"Book/website for ACW, similar to Imperial Bayonets?" Topic

Hi Fellows,

May I ask if anyone has a recommendation for an ACW book or website that is similar in nature, re diagrams, formations, details and such, to Nafziger's 'Imperial Bayonets'?

Thank you for any input.

Sincerely,
Bob

I would recommend the books by Halleck, Casey and Hardee although they are largely derivative and stolen from various French authors to begin with.

Also, the US War Department did one in 1863 but that stole all its ideas from the other three.

Oh by the way, they all stole from the British too, although to be fair they ripped off the Prussians.

Inkbiz: I would like to second what Trajanus said above and add there was also a book and a softback booklet by Paddy Griffith that were published in the eighties I believe, that you might be interested in, (they stirred up some controversy if I'm not mistaken). I don't remember their exact titles but I can get that information if you would like. They might be available on Amazaon? Another large book on the battle of Gettysburg by a guy named Mark Adkins, (?), has some great diagrams and is loaded with some wonderful little tactical details. Again I don't remember the exact title. The downside to the Gettysburg book is that it rather pricey, (I don't know how well received it was but I enjoyed it).

John Miller

Hi Bob,

Time for me to own up to my weak attempt at humor!

Truth to tell I don't know of an equivalent work to Nafziger's 'Imperial Bayonets' for the Civil War – it would be a pretty thin book as both sides used pretty much identical drill and formations unlike the Napolionic period when there were loads of national differences.

General Halleck wrote several drill books dating back 30 over thirty years before the war based on French practice but with basically British organisation.

Casey and Hardee did their own updates from Halleck before the war and the War Department did their authorized version in 1863. The thing is, all these are as close to being the same as makes no real difference – certainly for wargamers – and have diagrams to boot.

The only downside is they are written in 19th Century military style so they are a bit complex to read in places.

All of these are available on line or in print.

I think the books that John refers to are The Gettysburg Companion by Mark Adkins which does contain some good info but if you are not interested in the battle itself is too expensive for the amount of formation and drill stuff on its own.

The paper backs by Griffith I have are Battle in the Civil War which is around 50 pages of explanation of tactics and unit layouts with loads of black and white drawings – a bit like a Comic Book in style, and the one that got people fired up when it first came out – Battle Tactics of the American Civil War which only has a couple of illustrations in it. It is a good book though.

Other than that I really don't know of a book that fits the Nafziger bill. Some TMPers who are into Re Enactment might but as far as I know they tend to study the drill books I mentioned to reproduce the period.

The best Griffith book is 'Battle Tactics of the American Civil War', not the one with the comic book illustrations.

Alternatively there is 'The Bloody Crucible of Courage: Fighting Methods and Combat Experience of the Civil War' by Brent Nosworthy.

Neither are really a patch on Imperial Bayonets being more discursive.

Agreed, the missing element is the diagrams.

There are books like Bloody Crucible and Nosworthy's later book "Roll Call to Destiny" which examines ten experiences of individual units in action and has sections of tactical comment but as far as I know nothing that comes close to the Nafziger model is out there.

Like I say I can only think nobody has done this kind of thing as the comparison element of Imperial Bayonets is a non starter.

There may be a modern single volume showing company and regimental structure with appropriate diagrams and drill moves but I've only ever seen this as sub sections of other books apart from in the original manuals.

Thank you very much for the input, gents, I sure do appreciate it.

I wasn't aware Casey or Hardee had diagrams, thank you Trajanus, I'm def gong to check those out.

I've got copies of Adkins and Nosworthy, I'll have to dig those up, but the Griffith books may be what I was thinking of..?

Specifically I recall seeing in some book many years ago a diagram of the overhead view/footprints of 2 rankers firing (looked sort of like those cut-out footprints people use to learn a dance), as well as a nice little illustration of a regiment in line of battle..

Thank you for the kind advice,
Bob

Bob,

Casey, Hardee and the rest all had diagrams so as they could function as a teaching aid to the poor suckers who had to command the companies and Battalions/Regiments when they hardly knew one end of a musket from the other themselves.

Personally, even though I've read them a good few times myself I have know idea how they managed it!

BTW: There no such overhead view, as described, in the Griffith books.

Does this mean you are going to create a line of ACW miniatures, Inkbiz?

Lol Hi Albino Squrrel. Yes, I'm working on a poseable N scale armature so I can get a lot of varied poses with much less time and cost than my other project. It'll be a few weeks before I have anything to share/show, but it's nice to be working at a larger scale for a change.

Speaking of, feel free to message me your address, I'd be happy to send you some samples of the 5mm Napoleonic figures.

That is great news, Inkbiz! One one hand, I'm a little sad that you won't be doing 1:500 (or I guess it ended up being more like 5mm) for ACW, so I could have even more guys. On the other hand, I'm extremely happy that you're doing N-Scale, since that's what I have now for ACW, so I will hopefully be able to get some of your ACW stuff when it is done without completely starting over in a new scale. And the French you did roughly in that size were excellent.

I would LOVE some samples of your 5mm Napoleonics! Thank you. Are they available for purchase anywhere now? If you ever make some that work as Russians, which at that size probably just means removing the pom-pom, and making some with plumes to use as grenadiers, I would buy a lot of both French and Russians to finally get into Napoleonics.

I don't think I can PM you, but you can send me an e-mail from my blogger profile page, and I can e-mail you back my mailing address. I've put the link to my profile page below.

link