[Light Speed]

Additional color and smoke to todays thread. : )

With The Souths mobility in Campaigns..coupled with teams of raiders like Nathan Bedford Forrest and Col J.S. Moseby...the Union countered with its version of rapid reaction accompanied by recon.

Many of the mustered units from States like Iowa,Kansa,Missouri,Wisconsin were Calvary with Light artillery.

Their engagements are recongnized in some major camapigns 1863 forward..but principly..they were like 3 I.D. in Iraq of recent days...out there..and hitting hard.

The South had its mobile Cav/arty units too...both groups clashing in the Shenandoah ..the Virginia Pennisula .

John Haskell Calef

His service with the 2nd Artillery would bring him deeply into the Gettysburg Campaign in the summer of 1863. Attached to Colonel William Gamble's First Cavalry Brigade of General John Buford's Division, Calef's men, horses, and guns made the hard march with the horsemen on their advance into Pennsylvania, dogging Lee's Confederate Army. On the morning of July 1, 1863, and throughout the afternoon, Calef and his men would see some of their hardest fighting in the war. Ordered by Buford to spread out his six guns along McPherson Ridge west of Gettysburg, Calef's battery was an important element in Buford's defense-in-depth plan. The division of his battery would allow Calef to appear to have more guns to play upon the Confederates advancing on the town. Confederate Major General Henry Heth's artillery soon outnumbered Calef, but the young Lieutenant kept up a dogged fire, keeping his tubes smoking until red-hot. Calef's gunners would be ordered to take up several positions throughout the first day of the battle, defending both the Union Cavalry's opening fight and the subsequent lines taken by the Union infantry upon their arrival to the field. For his and his cannoneers' services that day, Buford would highly praise the young officer in his official report, saying that Calef "...fought on this occasion as is seldom witnessed" and that he "...held his own gloriously." Calef was thereafter ever proud of Buford's laudatory words for his battery's deadly work that day.

[SAMWolf]

Thanks Light Speed. I've heard of Gamble and Buford but Calef is a name that one doesn't hear often.

[ravinson]

John Haskell Calef

His service with the 2nd Artillery would bring him deeply into the Gettysburg Campaign in the summer of 1863. Attached to Colonel William Gamble's First Cavalry Brigade of General John Buford's Division, Calef's men, horses, and guns made the hard march with the horsemen on their advance into Pennsylvania, dogging Lee's Confederate Army. On the morning of July 1, 1863, and throughout the afternoon, Calef and his men would see some of their hardest fighting in the war.

Calef was a young buck right out of West Point when the war broke out and he had a long and illustrious career in the Army. I'm sure Calef's artillery skill was much appreciated by my two ggguncles fighting in Colonel Gamble's Brigade at Gettysburg on July 1, 1863. Five days later, one of my ggguncles was mortally wounded while helping to rescue Calef's battery during Buford's attack on Lee's retreating forces at Williamsburg, MD.

[Cannoneer No. 4]

You should have Calef added to the Famous Artillerymen page. Nice pics. Who are those guys and what event was that?