American Civil War Artillery 1861–65 (1): Field Artillery (New Vanguard)

A bargain for those who are already planning to buy Philip Katcher's "American Civil War Artillery" volume 1 or 2, this title contains both volumes within a single cover at a single volume price.This is not a really bad work, and it has some useful information not found in some other titles, but there are better works available in the subject. This is particularly true of the first half of the book covering field artillery that is littered with errors that will mislead the reader. The second half about heavy artillery is more useful, particularly since few affordable works cover this subject in detail.In the field artillery section Katcher discusses the structure of the batteries of the CSA Army of Tennessee. This should appeal to readers accustomed to eastern centric artillery. (The source for this information is Larry Daniel's work as noted in the bibliography.)Katcher gets most things about the pieces themselves correct, but seems rather confused in details and nuances of this admittedly confusing subject. Examples of this confusion are many such as:1. He mistakenly assumes that "6 pdr rifles" from Tredegar were smaller than 10 pdr Parrotts, or 3" rifles, when in fact the 3 pdr and 6 pdr entries early in Tredegar's production were an example of inconsistent nomenclature in describing the same pieces.2. He confuses 3" Ordnance rifles with the generic "3 inch rifle" used to refer to all rifles of this approximate caliber (as shown by a misstatement in the Ordnance rifle section about some CSA batteries using CSA produced Ordnance rifles in addition to captures. The CSA never produced this piece.)3. There is a lot of confusion in the description of carriages and weights of the same. The Napoleon used an adapted 24 pdr howitzer carriage primarily that was notably heavier than the 6 pdr carriage used for the 6 pdr gun, the 3" rifle types, and 12 pdr howitzer.4. The author incorrectly states the 12 pdr howitzer was heavier than the 6 pdr gun. In fact its tube was lighter and it used the same carriage.5. There are some obvious typos such as a range of 5,000 yards for a Mountain Howitzer at 2.30' elevation. The author mentions the mountain pack carriage but neglects to mention the special prairie carriage that was also used at times. The author also discussed post war Indian fighting with 12 pdr Napoleons, but fails to mention the mountain howitzers that were extensively used for this service.6. There are several confusing statements about Whitworths, including one seeking to prove that they were costly by comparing the purchase price of a 70 pdr (5 inch?) Whitworth with a 3" rifle--heavy vs. field, apples to oranges.Ammo types are not shown for field artillery and the discussion of them in the text is extremely short.The bibliography in each of the combined works is short and omits some important books that should have been consulted for the author's work. This explains some apparent gaps in the author's presentation of ACW artillery and some potential errors in the text. Hazlett's work on Field Artillery certainly would have been of benefit to the author.Tables are presented for weights and ranges of smoothbore field artillery, but rifled cannon info is omitted from the table. This is unfortunate as such information is available in period ordnance manuals and Coggins' work for example.While the heavy artillery is covered more accurately, the discussion revolves mostly around actions in the east. Actions along the Mississippi and Gulf are largely ignored. This is unfortunate as there were a number of notable heavy artillery engagements in these theaters. Comparison tables of weights and ranges are not provided for heavy artillery

Photography of modern views are of the same quality as historic photos, poorly focused and low res. A moderate amount of info, considering only 48 pages here that is the best part. Would not buy again nor recommend to anyone I like.

As usual with Osprey, a good concise book on the subject. Only negative was the clarity of some of the pictures of preserved examples weren't very clear. It looked as though they were pictures of pictures. Still a good book for the money.

Overpriced for a book this size with limited information. The descriptions of the artillery pieces are located separate from the pictures.

smaller than expected, but informational

Informative.

Liked this book. Gives me info that I don't have about an area I have interest in.

Very good short book. Has lots of good information.

Interesting for those interested in the American civil war

A great book as all the books from this series

well presented and illustrated