Although the Battle of Gettysburg has been extensively studied, there are relatively few full-length treatments of the types of arms used in the conflict. Joseph Bilby's "Small Arms at Gettysburg: Infantry and Cavalry Weapons in America's Greatest Battle" (2008) offers a detailed discussion of the carbines, single-shot rifles,repeating rifles, smoothbores, sabres, and handguns that were used at Gettysburg. Bilby has written extensively on Civil War weaponry. He has also written regimental histories of Irish units during the Civil War.
In places, Bilby's book is technical and presupposes considerable background knowledge in the reader about Civil War arms. He discusses the history and technological development of the various types of small weapons (that is not including artillery) that found their way to Gettysburg. He also provides fascinating information about the companies and individuals that developed the weapons. But when it comes to explaining the manner in which each weapon worked and how, for example, one model of carbine differed from another, he is frequently difficult to follow. Bilby assumes that any reader interested in this book will have a more than elementary familiarity with firearms. Diagrams of selected weapons showing how they were loaded and how they operated together with some simple preliminary information would have been useful.
In addition to the technical information on the weapons, Bilby discusses the way the arms were used, developed, and tested during the Civil War. His discussion of these matters is insightful and clear even for those readers without much background in arms. He addresses subjects that are frequently overlooked -- such as the lack of training in marksmanship provided to most soldiers by both Union and Confederate armies before marching the troops off to battle. Bilby offers a perceptive discussion of the difference between smoothbores and rifles and considers carefully the alleged changes that the more advanced weaponry brought to the conduct of the war. This information is valuable in understanding the conflict.
Most of Bilby's study concerns the use of the weapons he describes at Gettysburg. Here again, his analysis is useful. I learned a great deal from his discussion of the encounter between Buford's cavalry and Heth's infantry which opened the first day of the battle in which the union troops used single shot carbines. Bilby considers the effectiveness of these weapons and measures them against other factors -- such as Heth's delay in pressing the cavalry units at the outset -- in assessing the outcome of the first day of the battle. I learned a great deal as well about the cavalry fighting on July 3 at Runnell farm (East Cavalry Field)where the Union troops in fact used repeating rifles and where handguns and sabres played a major role. Bilby views this third day cavalry fight as the harbinger of modern weaponry. Bilby also has much to say about the use of smoothbores at Gettysburg, about the circumstances in which they were effective (particularly in helping to repel Pickett's charge in its final stages) and about the different kinds of ammunition they could fire. He offers an excellent discussion of sharpshooters on both sides and of the types of weapons they employed. He is critical of accounts that overemphasize the role of sharpshooters from Devil's Den during the third day of the battle -- in contrast to a treatment of this subject I heard during a recent battlefield tour. And, of course, he spends a great deal of time with the single shot rifle. The models made by either Springfield or Enfield predominated during the conflict and signaled beyond doubt the obsolescence of the smoothbores.
This is not an appropriate book with which to begin a study of the Battle of Gettysburg due to the technical nature of much of the subject matter. For those with a solid grounding in the battle, especially for readers with an understanding of firearms, this book will be valuable. An understanding of the deadly weapons the soldiers carried and their use is important to understanding the conflict. As Bilby recognizes, the greatest value of the study lies in illuminating the work of the soldiers themselves, the dangers they faced, their suffering, and their heroism.
Robin Friedman
