Background
John Caldwell Tidball was of Scotch-Irish and Welsh descent. He was born on January 25, 1825 in Ohio County, Va. (now W. Va. ), the son of William and Maria (Caldwell) Tidball.
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Summer 1996 (The Journal of Arizona History, Volume 37, Number 2)
(The Journal of American History is published quarterly by...)
The Journal of American History is published quarterly by the Arizona Historical Society, an agency of the State of Arizona. This edition includes: Eugene C. Tidball-John C. Tidball: Soldier Artist of the Great Reconaissance., Gerald Thompson-Henry D Groot and the Colorado River God Rush, William H. Lyon-Live, Active Men, with Plenty of Push - Arizona's Territorial Immigration Commissioners, Karen J. Underhill-I Remember Depression-Era Students at Arizona State Teacher's College.
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Manual of Heavy Artillery Service: For the use of the Army and Militia of the United States
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Manual of Heavy Artillery Service: For the Use of the Army and Militia of the United States 1891
(Originally published in 1891. This volume from the Cornel...)
Originally published in 1891. This volume from the Cornell University Library's print collections was scanned on an APT BookScan and converted to JPG 2000 format by Kirtas Technologies. All titles scanned cover to cover and pages may include marks notations and other marginalia present in the original volume.
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The Artillery Service in the War of the Rebellion, 1861–65
( A Rediscovered History That Will Become Essential Readi...)
A Rediscovered History That Will Become Essential Reading for Civil War Studies The Artillery Service in the War of the Rebellion, 1861–65, is a comprehensive overview and analysis of the U.S. Army’s field artillery service in the Civil War’s principal battles, written by John C. Tidball, a distinguished artilleryman of the era. The overview, which appeared in the Journal of the Military Service Institution from 1891 to 1893, and nearly impossible to find today, examines the Army of the Potomac, including the battles of Fair Oaks, Gaines’s Mill, Mechanicsville, Malvern Hill, Antietam, Fredericksburg, Chancellorsville, and Gettysburg; the Army of the Tennessee, including the battles of Stones River and Chickamauga, and the Army of the Ohio’s battle of Shiloh. Tidball, a decorated Civil War veteran and superintendent of artillery instruction for the army, expertly presents the war through an artilleryman’s eyes in explaining the organization, equipping, and manning of the artillery service. His analysis highlights how the improper use of artillery, tying batteries down to relatively small infantry commands that diluted their firepower, seriously undermined the army’s effectiveness until reforms produced independent artillery commands that could properly mass artillery fire in battle. The Artillery Service in the War of the Rebellion, edited by historian Lawrence M. Kaplan and presented here in one volume for the first time, includes additional material from an unpublished paper Tidball wrote in 1905 which contains further insights into the artillery service, as well as a general overview of the Petersburg campaign. A major new discovery in Civil War scholarship, The Artillery Service in the War of the Rebellion contains essential information that will change earlier historical interpretations of key battles and will be essential reading for all those interested in the war or contemplating writing about it.
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John Caldwell Tidball
Edit ProfileEducation
He graduated from the United States Military Academy in 1848.
Career
He was appointed brevet second lieutenant, 3rd Artillery, and saw service against the Seminoles, in New Mexico, in the exploration of a route to California, with the Coast Survey, and with the Harpers Ferry expedition to suppress John Brown's raid in 1859.
After the outbreak of the Civil War he took part in the expedition to Fort Pickens, Fla. , April-July 1861. Promoted captain in May, he returned to Washington in command of Battery A, 2nd Artillery. He served in the Manassas campaign, and his battery, with that of Henry Jackson Hunt, covered the withdrawal of the Union forces from Centreville into the defenses of Washington. In September he organized his battery to operate with cavalry.
He was in all of the battles of the Peninsular campaign; after the battle of Mechanicsville, May 27, 1862, he supported Porter's withdrawal to Gaines's Mill, where he checked the Confederate envelopment and again assisted the withdrawal. During this campaign, to avoid causing an alarm, Tidball initiated the custom of having "Taps" sounded at a soldier's burial, in lieu of firing volleys.
In the Maryland campaign of 1862 he served with the cavalry division. At Boonsboro, and repeatedly at Antietam, the fire of his battery was a decisive factor, while in the pursuit of the enemy and subsequent cavalry operations he again rendered valuable service.
He participated in Stoneman's raid on Richmond (April 13-May 2, 1863) and in the operations in northern Virginia culminating in the battle of Chancellorsville (May 2-4). Experience had taught massed employment of artillery and in June 1863 Tidball was assigned to command a brigade of horse artillery. He ably supported the cavalry corps throughout the Gettysburg campaign.
In August, he was appointed colonel of the 4th New York Volunteer Artillery (foot), and assigned to the defenses of Washington. Reassigned to the Army of the Potomac in March 1864, to command the artillery of the II Corps, he was conspicuous for skill and gallantry at Spotsylvania and the North Anna (May 1864). In July he was appointed commandant of cadets at the Military Academy, but in October rejoined the Army of the Potomac as chief of artillery, IX Corps. On Mar. 25, 1865, when a Confederate force surprised and captured Fort Stedman, a key point in the Union lines before Petersburg, Tidball by a prompt concentration of artillery fire paralyzed the attack and enabled the infantry to recapture the position. A week later he directed the artillery preparation and support of the final assault on Petersburg.
After the war, having received brevets of major-general of volunteers and brigadier-general, United States Army, he reverted to his Regular Army rank of captain. There followed service on the West Coast and in Alaska. He was promoted major in 1867, and was superintendent of artillery instruction at Fort Monroe from 1874 to 1881. During this period he compiled the Manual of Heavy Artillery Service (1880).
Other writings of his were "The Artillery Service in the War of the Rebellion" (Journal of the Military Service Institution, at intervals, July 1891-November 1892) and various official reports included in the Annual Report of the secretary of war. He was promoted lieutenant-colonel, 1882, and colonel, 1885. From 1881 to 1884 he served as aide-de-camp to General Sherman, and from 1883 to 1888, as commandant of the Artillery School.
He was retired for age, January 25, 1889.
Achievements
Works
book
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The Artillery Service in the War of the Rebellion, 1861–65
( A Rediscovered History That Will Become Essential Readi...)
-
Manual of Heavy Artillery Service: For the use of the Army and Militia of the United States
( This work has been selected by scholars as being cultur...)
-
Summer 1996 (The Journal of Arizona History, Volume 37, Number 2)
(The Journal of American History is published quarterly by...)
-
Manual of Heavy Artillery Service: For the Use of the Army and Militia of the United States 1891
(Originally published in 1891. This volume from the Cornel...)
-
The Artillery Service in the War of the Rebellion, 1861–65
Personality
Tidball was an officer of martial appearance and austere manner, back of which was a nature rich in humor and affability.
Connections
He was twice married: first, in 1853, to Mary Hunt Davis, and after her death, to Mary Langdon Dana in 1870. He was survived by two sons and two daughters.
References
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Born
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Died
May 15, 1906 (aged 81) -
Nationality
American -
Religion
Presbyterian