The Civil War Centennial Handbook Part 6

[Ill.u.s.tration: CIVIL WAR ARTILLERY]

_MAXIMUM EFFECTIVE RANGE IN YARDS_

_12-Pounder Howitzer 1,070_ _6 & 12-Pounder Field Guns 1,200_ _13-Inch Siege Mortar 3,520_ _10-Pounder Parrott Rifle 5,000_ _10-Inch Columbiad Siege Gun 5,650_ _30-Pounder Parrott Rifle 8,450_ _12-Pounder Whitworth Rifle 8,800_

_TYPICAL GUNNER'S TABLE_

_12-Pounder Field Gun_ _Powder Charge 2.5 lbs._

_Range (yards)_ _600_ _700_ _800_ _900_ _1,000_ _1,100_ _1,200_ _Muzzle Elevation_ _1_ _145'_ _2_ _215'_ _230'_ _3_ _330'_ _Fuse Setting (sec.)_ _1.75_ _2.50_ _2.75_ _3.00_ _3.25_ _4.00_ _4.50_

[Ill.u.s.tration: _A 15-inch Rodman smoothbore, one of the largest guns mounted during the war, stands as a silent sentry guarding the Potomac at Alexandria, Virginia._]

[Ill.u.s.tration: _The Parrott Rifle, recognizable by the wrought iron jacket reinforcing its breech, was one of the first rifled field guns used by the U.S. Army._]

[Ill.u.s.tration: _Moved by special rail to the Petersburg front, the 13-inch mortar "Dictator" hurled 200-pound exploding sh.e.l.ls at the Confederate earthworks over two miles away._]

[Ill.u.s.tration: _Curious Federal soldiers inspect a Confederate armored gun, the earliest rail artillery on record. This "land ram", designed by Lt. John M. Brooke of the Confederate Navy, was first used at Savage Station, Virginia, in 1862._]

[Ill.u.s.tration: _Gabions, open-end baskets filled with earth, proved as effective as masonary in defensive works. Thousands of these baskets were patiently made by hand for use in field and seacoast fortifications._]

[Ill.u.s.tration: _Confederate sappers constructed a number of artillery emplacements covering the avenues of approach to Atlanta. The guns in this fortification overlook famous Peachtree Street._]

[Ill.u.s.tration: _Chevaux-de-frise, made of logs pierced by sharp stakes, line the Georgia countryside. Confederate defensive measures such as this were effective in stopping cavalry and preventing surprise frontal attacks by infantry._]

[Ill.u.s.tration: _The Union military telegraph corps strung more than 15,000 miles of wire during the war. In one year, the Northern armies kept the wires alive with nearly 1.8 million messages. Galvanic batteries transported by wagon furnished the electricity._]

[Ill.u.s.tration: _Flag signals from natural elevations and signal towers could be seen as far as 20 miles on a clear day. Military information was often obtained by signalmen on both sides who copied each others flag messages and tapped telegraph lines._]

[Ill.u.s.tration: _Balloon observation on the battlefield was made possible by the portable gas generator. Here Professor T.S.C. Lowe's balloon is inflated by mobile generators in front of Richmond in 1862._]

[Ill.u.s.tration: _Dodging Confederate sh.e.l.ls which whizzed dangerously close to the Intrepid, Professor Lowe telegraphed information on emplacements directly from his balloon and made sketches of the approach routes to Richmond._]

[Ill.u.s.tration: _Faulty intelligence furnished by detective Allan Pinkerton (seated in rear) and his agents misled General George McClellan during the Peninsula Campaign. The Pinkerton organization was later replaced by a more efficient military intelligence bureau._]

[Ill.u.s.tration: _A. D. Lytle, a Baton Rouge photographer, provided valuable intelligence to Confederate commanders. His photographs, like this one posed by the 1st Indiana Heavy Artillery, revealed the strength and condition of Union organizations._]

[Ill.u.s.tration: _Artillerymen soften an objective for the infantry.

Although field artillery was used extensively, it frightened and demoralized more men than it wounded. Only 20 per cent of the battle casualties can be attributed to the artillery._]

[Ill.u.s.tration: _a.s.saults on fortified positions were costly, but here at Petersburg war-weary infantrymen await their turn for another charge against the Confederate works. Fourteen out of every hundred would fall._]

[Ill.u.s.tration: _One of an estimated 584,000 Union and Confederate soldiers wounded during the war. Of this number, over 80,000 died._]

[Ill.u.s.tration: _The Union ambulance corps provided one ambulance for every 150 men during the Wilderness Campaign. In one convoy of 813 ambulances, over 7,000 sick and wounded were transported to the hospital in Fredericksburg._]

[Ill.u.s.tration: _Amputees, like these Union soldiers who survived the surgeon's scalpel, would never forget the traumatic ordeal. Most wounded went through surgery while fully conscious with but a little morphine, when available, to deaden the pain._]

[Ill.u.s.tration: _A floating palace with bathrooms and laundry, the hospital ship_ Red Rover _gave many sick and wounded a better chance for life than they would have had in the crowded field hospitals._]

[Ill.u.s.tration: _Carver Hospital, where thousands of stricken soldiers recovered. Walt Whitman and Louisa May Alcott nursed many sick and wounded in similar Washington hospitals._]

[Ill.u.s.tration: _The much-publicized Andersonville prison. The declaration by Union authorities that medicine was a contraband of war and their unwillingness to exchange prisoners contributed to the deplorable prison deaths. Prisoners didn't fare better in the North.

Camp Douglas, Illinois, had the highest death rate of all Civil war prisons--10 per cent of its prisoners died in one month._]

[Ill.u.s.tration: _Unknown warriors at Cold Harbor awaited a soldier's burial that never came. Two years later the armies returned to the same field of battle to find those who were forgotten--still waiting._]

[Ill.u.s.tration: _Boys volunteered for a man's job. This Confederate lad gave his last full measure._]

[Ill.u.s.tration: _The m.u.f.fled drum's sad roll has beat The soldier's last tattoo; No more on Life's parade shall meet The brave and fallen few.

On Fame's eternal camping-ground Their silent tents are spread And Glory guards, with solemn round, The bivouac of the dead._"

--_THEODORE O'HARA_]

[Ill.u.s.tration: _Richmond 1865--Gaunt remains cast their shadow over the former Confederate capital. The rampaging fire, started during the evacuation, leveled the waterfront and the business district._]

[Ill.u.s.tration: _Charleston, South Carolina, shows the scars of modern warfare. The concept of total war introduced during the 1860's carried destruction beyond the battlefield._]

[Ill.u.s.tration: _The home of Wilmer McLean at Appomattox. Here the tragic drama closed at 3:45 on Palm Sunday afternoon, April 9, 1865._]

[Ill.u.s.tration: THE SURRENDER AT APPOMATTOX; BASED UPON THE LITHOGRAPH CALLED "THE DAWN OF PEACE." BY PERMISSION OF W. H. STELLE.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: _Pennsylvania Avenue--host to the Armies of Grant and Sherman during the Grand Review._]

[Ill.u.s.tration: _The last reunion of Blue and Gray at Gettysburg. The victories and the defeats ... they have become a common property and a common responsibility of the American people._]

RECOMMENDED READING

Civil War in the Making: 1815-1860--_Avery O. Craven_ The Coming of the Civil War--_Avery O. Craven_ The Irrepressible Conflict--_Arthur C. Cole_

West Point Atlas of American Wars, 2 vols.--_Vincent J.

Esposito_ The Story of the Confederacy--_Robert Selph Henry_ Storm Over the Land: A Profile of the Civil War--_Carl Sandburg_ The Confederate States of America--_E. Merton Coulter_ The Compact History of the Civil War--_R. Ernest and Trevor N.

Dupuy_ The Civil War and Reconstruction--_James G. Randall_

The Blue and the Gray--_Henry Steele Commager_ The Common Soldier in the Civil War--_Bell Irvin Wiley_ They Fought for the Union--_Francis A. Lord_ Spies for the Blue and Gray--_Harnett Kane_

Battles and Leaders, 4 vols.--_Robert Johnson and Clarence Buel, ed._ The Civil War at Sea--_Virgil Carrington Jones_ Lee's Lieutenants, 3 vols.--_Douglas Southall Freeman_ R.E. Lee, 4 vols.--_Douglas Southall Freeman_ Mr. Lincoln's Army--_Bruce Catton_ Glory Road--_Bruce Catton_ Stillness at Appomattox--_Bruce Catton_ This Hallowed Ground--_Bruce Catton_ The Generalship of U.S. Grant--_J.F.C. Fuller_ Sherman--Soldier, Realist, American--_B.H. Lidell Hart_ Stonewall Jackson: A Study in Command--_G.F.R. Henderson_ The Civil War: A Soldier's View--_Jay Luvaas, ed._ As They Saw Forrest--_Robert Selph Henry, ed._ The Army of the Tennessee--_Stanley Horne_ Lincoln's Plan for Reconstruction--_William B. Hesseltine_ Lincoln's War Cabinet--_Burton J. Hendrick_ Organization and Administration of the Union Army, 2 vols.--_Frederick A. Shannon_ War Department 1861--_Alfred H. Meneely_ Rebel Bra.s.s: The Confederate Command System--_Frank E. Vandiver_ Jefferson Davis--_Hudson Strode_

Photographic History of the Civil War, 10 vols.--_Francis T.

Miller and Robert Lanier, ed._ American Heritage Picture History of the Civil War--_Bruce Catton, ed._ Divided We Fought--_Hirst Milhollen, Milton Kaplan, Hulen Stuart_

Notes on U.S. Ordnance, 2 vols.--_James E. Hicks_ U.S. Muskets, Rifles, and Carbines--_Arcadi Gluckman_ Firearms of the Confederacy--_Claud Fuller and Richard Stuart_