Field ArTillery - US Army Center Of Military History

diverging missiOns
Artillery in action at El Caney, Cuba
have enough guns. If a more powerful fire could have been directed at one specific point,
the artillery effect would have been greater. 44
The Ordnance Department was concerned enough about the performance of its
equipment to appoint a board of officers to investigate the efficiency of American
weapons in the Cuban and Puerto Rican campaigns. The board reported that artillery
employment was too limited to produce any useful evaluation. 45 In the Philippines,
the Spanish did not offer much resistance, and the opportunity to maneuver artillery
in the swampy terrain around Manila was limited, although a battalion of the
2d Regiment of Artillery was particularly commended for its efforts in repelling
an attack on 31 July. 46
One of the chief complaints about the artillery during the War With Spain
was its use of black powder. 47 A major in the Prussian artillery had produced the
first smokeless powder in 1865, although French engineer Paul Vieille in 1886
44 “Professional Results of the Santiago Battles,” p. 952.
45 “American Ordnance,” Army and Navy Journal, 8 Oct 1898, p. 140.
46 “The Military Situation,” Army and Navy Journal, 13 Aug 1898, p. 1035; U.S. Congress, House,
Committee on Appropriations, The Fortification Appropriations Bill Hearings, 55th Cong., 3d sess.,
1899, p. 19.
47 Black powder is an unstable, sensitive, and easily ignitable low-explosive charge used as a
component of igniters, igniting primers, and blank-fire charges.
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