Field Artillery Weapons of the Civil War (review)

Abstract

88CIVIL WAR HISTORY movement," to create a receptivity to emancipation if not to drive the government to it. By the end of the war, "northern religious bodies developed into active antislavery agencies," he writes; even if they had not led the way, they were willing to be led. They were not, however, so willing to be led into a fight with racism. McKivigan has written a solid institutional history; he has scoured the nooks and crannies of the ecclesiastical sources to show the continuing impact of radical abolitionism upon the northern churches. If he did not probe the cultural and intellectual contradictions of Evangelicalism in telling his story, he nonetheless has provided the framework for understanding how radical abolitionists carried on their "war against antislavery religion." Donald G. Mathews University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Field Artillery Weapons of the Civil War. By James C. Hazlett, Edwin Olmstead, and M. Hume Parks. (Newark: University of Delaware Press, 1983. Pp. 322. $35.00.) During the Civil War, field artillery no longer dominated battle fields as it had at Friedland and Palo Alto. Nor was it yet the long-range destroyer that it would become in the twentieth century. It was, nevertheless , an important combat arm, which historians can ignore no more than could Civil War generals themselves. For tactics and performance, personalities and personnel, command structure and unit histories of Civil War artillery, those historians will look elsewhere. As its title indicates, this book concerns field artillery "weapons." It covers the eighteen different types of Civil War light artillery pieces, in eight different calibers—from famous Napoleons and 3-inch Ordnance Rifles to lesser-known pieces like Confederate mountain howitzers and weird Wiards. Drawing on extensive research in published and manuscript sources, on personal examination of virtually every known surviving piece (whether in battlefields, museums, parks, cemeteries, or private hands), and on their own expertise, the authors describe the development and manufacture of each kind of cannon, its specifications and characteristics, and its availability today. Federal and Southern, national and state guns are covered, often with a separate chapter for each land. The authors, moreover, set Civil War artillery in the overall evolution of arms development before and since. Especially constructively, they suggest a systematic way for designating all Civil War field guns through bore diameter (e.g., 3-inch) rather than through often misleading use of poundage (e.g., 12-pounder). Complementing these chapters are seventy-three appendixes, listing Union and Confederate ordnance officers and indicating where all surviving pieces are located. The text itself is enriched with generous portions BOOK REVIEWS89 of present-day photographs, drawings, and charts. So many pictures, together with the high quality of the narrative justifies the price, which is high but reasonable. University of Delaware Press earns commendation for excellence of production standards involving so many photographs and drawings and simply for publishing such a useful work. The authors, in turn, deserve praise for conscientiousness and dedication in writing it. Edwin Olmstead , James Hazlett, and Hume Parks, each in his own way, are renowned in artifact circles for artillery expertise. Now they have shared that expertise more broadly through the historical community. Admittedly , few historians, professional or lay, will read the book cover to cover, any more than someone reads a dictionary or encyclopedia cover to cover. But like those books, Field Artillery Weapons of the Civil War will endure as the standard reference work on its subject: an important addition to any institutional or personal Civil War library and a significant contribution to knowledge. Richard J. Sommers U.S. Army Military History Institute The Texas Second Infantry: From Shiloh to Vicksburg. By Joseph E. Chance. (Austin: Eakin Press, 1984. Pp. xiv, 216. $13.95.) This work is a regimental history that follows the Texas Second Infantry from its organization shortly after Texas's secession to its disbanding immediately before the final Confederate surrender. Included are accounts of the regiment's participation in many of the major campaigns of the war, especially Corinth, Shiloh, and Vicksburg. The brigade's assault on Battery Robinett at Corinth is still considered one of the most valorous, if unsuccessful, "charges" of the Civil War. The purpose of...