Pennsylvania Light Artillery

[frontrank2]

Battery B at Petersburg, 1864. Photo by Timothy H. O'Sullivan.

 

[Robert Gray]

This is Battery B, 1st Pennsylvania Light Artillery commanded by Capt. James H. Cooper. This image was taken at the Avery Farm in Petersburg, Va, on June 21, 1864.

 

[Mdiesel]

Fascinating photo! Does anyone know why a tent would be pitched so proximal to the gun line? Seems like a great target. Just curious

 

[Lampasas Bill]

I've noticed that late war photographs of the Army of the Potomac seem to show a greater preponderance of slouch hats then in earlier years. I guess the utility of a broad brimmed hat was catching on.

 

[Lubliner]

The mounds of dirt clearly visible in the picture are there for some reason. They don't shelter or brace the guns in any way that I can see. Nor can I see any form of a pit or trench that the dirt came from. Anyone have a better eye and able to explain the dirt mounds I would find enlightening. Thanks,
Lubliner.

 

[Package4]

Fascinating photo! Does anyone know why a tent would be pitched so proximal to the gun line? Seems like a great target. Just curious

Very good chance that this was a drill, photographers were not allowed access to units in actual combat and the provost who were posted back aways to prevent skulking, shirking of duty and desertion would also keep away the curious.

 

[Belfoured]

Very good chance that this was a drill, photographers were not allowed access to units in actual combat and the provost who were posted back aways to prevent skulking, shirking of duty and desertion would also keep away the curious.

In addition, it's also a battery in a stationary siege line, so more things were acceptable after awhile than if it were actually acting as "field" artillery. (Grant had decided to enter into a siege two days earlier).