The weekly pioneer and Democrat. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn. Territory) 1855-1865, 1862-11-07
The Artillery Arm Of the Service.

OF an army Is the artillery arm OF service.
NAPOLEON, the Emperor, considered it the
most advantageous force of his grand ar
my; for by it he gained many OF his most
brilliant victories So in the present day
is it considered invaluable. The success
of the allied armies in the Crimean War
depended upon it; and to bring it back to
our own country, we see it's efficacy in the
war with Mexico tested on the fields of
Palo Alto, Resaca de la Palma, Monterey,
Buena Vista, Cerro Gordo. and the City
of Mexico. At Palo Alto the brave RIM
GOLD tested it's value, and here was the
birth of the light artillery arm of the Unit
ed States Army, which was baptized by
the blood of brave and noble officer,
whose efforts made it a success. We lost
a noble officer ON that field, but by his
science and learning, artillery tactics have
become as household words in our Nation
al service.
Shortly after the Mexican war, the mill
tia spirit increased, and numerous light or
"fying artillery companies were organic
ed in different portions of the Union.
About this time, as if an incentive to this
newborn military spirit, SHERMAN's splen-
did battery made brief tour through sew
eral of our principal cities, which brought
forth all the latent military talent which
for long time had been dormant. The
Adjutant Generals of many OF the States
had countless applications for batteries of
guns or sections of batteries for new or
ganized artillery corps. The majority of
these requests of course were refused, for
the government had not the guns and car
riages and accOutrements requisite for
light battery on hand; so that only few
favored ones succeeded in getting fully
armed and equipped. Among these few
were the Marine Artillery, ofProvidence.
Rhode Island, an organization which, dur
ing this GM War, has sent forth brave
and noble men.-splsndid artiAerists, to
battle successfully Hath the rebel hordes of
jeff. Davis; the Boston light Artillery,
another splendid csrps stilltn service; the
Cleveland Light Artillery now regiment,
and the Detroit Artillery, all full and eff
cient batteries oRfeld and flying artillery.
From this time until the present day, these
few scatteraa organizations have increased
in gRHntic proportions until we have, at
The plezeut time, magnificent park of ar
tHetsr- said to be by foreign officers, the
most splendid collection of artillery of any
army in the world.
In the regular service we formerly had
but four regiments of artillery, nearly all
of which did infantry duty, with the ex-
ception of about four batteries, who were
drilled solely in artillery tactics. We have
now five splendid Regiments of Regular
Artillery in our service, of over 5000 etfi-
cient artillerists, to say nothing OF volun-
teer batteries, which can now be counted
at over 100 already in service, from the
Great West alone.
A light battery consists of the following
material Six field pieces of brass or iron,
four of which are ritied guns of 6-pounder
calibre, and two 12-pounder howitzers
The requisite number of men for a light
battery, is as follows: One Captain, three
Lieutenants, six Sergeants, eight Corpo-
rails, two Musicians, two Artifcers, one
Wagner, and one hundred and twenty
five Privates, making q total of 14S men
to battery. Besides the six field pieces,
are six caissons, two ammunition wagons
and one travelling forge. The number of
horses required is y. In the English az
my battery Of field artillery consists of
eight guns of 8 and 12-pounder calibre,
the 9-pounder being a fayorite sized gun
among the English artillerists. We have
no 9-pounder guns in our service. The
Russian field artillery, ten guns; the Prus-
sian and Belgian, eight guns, and the
French light battery, six guns. Most of
the artillery used in our service are brass
pieces, manufactured at the Ames Compa-
ny's Works, in CabOtville, Massachusetts,
They are mostly for rifled projectiles The
Parrot gun, manufactured at the Cold
Spring Foundry, New York, is now gen.
orally used in the armies of the East, few
batteries of which are in the army of the
West. These are very effective gun, be-
ing rifed. They are long, slim gun,
gradually tapering from base to muzzle.
The base is composed of heavy metal, with
a thick wrought iron band shrunk to it,
which not only strengthens the gun, but
prevents that recOil so incident to the ordi-
nary field piece. We also use the Napoleon
gun, splendid piece of ordnance, shaped
somewhat similar to the Dahlgren gun.
This is also ritled cannon, of great
strength and beauty, and very effective at
long range At the late battle of Antie-
tam, in Maryland, battery of these guns
was served with terrible effect against
rebel Georgia regiment, literally moving
them down in scores with its terrible storm
of grape and canister.
Let us speak of the regular artillery regi-
ments of the army, and, by giving few
statistics of its strength and efficiency, the
reader cannot fail to be interested.
THE REGULAR ARTILLERY.
The Regular Artillery of the United
States consists of five full regiments, most
of whom are serving with eight batteries
in the field. The First Artillery is differed
as follows: l Colonel, Leutenat Colonel,
8 Majors, Is Captains, "a First Lieutenants
and 10 Second Lieutenants, with 1858