not the rule but it is difficult to be sure since there is little information on small unit tactics.

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General Kennon Whitehead
Chatham Grays
AoT II/1/3 (CSA)

Thanks Mike, very nice read.

One decent source is the book "The Pride of the Confederate Artillery" which follows the 5th Louisiana Washington Artillery from Shiloh through Mobile. Its an interesting read and the author does a solid job of making an artillery battery come to life and describing their role in battle after battle. They lost a number of guns during the war (losing them at Shiloh and at Nashville especially) but the unit survived and served extremely well in many battles up until the fall of Mobile in 1865. It gives you a good picture of how artillerymen saw battles in the west.

As an interesting aside, the Washington Artillery still exists as a part of the Louisiana National Guard, and saw action the the Iraq War.

Deano

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Lt. General David Martin
First Brigade, First Division, First Corps, Army of the Potomac

Wow! How did this thread reemerge? I find a number of my own postings of which I had totally forgotten! Unfortunately, the issues are unchanged from this original thread. Therein lies the problem.

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MG Robert Frost

I hope they upgraded their guns.

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General Kennon Whitehead
Chatham Grays
AoT II/1/3 (CSA)