The Cannonade - Ranger Bert Barnett
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- Опубліковано 24 сер 2024
- On July 3rd, 1863 over 150 Confederate artillery pieces began a two hour bombardment of the Union position on Cemetery Ridge, filling the air with a deafning roar and sending shot and shell screaming across the battlefield. Join Ranger Bert Barnett as he describes the prelude of Pickett's Charge - the great cannonade of July 3rd, 1863.
Crisp, precise, no wasted words. In this video Ranger Bert Barnett clearly and expertly explains the role of artillery at Gettysburg. I`m so glad this is on video! Many Thanks to Ranger Bert Barnett and the NPS.
While on holiday from Australia I did the Pickets Charge Battle Walk with Bert couple of weeks ago and loved it ....thanks again Bert
This ranger is very good with detailed information. Every detail is interesting to hear. I don’t know how he remember all of it. Thank you.
EXCELLENT PRESENTATION!!! This one should be the role model for all your other videos. Many of the other ones focus solely on Ranger speaking. Instead of doing the wide panoramic shots of the battlefield, you see here. By showing alot of the monuments & markers, it allows those who have visited Gettysburg, to get their bearings, Because watching the Devil's Den with Ranger Atkinson video has disoriented me so much, I am now planning a return visit sometime this year.
Atkinson has his mission as defending the Southerners fighting to preserve slavery. I have seen to many videos where he is in the foreground and the Virginia monument depicting Confederate traitor Robert E. Lee sitting on a horse.
Atkinson spends a lot of time off the subject with irrelevant anecdotes about his Mississippi roots.
Your usual semiliterate and slanderous buffoonery. Atkinson does no such thing.
Wonderful. Thank you so much for uploading these.
My ancestor was a member of 24th Michigan of the Iron Brigade. He was shot in the hand on day 1. My guess is he was reloading. I’ve watched a lot of these videos and I must thank you guys so much. Studying Napoleons wars and then the ACW and watching these videos makes everything seem so much clearer. Great Rangers and very entertaining to my 34 yr old ass. Can’t wait to get a chance to visit there and actually experience Gettysburg battlefields
Regarding Hunt, and his idea of reserving all cannon fire for the actual attack, bear in mind that he was losing guns at a steady pace. There is a good argument for firing so that at least some of the shells are fired rather than have the whole lot blown up ty a hit on a limber or caisson. If he did not want his guns firing, he should have held them back in defilade so that they were still available. But both holding them in the open and refusing to fire was to take pointless losses.
It should be noted, also, that any round going over the Confederate artillery was likely going to hit in the woods behind them, where the assault units were waiting for the order to move out. They took casualties well before the charge began.
BTW, the guy in town who was making weather observations was my great great grandfather, Michael Jacobs, professor of math and science at what is now Gettysburg College. The cannonade ended about 3 o'clock, which, as it happened, was one of his regularly scheduled times to make observations. It was 87degrees, the hottest day that summer. He had his instruments on a porch outside his attic, so he saw the Confederates emerge from the woods and watched the charge with his oldest son, my great grandfather.
Gen. Hunt would write in "Battles & Leaders, Vol. 3" that he felt that the only reason why the rebels were able to reach the wall in front of II Corp is because Hancock's order had caused those gunners to use up their long range ammo before the infantry charge began. He felt that without this the charge would've been entirely repulsed and they wouldn't have even had a moral victory.
"Had my orders been fully carried out, I think their whole line would have been- as half of it was- driven back before reaching our position, and this would have given us our only chance for a successful counterattack. As it was, the splendid valor of Pickett's divisions enabled the Confederates, although defeated, to preserve their MORALE* intact. Had they been repulsed without coming into immediate contact with our infantry, their MORALE* would have been seriously impaired, their sense of superiority humbled. (*Italics in original.) -Hunt, B&L, pg.387.
I actually got to see and touch the Napoleon with the stuck cannonball when it was on display at Gettysburg years ago. Really really cool.
Nice explanation of the crew duties..
If you are watching this video, you are probably into the Civil War.
Now, doesn't it seem odd that such an invaluable resource as the National Park Service provides should only have 14K subs?
Talk to your friends...inform your chat room companions...tell a stranger. It is possible to gain a University-level understanding at bargain-basement prices. Oh, Well!
Ranger Barnett is amazing, but not a standout from his fellows at Gettysburg.
That is how good they are.
Love,
David
I'm a ACW afficienado, but I don't subscribe to much of anything. I've watched all of these videos at least once, most multiple times. I don't subscribe because YT is horrible about posting things on my page 1 that I might have a passing interest in and too many things I have access to via subscriptions. They've all got my "like" though.
Amazing presentation . . . .
Great work, Bert!👍
Talk about a dream job!
Yes had a personal tour with him. He made me cry a few times. My only regret was is that I did not invite another couple to join us. Because what i paid for was for up to four persons. My wife stayed back in California so i was by myself. The statue of that gentleman sitting down was the last surviving veteran of the union army and died in 1954. Been there twice, 2018, 2019, and planning to go again 2020. I hope the park reopens park is closed right now due to the covid19 There is something there that draws me back to the place. Shelby foote says it well. " there is something on that battlefield, really cant explained it, but there is something there. And it draws you."
I feel that about Gettysburg and Antietam. They're so well preserved and it's so easy to see and visualize the action without the forests and woods (and lack of preservation) of the other major battlefields.
Every one of these videos I've seen on Gettysburg has been great. The park rangers are knowledgeable and professional. This man is no exception. Although, he might be suffering from a little bit of "restless arms syndrome"!!!
The big guns came under close assault more often than a lot of us realize.
This was an awesome battlefield tour video! Definitely one of my favorites thus far. As always thanks for posting these and I hope you guys will continue to post new ones.
I've more recently taken a keener interest in Civil War artillery. With respect to Gettysburg, and more specifically with the cannonade on the 3rd, realizing the problems face by the Confederates regarding the shallowness of the Union line that was the target and the trajectory of most of the field artillery at the time (Napoleons and whatever rifled guns they may have had) it occurred to me pretty quickly that a handful of those short, stubby looking siege guns could have been employed with great effect in the overall effort to disable Union artillery and batter the entrenched brigades there. To my knowledge none were used. Why is this? Is it that they are too large or cumbersome or just not within the realm of the prevailing orthodoxy at the time? Or perhaps my assumptions are wrong about its practical use in this respect? I'd very much like Ranger Barnett's take on this.
Thanks!
Robby
"Is it that they are too large or cumbersome or just not within the realm of the prevailing orthodoxy at the time?" I think you hit the point right there. Consider that those siege guns (I assume what were called mortars?) required movement by rail or sea (read about the Peninsula Campaign); Lee was happy when McClelland retreated to the York as it was no longer possible for him to use his heavies against Richmond as they couldn't be moved on those sandy and usually muddy roads. (If my assumption is wrong, never mind.)
I would love to have the chance to get my hands on the "notes" he has.
I've often wondered what it must have felt like for COL J. B. Walton to have his subordinate, COL E.P. Alexander in charge of the prep fire.
I don't believe Walton ever made general; Lee and Longstreet had a tremendous amount of well-placed faith in Alexander.
Do the guides work year round or only in the summer mos.?Enjoyed the whole vid. especially the part about the 1st,RI art.being from RI.
They try not to differentiate; I suspect Bert is permanent because of the quality of his uniform/uniform allowance; most are permanent seasonal; a few have 2 seasonal appointments, some are temps and some are project. I expect most are GS 9s, the Temps are 7-9's with a couple 11s and a GS12 as Lead. I was in a 2nd tier Park; Getty is a 1st tier park (Congressional Supervision), so they may have higher salary ratings. I'm sure there are some NPSers lurking around here who will set me straight.
Arty the King of Battle!
In reference to the Rhode Island artillery piece, at Fort Pulaski in Savannah, on the upper gun deck, on the corner facing the enemy, one of the cannon has the muzzle blown off. Outside of the fort at the same corner there is a photo taken after the fort was surrendered! You can see the damaged cannon.
Ok back to our regularly scheduled program!
Julian Weir..any relation to Thomas, of the 7 th. Cavalry, I wonder ?
I saw a tv show a few years ago that said the Confederate bombardment before the attack was ineffective because the shells they used were defective and mostly over-shot. This tour guide doesn't even mention it. So what is reason for the discrepancy?
1:11:07 The federal artillery flanking fire was so accurate that a shell would rip through numerous men and then caused further casualties when it exploded
A load of powder a load of canister, a load of powder a load of canister, a load of powder a load of canister, and flips the rifled piece on its back. You may capture my battery, but by God you WILL NOT point it at MY MEN. 1:18.00. Rorry's battery.
when i watched the movie of Gettysburg picket's charge was obstructed by a rail fence. Shouldn't they put ordinance on that fence to clear the obstacle?
I think in another video the confederates thought they could just go underneath the top. They found out it was to narrow so they had to go over. You wouldn't want to waste the limited ordinance on the fence. You also would give away what your plans are ahead of time. They also didn't have time to tear it down once they marched to the fence.
Rebs didn't have enough sense to put arty on the fences.
The fence was considered a minor obstacle. If it had worked, the Confedrate bombardment would have knocked out and destroyed most of the Union artillary on the ridge as well as destroyed the stonewall fortification that sheltered Union soldiers. That is if the bombardment had worked the way they wanted it too. The fence then would have been easier to scale with the lack of fire the Confederate infantry would have been under. Also you have to remember to that this was Day 3 and that ammunition was running out. On Day 2 EP Alexander used a ton of it very effectively during the fighting in and around the Peach Orchard.
17:10 wow a shell went through 6 horses! cool...
Unless you're a horse.
lighten up on the coffee
In this video, A Commander was talking to a soldier when a cannonball whizzed by removing the solders jaw and tongue. Incensed that the soldier wouldn't answer him. The commander strongly reprimanded the soldier. What a mean man this Commander was. -Bill "Snuggles" Howes.
Ranger B.B needs to tighten up his presentation. At the beginning, he speaks about the general unreliability and unpredictability of conf. artillery shells. Later on, he speaks how effective and accurate it was in tearing up the N.Y. 108th. Since his talk is about the role of artillery in this battle, this apparent contradiction detracts from his otherwise excellent presentation. Leaves one confused.
Perhaps that battery was lucky in having good ammo, excellent crews, some other intangibles?
This guy is very good and does an excellent job. But somebody needs to tie his left arm to his belt so he doesn’t over-use it & his brain can lean to communicate without over-using his left arm
I had a Great,.. Grandfather who was an Artilleryman at Gettysburg. He was famous for shooting a lot of shit at the enemy. (And others he didn't like). He never killed anyone. Just shoot a lot of "Shit". People didn't like him. -Anonymous Howes.
Lee blew it. Don't need to be a West Point graduate to see that charge was suicidal.
So you're an expert? Smarter than Lee?
Study some more. Maybe you can gain perspective
There are points on this interesting talk, usually after the group has shifted position, where the speaker seems to be gasping for breath. And yet he just keeps right on talking almost continuously. I'd be worried about his stamina; looks a bit old and too chubby for this kind of thing. I hope he is still going two years later but if I were his supervisor I'd put him on indoor lecturing.
The backpack constricting his chest and pitching his head forward and his shoulders backward was difficult to ignore.