THE GUNS AT GETTYSBURG

by Fairfax Downey ‧ RELEASE DATE: N/A

Well written and carefully documented, this book by the author of many books on early American history and the Civil War -- Sound of the Guns, Indian Fighting Army, etc. -- deals with artillery in the battle, the guns fired by both North and South. Many of these guns still stand at Gettysburg, field-pieces, horse-artillery, Napoleons, Parrotts, breech-loading Whitworths and others, their names almost forgotten in these days of guided missiles and, oddly, the part they played in the battle also overlooked or neglected. This is the story of the battle told from gun replacements and through the eyes of the men who manned the guns or commanded them:- the location of batteries and the names of commanders on both sides; the havoc wrought by cannon at what was then long range; the surge of battle around the guns; the heroism of the gunners; here are full firing directions and orders. Here, too, are the great artillery men of the North and the South, particularly Mcade's chief of artillery, General Henry Jackson Hunt, now, like his guns, almost forgotten; Hunt knew exactly the capacities of his guns and the men who fired them and used this knowledge to help bring victory to the North. Both factual and exciting, for battle experts and gun-fanciers, for historians of artillery and historians of the Civil War, the book will be an addition to private and public libraries and collections. Because of its author's name, if for no other reason, it should have further appeal to the general public, or to those readers not exhausted by books on the Civil War.

Pub Date: N/A

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: David McKay

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 1958

Categories: NONFICTION