The Artillery Service in the War of the Rebellion, 1861–65, is a
comprehensive overview and analysis of the U.S. Army’s field artillery service
in the Civil War’s principal battles, written by John C. Tidball, a
distinguished artilleryman of the era. The overview, which appeared in the
Journal of the Military Service Institution from 1891 to 1893, and nearly
impossible to find today, examines the Army of the Potomac, including the
battles of Fair Oaks, Gaines’s Mill, Mechanicsville, Malvern Hill, Antietam,
Fredericksburg, Chancellorsville, and Gettysburg; the Army of the Tennessee,
including the battles of Stones River and Chickamauga, and the Army of the
Ohio’s battle of Shiloh. Tidball, a decorated Civil War veteran and
superintendent of artillery instruction for the army, expertly presents the war
through an artilleryman’s eyes in explaining the organization, equipping, and
manning of the artillery service. His analysis highlights how the improper use
of artillery, tying batteries down to relatively small infantry commands that
diluted their firepower, seriously undermined the army’s effectiveness until
reforms produced independent artillery commands that could properly mass
artillery fire in battle.
The Artillery Service in the War of the Rebellion, edited by
historian Lawrence M. Kaplan and presented here in one volume for the first
time, includes additional material from an unpublished paper Tidball wrote in
1905 which contains further insights into the artillery service, as well as a
general overview of the Petersburg campaign. A major new discovery in Civil War
scholarship, The Artillery Service in the War of the Rebellion contains
essential information that will change earlier historical interpretations of key
battles and will be essential reading for all those interested in the war or
contemplating writing about it.
