Customer Reviews

Field Artillery Weapons of the Civil War

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Every detail of Civil War field artillery is covered in this definitive book on the subject, more than most people will ever want to know. Full profile photos of nearly every type of fieldpiece, both Union and Confederate, facilitate identification of any survivor. In addition to the scholarly text containing more facts on the subject than ever assembled in one source, the appendices list the known surviving Civil War fieldpieces at the time of publication.

If you were to acquire only one reference for Field Artillery, this should be your choice. Everything you could hope for, one chapter on every field piece, used by both Union and Conderacy, plus imports and experimentals. Even a chapter on limbers, carriages, etc.

This volume does cover in a very comprehensive way the artillery used during the American Civil War, as well as of those field pieces surviving on fields of battle up until this day. This is a book you HAVE to own if you are an ACW-artillery nut! It is well worth the price, and since it is in hard-back you won't have any problems with consulting it over and over again.

"Field Artillery Weapons of the Civil War" is the definitive reference work for civil war cannon used in the field. Nothing else approaches its structured grouping and organization of the diverse and confused world of American Civil War field guns. However, this is not a book for everyone since it is quite focused on the specifications, manufacturing origins and methods of the tubes themselves, not on the tactical employment, range charts, the batteries, or the projectiles they fired. (Understandably, many readers will be shocked if they don't realize this before purchase--including me!)

It is hard to over emphasize what a fine job the authors have done in bringing order out of chaos. Their encyclopedic inclusion and explanation of all known types solves many riddles. The complexity and nuances will still require considerable study by the reader to reach a full understanding, but at last it is logically and rigorously catalogued.

The chapter list is as follows: 1. Fundamentals. 2. Federal 6-pounder Guns and 3.67" Rifles. 3. Confederate 6-pounder Guns and 3-inch Rifles. 4. Federal 12-pounder Field Howitzers. 5. Confederate 12-pounder Field Howitzers. 6. Federal Napoleon Guns. 7. Confederate Napoleon Guns. 8. Parrott Rifles. 9. 3-inch Ordnance Rifles. 10. False Napoleons and Gettysburg Replicas. 11. The Small Ones. 12. Boat Howitzers. 13. James Smoothbores and Rifles. 14. The Rare Ones. 15. Too Big for the Field. 16. British Rifled Cannon. 17. Carriages. 18. Conclusions.

The chapters are well illustrated with photographs and schematics of the gun tubes. There are also detailed dimensional specification tables, and some estimated production counts of various types. Following the main text is an extensive set of appendices that serve as a catalog of known foundries, inspectors, designations, foundry numbers, weights, and locations of known survivors,

I highly recommend this work to anyone who wants to be able to identify nearly any Civil War field gun he/she comes across. However, I don't recommend it as a detailed work on the employment of Civil War field artillery--that is not the objective or nature of the book.

Note: The companion work for the heavy artillery is "The Big Guns. Civil War Siege, Seacoast, and Naval Cannon" by Edwin Olmstead, Wayne E. Stark, and Spencer C. Tucker. It follows the same format and style, but its availability is limited.

A comprehensive source of information on the field guns used by both sides of the american civil war. Provides each weapon's history and statistics. Extremely informative.

No civil war library should be without it.

An excellent companion to other book The Big Guns by Omstead and Wayne E. Stark and Spencer C. Tucker which covers the big guns of the conflict.

Must rate this volume as the standard reference on the topic. This current edition supplants Ripley's "Artillery and Ammunition of the Civil War." I actually own copies of the original and revised editions. There are a few notable updates, making the second purchase worth the expenditure. While I have found some minor omissions in the listings (particularly discussing some of the poorly documented Confederate gun makers), the authors seem to leave few stones unturned.

A very concise and thorough (almost an encyclopedia) book of the weapons of the civil war.

I purchased this book as a gift for my husband, a civil war artillery man. He has poured over each page, one by one, taking in all the information. Have no doubt he will begin the campaign for a cannon shortly!

A very comprehensive tome, very technical.
To be honest I was looking for something a little more on
what types of artillery was used and in what battles and its effectiveness etc.
With this book I could build any artillery piece, not sure what to do with it however.
If you have an interest in artillery of pre thru civil war then this book will satisfy the advanced reader I'm sure (all B&W pics).

This is a great book. If you're interested in cannons I'd recommend this book for you. Well written and great detail.