Ammunition Train, Brandy Station, Va.

Robert Gray

Sergeant Major
Joined
Jul 24, 2012
THE WAGONS WITH THE RIGHT OF WAY
AMMUNITION TRAIN OF THE THIRD DIVISION, CAVALRY CORPS
Brandy Station, Va. (vicinity) 1864

The ammunition train had the right of way over everything else in the army, short of actual guns and soldiers, when there was any possibility of a fight. The long, cumbrous lines of commissary wagons were forced to draw off into the fields to the right and left of the road, or scatter any way they could, to make way for the ammunition train. Its wagons were always marked, and were supposed to be kept as near the troops as possible. Soldiers could go without food for a day or two if necessary; but it might spell defeat and capture to lack ammunition for an hour. This is a photograph of the ammunition wagons of the Third Cavalry Division commanded by General James H. Wilson. They are going into bivouac for the night. The wagons on the right are being formed in a semi-circle, and one of the escort has already dismounted. A led mule is attached to the wagon on the right, for even mule power is fallible, and if one dies in the traces he must be promptly replaced. The men with these trains often held the fate of armies in their hands.

Edited from:
THE PHOTOGRAPHIC HISTORY OF THE CIVIL WAR
Frances T. Miller - Editor in Chief - The Review of Reviews Co. 1911

Image: Library of Congress (33254v)

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It's the brutal reality of what can you do without for a while (but suffer) vs what is absolutely necessary right now.

I'm always intrigued with the mechanics of all those supply trains and supply in general. It's amazing to me that armies functioned as well as they did. I mean, think of the miserable "roads" they had to negotiate and the incredible number of wagons and guns that had to travel down those roads; then the infantry that had to march on them.

Great image.
 
Great Photo. Thanks
 
Great photo! Thanks for sharing!
Often we get so engrossed in the maneuvers and fighting of armies in the most 'popular' battles that we forget the importance of logistics.
 
According to Sun Tzu: "The line between order and disorder lies in logistics..."
And Alexander the Great: "My logisticians are a humorless lot ... they know if my campaign fails, they are the first ones I will slay."
 
For 30 years I have flown out of Culpeper Airport just across the highway from Brandy Station. Thought I could identify the ridgeline in the background, but it's not so easy. The landscape was devoid of trees back in the 1860's and such is not the case today.

The terrain is flat as a pancake to the East of Brandy Station. However, immediately West of Route 29 along Alanthus Rd. is where you see rolling hills like this. Since you cannot see the Orange and Alexandria Railroad tracks I am guessing that this photo was taken facing West across the southern edge of the Brandy Station Battlefield.

If you get down that way make sure to stop in and check out the Graffiti House at the north dead end of Brandy Road right alongside the railroad tracks. You can't miss it.

But don't go in the Graffiti House after dark. That place is haunted......... along with at least one other nearby house. I know of at least one person that was "manhandled" in front of several witnesses one dark/rainy winter evening after saying something derisive about a local Confederate Officer.

The nearby house has changed hands a dozen times in almost as many years. I always assumed that it was due to the highway noise and the close proximity of the train tracks, but a local resident assures me that is not the reason the house has been bought and sold so frequently.
 
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