GDG- Arty Anti-personnel Effectiveness

[Batrinque at aol.com]

In a message dated 11/26/06 1:46:38 PM Pacific Standard Time, 
cameron2 at optonline.net writes:

> If this logic is sound then over 50% of 
> the casualties in the PPT assault may to have come from arty.  >>
> 
> Cannister did have an advantage over small arms fire in that it was fired 
> from a heavy, stable gun platform, by crews of well trained specialists. 
> I've seen some descriptions of CW artillery firing cannister as tactically 
> similar to WW1 or WW2 heavy machines.  That analogy breaks down at some 
> point, for any number of reasons, but does have some application.  As to the 
> 
> percentage of casualties inflicted during the Charge, we'll never know for 
> sure.
> 

It's simple: if a first-hand account comes from a Union artillery source, 
then the big guns are what inflicted almost all the casualties; if from a Union 
infantry source, then it was small arms fire that did the damage.  Personally, 
I am biased towards the infantry and believe that the bulk of the casualties 
inflicted (especially on the Pettigrew and Trimble units) were by infantry 
muskets and rifles.

Bruce Trinque
41°37'52"N   72°22'29"W