Long Range Guns, Close Quarter Combat

War of 1812 expert Richard Barbuto offers a heavily illustrated and detailed account of the US Third Artillery from its authorization in the spring of 1812 to its amalgamation into the Corps of Artillery in 1814. The unit fought mainly on the northern theater from Lake Champlain to Lake Erie and quite often as infantry rather than artillery, through its actions at Fort Niagara, Queenston Heights, Sacket's Harbor, the St. Lawrence campaign of the autumn of 1813, the attack on Fort Ontario, Sandy Creek, the Niagara and Plattsburgh. Barbuto places the Third Artillery's narrative against a proper historical context and properly devotes much space to the senior officers -- George Armistead, Ichabod Crane, George Izard, Alexander Macomb and George Mitchell -- who raised, trained and commanded it in action.

Numerous sidebar sections throughout the text contain information on personnel, battles, gun drill, military installations and the interesting story of William Apess, a native American who served in the regiment. Finally, two appendices provide a time line of the war and short biographies of military officers from both sides while a third contains the complete text of Surgeon William Horner's useful and descriptive memories of medical service at Buffalo and vicinity during the long and bloody Niagara campaign of 1814. The result is an interesting and informative work of regimental history that might serve as a model of its kind.