Field ArTillery - US Army Center Of Military History

The civil war
Army of the Potomac and briefly with the Army of the Shenandoah, served with the
western armies, although some mounted batteries, equipped as lightly as possible,
did serve with the cavalry.
In 1864, the number of infantry corps in the Army of the Potomac was reduced
to three with the number of artillery batteries falling to forty-nine by 5 May (Table
8). Of these, twenty-five were in the corps artillery brigades (nine in the II Corps and
eight in each of the V and VI Corps). The two horse artillery brigades in the Cavalry
Corps each contained twelve batteries, as did the Artillery Reserve. In addition, a
battalion of heavy foot artillery was attached to each of the infantry corps, and two
heavy artillery regiments formed part of the Artillery Reserve. Armed as infantry,
the heavy artillery soldiers guarded the trains and provided escort, protection, and
field construction work for the brigades. 50
In the Wilderness campaign of May 1864, even light artillery proved difficult
to maneuver in the swampy and wooded countryside that had few clearings for gun
positions. General Grant reduced the artillery from six-gun batteries to four-gun
batteries, except for the horse artillery units. Given the abundance of artillery, he
maintained that one-fourth of it could not be used to any advantage. 51 Moreover,
he opined that the surplus was a hindrance in using up scarce roads, consuming
a great deal of limited forage and other stores. In his words: “Artillery is a very
burdensome luxury where it cannot be used. Before leaving Spotsylvania, therefore,
I sent back to the defense of Washington over one hundred pieces of artillery,
with horses and caissons. This relieved the road over which we were to march of
more than two hundred six-horse teams, and still left us more artillery than could
be advantageously used.” 52 Most of the pieces ordered away were returned for the
siege of Petersburg.
At the same time, the number of batteries in each infantry corps was increased
to twelve (taken from the artillery reserve) with a total of forty-eight guns in each
corps. The IX Corps, assigned to the Army of the Potomac on 28 May 1864, had
nine batteries, and by early 1865 the II Corps had twelve batteries; the V Corps,
eleven; the VI Corps, nine; the IX Corps, six; and the Artillery Reserve, four. The
Army of the Potomac’s total number of guns was 202, plus 12 Coehorn mortars. 53
On 29 March, Grant reduced the field batteries in the corps artillery brigades to
six batteries each for the II and VI Corps and to five each for the V and IX Corps.
The surplus pieces were either left temporarily in position or sent to the Artillery
Reserve, which, by the circumstances, was strengthened with nineteen batteries and
the supply (artillery) and ammunition trains. 54 The reduction resulted from the need
to increase mobility as Grant’s campaign entered a pursuit phase. Also, the large
50 War Department, War of the Rebellion, 1/36(pt.1):106–16, 284–86; Tidball, “Remarks Upon
Field Artillery,” pp. 86–87, FA School files; Downey, Sound of the Guns, p. 148; Birkhimer, Historical
Sketch, p. 86.
51 Ulysses S. Grant, Personal Memoirs of U. S. Grant, 2 vols. (New York: Charles L. Webster and
Co., 1885–86), 2:181.
52 Ibid., p. 241.
53 War Department, War of the Rebellion, 1/36(pt.1): 289; 1/46(pt.1):660–61.
54 Ibid., 1/46(pt.1):659–62.
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