Booknotes: From the Wilderness to Appomattox

New Arrival:

• From the Wilderness to Appomattox: The Fifteenth New York Heavy Artillery in the Civil War by Edward A. Altemos (Kent St UP, 2023).

Trained to serve siege guns and be capable of operating as infantry in a pinch, the Union Army's heavy artillery regiments served a useful purpose in garrisoning key fortresses. Largely spared the costs of years of combat and disease attrition associated with front-line service, by mid-1864 many heavy artillery regiments possessed numbers comparable to the bayonet strength of a late-war veteran brigade. In the eastern theater, these full-strength rear-area units came to be regarded as a critical manpower reserve, even before the horrors of the Overland Campaign were fully revealed. Recounting and assessing the Civil War career of one of these regiments is Edward Altemos's From the Wilderness to Appomattox: The Fifteenth New York Heavy Artillery in the Civil War.

From the description: "In early 1864, many heavy artillery regiments in the Civil War were garrisoning the Washington defenses, including the Fifteenth New York. At the same time, newly minted Union general in chief Ulysses S. Grant sought to replenish the ranks of the Army of the Potomac, and the Fifteenth became one of the first outfits dispatched to Major General George Meade at Brandy Station." The unit joined the Army of the Potomac in March 1864, and Altemos's narrative jumps right into the 15th's immersion into front-line service, which stretched through the Overland Campaign, the Petersburg "siege," and the conclusive drive toward Appomattox. The regiment spent an eventful final two years of service. Among other actions, the list of operations and battles includes the Wilderness, Spotsylvania, Harris Farm, North Anna, Jericho Mills, Bethesda Church, Cold Harbor, Globe Tavern, Chappell Farm, the Hicksford Raid, Hatcher's Run, White Oak Road, Five Forks, and Appomattox Court House. 24 maps accompany the text descriptions of those events.

Regimental studies of heavy artillery regiments are uncommon enough as it is, but this publication also explores the immigrant soldier angle. More from the description: "Composed of predominantly German immigrants, members of the Fifteenth not only endured the nativist sentiments held by many in the army, but as “heavies” normally stationed to the rear, they were also derided as “band box soldiers.” The men were still struggling to adjust to their new roles as infantrymen when they experienced combat for the first time at the Wilderness. Despite lacking infantry training and adequate equipment, they persisted."

Altemos concedes that the 15th performed poorly during its first field battle, but officers and men alike proved more than capable of learning their new trade. Indeed, the book "describes how the Fifteenth continued to hone their skills and distinguish themselves throughout the Overland, Petersburg, and Appomattox Campaigns, eventually witnessing the surrender of Robert E. Lee’s vaunted Army of Northern Virginia." "Drawing on a wealth of previously unmined primary sources," From the Wilderness to Appomattox "pays tribute to the Fifteenth, other heavy artillery regiments, and the thousands of immigrants who contributed to the Union army’s victory."