The Guns at Gettysburg [Hardcover]

Fairfax Downey (Author)

Product Details

• Hardcover: 290 pages
• Publisher: Butternut Press (December 1985)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0913419346
• ISBN-13: 978-0913419342
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #8,875,702 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Gettysburg Artillery, January 27, 2004

By 

Robin Friedman (Washington, D.C. United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Guns at Gettysburg (Hardcover)

Farifax Downey's "The Guns at Gettysburg" (1958) is narrow in its subject matter but tells an important story well and eloquently. The book is an excellent study of the role artillery played both for the Union and for the Confederacy in the Battle of Gettysburg (July 1 -- July 3, 1863). Although the most potent weapon in the Civil War was the foot soldier and infantry, artilery was a feared and dreadful weapon and was of critical importance to the outcome of the Battle of Gettysburg. Downey's study is nearly 50 years old, but it remains of great value to those wishing to understand Gettysburg and the role of the artillery. More general studies of the battle tend to give too little attention to the artillery.

Downey's book includes good information on the various forms of artillery weaponry, including Civil-War era drawings and models. The appendix to the book includes a list of artillery weaponry in use at Gettysburg and their capabilities, U.S. army regulations explaining the use of artilery, and the reports on the Battle of Gettysburg submitted by Generals Henry Hunt and William Pendelton, the chiefs of artiillery for the Union and the Confederacy.

The greater part of the book is devoted to an examination of each of the three days of the Battle with a discussion of how each side used -- or misused -- artillery. The discussion of the first day of the Battle focuses on the support Lieutenant John Calef's battery offered to the leader of the Union cavalry, John Burford, in the opening stages of the conflict. Then in the afternoon portion of the first day's battle, Downey discusses the heroics of Captain Hubert Dilger of the Federal XIth Corps whose bravery helped slow the Confederate onslaught on day 1 and allow the Union troops to retreat in safety.

In the second day of the Battle, Downey discusses the actions Lieutenant Charles Hazlett, whose troops and horses successfuly brought thier guns up the rocky slope of Little Round Top to help stem a fierce Confederate attack. At the Peach Orchard, Downey describes the actions of the Ninth Massachusetts and Captain John Bigelow whose isolated battery resisted a strong Confederate onslaught and bought precious minutes for Union reinforcements. Downey also describes the artillery battle at Culp's hill on the right side of the Union line and the heroic but doomed efforts of the Confederate "boy major", Joseph Latimer, in his opening artillery attack from Benner's Hill.

The book devotes a great deal of attention to the Southern cannonade that proceeded Pickett's charge on the third day of the Battle of Gettysburg. Most students of the battle know that much of the Confederate cannonade overshot its intended mark and was relatively ineffective. But Downey explains as well how the positioning of the Confederate artillery was faulty (and how the South failed to use all its available guns) and how its fire failed to concentrate on those portions of the Union forces that could do the impending infantry assault the most damage. This was a clear and valuable treatment of a matter I did not understand before reading this book.

The single most impressive figure in this book is General John Hunt, the Union's head artillerist. Hunt was courageous and cool under pressure. He seemed to cover the entire battlefield during the three days and was able to have his guns and reinforcements in the right place and in the nick of time. Confederate Colonel Porter Alexander, chief of artillery for Longstreet, also receives deserved high praise.

Downey points out the fortitude shown by artillerists for both the North and the South, while emphasizing the North's superiority in weaponry, numbers, discipline, and shot. Probably most importantly, the Union effectively coordinated its artillery efforts during the Battle, while the Confederacy, following the pattern for the Battle as a whole, was unable to do so in its efforts.

This book does not explore broad political or military issues of the American Civil War or even of the Battle of Gettysburg. But it tells an important part of the story of Gettysburg objectively and eloquently. Downey writes with an obvious knowledge and love of his chosen subject. This is an essential book for those readers with a burning desire to learn as much as they can about the Battle of Gettysburg.