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Title: Battle Tactics of the Civil War by Paddy Griffith ISBN: 0-300-08461-7 Publisher: Yale Univ Pr Pub. Date: 01 March, 2001 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $15.95 |
Average Customer Rating: 3.33 (15 reviews)
Rating: 5
Summary: Refreshing. For the Civil War buff who has everything!
Comment: The most original Civil War book I've read for a good while...and I read quite a few. Not simply a treatise on tactics, the author attempts to prove that the American Civil War was *not* the first "modern" war that most historians casually credit it as being. Rather, Mr. Griffith takes the stand that although technology had evolved in the 45 years since the Napoleonic age, battle tactics hadn't and wouldn't substantially until the Franco-Prussian War in 1871. His revisionist views on the effect of technology (How could the rifled musket be credited for a military revolution simply by the potential to hit aimed targets farther if its users insisted on closing to within 100 yards or less of each other?), tactical thinking in both armies and the role of the lesser recognised artillery and cavalry arms are backed by a substantial amount of primary-source data. He presents and attempts to prove a good case. Whether you agree with Mr. Griffith's thesis or not, his book gives the reader a new perspective to evaluate other Civil War historian's efforts that I appreciate immensely.
Rating: 4
Summary: A focused and concise study of Civil War tactics
Comment: If you are looking for a book that presents reasoned alternatives to some of the more readily espoused concepts about the tactics employed in American Civil War, then this is a book for you.
The fact that the book is written by an Englishman will no doubt be used by those who disagree with Griffith's position as sufficent excuse to de-bunk his theories. However, Griffith is forthright in expressing his initial opinions in the book's preface and whether you agree with them or not, the author's arguments, presented in the body of the book, makes compelling reading.
Using chapters such as "Command and Control", "Drill", "The Battlefield" and " The Infantry Firefight"; Griffith's argues persuasively that the war was in fact the "The Last Napoleonic War", the civil war battlefields having more in common with that great conflict than with any of the wars that followed - even allowing for rail transportation and the telegraph. He is particularly interested in discussing the use of European (...mainly French) tactical doctrine by the officers of both sides and its effect on the outcome of the major battles.
Griffith is also concerned with how the men on both side reacted upon "seeing the elephant" and discusses why the terrible bloodletting on the battlefields rarely resulted in decisive strategic outcomes.
All in all an interesting and well written book, which will be of benefit to those readers with an interest in Civil War battle tactics and who are prepared to approach the subject with an open and enquiring mind.
Rating: 1
Summary: More Lies and Nonsense From Paddy Griffith
Comment: Paddy Griffith likes to write books in which he claims his research shows that what everyone thought about a given war was wrong. Only he has found the truth, that the Civil War was really the 'last Napoleonic War.' Unfortunately, the evidence shows precisely the opposite.
Griffith gets the simplest things wrong. Example: on page 147, G. has a table of "Ranges of musketry fire." Do the math yourself, and you find that he can't divide or even add correctly. The tables of p 76 and 77 are even worse.
Griffith distorts his sources. On page 146, he claims "British experts" figured that 200 yards was "the battle range of the Brown Bess smoothbore musket." Turn to the footnotes, and you find a reference to p. 32 of Hew Strachan's FROM WATERLOO TO BALACLAVA. I have the page before me as I type. Nowhere on p. 32 is anyone mentioned as being an expert, nor is it even implied that anyone in the British Army was an expert in the performance of the Brown Bess. Quite the contrary.
What Strachan actually says is that the ability to hit a target with the Brown Bess "dwindled" as the range increased from 100 to 200 yards; that "most manuals" (written by unknown people of unknown knowledge) set the "maximum effective range" of the smoothbore as 200 yards; that "It was only just as the Brown Bess was nearing the end of its long life in the British army that any definite idea of the weapon's performance was secured"; that knowledge of "the range and power of the musket" was "very limited" as late as 1846; that at ranges over 116-126 yards, a considerable number of musket balls hit the dirt before reaching the target; and finally that the British concluded "as a General Rule musketry should not be opened at a distance exceeding 150, and certainly not exceeding 200 yards, as at and beyond that distance it would be a mere wast of ammunition to do so."
Griffith ignores evidence he doesn't like. Strachan's book goes on to say on p. 47 that the rifled musket resulted in "whole regiments 'melting' before British fire" at Inkerman; that penetration was much greater than with the musket (very significant when people fought in closely packed groups); that "At 150 yards the Minie was twice as accurate as the smoothbore musket," and "Furthermore this superiority of practice was not confined to a few marksmen."
Another: in ATTACK AND DIE: CIVIL WAR TACTICS AND THE SOUTHERN HERITAGE, Grady McWhiney & Perry D. Jamieson points out that in the War With Mexico of 1846-47, the U.S. Army fought with Napoleonic war tactics and weapons, and almost every Civil War general on both sides participated. The tactics used worked, even though they were carried out by amateurs. When they were attempted in the Civil War, they didn't work. Griffith blames the failure of Napoleonic tactics in the Civil War on the troops being amateurs and the generals not knowing how to fight.
Griffith misunderstands what's in front of him. G. mentions Jack Coggins's books ARMS AND EQUIPMENT OF THE CIVIL WAR, and calls your attention to an illustration on page 38-39 of Coggins, showing that in order to hit a target at 300 yards range, the bullet traveled 43 inches above line of sight at 150 yards. Griffith fails to realize that if the shooter is standing or kneeling, the bullet will be so high in the air it won't hit people at most ranges, but if the shooter fires from ground level (prone, or from a trench), it will NEVER get too high. Therefore, the effectiveness of rifle fire increased as entrenchments became more common.
5) Just makes up bullsh*t. E.g., by mid 1863, soldiers were reluctant to attack entrenchments frontally. G. believes they were 'dispirited,' a bunch of 'old lags' who'd lost their nerve. This nonsense is an insult to the brave men on both sides in the last two years of the war. During this period, the Army of the Potomac and the Army of Northern Virginia both took about 45% casualties in only 40 days, while in Tennessee and Georgia Hood's Army was destroyed in combat when repeatedly attacking Sherman's troops.
Enough. The bottom line is that this book is so unreliable in every detail, you can't trust a single sentence written by Griffith. The only things of value are the direct quotations and the bibliography. Don't buy it.
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