The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1899-10-29
ARrILLERr IN BATrLEs.
A Former Army Surgeon Thinks Its Value
Has Been ONerrated.


To THE EDIToR OF The suN--Sir: The SUN
Of Dot. az contained an article headed To Out
trick the Boers." In which presumably young
artillery of1cer tells how the British are to pre-
vent tho Beers from using their deadly rifles
by "a paralyzlng shell FIRE from line seven or
eight miles away" Probably after a few years'
experience his views will become somewhat
changed. The proportion OF cases In which
artillery men are able In the excitement OF
battle. to burst shells In exactly the right posi-
tion In front OF q line Of battle to do much exc
cution Is very small even at range OF only
one mile. Alta distance of two miles or more
the risk to the men in n moving skirm'sh line
Is hardly entitled to the classification oil extra
hazardous" by the insurance underwriters.
The execution done by the artillery In bat
ties 10 usually greatly overrated. During our
Civil War. out OF 245.79o shot wounds 14.O32
were caused by artillery. viz. $50 by solid shot.
1880 by fragments Of shells. &c. and 1.153
by grape and canister.
The element OF unexpectednsss which adds
so much to the effectiveness OF military OPP
srations is enormously Increased il the move
ments Of the artillery can be left out OF the
account. and 1t 10 matter OF serious doubt II
the greater celebrity OF movement possible.
without the hndrance OF long artillery train.
does not more than com pensate for any loss OF
its services on most battlefelds. especially
since the recent improvements in small arms
have given them useful range about az great
as the cannon. By the useful range is meant.
not the greatest distance to which projectile
can DO thrown. 40 as to do at an expense OF
$40 damage OF 81 to the enemy but the dis
lance at which the shot can be made effective
against small groups OF single individuals.
The enthusiastic artilieryman. when he has
succeeded in blowing up one OF the enemy's
caissons or timber boxes. and sees the eur
rounding mon scattered In every direction at
shs fhns hat wh PC mas
often not one 10 mortally wounded. Estimates
OF Casualties mile or more away are rather
During the last few days Of our visit to the
Contederates near Richmond In 1862. they
nnv'ng ouad .ne Gauge Of our Ssfnp' OCCASION
Of shells into It. Most OF the shells ricocheted
and burst on the hospital grounds. but no one
At the opening OF the. battle Of White Oak
Swamp. while the brigade to which the writer
baggage trains 70 move cn. the Confeder iSas
suddenly opened fire upon us from several
batteries which had been quietly posted in a
perfectly. and could not have had us in a more
favorable DOS ltion. but they only hurt one man
tiles. ''O'''
Jus. before Plctett's celebrated charge at
Gettysburg the Genfederates opened upon our
line with about $50 pisces OF artillery, which
were INN ed lately answered by an equal num-
Dor on our side. bat among the 20.896 Union
and Confederate wounded left under the
charge OF the writer on this battlefield there
were only 2O4 wounds caused by artillery.
On these several occasions the writer was in
q position to know definitely the number in
iured by artillery. and the firing was at short
range and under unusually favorable olrcum-
stances for effectiveness. In numerous other
instances the results were apparently about
the same. but he cannot give the statistics
from personal knowledge
Except when their men are massed the
Beers are not likely to suffer any great loss
from the British artillery fire at a range. Of
more than q mile II. J.
WAITE RBURY. W., Dot. ~.