Washington sentinel., 1898-12-03

" West, in which the MississipE
River and its upper tributarie:
n south OF tsjunction with the Ohio
Y was included, served previously t
t the war in the artillery of the OLE
II army. Polk, Beauregard, Bragg
S Johnston and Pemberton had con
sequently considerable experience
. in that arm, which they brought "a
bear in organizing the heavy artil-
lerY force to defend the Mississippi
valley against the invading armies
and fleets of the United States.
That this defence was unsuccessful
IS no reflection on the ability Of
those commanders. but their fail
uTe was due entirely to the paucity
OF resource in guns and vessels OF
war.
There we're three distinct organ.
izations of this force with which |
served. That which was organized
under Polk, McCown and Stewart,
at Columbus, and which defended
that point and afterwards Island
No. 10 and New Madrid Bend. At
Fort Pillow, Gen. Stewart was re-
lieved by Gen. Villepigue, who
came with both men and material
from Pensacola. This force had
been organized by Bragg at that
point before its evacuation. Then
on the Yazoo River and at Vicks.
burg a further reinforcement was
obtained by an artillery force or
ganized under Duncan and Hig.
gins at the forts below New Or
leans Though coming from three
such distant points, it was singular
that these troops aSsimilated al
most Immediately when placed to-
eether on duty. This arose from
the similarity produced by the uni
formitY of discipline introduced
into the organizations by the CT
deVaHE officers of artillery OF the
old army. AS there were both
officers and men, representing the
loot and marine artillery branch OF
nearly every army in Europe serv-
ing under me, heard their obser-
on this discipline and
judged with that with which they ,
were previously familiar. These ,
were made with more :
freedom from the fact that had '
pursued my military studies in
Europe and had some KIN owledge /,
ot the artillery arm of the different b
armies in which they had served. h
This, added to my commanding S
he Twenty-third Louisiana while r
ietailed on heavy artillery duty on :
he Yazoo, altogether in the o
french language, when many OF tc
he officers and men had served in a
he Continental armies and several
ad gone through the Crimean
7ar, rendered them very confiden-
lal in their structures and gave me q
n opportunity to compare their st
fterent rules OF service with those RI
n vogue in the old United States b
rmy. Without exception they 6
acknowledged that the "esprit de ~
orps" was far higher in the Con- iu
;derate heavy artillery, including es
course the infantry detailed on Sc
lat duty, than in the same branch VI
European armies. Their criti- ~
SIN only affected the minor de-
ills, owing to rspidlty of organi ita
alton. to
The old organization OF the at
-tillery OF the United States Army ~, ~
efore the war was better than ri,
lat since, as only one-tenth OF the II
rec served then as light artillery fol
atteries, while now one-sixth ko
rye as such. There were but y y
ur batteries Of light artillery on
en-, while now there are four ha
en-. One battery to a regiment an
ten companies, while there are an
10 now to a regiment OF twelve n' l,n
'mpanies. Both organizations ca,
ere bad, for the two arms Of the fac
rvice should be organized sep era
ately as there is no more affinity era
tween them than between cay i Hs
" and Infantry, perhaps even on,
IS than between the latter and Rrc
smounted cavalry.
AMONG the manV obiertions en-