Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 02.djvu/119

ARTILLERY. both field and siege guns, organized in brigades of 12 pieces each. Two guns were assigned to each infantry battalion. Draft was by three horses in single file, the drivers being carters on foot. The necessity for reorganization and improvement was soon made apparent. The driver corps for the guns was established in 1794. The dispersion of the guns among the infantry battalions was abolished in 1802, the guns being formed into field-batteries or brigades of 6 guns each. Shrapnel was invented by Major Shrapnel in 1803, and Congreve rockets by Sir W. Congreve in 1806. Horses were harnessed in pairs, the drivers riding the off-horses. There were 6 horses to each gun and 4 to each caisson. The armament for each battery was 5 guns and 1 howitzer, uniform in each field-battery, either 6-, 9-, or 12-pounders. The howitzers were 5½-inch brass pieces. At first the horse-batteries contained two 9- and three 6-pounders, but later all five guns were 9-pounders. Congreve rockets were unique reversions to earlier artillery weapons, but seem to have been effective. The rocket consisted of a sheet-iron case inclosing the explosive, and was fired from a tube. They were first used at Leipzig (1813) and with great success; also in the Peninsular War at the passage of the lower Adour (1814), and at Bladensburg, against American troops. Notwithstanding the above improvements, the British artillery still lacked mobility. Improvement in this direction was steady up to the time of the Crimean War.

. Previous to this war, the corps drivers in the British artillery were replaced by enlisted cannoneers and drivers in 1822, and in the French in 1829. The field-batteries consisted of 4 guns and 2 howitzers each, the guns being 8- and 12-pounders, and the howitzers 24- and 32-pounders. Weights were reduced, and the ammunition was carried in chests on the limber. Seats were provided for the cannoneers on the limber-chests and the caissons, and the 2 flasks in the trail were replaced by a single 'stock.' To Napoleon III. is due the establishment of a field-battery consisting of a single calibre. The gun was known as the 12-pounder Napoleon. The French artillery at this time was divided into horse-artillery (the cannoneers being mounted), line-artillery, commonly known as 'field-artillery' (the cannoneers on the chests), and reserve or siege artillery, in which all the men marched on foot. This was the organization at the time of the Crimean War. The British artillery was organized as "position, heavy field, field, horse, and mountain batteries, armed respectively with 18-, 12-, 9-, 6-, and 3-pounder guns, and 8-inch, 32-, 24-, and 12-pounders, and 4-inch howitzers. A rocket section was attached to each battery of field and horse artillery." (See Wagner, Organization and Tactics.) The Crimean War consisted principally of siege operations, and there was therefore little opportunity for the tactical use of field-pieces. At Inkerman (November 5, 1854), however, both sides employed artillery with some effect. The maximum effective range obtained by the guns of this period was only about one mile, and it became evident during the war that the power of the field-gun had to be increased and its fire made more accurate if it was to become effective in a contest with infantry. Rifling, though first practically applied in 1846, was not developed until after the Crimean War. Rifled siege-guns were first used by the British at the siege of Sebastopol, but with little effect, on account of poor construction. In reference to the question of rifling and breech-loaders, Lloyd and Hadcock, in their Artillery: Its Progress and Present Position, state that as early as 1547 the principles of rifling and breech-loading had been experimented with in England. A few years after Sebastopol, the Armstrong breech- loading rifled gun, which was first used in the China Campaign of 1860, was introduced into the British artillery.

(1859). Rifled field-guns first appeared on the field of battle in the Italian War of 1859, being one of the many improvements made practical by the French. The smooth-bore 12-pounder Napoleon gun and the 4- and 12-pounder rifled muzzle-loader familiar to the Union service during the Civil War, played a prominent part in this war. The Austrian artillery at this time consisted entirely of 6- and 12-pounder and 32-pounder howitzers, all smooth-bore. By rifling, the effective range of the French field-gun was increased to about 2500 yards. The Austrian smooth-bore, with an effective range of only 14.50 yards, was therefore at a great disadvantage.

Field Artillery. — At the beginning of the Civil War in the United States, the field-artillery consisted of eight batteries. Most of the sea-coast artillery was promptly converted into field-batteries. The armament was 3-inch muzzle-loading rifles and 12-pounder (smooth-bore) Napoleons. The Napoleon gun was used throughout the Civil War, and with great effect at the shorter ranges. The range of the Ordnance Department 3-inch gun was 2800 yards, and that of the 12-pounder Napoleon about 1500. The objection to the Napoleon, as to all smooth-bore arms, was its inaccuracy at long range. In the Eastern armies the battery contained at first six- pieces, later four. There were four batteries to each division; and when the divisions were organized into corps, about half of the divisional batteries formed the corps reserve. In 1863, division artillery was abolished, and the batteries of each corps were formed into an 'artillery brigade.' This system obtained until the close of the war. A brigade contained from four to twelve batteries. In the Western armies, a battery of artillery was assigned to each infantry brigade, and this organization was retained until 1863. Subsequent changes all tended toward the concentration of batteries. In the Confederate Army of Northern Virginia, the artillery was formed into battalions of four batteries each, and a battalion assigned to each infantry division. To each army corps was assigned two battalions of 'corps artillery.' This organization of field-artillery, with minor changes, has since been adopted by most of the powers. "The War of Secession gave the tactics of artillery a long stride forward. It developed the use of masses of guns to an extent unknown since the days of Napoleon. It infused into the handling of that arm a degree of audacity foreshadowing the tactics of 1870; and if its offensive use in masses had not been all that could be wished, it was due to causes beyond the control of the arm itself." (Wagner, Organization and Tactics, New York, 1895). Siege and Sea-Coast Artillery. Up to about 1890, the United States had for sea-coast defense and