Artillery regiment

“ In the wood, alongside of the road fronting the right centre of our line, our Regiment lay at arms,—listening to awfully exaggerated stories from stragglers,—watching the posting of artillery in our immediate front, the entry of Brigades into the wood upon our left, and their exit under skilful artillery practice,—and now and then dodging at the sound of the stray shells sent as return compliments from Rebel batteries. ”

“ An infantry regiment that was moving at once was short of men. The artillery brigade would fill it up.
By that time we had developed that organization spirit that is just as essential as it is delicate to breed. To take fifty or sixty men from each battery seemed a destruction of the greater part of all that we had worked to achieve. Men who had trained during seven months in the ways of artillery as a rule resented being transplanted all at once into a branch of the service to which they were strangers. Nor did their officer's care to see them go. ”

“ Its proposal cut the infantry division from 22,000 officers and enlisted men to 13,500 and simplified the command structure. The brigade echelon for infantry and field artillery was eliminated, enabling the division commander to deal directly with the regiments. The enduring problem of where to locate the machine gun was dealt with again; one machine gun battalion was included in the infantry regiment, which also had three rifle battalions. The field artillery regiment consisted of one 105-mm. ”

“ More than thirty years were to pass before Horse Artillery should form part of the British army, and show what mobility it was possible to attain; and more than a century ere Field Artillery should reach the perfection it now possesses, a perfection which treads closely on the heels of the more brilliant branch. ”

“ One cannot but be struck—in studying the history of this national corps of Artillery—with the rapidity of its formation, and its attainment of high discipline and professional knowledge,—keeping pace in its career of half a century with the constant changes, with which even in those days this arm was harassed ”

“ It is provided that each regiment of artillery should consist of 1 colonel, 1 lieutenant-colonel, 1 major, and 9 companies, with the usual company officers, 1 of which to be equipped as light artillery, and that there should be attached to each regiment of artillery 1 supernumerary captain to perform ordnance duty, thereby merging the regiment of artillery and Ordnance Department into these 4 regiments. ”

“ There are two infantry regiments, composed of from six to eight battalions, to the brigade, in the French army, with two brigades to a division and two divisions to an army corps. A field artillery regiment, consisting of nine batteries of four guns each, is attached to each division. With nine field and three howitzer batteries and six reinforcing batteries added under mobilization, each corps on a war footing has 144 guns. There is also added to every army corps in the field one cavalry brigade of two regiments, one cavalry battalion, engineer companies and sanitary and service troops. ”

“ Our present Brigades would be greatly advanced in efficiency if, like the Horse Artillery, or the Brigades with the Duke of Wellington’s army in the Peninsula, they were placed under the command and the responsibility of their captains. They should also, to become effective Field Artillery, be placed on the same footing as the Horse Artillery, for their contingent share in all garrison and general duties. They should march to and from the outposts in relief in the same manner as the Horse Artillery ”

“ For ten days afterward the officers poured in and commenced to prepare for the men who would arrive in the course of the next few weeks.
Without the men, during those days of its beginnings, it wasn't, to be sure, much of a regiment, yet it possessed from the start ambition, pride of organization, and already—a noticeable factor—an instinct that ours was to be bigger, better, and more terrible to the enemy than any other regiment of Field Artillery. ”

“ The same author writes, with regard to the service of the Royal Artillery during the siege: “It is a pleasing act of justice to the Artillery officers, employed in this attack, to state that they vied with each other in their exertions and expedients to meet the hourly difficulties they encountered, and that no set of men could possibly have drawn more service than they did from the limited means at their command.” ”

“ Encampment of a regiment of Artillery. Regiments of artillery are always encamped, half on the right, and half on the left of the park. The company of bombardiers (when they are formed into companies, which they are in European nations excepting England) always takes the right of the whole, and they rate by seniority, so that the two youngest are next but one to the centre or park: the two companies next to the park, are the miners on the right, and the artificers on the left. ”

“ No service battery of Field or Garrison Artillery has to minister to the wants of our corps d’élite, and therefore the language employed in Hime. another place by the able author quoted above, in reference to the Infantry corps d’élite in our service, is more applicable than that used by him in reference to our Field Artillery: “The recruits are selected with care; but they are selected from society at large, not from regiments of the Line; and the result is that this noble body of men, the Guards, are a source of wholesome emulation, instead of contentious rivalry, to the rest of the army.” ”

“ If ability in field battery service were rewarded by appointment to the Horse Artillery, and skill in Garrison Artillery service were rewarded, either by special employment or by appointment to some such corps as was recommended by Sir Robert Gardiner—an Artillery of the Guard—would we not have better officers of each branch than we now have? ”

“ It is by such study alone that the Artilleryman can realise the characters of the great among his predecessors in the Corps, and by such links that he can bind them to himself with that almost family tie, of which the Regimental union is but an expansion. ”

“ The field battery which rejoices in smart non-commissioned officers and men is in no dread of losing them to feed a favoured corps. From the day a recruit joins the Horse Artillery, his efficiency and his education depend on the officers of that arm ”

“ The officers of the Regiment, whose position entitled them to be the advisers of the Board, were undoubtedly men whose sympathies lay with the Horse Artillery, in which they had all served; but they were also men who had seen, during the campaigns in the Peninsula, Belgium, and France, what was possible with a well-equipped Field Artillery of less mobility. In deciding on a small but perfect force, rather than a larger and indifferent one, it must be admitted that they acted wisely. ”

“ A plate of the 3d Regiment (fig. 16) excavated at Sackets Harbor, New York, is of an entirely different design. The lower third of a plate of the 1st Regiment (fig. 17) , again of a different design, was excavated by the authors in 1961. In 1814, when the three regiments were consolidated into the Corps of Artillery, these plates were superseded by one bearing the eagle-on-cannon device closely resembling the button of the artillery for the period 1814-1821, which has the word "Corps" inscribed. ”

“ The conduct of the Artillery during the return from Philadelphia to New York may be learnt from the following order, issued by General Pattison:—"The very handsome and obliging terms in which the General Officers and others have repeatedly spoken of the appearance, discipline, and good order of the Corps of Artillery, and particularly of the conduct, care and attention of all the officers who have been detached with the several Brigades and Battalion guns, cannot fail to be highly pleasing and satisfactory to the Brigadier-General. ”

“ The French, on the other hand, constantly applied the very prime of their strong horses (those belonging to the officers not excepted) to the draught of their ordnance, which were chiefly on the Horse Artillery establishment, with 8-pounder guns and 6-inch howitzers, opposed to light 6-pounders and royals only. ”

“ In the absence of such respect, and in the knowledge that the men who might receive their instruction in one Brigade or Battalion were liable to transfer to another, immediately on the completion of their drills, is to be found the reason why both in the days of Battalions and Brigades there has been no esprit found strong enough to weaken that which should exist in every Artilleryman's mind for his Regiment at large, instead of for a detail of it. ”

“ You want the first infantry to form the reserve and you want it to follow in rear of the left flank of the third infantry. The third infantry will take up and follow over the same route as the artillery. After crossing Plum Creek the whole regiment will move to attack the enemy. The regiment will keep its left near the road which runs past Piper and Whitehall. The battalion of artillery when it is moving to its new position should move off the road whenever it is necessary to screen itself from hostile view. The second infantry will attack along the road it is now on. ”

“ Several pieces of artillery were posted on the hill in our rear. We could hear wagon-trains moving on the 'pike, and soon our artillery opened a rapid fire in that direction. The regiment bivouacked at dark, on the Chantilly road, down which the column moved at early morn. Just after sunrise the Fourth Regiment in front surprised a squadron of United States Dragoons at breakfast, and captured every man without firing a shot. ”

“ During the reign of Queen Anne the pikes were laid aside, and every infantry soldier was armed with a musket, bayonet, and sword; the grenadiers ceased, about the same period, to carry hand grenades; and the regiments were directed to lay aside their third colour: the corps of Royal Artillery was first added to the Army in this reign.
About the year 1745, the men of the battalion companies of infantry ceased to carry swords; during [xv] the reign of George II. light companies were added to infantry regiments ”

“ And whereas by Our Warrants of the 27th November 1715 two Companies of Gunners and Mattrosses were raised for the service of Our Artillery sent upon the late Expedition to North Britain and having been found always necessary that a sufficient number of Gunners with proper Officers should be maintained and kept ready for Our Service. ”

“ The field artillery has the dark blue tunic with red piping, black collar and Swedish cuffs, gold appointments, and dark grey trousers without stripe. The helmet has a ball ornament. The cap is blue with black band. The Guard regiments have double guard-stripes and cuff stripes and a white plume—shoulder-straps, white for 1st, red for 2nd, yellow for 3rd, light blue for 4th regiment. In the field artillery at large the shoulder-straps are of the corps colour. ”

“ In a corps of 5000 men the following was the proportion of Artillery:—One colonel, one adjutant, two engineers, a commissary, a paymaster, four conductors, one master-gunner, four sergeants, four corporals, ten gunners, one firemaster, one fireworker, two bombardiers, two carpenters, three wheelwrights, two smiths, and a collar-maker. ”

“ As far as comfort and satisfaction can be obtained from the study of an unsuccessful war, they can be got by the Royal Artilleryman in tracing the services of his Corps during the great war in America. ”

“ A man full of zeal—one of the best practical Artillerymen whom the Regiment has ever produced—he naturally sought by every means in his power to ensure the completeness in every respect of the equipment of the force under his control. How completely he was foiled by the masterly silence of the Board will be seen by the following letters written by him after his arrival in Portugal. ”

“ The sun grew hot and the sand more clinging, reminding us we were in the south, as we trudged to classes or walked many kilometers with plane tables and instruments for orientation exercises.
During this period of education the regiment more or less ran itself. Officers and men went to different classes. The hours didn't coincide. Often for drill there would be no officer present. ”

“ It is well known that the artillery service is very generally preferred by our troops to infantry service. It is believed that there would be little difficulty now in raising a regiment of artillerists from citizens exempt from conscription, while such is not the case with infantry. If the example be once set of converting regiments into artillery, it needs little foresight to predict that Congress will be beset with applications for such change from regiments now serving as infantry, and claims will be sent forward for equal favors in each of the States. ”

“ The rear regiment was compelled to face about and form line to the rear in support of its guard.
This was the principal object for which we charged, to cause them to show “an inferior force” their entire number. Before we left them we had the satisfaction of seeing the 87number of regiments of infantry, cavalry, and pieces of artillery, all of which took position to the rear in anticipation of a general attack. Our purpose attained, with a parting salute into their main line we disappeared on a left-hand road leading to Alexandria and back to the pike we so recently had left. ”