artillery advancing under fire

[malachi]

Hi guys, I am a cavalry fellow, so please pardon my ignorance on this one, but when I read of artillery advancing with the infantry in battle, how was this accomplished? Horses pull not push, so did the gun crews push the guns along by hand? I know about retiring by prolong, but that again is pulling, so how'd they do it forward? I never knew that they advanced with them until reading a book on the final days battle at Gettysburg, and I could have sworn that Alexander was to move his guns with the infantry advance. Or do I have this thing wrong?
please set me straight,
John Gregory Tucker

[Blair]

Re: artillery advancing under fire

Artillery, most assuredly, could be advanced by hand.
However, it is important to note that Artillery was the "LONG" arm of the Military during the time.
They could not or would not advance without their support. And this support (in most cases) had to be kept safe form enemy counter fire.

[malachi]

Re: artillery advancing under fire

would it have been the custom to bring along horses to remove the guns from the field in the event of a hasty retreat? It would seem to be pretty easy to lose one's field pieces otherwise.


Mr. Tucker, you need to add a signature to all your posts, even when you are the person who commences a thread. Go into the settings and add an automatic signature line. - Silas Tackitt, one of the moderators.

[Blair]

Re: artillery advancing under fire

Remember what I said about keeping their support safe.
Horses would have been essential to not only getting into a fight, but getting out. Part of the support along with keeping ammo in the front.

[Pennvolunteer]

Re: artillery advancing under fire

The best answer is for you to get a copy of Hunt-Barry-French's Instructions for Field Artillery manual and read it. It is readily available, and has explanations for crew drill, full of diagrams and is the authoritative source on artillery tactics. Also is Gibbon's Artillerists' manual, but it is more focused on tactics vice crew drill so it may apply to your question better.

[john duffer]

Re: artillery advancing under fire

At quick time infantry traveled just under 86 yards in one minute, at the double quick 151 yards. Could the artillery have been pulled by horses and deployed when/where the ground was favorable or the situation called for it.?

[Pennvolunteer]

Re: artillery advancing under fire

I just pulled out my HBF, para 515, to advance the battery in line as deployed, all mounted, with diagrams.

[FranklinGuardsNYSM]

Re: artillery advancing under fire

Look into the CS artillery opposite the Peach Orchard/Sherfy Farm on the afternoon of July 2nd. Anything but static positions.

[GrumpyDave]

Re: artillery advancing under fire

And; Dilger's Ohio Battery also at Gettysburg, on July 1st. He advanced a section of his smoothbore guns so he could hit the Confederate rifled Artillery on Oak Hill.

[malachi]

Re: artillery advancing under fire

would it have been the custom to bring along horses to remove the guns from the field in the event of a hasty retreat? It would seem to be pretty easy to lose one's field pieces otherwise.


Mr. Tucker, you need to add a signature to all your posts, even when you are the person who commences a thread. Go into the settings and add an automatic signature line. - Silas Tackitt, one of the moderators.

my apologies for the mistake, i am aware of that fact, i just let it slip by me and do apologize again. your servant
john gregory tucker

[Ringgold]

Re: artillery advancing under fire

It's quite simple, actually. A battery limbers up, advances, and then goes into battery at the new location. You can advance in a number of ways. You can advance a section at a time, while the remaining pieces provide covering fire. You can advance by half-battery in the same fashion, or simply advance the entire battery while other batteries provide the covering fire. The argument that such actions would expose the horses to too much risk would be the same as saying that advancing a regiment of infantry would expose the infantrymen to too much risk. The horses were more expensive than soldiers, true, but they were fighters on the field of battle as well.

I have never read, nor ever heard of, a battery advancing pieces by hand for any distance other than a few yards at a time. This is an incredibly slow, tiring, and unnecessary manoeuver.

[ironbrigade6]

Re: artillery advancing under fire

In the Book The Men Stood Like Iron Lance Herdegen goes into a lot of detail about how in the corn field, Battery B, 4th US Artillery "The Iron Brigade Battery" advanced up the road and on the sides of the road in the corn field keeping up with the infantry and firing point blank into the rebel lines. This is one of the many times where Battery B wasnt used as a long distance weapon but rather as support for the Infantry and it was used to great affect.The more interesting part is John Gibbon commanded that Battery and in the corn field he was also working the guns in his Brigadier Generals uniform.