"The Role of the Artillery in the Atlanta Campaign" Topic

""The nature of military operations in a country like ours is peculiar, and often without precedent elsewhere," wrote General Barry, Sherman's chief of artillery.1 "It is generally unfavorable to the full development and legitimate use of artillery. This is eminently the case in the West, where large tracts of uncleared land and dense forest materially circumscribe its field of usefulness and often force it into positions of hazard and risk, The services of the artillery throughout the whole campaign have been conspicuous. The western life of officers and men, favorable to self-reliance, coolness, endurance, and markmanship, seems to adapt them peculiarly for this special arm. Their three years' experience in the field adds important elements to their efficiency and has combined to render the artillery of your command unusually reliable and effective. At Rocky Face Ridge, Resaca, Kenesaw, and amid the varied and bloody operations before Atlanta, it sustained its appropriate share of the work most creditably. Its practice at Rocky Face Ridge and Kenesaw Mountain, where at unusual elevation it was called upon to silence or dislodge the enemy, was extraordinary. Abundant proof of this was obtained from personal inspection of the enemy's works after we gained possession of them, which proof is fully confirmed by the concurrent acknowledgement of the enemy."…"

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Armand

Great article; thank you. The anecdote related in Sherman's memoirs regarding DeGress' Battery is especially interesting.

A votre service mon ami…

Armand