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| Ammunition stored in the Washington arsenal--1864 An essential factor in the winning of pitched, open battles was a plentiful supply of ammunition. At Gaines' Mill, in June, 1862, the Union soldiers found it difficult to cheer convincingly when they had shot away all their cartridges, and found themselves separated from their ammunition wagons by the fast-swelling Chickahominy. The ammunition train always took precedence on the march. |
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| Schooners piled with cartridge-boxes — Hampton roads, December, 1864 By 1864, the problem of getting ammunition expeditiously to the front had been solved, and there were no more such shortages as at Gaines' Mill. In this photograph, the harbor of Hampton Roads swarms with ammunition schooners, transports, coal barges, and craft of every sort. The decks of the schooners in the foreground are piled high with cartridge-boxes. |
