Close Combat in the Artillery.
An account by the 4th US. Battery B Pvt. Buell (The book: The Cannoneer)
The enlisted men of the artillery at this time were personally armed with sabers, a clumsy weapon and perfectly absurd,because it was of no use and , when worn, was always in the way. The artillery saber was more curved than even the cavalry sword, whichincreased its uselessness and unhandiness. The more ridiculous spectacle can hardly be imagined than a than a Cannoneer sponging and loading in the position of No. 1, or running back and forth between the gun and ammunition chest as No. 5, with a long, crooked cheeseknife in a heavy scabbard dangling at his hip and getting between his legs to trip him up. Moreover the only need a cannoneer could ever have for a personal weapon at all would be when charged by infantry at close quarters, and in that case the old crooked, dull saber would be about as useless against a musket and bayonet as any incumbrance that could be devised.
The true side-arm for enlisted artillerymen is the revolver, and they should never be required to carry any other. The non-commissioned officers of artillery - that is the Sergeants - where provided with revolvers from the start; but it was not until 1863, and after a number of batteries had been run over and captured, that our slow-going ordnance authorities concluded to serve out revolvers to the gunners and cannoneers, and even then many batteries never got them all. Our Captain was to old and practical a soldier not to see the absurdity of the saber, and so we were never encumbered with it in the battery drill or in action; but they had to be kept along, as the regulations required it, and so they were carried in the (battery?) wagon. We had to keep them and their scabbards bright, which involved work that might better had been expended in grooming the horses or taking care of the harness and guns. However the sabers had to be kept on hand for the satisfaction of the inspecting officer when he came round once a month.
An example of the close quarters of combat that the battery faced can be told at day 1 of gettysburg at the "pike". " While we were retreating down the pike the rebels closed in on us from their right (south side of the road) and kept up a running fire. Several of our men were hit a this time, among them Dan Ackerman who fell off his team….Stewart (the commander), whose own leg was so badly hurt that he could hardly stand up.
Comrade Henry G. Klinefelter, who was cannoneer (No. 1 on the gun that had so much difficulty in getting off (retreating) , says that they fired several rounds of triple canister-- that is to say, three canisters in each load - before getting onto the road, and that the lead driver on their gun . Mate Freeman, had both his horses wounded, but managed to hold them to their work until they got into the town. He also says that the behavior of the Serg't Ned Armstrong, chief of the piece, was exceeding gallant…. "
General Doubleday, in his history of Gettysburg says "It was said that during the retreat of the artillery one piece of Stewarts battery (Battery B) did not limber up as soon as the others. A rebel officer rushed forward, placed his hand upon the limber and presenting the revolver at the back of the (wheel) driver and directed him not to drive off with the piece. The driver did so, however, received a bullet in his body , and then fell dead."
General Doubleday must have been to some extent misinformed. The wheel driver on that gun was certainly shot in the back as they moved off. He was mortally wounded, but stuck to this saddle till the gun got into town. But no rebel officer put his hand on the gun. It was always our proudest boast that she (Battery B) was a virgin battery. Because though in battle many times, and in the wide-open jaws of death more than once, not one of her bright guns had ever been defiled by the touch of a rebel hand.
."….It was in the last few minutes, and while retreating into the town, that he the bulk of our losses occurred. And when we had arrived at our new position on Cemetery Hill, out of range, and got a chance to draw a long breath, we were appalled at the numbers that had disappeared from our ranks….Three men had been killed outright and 33 wounded, of whom three fell into the hands of the enemy, and were never heard afterward. Three subsequently died of their wounds, about 12 were permanently disabled and 12 or 13, who were less severely hurt, tied up their own wounds with tent-cloths, or whatever rags they could get, and remained with their guns."…"…The guns and cassions, with the teams, had been handled quite as roughly as the men. We had got away with the guns, but two of them were so disabled by their carriages being hit or pointing-rings being broken etc, that we could not use them anymore in battle. One Cassion had been hit with a shell and blown up, and just before we got into town three others had their wheels or axle trees smashed by shot, so that the riders had to abandon them and came off with limber chests alone.
Of the horses about 12 had been killed out-right and several more were so badly hurt that they had to be shot to "put them out of their misery". "The near horse of the swing team of our gun which Sgt. Mitchell had ordered me to mount when his driver was wounded, was one of these. He had been hit in the side with a piece of shell- which could not have missed my leg by more than 2 inches-- just as we swung into the cashtown road. He flinched under me as the iron struck him, but did not fall, and between me urging him and the help of the lead horse we pulled him through until the halt, when he was cut out of the team. As his entrails were protruding out of his wound, Packard shot him at once to put him out of his misery, and that left only 4 horses on our team. It was worth noting that when packard went to shoot this poor horse he had to borrow Johnny cook's revolver as every other revolver in our gun detachment had been emptied at the enemy during our retreat. "
It must be borne in mind that all of this terrible execution had been done in the last half - hour of the fight. And most of it in the last 5 or 6 minutes, when we were exposed to a close and deadly fire of infantry in front and on the left, and an enfilade by three or four batteries at close range on the right.
Battery B 4th U.S suffered the greatest number of causalities of any battery during the war and went on to fight at almost every engagement in the eastern theatre. If you would like to read more about Battery B..find a copy of "The cannoneer" by Buell.
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