The Role Of Artillery In The American Civil War

The American civil war is one of the most pivotal years in American history. It pitted families against each other, fighting on separate sides based on personal beliefs and political alliances. During this war, some Artillery unit standard operating procedures (SOP), and tactics, techniques, and procedures (TTP) were established that are still used in present day. The guns and cannons that were used were utilized to their full potential, maximizing their range and lethality. The intensity of the battle of Gettysburg made ordinary men perform extra-ordinary feats of heroism. Accordingly, this battle produced the most Medal of Honor recipients, 64 in total, with at least 5 Artillery Soldiers earning the country’s highest honor. The success that the Union Army had at Gettysburg cannot be solely attributed to the efforts of Artillery; nor can the Infantry claim full responsibility for the victory. Success at Gettysburg can be contributed to collaboration and mutual support demonstrated on the battlefield by the Cavalry, the Infantry, and the Artillery. The difference between Gettysburg and previous battles was the positive contribution the Artillery made to the Union victory (Gilmore, 2012). The employment of Artillery at Gettysburg demonstrated the validation of
Accordingly the deaths once the battle was over, reached around 50,000 combined and most casualty producing weapons were the Artillery. During the Civil war, Artillery was quickly changing and beginning to improve, unfortunately for the south, they did not have the resources or the man power to keep up. Consequently, this was a huge impact because even though they had taken over Union guns, once the battle of Gettysburg began, they simply did not have