GDG- Artillery of Gettysburg Book

[Alan D. Brunelle]

Ed Oechsle wrote:
> Esteemed GDG Member Contributes:
>
>
> I'm relatively new to the battle of Gettysburg, and the Civil war, but 
> have really been captured by it. In the past 5 years, Ive been there 
> three times, and have read and reread almost everything i can get my 
> hands on about it. I intend to make a trip there evry year.Maybe even 
> more than one, since it is only a couple of hours away.
> Anyway, I'm really interested in knowing a lot more about how 
> artillery could affect the battles, given the state of the weapons at 
> the time. It is very difficult to vizualize what it was like, when you 
> stand there now, not knowing exactly what these weapons were capable of.
>  Do you know of any way that I can get more educated about this aspect 
> of the battle, other than reading your book ? Which I intend to do.
>                         Ed Oechsle 

Hi Ed -

On occasion, there will be reenactors at the park firing 1/2-charge(?) 
blanks which would give you some idea as to the potential for the sound, 
so you might want to check out the schedule for the park this summer. 
Also, it could tend to give you a feel for the amount of men & space 
required to fire one piece (then multiply by 4 or 6 to get a battery). 
Plus, there are Ranger-led tours that sometimes speak specifically to 
the role of artillery, as well as verbally describing some of the 
working & effects of artillery. [For example, Eric Campbell led a 2-hour 
tour describing Bigelow's batteries actions on Day 2 last summer, which 
I found quite helpful in this regard.] You probably could hire an LBG to 
go over different aspects of artillery - perhaps showing some of the 
features of the different types of artillery present at the park, and/or 
walking you through places where artillery actions were key.

There are also WEB sites & I believe YouTube videos which /show/ guns 
being fired as well.

Lastly, as noted previously, there are other artillery books out there 
that could help you too...

Regards,
Alan