Customer Reviews

Confederate Artilleryman 1861-65 (Warrior)

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This Warrior title from Osprey Publishing examines the training and combat experiences of the cannoneers of the Confederate Army for the entire duration of the Civil War. Early in the war, being an artilleryman was not considered very glamorous, and most recruits joined the infantry or especially the cavalry. The artillerymen would soon prove their worth, however, and would forge a reputation for valor and tenacity as much so as their comrades in the cavalry and infantry.

The book is divided into the following sections: enlistment, training, daily life, appearance, campaign life, and the artilleryman in battle. It is an absorbing read, as historical books should be; it discusses such varied topics as the artilleryman's spirituality, his relationship with women, and the nervous breakdowns he might suffer before a battle.

The color plates, usually considered the most useful part of an Osprey book (I agree with this claim with men-at-arms and elite titles, but beg to differ with some of the Warrior titles like this one), are up to the usual excellent standards in this volume. Six plates illustrate the men moving or operating the artillery, while two others show the uniforms of individual men, and the last two illustrate camp life and a battalion's winter headquarters.

This book is in short a good source on an essential yet somewhat overlooked type of soldier in the Civil War.