GDG- Battle between the Farm Lanes

[Batrinque at aol.com]

In a message dated 2/23/07 8:24:41 PM Pacific Standard Time, 
jlamason at worldnet.att.net writes:

> Ah my dear friend.. 
> 
> The 5th and the 11th are just as interesting! 
> 
> They are south of the angle, and get caught up in the confederate advance on
> the northern side of Sickles salient........... 
> 

Yeah, but they don't have cool monuments with buck-and-ball ammunition on 
them, like the 12th New Jersey to the north of the Angle.

I contend that the subject of buck-and-ball ammunition and its impact upon 
the use of smoothbore muskets has never been adequately explored, the writings 
of Joe Bilby coming closest to doing justice to the topic.  I know that the 
12th NJ used such ammunition in repelling the PPT Charge and IIRC some other 
unit(s) used it down at the Wheatfield, but I would love to see a considered 
analysis comparing the effectiveness of smoothbores firing buck-and-ball at close 
range (say, less than 100 or perhaps 50 yards) with that of rifle-muskets 
shooting standard Minie balls.  If you examine the records of Federal smoothbore 
ammunition procurement during the War, you find that more buck-and-ball 
ammunition was produced than simple round balls, and I wonder if the same was true of 
Confederate supply.

Bruce Trinque
Amston, CT


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