Tactics are "hows" to strategy's "whats" and "whys." They include the thought processes and actions that tell us how to accomplish what the strategic goals are. Tactics are focused and local in scale; strategy is the big picture. Let's consider some of the nuts-and-bolts of employing artillery on the battlefields of the Civil War.

Location: Where do I, the battery commander, place my guns? Usually high ground is best to maximize observation and range. (Keep in mind that cannon in the Civil War were direct fire weapons: they were aimed at their targets using sights on the tube- just like rifles and pistols. Indirect fire, or shooting at targets that cannot be seen from the guns, was still decades in the future.) I also have to consider where to safely park my ammunition carriers, called caissons, and my many horses (each battery had more than 90), and figure a way out of the position if I needed to pull my battery back in an emergency.

Range: Distance to the target(s). Which guns do I use to attack which targets at different ranges? (This was usually a tactical decision for the artillery regimental commander, as batteries typically only had one type of gun.) There are two types of cannon: smooth bore and rifled (twisted grooves cut into the bore to impart a spin to the projectile.) Smooth bore guns, like the 12-pound Napoleon (used a 12 pound iron ball) excelled at close range fire on attacking infantry using canisters of dozens of small metal balls that burst out as soon as the canister exits the tube, with results like a giant shotgun. Rifled guns, like our 3" Ordnance Rifle, would cause those canister balls to spin off in all directions, but they excelled in accurate, long range fire against the enemy's artillery. As long as these rifled guns stayed beyond the limited (1200 yards) range of the enemy's smoothbores, they could attack them with impunity. (Field artillery rifled cannon could fire over four thousand yards.) Commanders had to choose the right gun for the job.