American Civil War Artillery 1861-65: Field and Heavy Artillery (Special Editions (Military)) [Paperback]

Philip Katcher (Author), Tony Bryan (Illustrator)

Book Description

Series: Special Editions (Military) | Publication Date: August 25, 2001

Perhaps the most influential arm of either army in the prosecution of the American Civil War, the artillery of both sides grew to be highly professional organizations. Because of the length of the coastline of the United States, from the beginning American ordnance placed an emphasis on its 'Heavy Artillery' mounted in coastal defenses, while their 'Field Artillery' units were assigned across the fighting fronts. In battle, the introduction of both the 12-pdr. Napoleon and rifled cannon provided a range and power previously unknown on American soil. This book details the development and usage of this vital cog in the war-machine of both sides.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 100 pages
• Publisher: Osprey Publishing (August 25, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1841764515
• ISBN-13: 978-1841764511
• Product Dimensions: 7.3 x 0.4 x 9.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12.6 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,590,357 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Insufficiently detailed and somewhat confused, but inexpensive, November 16, 2006

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Red Harvest (Georgia, USA) - See all my reviews

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This review is from: American Civil War Artillery 1861-65: Field and Heavy Artillery (Special Editions (Military)) (Paperback)

A bargain for those who are already planning to buy Philip Katcher's "American Civil War Artillery" volume 1 or 2, this title contains both volumes within a single cover at a single volume price.

This is not a really bad work, and it has some useful information not found in some other titles, but there are better works available in the subject. This is particularly true of the first half of the book covering field artillery that is littered with errors that will mislead the reader. The second half about heavy artillery is more useful, particularly since few affordable works cover this subject in detail.

In the field artillery section Katcher discusses the structure of the batteries of the CSA Army of Tennessee. This should appeal to readers accustomed to eastern centric artillery. (The source for this information is Larry Daniel's work as noted in the bibliography.)

Katcher gets most things about the pieces themselves correct, but seems rather confused in details and nuances of this admittedly confusing subject. Examples of this confusion are many such as:
1. He mistakenly assumes that "6 pdr rifles" from Tredegar were smaller than 10 pdr Parrotts, or 3" rifles, when in fact the 3 pdr and 6 pdr entries early in Tredegar's production were an example of inconsistent nomenclature in describing the same pieces.

2. He confuses 3" Ordnance rifles with the generic "3 inch rifle" used to refer to all rifles of this approximate caliber (as shown by a misstatement in the Ordnance rifle section about some CSA batteries using CSA produced Ordnance rifles in addition to captures. The CSA never produced this piece.)

3. There is a lot of confusion in the description of carriages and weights of the same. The Napoleon used an adapted 24 pdr howitzer carriage primarily that was notably heavier than the 6 pdr carriage used for the 6 pdr gun, the 3" rifle types, and 12 pdr howitzer.

4. The author incorrectly states the 12 pdr howitzer was heavier than the 6 pdr gun. In fact its tube was lighter and it used the same carriage.

5. There are some obvious typos such as a range of 5,000 yards for a Mountain Howitzer at 2.30' elevation. The author mentions the mountain pack carriage but neglects to mention the special prairie carriage that was also used at times. The author also discussed post war Indian fighting with 12 pdr Napoleons, but fails to mention the mountain howitzers that were extensively used for this service.

6. There are several confusing statements about Whitworths, including one seeking to prove that they were costly by comparing the purchase price of a 70 pdr (5 inch?) Whitworth with a 3" rifle--heavy vs. field, apples to oranges.

Ammo types are not shown for field artillery and the discussion of them in the text is extremely short.

The bibliography in each of the combined works is short and omits some important books that should have been consulted for the author's work. This explains some apparent gaps in the author's presentation of ACW artillery and some potential errors in the text. Hazlett's work on Field Artillery certainly would have been of benefit to the author.

Tables are presented for weights and ranges of smoothbore field artillery, but rifled cannon info is omitted from the table. This is unfortunate as such information is available in period ordnance manuals and Coggins' work for example.

While the heavy artillery is covered more accurately, the discussion revolves mostly around actions in the east. Actions along the Mississippi and Gulf are largely ignored. This is unfortunate as there were a number of notable heavy artillery engagements in these theaters. Comparison tables of weights and ranges are not provided for heavy artillery