Field ArTillery - US Army Center Of Military History

32 The OrganizaTiOnal hisTOry Of field arTillery
Jackson. The artillery was divided among the divisions, four battalions in the Northern
Division and four in the Southern. One year later, the system of designating companies
by the names of their commander gave way to a system of lettered designations,
which greatly simplified administrative work within the Army. 43
The Army underwent a major reorganization in 1821. The framework of the law
that Congress passed on 2 March of that year was based upon proposals of Secretary
Calhoun, who wanted to retain the existing units of the Army at reduced strength
and use the officers as cadres upon which the Regular Army could be expanded
in times of war. He suggested that ordnance, light artillery, and heavy artillery be
reorganized to form five regiments with 247 officers and 2,950 men. He was specific
in his recommendations about artillery for field use:
The present regiment of light artillery being organized to manoeuvre 60 guns [6 per
company] is stronger than our occasions require. . . . It is proposed to convert it into an
additional regiment of foot artillery and to add a company of light artillery to each of the
five regiments of artillery . . . to raise companies to 100 men in time of war [from 64 in
peacetime], so that the whole corps will be able to manoeuvre 90 guns, viz 30 by light artillery
and 60 by 10 companies of foot; and 900 or even 1800 guns in forts and batteries by
aid of militia, to serve alternately two guns. 44
Congress followed most of Secretary Calhoun’s suggestions. In the act, which
became effective on 1 June 1821, the Corps of Artillery and the Regiment of
Light Artillery were consolidated to form the 1st, 2d, 3d, and 4th Regiments of
Artillery. One of the nine companies authorized to each of the four regiments was
to be equipped as light artillery, and a supernumerary captain was assigned to each
regiment to perform ordnance functions. The number of artillery companies was
reduced from forty-two (thirty-two in the Corps of Artillery and ten in the Regiment
of Light Artillery) to thirty-six in the four artillery regiments (Table 4). 45 Calhoun’s
reorganization, which reduced the entire Army from an authorized strength of 12,664
to 6,183, gave the artillery 192 officers and 1,988 enlisted men, resulting in a ratio
of one artilleryman to every two other soldiers. 46
The companies were assigned to depots in the interior in addition to their traditional
postings at various forts along the coast. In spite of the consolidations, all
companies averaged about 20 percent understrength. None was equipped as horse
artillery, that is, with enough horses to mount the men, and none was well suited
for field service. 47
43 William A. Gordon, A Compilation of the Registers of the Army of the United States . . . (Washington,
D.C.: James C. Dunn, 1837), p. 71. On the redesignation orders, see copies in CMH files.
44 American State Papers, Class 5, Military Affairs, 2:189–92 (quotation).
45 John C. Calhoun, The Papers of John C. Calhoun, 2–9 vols. (Columbia: University of South
Carolina Press for the South Caroliniana Society, 1959–73), 5:328–29, 560; Callan, comp., Military
Laws, pp. 306–09. These four regiments are currently designated as the 1st, 2d, 3d, and 4th Air Defense
Artillery.
46 American State Papers, Class 5, Military Affairs, 2:194, 452.
47 Ibid., 2:380–450, 452–56; William Addleman Ganoe, The History of the United States Army, rev.
ed. (New York: D. Appleton-Century, 1942), pp. 159, 170.