Horse Artillery

Joshism

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I know horse artillery was mobile artillery that usually operated with cavalry. Pelham and Chew were notable horse artillery commanders under Stuart for the ANV.

But what exactly was horse artillery? Was it simply a matter of training and operations? Or did they use specific kinds of light artillery?

I assume the Union used horse artillery as well as the Confederates, but I guess among their many cavalry woes was that they used it less effectively than their Rebel counterparts?
 
Horse artillery's primary difference from regular field artillery was that every man in the unit was mounted. Men weren't walking beside the caissons or limbers or riding on the ammunition chests. Instead the drivers were on the drive horses of the team, and the others had their own mounts. This allowed the horse artillery to move much faster than standard artillery and to keep up with cavalry commands on campaign. (Keep in mind that there were regulations severely restricting how often artillerists could "hitch a ride" on the limbers and caissons in standard field artillery.)

Most horse artillery used light field pieces. The 3" Ordnance rifle was a favorite because the tube weighed only about 820 lbs and it used the lighter of the standard carriages. It was the standard weapon of the U.S. Horse Artillery during the war. Similarly the 12 pdr howitzer could be useful to horse artillery since the tube weighed under 800 lbs.

I don't believe the mountain howitzer (much lighter tube and various much lighter carriages or pack mule mounted) was used frequently as actual horse artillery, but could be wrong. They did operate with cavalry or infantry in rough terrain and for Indian fighting.

The U.S. horse artillery arm was pretty good from what I can tell. The problem had been earlier in the war with the cavalry arm in general and the way it was employed. By mid 1863 Union cavalry was becoming dominant in the East. Brandy Station was a really nasty surprise for JEB.
 
A horse artillery battery required two extra men and twelve extra horses per piece. The extra men served as horse holders during action.

So if some folks will help with the math:
- assuming six cannons per northern battery and
- six horses per cannon
- six caissons
- six horses per caisson
- one battery wagon pulled by six horses
- one traveling forge pulled by six horses
- 12 "extra" horses for the artillerymen
- approximately 12 horses per battery for men with some rank

This comes to about 108 horses per battery. If memory serves me, I think that I heard somewhere that an average battery had about 110 horses.

Now wait a moment, if that 12 extra horses is per cannon, then that is another 60 for the other five cannons. So maybe it is about 170 horses for a mounted battery.
 
120 horses for a Horse arty battery sounds right w/ 12 extra horses for the whole battery instead of 12 per gun. I think it's in Zimmerman's analysis of ACW order of battles.
 
I'm going to have to dig, IIRC it was 2 extra men per gun as horse holders. I believe it was Zimmerman who had looked hard at the US Horse Arty Battery that was at Gettysburg.
 
So if some folks will help with the math:
- assuming six cannons per northern battery and
- six horses per cannon
- six caissons
- six horses per caisson
- one battery wagon pulled by six horses
- one traveling forge pulled by six horses
- 12 "extra" horses for the artillerymen
- approximately 12 horses per battery for men with some rank

This comes to about 108 horses per battery. If memory serves me, I think that I heard somewhere that an average battery had about 110 horses.

Now wait a moment, if that 12 extra horses is per cannon, then that is another 60 for the other five cannons. So maybe it is about 170 horses for a mounted battery.

Some nomenclature notes to make:
1. "Mounted battery" does not mean "horse artillery." "Mounted" actually refers to your standard field battery. Confusing isn't it? Trips me up and I had forgotten about the distinction until reviewing this yesterday. During the period this was likely to be misused as well.
2. And to make it more confusing "foot" artillery actually means "heavy artillery" and seems to apply to the siege train in particular which typically rolled along behind the reserve and had to be set up, rather than just going into battery.
3. "Flying artillery" is another name for horse artillery.
4. "Light artillery" is just another name for field artillery (I read somewhere that it was supposed to refer to "horse artillery" in particular, but the designation of units didn't use it that way.)

The 1864 manual gives several horse counts depending on gun type, etc. I'll give you what it has. The closest to the above for the light/field/mounted artillery (not horse arty) is when the battery is equipped with 6 pdr guns.
Draught horses for 6 gun/limbers and 6 caisson/limbers = 72
Draught horses for battery wagon and traveling forge = 6 + 6 = 12
Spare draught horses = 7
Saddle horses for sergeant, artificers, and buglers = 8 + 6 + 2= 16
Spare saddle horses = 3
That total comes it at 110.

Now for the Napoleon the ammunition chests carry fewer rounds, so an extra caisson/limber is added per piece, plus the heavier piece brings along more spare horses.
Draught horses for 6 gun/limbers and 6 caisson/limbers = 72
6 additional caissons = 36
Draught horses for battery wagon and traveling forge = 6 + 6 = 12
Spare draught horses = 7
Saddle horses for sergeant, artificers, and buglers = 8 + 6 + 2= 16
Spare saddle horses = 3
That total comes it at 149.

Add 12 more saddle horses per piece for the horse artillery variant (not that Napoleons were being used as horse artillery.) So add 72 saddle horses to the 110 for typical horse artillery fully equipped. My guess is that the 3" pieces as horse artillery would have the same total count as the 6 pdr for horse artillery. That would come out to 182 total draught and saddle horses.

And "for service on the plains" (Indian fighing) it says "at least one pair of spare draught horses to each carriage should be provided." I'm not sure if that is just using the full 12 spare horse count for the gun carriages, or if that includes the caissons, battery wagon and forge as well.
 
18th Indiana Lt Arty in Oct 63 was made a "Flying Battery" attached to McCook's Cav. Division. It was stressed that between shortages in horses & men the Battery fielded only 3-4 guns. The battery had 4 x 3" Ord Rifles & 2 x 12 lb Howitzers.

At full strength the Battery was supposed to have 156 men. 7 on the battery staff, 16 in the train & 3 Sections of 33 men each.

Each gun had:
1 Sgt
2 Cpl
7 gunners
3 piece drivers
3 cassion drivers
16 horses w/ 5-6 extra
Add 3 Lt's for the 3 Sections (2 guns each) & 7 horses for the staff you get 130 horses. The train had a Battery Wagon & Battery Forge w/ 16 men. It's not clear how many horses they were using.

When they were w/ Wilder's Brigade their Howitzers were pulled by Mules but when they transferred to the Cav they switched to horses.

At the same time the 9th Mass Battery of Lt Arty (w/ AoP) had just 100 horses.

This comes from my notes on Zimmerman's work. Unit Organizations of the Civil War I'm not sure if that's the exact right title so you're warned.
 
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