Picked up a new book

[Enfield1]

I was back at the Kennesaw Mountain Battlefield on Columbus Day weekend. I always stop by the book store to see if there is anything new. I found a book called "The Rifle Musket in Civil War Combat, Reality and Myth" by Earl J. Hess. Have any of y'all seen or read this? The conclusions drawn in the book support the idea that the Minie Ball didn't play as big a roll in the war as has been suggested by other historians. He makes what I think is a pretty good case. The minie ball made a huge difference with regards to skirmishing and "sniping", but not much of a difference in engagements between maneuver units. He lists many battles and has researched actual distances that were between opposing units. The average range of 68 yards and even closer in forested engagements gives a lot of credence to the idea that the old smoothbores were just as good. He also mentioned that if proper training had been given to soldiers in how to use the minie ammunition and its high trajectory flight, things may have been different. Anyway, I am a "firearms nerd" and I enjoyed it. :hatsoff:

 

[tenngun]

I have noted over the years that casualties remained about the same compared to the number of troops. Waterloo and Gettysburg had about the same numbers involved and similar numbers of casualties. Even Omaha beach had near the same for the numbers of men involved. This holds true for Blenheim and austerlitz and soferino. Smaller battles like nasby had small casualties, but the percentages fell in to the norm

 

[tenngun]

One thing that comes to mind is artillery placement. Up until the invention of Minnie ball artillery could be positioned close to an enemy line. During and after Minnie ball artillery had to be pushed back five hundred yards or more. Troopers like lancers became impractical and dragons and mounted infantry became a more practical use of horse. :idunno:

 

[Nativearizonan]

I haven't read the book, but I think it is obvious the training and tactics during the ACW period did not at all keep up with the new technological developments; whether you are talking about the minnie ball, repeating rifle, revolver, rifled cannon, or gatling gun. The senior officers had all done service during the day of single shot smoothbores, and most of them just weren't adapting well on the battlefield to the new equipment.

 

[kragluver]

I would also recommend From the Arquebus to the Breechloader.