I just recieved a copy of a new Civil War book that should be of interest to everyone here on this forum. It's right up our alley....
The title is " Civil War Ordnance, an Introduction'. It was written by Mr Robert Gregory. Published by Potomac Press. Aprox. cost is $ 50.
The first thing you notice is the weight of this book !! There are aprox. 350 pages, thousands of photographs. It is beautifully bound also. Very impressive.
What Mr. Gregory accomplished here was to put together an ' introduction' to the whole ordnance department, of both Union and Confederates. There is a chapter showing the inner workings of the departments, with many forms and dispatches printed. Sounds boring - but it isn't. He chose supply side type dispatches and I found it interesting how stores were moved around 160 years ago.
For you lead- heads he shows original packaging of bullets \ cartridges, the weapons that fired them and the wood crates that shipped them, in multiple chapters. Plenty of information here.
For the iron-heads, he delves into artillery shells, fuzes, implimints and shipping crates, very nicely done. Mr Gregory fills in alot of information that has slipped through the cracks in other books, because it is not specific to the exact subject matter
This book was not intended to be a reference book. But the title implies it is an introduction type book. I say it is far better than that and any advanced collector, especially you folks on the forum, will all find this a fascinating read and a wonderful book to add to your collection. It will take me a very long time to go through this book chapter by chapter. It is chock full of interesting information presented in a 'good read' type of way. Get it - and you will agree I'm sure.
Mr Gregory [ Bob ] can be reached at walkdontrun@tds.net
