Washington sentinel., 1898-11-19
sEACoAsr DEFENCE.
Written for the WASHINGTON SENTINEL by
WEST STEEYER.

In spite OF the many recent inn
provements in torpedo and sub
marine mines, artillery must be oui
main dependence in preventing tht
enemy from forcing an entrance
into the seaports of our country
This naturally leads up TO the dis
cussion OF what we really possess
in personnel and mateyEeI in that
arm OF the service. We have now
in the regular army seven regi
ments of artillery, including two
recently organized. When a state
of war exists, every one of the bat
teries now acting as infantry are
naturally turned into light artil'
,ery. This is an absolute military
/ necessity and can admit oil no ar
gument, even if the officers and
I'D not desire it. The heavy
t, .ould be exposed to capture
by the enemy landing forces for
that purpose, unless protected by
covering armies, and such armies
must have their proportion OF light
artillery, which it will be explained
further, requires today that pro-
portion to be greater, both in guns
and men, than ever was necessary
tor covering armies in former wars.
The truth of the matter is that
heavy artillery as a branch OF mil
itary science is lost art in the
United States army. We doubt
very much if there is an officer in
that army that has ever heard a
heavy gun fired in anger. In the
navy it is different, as all the super
ior officers Of that arm OF the SER
vice, who served in our civil war,
had ample experience in engaging
the batteries manned by the heavy
artillery on the other side. In all
organizations of hastily enlisted
forces, light artillery is of supreme
imrortance, as it is absolutely
needed to give steadiness to raw
troops. 1t must be remembered
that the horses must be drilled as
we'll S the men and the difficulties
of organizing a battery Of light
ar ilery with green officers, green
men, and green horses can be
easily understood. Unframed
horses are a source of great en-
barrassment under such circum.
stances and many ways have been
sought to overcome this difficulty.
Perhaps the best was that used by
Bem in organizing the light bat
teries of the Hungarian army in
I84S, which was to starve the
horses and then feed them under
fire two or three times before taking
them into action. This being con.
tinued, with intervals, so trained
the animals that there was not a
case OF boiling of either gun or
caisson IN any of the battles in
which they were engaged. 1t has
been well said that the horse has
but one idea at time. The writer
saw this once exemplifed in a com
mander trying to get battery into |
a fight IN the late civil war. The |
horses OF the leading gun of the |
column baked going up hill. in a
narrow way, which brought the re- |
of the battery to a halt |
In spite OF the efforts OF their |
drivers plying their whips, Sec
onded by the blows OF the cannon
GERS with branches torn from the
trees, the leading gun still
remained at dead stand. One OF
the lieItenants, at this moment,
gave the order to cram sim ultane-
ously the mouths of the six horses
with mud. The effect was magical
and the gun started with bound,
quickly followed by the other
pieces and caissons.
The only explanation OF the
absurd manner OF mixing the two
branches Of heavy and light ar
tillerV in one corps, was given to
me by an officer OF the Royal Ar
tillery Of the English Army, which
is the only one besides the United
States Army that pursUes this
faulty system. This officer did
not approve OF it, but on the con-
trary deplored the necessity, which
he maintained proceeded from the
peculiar disposition Of Tommy
Atkins" No life could be imag-
med to the ordinary soldier more
nonotouous than that at the gar
-isons and posts armed with heavy
guns, scattered all over the inhabit-
able globe OF that empire on which
t is claimed that the sun never
sets. The hope Of being at any
moment drafted into light battery
S all that saves him fro n dying OF