Customer Reviews

Cannons: An Introduction to Civil War Artillery

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

For someone who (like me) knows next to nothing about Civil War artillery, this little book is a gem. Generously illustrated with both photographs and line drawings, Thomas' book provides basic information about battery crews, the "anatomy" of cannons, limbers, and carriages (including the surprising fact that artillery batteries carried portable anvils for quick repairs in the field), the manufacture of both cannon and projectiles, and a typology of projectiles (solid shot, shell, case shot, canister, and grapeshot) as well as cannons, howitzers, rifles, and mortars.

What struck me especially about Thomas' discussion is the vicious killiing power of Civil War artillery. Solid shell, when used against soldiers, was fired so as to ricochet for maximum physical and psychological effect. Case shot, canister, and grapeshot could rip apart not only individual soldiers but entire columns and files of men. And these weapons were used in unimaginable quantities. Thomas ends his book with a "Summary of Federal Purchases" of artillery. Between 1 January 1861 and 30 June 1866, for example, the army purchased slightly under 3 million projectiles for smoothbore guns, just over 3 million for rifled guns, 6.5 million pounds of grape and canister shot, almost 10 million pounds of cannon powder, and nearly 8 million pounds of mortar powder. Trying to translate these figures into an appreciation of what all this did to human bodies and hopes and families is impossible. But really: we ought always to try, lest we forget the true cost of war.

A friend of mine recently recruited me into his Civil War re-enactment unit. It was an artillery unit and this book was my introduction to Civil War artillery. Dean Thomas writes an excellent introduction starting his readers with organization and drill. Many readers may have known that sponging the barrel cooled it, but they may not have thought about the added effect of extinguishing any smoldering cartridge bags. Thomas then leads his readers through ordnance and types of cannons (where, when, and how used), and concludes with implements used with the cannons. To top it all off Thomas supplies his readers with a lavish supply of actual Civil War photographs.

While this might look like a simple kids book/pamphlet on the cover, there is far more inside this extremely well illustrated guide. The author does a fine job providing a wide overview of the most important cannons of the ACW, textual summaries of each and sufficient details of their fundamental stats. The amazing part is how much the author has fit between a mere 72 pages. This work is very inexpensive and should prove useful to anyone touring Civil War battlefields, interested in Civil War gaming, reenacting, or curious about civil war cannons.

A short and sweet primer on Civil War Artillery, great photos and illustrations. Would be a must read for anyone interested in Civil War History.

this short book is a basic review of Artillery of the Civil war peroid. The book does not go in depth to tactics. It is some use wargamers as ranges for weapons are given.

A nice basic little book on this subject that might suit a child or anyone with a little bit of interest in the subject and can not find better books in the library or find a good source on the internet.