Evening journal., 1898-08-04
HEAVY ARTILLERYMEN.
Their Duties in Handling the Great
Guns Make Practical scien-
tintH OF Tkem.

The heavy artillery Is a great branch
Of the army, and so distinct In its stud
les as to make 1t independent Of the
other branches OF the service. just
now the heavy artillery branch IS the
most important in the army, and II is
therefore pertinent TO set forth the
fact that some military critics have for
many years maintained, that too much
work and hoo many drills are saddled
upon the heavy artillerymnn.
The light artilleryman's drills are
many and his duties are heavy, but he
is consoled for this in the reflection
that he belongs TO the crack branch in
the whole military outfit. Foreign mil
itary critics of eminence have unhesi- !
tatingiy pronounced the ten batteries
of light artillery of the United States |
army to be unsurpassed in the world for
horsemanship and rapid and scientific
handling Of the pieces. But while the
American artilleryman has got TO be as
nimble as an acrobat, and an absolute
master of horsemanship, he does not
have 10 use his head nearly SO much as
his comrade In the henvy artillery.
an artillery recruit can be rapidly
fashioned into an automatic carrier OF
ammunition, and In the course of a
few drills, if he be quick-witted, he
can master the duties demanded by his
one particular number on a big guns
crew. But It takes years Of alertness
and attention and considerable study
besides for tho cleverest recruit TO be-
como a good heavy artilleryman In the
! American army. tits commonly known
among artillerymen that by the time
an aItilleryman IN tho heavy branch
has put in threo years enlistment he
has picked up only smattering of the
smnll duties and drills imposed upon
him as the heavy artillery service Is
at present organized. But men Of late
years have been getting enough Of It
in three years experience, and II they
reenlist again n great many Of them
join the "dough-boys' In the infantry
regiments for the sake Of the compara-
lively easy zone soldier, one gum duty
required OF the infantry. In the first
place, tho heavy artilleryman has TO
become proficient In infantry drills.
Up TO within few years ago the
b henvy artillery branch w0s handicapped
by the lack OF modern guns upon which
! to drill. Even at tho presenttime many
artillerymen in tho heavy batteries
have had no opportunity TO drill upon
modern breech-loading rilcs such as
are at Fort Point and viii be at the
; Denver resuryey md Bolivar Point
; fortifioations. There is all Tho differ
/ ence In the world between n muzzle-
y loading and q breech-loading great
O gun, and the drill npon each gun is en-.
tirely different
1t requires about two-thirds OF an en-.
tire battery to operate Que Of these
big guns. The men are drilled upol
y thenby numbers. Thegunppr giycsth'
y oomW9Dd aud each nan hos certOas
Ia wOrx " pegnpFm, npt eech rpasp h &c
q,lfrea 70 master thS dntaea OF ever
i, nessber Of the gunas creyv, aod for Nj
- porp0so no is shifted a0out from on
rupkeF to an0thcr.
's Aa fher0 are thousand eDd one 81
II moro movements to bo executed IN gel
Il ting a great gun served and into firint
+ posi6oo, tho mastery OF the big gui
a tacties Is no small Watter for a heavl
10 artillerymen, but there arc 80 man,
auxiliary drills besides tho infantf.
= formation and drills on the big PIECES
n The drills called mechanical maneuver
D, are the bane OF soldiers in this branel
N OF tho service, Properly, mechanical
=" maneuvers belong to theengineers. The!
consist OF mounting and dismountin,
the big guns, and tho heavy artillery
man Is expected TO master the uses o
IN all the paraphernnlia required in thi
- work-almost every style of gun, jacl
\ and tackle. II Ia very hard labor, ant
!. besides 10 Is dangerous. There hav
m been somo serious aud some fatal acel
ta dents In fhe army caused by the AT
In tempts OF heavy artlllerymen, unfamil
er lar with tho work, TO mount and dis
at mount big guns.
nd Some OF the artilleTymen become Ia
m terested In the instrument drill. OF
ed rather the drills on Instruments, an
a. take TO the study of mathematics for so
m lutions. But the majority themliste
H. to the elaborate scientific explanation
by Of the officers as TO the uses Of the IN
r. struments, their mechanism, etc, an
a promptly forget all about them unit
IL the next instrument drill. The instrr
g. ments are Of all sorts--the aerometei
T., for example, which is used in heavy al
al tillery for the purpose OF ascertainin
the strength Of the wind in It's possibl
detection Of projectiles; instrument
ou for measuring the initial. muzzle an
In other velocities Of projectiles; instrr
ments for measuring the power of pow
ders; sighting instruments, range find
ers, search lights, electric firing appai
lie atus and other numerous small gear {
an a scientific character too varied to mel
81 tion.
!, When the heavy artillermen hay
got well into the way with the aboy
'e simple labors and studies, which NJ
as pear TO the average man as a lifetim
We study in themselves, they take up III
n block and tackle drill. by this time the
H. are required 10 learn how 10 rig an
] 4 ..