Gun Guards in Light Artillery Units

[savage_15th_alabama]

Hello,

I have fallen in with a Light Artillery Unit in Florida with their gun guard, and when I got stationed up here in Denver and talked to a Light Artillery Unit, they said that gun guards did not exist, I was pretty sure that they did exist in the Civil War to aid and protect the mobile artillery pieces. Any insight or documentation to prove that they did would be awesome!

Thanks!

Aaron

[Ross L. Lamoreaux]

As a Floridian, never take anything done at a Florida reenactment as historical gospel. Gun guards are an extreme reenactorism. There were instances of infantry units being detailed to guard a flank or to assist in the movement of gun batteries (I've found several period accounts of that practice), but I've found little to no reference to artillerymen being assigned the duty of gun guard (as their only duty). If you were portraying a soldier at a Seminole War event down here, then you'd be correct, as they were armed and equipped as infantry as well since there was a lack of guns in theater, but I've found it to be an excuse to carry every conceivable brace of pistols, carbines, Hawken rifles, etc. at Civil War events. If you're looking for an authentic experience, distance yourself from the typical Florida "artillery gun guard", "CS Marines in the field", and "dismounted cavalry".

[Artyman]

Remember also that many artillerymen, if not most, were also issued long rifles or carbines and the appropriate accouterments. If they needed a guard they would mount their own!

Harry

[RJSamp]

Harry......I'd win a quick bet from you that the vast MAJORITY of Light Field Artillerymen were never issued long rifles or carbines during the American Civil War. That's NEVER. I'm not talking Heavies or Fort cannoneers.....but Light Field Artillery.....110 horses per 6 gun battery, 150 artillerymen..... pistols issued to sergeants, mounted buglers, officer's only....

[flattop32355]

Infantry might be assigned to support a battery during a battle, but not as a "guard" as such. Now, I'll claim something unusual may have been intended for some of the "legion" units, i.e., combined arms units raised in the South (Hampton's Legion, etc.?), but I've not heard of anything such even in those cases before.

[Pennvolunteer]

I've never seen a reference to gun guards in Hunt/Barry/French or Gibbons, and as for the gunners themselves, I agree with RJ Stamp. Most photographic examples in the field of light artillery I have seen are without any arms or accoutrements, just their implements. As already mentioned, Heavies are different, and several photos with muskets and accoutrements, especially in posed photos in fortifications.

Capt John C. Tidball of the 2nd US Artillery in his unpublished memoirs actually discussed small arms and atillery at length and there is a discussion on the evolution of small arms among the artillery, and that you will find returns of battery commanders signed for pistols, carbines, etc, they eventually found them un-necessary, even to guard camp. He says a whip in the hands of an experienced driver is all the weapon you need! We have those memoirs here in the Archives at the Fort Sill Museum; Remarks upon the Organization, Command, and Employment of the Field Artillery During the War, based upon experiences of the Civil War, 1861-5.

As Ross says, Infantry supported guns, a great example is the Battle of Honey Springs here in the Indian Territory, the 2nd Kansas Battery (Smith's Battery) is ordered by MG Blunt to go in to position with two 12 pdr Napoleons 100 yards in front of the 2nd Colorado, and then Blunt rides over to COL Williams of the 1st Kansas Colored Infantry and says, "I wish you to move your regiment to the front and support this battery". At which Willams turns and orders fix bayonet and advanced. That was the gun guard!