Customer Reviews

Confederate Cannon Foundries

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Daniel and Gunter have masterfully sorted and organized the many CSA cannon foundries in a format that is easy to read and search. The stories of the various foundries are often brief, but informative. One of the more interesting ones to me is the demise of Noble Brothers due to a physical alteration with an inspector.

This brief (112 page) volume is an excellent compliment to Hazlett/Olmstead/Parks' "Field Artillery Weapons of the Civil War"--a work that is referenced frequently even though it was still in progress at the time of publishing. Daniel and Gunter include foundry information for the naval and siege/seacoast artillery as well.

The organization is quite logical: Established foundries (pre-war), improvised foundries, and government foundries. This is followed by a directory of CSA cannon foundries then handy appendices.

The first appendix is a table of estimated total production of field and heavy artillery by each major foundry, both North and South. Following that is an interprative list of all Tredegar (J.R. Anderson) production adapted from the Tredegar Gun Foundry Book. The next appendix is a list of cannon channeled through the Atlanta Arsenal, followed by a list of guns in Walker's division of the Army of Mississippi in 1863, and finally a list of guns abandoned in the Petersburg trenches in 1865.

This book is easy to read and understand. Every foundry has it's own chapter. Alot of detail is included about each foundry and it's history. I love the stats included about the type of cannon produced, when they were delivered and to which arsenals. Included also are the number stamped on each cannon and a remark section of what happen to each cannon. Wow! I told you I love the detail stats. Each section also has a very nice selection of photo's. The photo's are a nice mix of Civil War era photo's and modern photographs (1977).
This is a very well written reference book. I would only change two things. I would have liked this book in Hardback and since it was published in 1977 I would like to see an update on any new research. Besides that this reference book is Awesome!
A second book on Union Artillery would also be welcomed.