Customer Reviews

The Artillery of Gettysburg

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Bradley Gottfried has written a number of books on Gettysburg, many of which are standard works on the battle. He frequently writes for Gettysburg Magazine and is on very firm ground when writing about the battle. He continues displaying his knowledge with very readable prose in this book. Artillery is the major killer on a battlefield. The long arm reaches out and strikes targets well beyond rifle range. In doing so, they break up attacks, punish the defeated and suppress other batteries. Artillery is hard work, more so when the muscles of horses and men have to do all the work. The movement and handling of guns is the story of those men and horses. This is their story at Gettysburg. The larger issue of training of supply and quality of shells is left to other works. This is the correct decision, as we want to see how the batteries fought on the field not how they were supplied and trained.
I should like this book more! I enjoy reading about Gettysburg, I enjoy reading Gottfried but the subject just is not one the deeply interests me. This has to be a technical book and the author works to keep these details to a minimum. However, the number of guns, the type of guns, how they were positioned and where the cessions go are critical to the story. The author does a great job of making this as readable as possible but it just does not capture my imagination.
Having said that, I am better informed for working my way through the book. I have a greater understanding of how the two armies controlled their artillery and how that determined the outcome of the battle. This book covers what is usually ignored or only hinted at. As the title says, the book is a unique perspective on a very familiar story.

In many books written about the American Civil War and its battles the artillery is often relegated to a supporting role while the infantry takes the spotlight. Conversely the Battle of Gettysburg hogs the stage as the most written about battle of the war. In "The Artillery of Gettysburg" Bradley Gottfried has placed the artillery at center stage in the greatest battle ever fought on American soil.

In his forward, Mr. Gottfried introduces four key pieces of information that his readers will need to know: the first, regarding the organization and command structure of the Union and Confederate artilleries; the second, the different types of cannon used and their strengths and weaknesses; third a brief description of the different types of ammunition and their uses, and lastly a basic description of the job function of each man in the gun crew.

Using a chronological narration Mr. Gottfried leads his reader through the three day battle, describing the placement and the armament of each battery, their targets and their movements on the battlefield. No detail is spared of the horrible casualties caused to both men and horses by artillery fire, men are decapitated, arms and legs are ripped off, and bodies disemboweled, cut in half or literally blown to bits fill this book from cover to cover.

Mr. Gottfried, the author of "The Maps of Gettysburg," uses plenty of maps to illustrate the action on the field. In my opinion there can never be too many maps, and the one criticism I have, which I carry over from his previous above named work, is there is no time stamp on the maps. The author has also included two informative appendices: Order of Battle, Strengths and Losses of the Artillery at Gettysburg, and Characteristics of Civil War Cannon Used at Gettysburg.

This is not a book for the Civil War novice. This book is a book clearly for the Civil War aficionado who enjoys studying the minutia of a battle. Mr. Gottfried has written yet another indispensible book on the Battle of Gettysburg, and no student of the battle should be without a copy.

This is a well-written, but highly technical work that keeps its focus on its limited subject matter. The reader learns the mechanical aspects of Civil War artillery along with the organizational snafus that continued to plague both armies.

The author writes well. The accompanying maps would benefit from the same level of care and attention to detail. I found them to be confusing and frustrating, as one could never tell which way the cannon were pointed from looking at the symbols.

More liberal use of photos and drawings would also be quite helpful in assisting the reader's comprehension.

Overall, I recommend this book only to the more serious students of the subject (i.e., having already read 30+ books on this battle, or having a particular interest in artillery).

Artillery played a large role in the battle at Gettysburg. This book outlines the role played by the Confederate versus the Union artillery. The book does a nice job of comparing command structure between the two sides with respect to artillery. Also considered are the nature of weapons used by both sides, the quality of fuses and ammunition, and so on. A nice exploration of the "long arm" at Gettysburg.

Some pluses. . . . Plenty of maps to give a sense of the battle and the positioning of artillery. Some photographs to give a closer view of different types of artillery and pictures of some of the leading artillery officers on both sides of the battlefield.

But the heart of the book is the day-to-day battlefield contributions of artillery. On Day # 1, July 1st, 1863, we begin with the placement of Calaf's battery to support General John Buford's cavalry. As the two armies collide, we see more and more artillery on both sides joining the action. The two chapters on the first day show where artillery contributed and where it ran into problems.

Day # 2 is covered in 3 1/2 chapters (one chapter, focusing on Cemetery Hill and Culp's Hill, covers action on both Days # 2 and # 3). This section begins with artillery preparation on both Union and Confederate sides, and then the playing out of action in battle. On Day # 2, the artillery's role is described at a number of locations--Devil's Den, the Wheatfield, and Little Round Top), the Peach Orchard, and the Union effort to stem the breakthrough of the Third Corps line with a stand by the artillery.

And, then, to Day # 3. The great gathering of Confederate artillery, slated to begin a massive bombardment on the Union Center. Henry Hunt, the Union artillery chief, responded. The preparation of artillery on both sides is nicely described. Then, the start of the great Confederate barrage--and why it had less than hoped for effect. "Pickett's Charge" and the damage created by Union artillery as the forces of Pettigrew, Trimble, and Pickett advanced. The last chapter deals with cavalry action at the end of the third day.

If you are interested in a detailed examination of artillery at Gettysburg, this will do the trick. The book is functionally--if not elegantly--written.

Bradley Gottfried's "The Artillery of Gettysburg" is a solid account of the part that artillery, both Union and Confederate, played during the Battle of Gettysburg. The story of the battle is narrated in a straigtforward chronological fashion, with the role of each artillery unit described in turn, detailing how each battery acted and reacted to the avalanche of events during the three days of fighting.

If the book has any weakness, it is that the focus is on the tactical experience of artillery batteries in this single battle, without extensive discussion of the technical or organizational aspects of that arm. But, the detailed history, accompanied by numerous maps, allows the interested reader to clearly grasp the vital successes and disappointing failures of Northern and Southern artillery in what is usually considered the greatest battle of the American Civil War.

As one reviewer correctly states, this does get a bit more technical but as a retired artillery officer, reading The Artillery at Gettysburg did get my heart rate up. I found that like other works of Gottfried, even with the technical subject matter the book is very readable and the eyewitness accounts provide insights into the thoughts and feelings of the people involved.

We used to say without our cannon, we were "just infantry" (My apologies to the Queen of Battle). If you have every pulled the lanyard, you never forget the feeling. A cannon is not like a rifle. It is something more. Serving on a gun you and the rest of the crew meld into a machine of flesh and steel. I think this is why gunners have a long tradition of staying by their piece, often to the bitter end. In this book Gottfried does a good job of helping the reader get a glimpse at this dedication. At the same time, the eyewitness accounts from artillerymen give you a different perspective of the incredible courage shown by the infantry as they faced not only minie ball and bayonet but also shot and double charges of canister.

My two complaints about this book are that I wish the book had a few more maps and a glossary. Having Gottfried's Maps of Gettysburg gave me all the maps I could need but required going to another book. And, while I may be a Redleg, even I had problems with a few of the more archaic terms concerning Civil War artillery pieces and tactics. I resolved this with the reprinted 1864 Artillery Tactics manual by my side.

If you have wondered about the artillery's role at Gettysburg, I do suggest this book. If you have ever felt a cannon jump under you as the lanyard is pulled or witnessed a battalion time-on-target mission, I highly recommend you read this book.

There's an old Army saying that ""Artillery Lends Dignity to What Otherwise Would Be a Common Brawl", and Bradley M. Gottfried's The Artillery of Gettysburg tells you pretty much everything you need or want to know about "The King of Battle" at Gettysburg. Gottfried starts out with a fairly comprehensive introduction describing the organization and command structure of the artillery of the two armies, the characteristics of the three main types of cannon (rifles, napoleons and howitzers) employed, an overview of the various types of ammunition (shot, shell and canister) and finally takes the reader through the "nuts and bolts" of how the gun crew actually served the gun.

The book then proceeds to describe, in great detail, the employment of artillery during the various phases of the three day battle. This section, divided into eleven chapters, is very well written, with many excellent maps and makes extensive use of primary and secondary sources. Finally the book wraps up with an excellent set of detailed orders of battle for the artillery of both sides at the battery level (which include type of guns in the battery and losses) as well as a handy reference table for the characteristics of the various guns employed by the armies.

This book is, as far as I can tell, pretty much the definitive monograph on Artillery at Gettysburg. In fact, readers will find it an excellent primer on Civil War artillery in general. Furthermore, the book is surprisingly engaging for such as narrowly drawn and technical subject. It is well written, lively, and detailed without bogging down in technical detail or minutiae. Readers should be aware that the book is fairly narrowly focused and therefore should not be the first book one reads on Gettysburg. With that caution, this is an excellent book, which I recommend highly.

When I was young I thought that "War and Peace" was mind numbing because of all the Russian names. Last year I read a book on Ukranian archeology and linguistics that was much worse. Chapter after chapter with difficult names of obscure extinct tribes on the southern steppes.

Now I find an even more mind numbing book. The author recounts all the names of the junior commanders and their exact position on the field hour by hour. A couple hundred pages like that and I went into teriary MEGO.