The new North-west. [volume] (Deer Lodge, Mont.) 1869-1897, 1880-03-19
THE cANNoN's MOUTH.
EXAMPLES FROM RECENT HISTORY SHOW
ING THE COMPARATIVE HARMLEssNEss
OF ARTILLERY.
Detroit Free Press.

oE
Detroit Free Press.
There is nothing connected with battle
so exciting AS To see y battery of flying ar
tillery take position. Troops Opsn right
and left, drivers lash and shout, horses
plunge and rear, and guns and caissons
dash through and over everything until
reaching the chosen spot. A line of men
waiting for the fight to open will show
pluck and enthusiasm with the booming of
the first gun, and tie faster the battery is
worked the more impatient will the sup
ports become for close work. No one will
say that an army could be successful with
out artillery, and yet those who bold the
"cannon's mouth /" to be king of terrors
or the jaws OF certain destruction will feel
disappointed when thev cone across statis-
lics showing how little damage is inflicted
by cannon compared with the musket. 1t
is often said of man He would not be
afraid to march up to the cannon's MOUTH
and yet it is not high compliment to his
bravery. just previous TO the first fight at
Bull Run brigade of infantry made a re-
connoissanco towards Biackbufn's ford to
see how the enemy was posted. A Michi-
gan regiment. in reserve jus: outside the
fight, was opened ON by SIX field pieces in
| pain SlknJ. uc whS auu
lasted for half an hour, and yet not a man
IN the regiment was even wounded Massa-
chusetts troops, advancing into the woods,
fought against cannon mounted on an
earthwork for fully twenty minutes, and
yet all their loss was from the musketry of
foreign troops. On this occasion no less
than 200 round shot and shell were utterly
wasted. During the Sunday fight at Bull
Run, full battery, posted on the left and
just outside che fight, kept up continuous
and rapid fire on a highway three-quarters
of a mile away, over which the Confeder-
ates were marching AZ they went into
action or changed positions. Shot and shell
could be seen to strike, and outside Of
tearing a cover off an army wagon, and
the killing of horse or two, no damage
was done. At Fair Oaks the artillery was
fierce, and seemingly destructive. Trees
| were rent and shivered, great furrows
plowed in the ground, and shells screamed
everywhere over the battlefield. Yet the
loss of life by nusketry was in proportion
of 20 to one.> The Third Michigan Infantry
lost more men in five minutes 0y infantry
| fire than any brigade lost in all day by shot
or shell. The daily papers used to make
great ado over artillery duels, which were
pronounced iendish, bloed-tnirsty and 80
forth. At Antietam a Union and Confeder-
ate battsry, not over half mile apart and
in plain sight of each other, had one Of
these duels, lasting forty minutes. The
| guns were worked for all they were worth,
| aud when the duel ended the Union loss
| was a horse killed, the wheel of a caisson
shattered and two infantry men lying in
support killed. A change of position sent
the writer's regiment over the ground oc-
cupied by the Confederate battery, and
there were found two disabled horses, a
dead artillerist and the wreck of caisson.
| During the 40 minutes that these twelve
guns were banging away with such little
result, four or five sharpshoOters just to
| the right killed more than a dozen nen and
made no fuss over it. Lee had splendid
position for his artillery at Fredericksburg,
| yet the Union troops swept forward un-
mindful of the fire until they reached the
point where the Confederate infantry could
begin work. Shells exploded in the air or
beyond the line, round shot took men
sipgly, and no great damage was done un-
| Til grape and canister came into play. The
| Union guns on the other bank Of the riyer,
numbering at least one hundred and fifty,
bounced away for several hours at the town
and at Lees troops above. yet they did not
| cripple the enemy as much as the fire from
q single infantry regiment. At Savage
station. when Mcclellan was changing base,
| Union battery was charged by Confed-
| crate regiment. They came across an open
field, in plain view and On level ground,
with SIX guns playing away on them. yet
they captured the battery with loss OF
only eleven men killed, and four OF those
| were killed by one shell. A Union regi.
ment rallied on the guns, fought over them
hand to hand and captured them, and in
Ten minutes each regiment lost over one
hundred men. 1t is popularly supposed 70
be q fOrlorn hope, when men rush forward
on q battery, but any old solder would
take his chances there sooner than trying
to dislodge Infantry from the cover of a
stout rail fence. At second Bull Run the
writer's regiment swept forward TO capture
some field pieces which had got the range
down fine and were creating considerable
havoc. There were four cannon, and they
covered about the same front that the ad
vancing regiment did. They used shell al
first against us, and in twelve or more
rounds we lost only three men. They then
changed to grape and canister, aud before
reaching the guns oar total loss was fifteen
men. We marched square at the cannon
preserved good front, and the artillerists
could not have had better chance. Hao
We been advancing on 100 infantry behind
fence or in rifie-pits our loss would havs
been four times az great. kt Gettysburg
more than 400 cannon belched away fol
hours, shaking the ground as with al
earthquake, but the loss In killed ant
wounded was not as great as that inflicted
by any brigade in action. More than lO(
Confederate field-pieces were turned or
Round Top for two long hours, aud yet in
fantry rested there and munohed their hare
tack almost as cody as in camp. Wher
Lee retreated and Sheridan pursued hil
wagon train over the mountain roads, thai
rear guard of the Confederatns planted TIVE
field pieces in the narrow road u CHECK
pursuit. They were we'll served, hat
plenty of ammunition, and seemed to com
mand the entire approach, but those gum
were charged and captured with the loss o
bat three men. The fire Of artillery II
destructive only when it hits, the same a.
; infantry, but it is easier to shoot maj
with a musket than with cannon. 4
shell has been known to blow twelve mel
into fragments, but perhaps twenty othel
shells we're wasted before that one hit. A
round shot may crush two men as 1t plowl
through Q regiment, brt IL will take M
more. Grape and canister will do mur
derous work at short range, but that rang
can only be had once in . while, and theI
preserved for only two three rounds.
A FLOATING ISLAND.