Confederate King Of Battle - A Comparison Of The Field Artillery Corps Of The Army Of Northern Virginia And The Army Of Tennessee by William J. Daniels

Author:William J. Daniels [Daniels, William J.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: ACW
Publisher: Pickle Partners Publishing
Published: 2014-08-15T00:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 4 — ARTILLERY LEADERSHIP, ORGANIZATION, AND TACTICS

At the beginning of the American Civil War, the Army of Northern Virginia and the Army of Tennessee had a tactically ineffective organization for its field artillery corps.{317} The Confederate armies were not alone in possessing an ineffective artillery organization; the U. S. Army had the same organization at the beginning of hostilities. This organization was based on a European model in which single artillery batteries were attached to infantry divisions.{318} What would be crucial, however, is which army possessed the leadership in its artillery corps to recognize this deficiency and correct it. From militia foundations to the senior leadership of each army, there were distinct differences in the leadership abilities and experience levels in the Army of Northern Virginia and the Army of Tennessee; the same is true of the leadership displayed in each army’s field artillery corps.

General Robert E. Lee displayed great care and concern for the artillery corps of the Army of Northern Virginia and understood the importance of its role on the battlefield. Lee mentions artillery often in his wartime correspondences. He also had a personal reason for care of the artillery in his army; his son Robert E. Lee, Jr. was a member of the Rockbridge Artillery Battery.{319} Lee, Jr. joined the unit in the spring of 1862.{320} General Lee, however, in a testament to his leadership abilities showed no favoritism toward his son or his son’s unit and ensured they all did their duty. A clear example of this was seen during the Battle of Antietam, on 17 September 1862. During the fighting, General Lee rode up to the battery commander of his son’s unit to inquire of its condition and supply of ammunition. Lee’s son walked over to his father and asked, “General, are you going to send us in again?” General Lee replied, “Yes, my son, you must all do what you can to help to drive these people back.”{321} A witness to the event states, “His (General Lee’s) equanimity and self-possession under the awful stress of that day were marvelous.”{322} Lee also understood the importance of artillery on the battlefield. For example, during the Battle of Antietam Lee personally directed Major John Pelham to take three guns to try to turn the Union right flank.{323} Lee did not micromanage his artillery commanders. During the Battle of Chancellorsville, on 1-4 May 1863, he allowed his battalion commanders the flexibility to move some twenty-five guns forward to occupy abandoned Federal positions to support the infantry advance.{324}

Robert E. Lee took an active role in managing his field artillery. He wrote President Davis on 3 September 1862 and expressed deep concern over the amount and quality of artillery ammunition. Lee states, “I beg you will instruct the Ordnance Department to spare no pains in manufacturing a sufficient amount of the best kind, and to be particular, in preparing that for the artillery, to provide three times as much of the long-range ammunition as of that for the smooth-bore or short-range guns.

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