Volume XVII, Issue 6, September 10, Northeast Ohio Civil War Round Table

Transcription

1 THE COURIER Northeast Ohio Civil War Round Table Tuesday September 10th, 2013 Meeting # 136 Dino s Restaurant at I-90 & State Rt. 306, Willoughby, Ohio Canteen at 6:00 Dinner at 6:50 Guests are Welcome Speaker: Scott Mingus Topic: Confederate Gen. William Extra Billy Smith: From Virginia s Statehouse to Gettysburg Scapegoat! Reservations required Please call Mike Sears Phone: Or Mike at: mikeanddonnas@roadrunner.com This month the NorthEast Ohio Civil War Round Table is honored to present Scott L. Mingus Sr. (seen above with Ed Bearss) as its guest speaker for September. 1

2 Scott L. Mingus Sr. Confederate General William Extra Billy Smith: From Virginia s Statehouse to Gettysburg Scapegoat William Extra Billy Smith, the oldest and one of the most controversial Confederate generals on the field at Gettysburg, was also one of the most colorful and charismatic characters of the Civil War and the antebellum Old South. Known nationally as Extra Billy because of his prewar penchant for finding loopholes in government postal contracts to gain extra money for his stagecoach lines, Smith served as Virginia s governor during both the War with Mexico and the Civil War, served five terms in the U.S. Congress, and was one of Virginia s leading spokesmen for slavery and States Rights. Extra Billy s extra-long speeches and wry sense of humor were legendary among his peers. A lawyer during the heady Gold Rush days, Smith made a fortune in California and, like his income earned from stagecoaches, quickly lost it. Despite his advanced age Smith took the field and fought well at First Manassas, was wounded at Seven Pines and again at Sharpsburg, and marched with Lee s Army of Northern Virginia into Pennsylvania. There, on the first day at Gettysburg, Smith s frantic messages about a possible Union flanking attack remain a matter of controversy to this day. Did his aging eyes see distant fence-lines that he interpreted as approaching enemy soldiers mere phantoms of his imagination? or did his prompt action stave off a looming Confederate disaster? What we do know is that his calls for support diverted limited Confederate manpower away from attacks against Cemetery Hill and Culp s Hill that might have turned the tide of Southern fortunes in Pennsylvania. Mingus s biography draws upon a wide array of newspapers, diaries, letters, and other firsthand accounts to paint a broad, deep, and colorful portrait of one of the South s most interesting leaders and devoted sons. Complete with original maps and photos, Extra Billy Smith will satisfy anyone who loves politics, war, and a great story well told. About the Author: Scott L. Mingus Sr. is a scientist and executive in the paper and printing industry. He is the author of Flames Beyond Gettysburg (2010) and five wargaming books, and maintains a popular blog on the Civil War history of his home in York County, PA, for the York Daily Record ( He is also a sanctioned Civil War tour guide for the York County Heritage Trust and together with his wife Debi, publishes CHARGE!, the leading international newsletter for Civil War miniature wargaming NEOCWRT Fall Field Trip - The Maryland Campaign Our Fall Field Trip this year, September 26-29, will cover the Maryland Campaign. It was a campaign filled with possibilities and missed opportunities a fascinating study that includes the bloodiest single day of the war, Antietam. Our guide will be Jim Rosebrock. Jim is currently the head of Antietam Battlefield Guides, a group of gentlemen well trained in the battle who underwent thorough testing before being certified by the National Park Service. He is also one of three guides who are certified to provide tours at both Antietam and Harpers Ferry, which is part of our itinerary. I was caught by his words: My military background has given me a fascination for the terrain on the battlefield of Antietam. Subtle and apparently innocuous, the lay of the land had a tremendous impact on the course of the battle. The high ground south of the North Woods, the rock ledges parallel to the Hagerstown Pike, the intermittent streams that cut across the field, and the frowning heights of Cemetery Hill may not be as well known as the Cornfield, Bloody Lane, and Burnside Bridge, but they nevertheless shape the field and the outcome of the battle. 2

3 I believe Jim will provide an interesting and unique tour of Antietam. But first, we will board a small bus to cover the Battle of South Mountain, stopping at battle sites at Turners Gap, Fox Gap, and Crampton s Gap. Following lunch, we will cover the Battle of Harpers Ferry, with stops at Bolivar Heights, Murphy Farm, Schoolhouse Ridge, and Camp Hill. It would be a shame to visit all the battle sites around Harpers Ferry and not see the old town, so we have include some free time at the end of the day to browse the old book store, see the historic sites, and gaze on the confluence of the Potomac and Shenandoah Rivers. Friday evening, we will have time to visit old Hagerstown with its shopping and restaurants. Saturday will primarily be spent at Antietam. The stops are all within the park and easy to find so, to keep costs down, we will car caravan. In addition to the well known stops at the sunken road, the cornfield, and the Burnside Bridge, we will visit Pry House (McClellan s Headquarters) for a discussion of tactics, the North Woods, the final attack positions, and the Ninth New York Monument. To end our day, we will visit Ferry Hill Plantation, the home of Kyd Douglas, author of I Rode with Stonewall. The interior of the historic site will probably not be open, but the location will provide a good view of the area involved in the Shepherdstown rearguard action that ended the Maryland Campaign. Our motel for this trip is a Hampton Inn in Hagerstown, MD. I ve stayed there recently and found it comfortable and clean. The motel rate is $95 / night, plus tax. We will also have the opportunity to try some of the good restaurants in the area, including The Red Bird which has the best crab cakes I ve tasted. Cost for the guide, bus, and driver gratuity is approximately $140 per person, depending on the number who attend. Space on the bus is limited, so get your money in early to reserve your spot. Make checks payable to Thomas M. Horvath. You can either bring them to our September 10 meeting, where John Sandy will collect them, or mail them to me at 8020 Linden St., Mentor-on-the-Lake, Ohio ********CIVIL WAR JOURNAL Franco M. Sperrazzo Event Coordinator Sept 10, 2012 ********* July 19th J A Garfield Speaker Symposium: The 2 nd collaboration between the NEOCWRT and J A Garfield NHS produced a strong and well attended speaker program. Theodore J. Karle performed his new program investigating a different view on day 2 at Gettysburg with Little Round Top Revisited. Richard P. Muny displayed and educated the audience on Small Firearms of the Civil War. Both men were outstanding with subject knowledge and visual aids. The professional Lawnfield Park Interpreter of Education Todd Arrington, spoke of future doings on the JAG calendar and his personal experience of working the 150 th Anniversary Celebration at Gettysburg. President Tom Horvath and First Lady Barbara, made effective contributions as Thomas gave a history profile of the NEOCWRT and Barbara produced enough snacks and refreshments to feed both armies. Thanks to everyone who brought food and attended the special evening. At least 45 people participated compared to thirty plus last year. We hope to remove the back wall partition in the visitor center auditorium next year. Friends of James A. Garfield Organization: Several of our members have been present for meetings that began in Summer 2011, to form a Friends of JAG volunteer group. Thanks to Todd Arrington, Sherda Williams and Scott Longert, their vision has reached a new plateau. John Sandy, Arlan Bryne and this writer have been on board with a series of important meetings that elevated ideas to new highs. If you have a desire to get involved in the genesis of this volunteer organization and would like more information ask one of us. You may also contact Todd and the JAG NHS or visit their website: Lake View Cemetery s Civil War Patriots: On May 18 th, Marjorie R. Wilson lead our touring members and guests for a prominent American Civil War Tour over many of the 270 acres of the 1869 cemetery and historical grounds on a beautiful morning. Marge will take you to sites and relates stories of General J A Garfield, Mortimer D Leggett, Frank Rockefeller, Levi Scofield, Edgar Eugene Strong and many more. Pre-paid reservations are required for the Saturday Sept 21 st event from noon. Call for more details and payment options at Lake View Cemetery is worth the time. 3

4 The Battle Of Lake Erie Bicentennial Celebration : On Labor Day Sept 2 nd visitors to Put-In- Bay witnessed the Battle of Lake Erie, near the Commodore Perry Monument. The Tall Ships (17 in force) and other festivities were Sept 5-8 th. Also on the same dates the Erie Maritime Museum hosted similar celebrations as the Tall Ships sail to the Port of Erie. Board the U S brig Niagara replica built in For information call ext 222. Visit For a listing of all events please visit The Battle of Mentor Library: Join the J A Garfield Lunchtime Speaker Series on Wednesday September 11 noon. Chickamauga was fought September 19-20, It was a Confederate victory and the most famous battle James A. Garfield was actively engaged in. The Mentor Library program is free. Make reservations at Bring a snack or beverage to the Garfield room lower level. Our beloved Tribe has played their best baseball since Very Earliest Harpers Ferry Firearms, A New Book & Its Creation Discussed by Author Rick Hudak If I have seen a little further, it is by standing on the shoulders of Giants." Isaac Newton, The above quote s modern equivalent could be synergy, but in reality, it still stands today on its own merits. Original flint unmodified M1805 Pistol. Author s Collection. Sharing information and building relationships. I have found this to be as rewarding as any other facet of assembling my antique firearms collection. It would have been impossible for me to put together the photographs, list, and descriptions of over year old pistols. For whatever reason, information about the M1795 Muskets and M1803 Rifles made at Harpers Ferry was not as difficult for me to find as up-to-date information regarding the M1805 Harpers Ferry Pistols. Back in 2005 I became interested in researching and collecting American colonial and particularly Revolutionary War muskets. I then became interested in early American firearms, particularly those made at a very small berg in an out of the way hollow, Harpers Ferry. My goal was to collect examples of each musket and rifle made there, from the M1803 Rifle through the M1855 s; the iron & brass mounted rifles, rifled musket, and pistol-carbine (although made at Springfield, designed at Harpers Ferry and known as the Harpers Ferry Horse Pistol). Eventually I achieved my goal. 4

5 Then my collecting morphed to focusing on the very earliest firearms produced at Harpers Ferry. I had just finished reading Merritt Roe Smith s fine book Harpers Ferry Armory and the New Technology. I found it incredible that the finest government produced firearms of the time were being made under the most primitive and hostile of conditions. The conditions at Harpers Ferry during the years 1798 through the mid 1810 s were very inhospitable, what with the frequent flooding, almost complete lack of infrastructure, raw material and skilled labor shortages, insufficient and inadequate housing, and constant pressure from the War Department to meet quotas, budgets, and construct the armory buildings on schedule. It was during those very earliest years (through 1808) that the two most elegant and sought after Harpers Ferry flintlock firearms were designed and produced (except the second run of the M1803 Rifles). Many early martial firearms collectors consider the Model 1803 Rifles and the Model 1805 Pistols the finest and most aesthetically pleasing military firearms ever made. Direct comparison of the M1803 Rifle and the M1805 Pistol. Author s Collection. Both of these fine firearms were designed during the period that Joseph Perkin was the superintendent of the arsenal. His influence is very apparent in the Pennsylvania (or Kentucky) fine profiles and features of these weapons. While not featuring silver inlays and detailed engraving, they were designed to be as light in weight as possible with thinner wrist areas strengthened by the very attractive trigger guards, and reinforcing ribs brazed to the barrels. After making the decision to add a Model 1805 Pistol to my collection, I began researching them in earnest. One of the first things that I discovered is that they are not the easiest firearms to find, particularly in Ohio. It was about this time that I began attending the annual shows in Baltimore and Hartford. Even then it took me a couple of years to find the right fit for my collection. I was introduced to Bruce Congdon as an expert to evaluate a pistol that I was considering buying in Hartford. That pistol ended up being a reconversion and, after bugging him to render an opinion on a few others at subsequent shows, I finally found one which is original flint as well as in really good condition. I still have it, serial number 1609, dated 1807, and it is one of my favorites. 5

6 Anyone who has the true collecting bug will probably identify with what happened next. Having a pistol with an 1807 date, and the fact that they were only made for three years, it didn t seem unreasonable to try to acquire ones dated 1806 and I began scouring the antique dealers websites and found an 1806 dated pistol at Antiquegunroom.net. It was listed Price on Request (never a good sign). I ed the website s published link, and that is how my dialog (and eventual friendship) with Dave Prawdzik began. After my sticker shock wore off- almost four months- I contacted him and he we worked out a deal where I would pick it up from him a couple of months later at the show in Baltimore. Great, I now had pistols dated 1806, 1807, and my two new gun buddies (Bruce and Dave) were on the lookout at the other shows and auctions they attended for a really good example of a pistol with an 1808 date. In the meantime another friend in the hobby and dealer, Don Stoops (Sharpsburgarsenal.com), who I had purchased most of my Harpers Ferry long arms from, knew that I had been looking for a Harpers Ferry Pistol. He purchased one with me in mind (his specialty is truly the later guns used in the Civil War). Don called and told me he had found my pistol, and sure enough it is a wonderful example, of course dated I just couldn t let my friend be stuck with a gun he purchased with me in mind, so I dutifully bought it from him (yea, it sure broke my heart, considering I now have an even dozen and am currently considering at least two more). Both Bruce and Dave contacted me on several occasions with additional finds, never an 1808, but really great pistols, and I just couldn t resist. Eventually, again in Baltimore, both Dave and Bruce found my query, a very fine M1805 with an 1808 date. Bruce secured it for me on Friday, as dealers they get in a day early to set up. It was during these early days of acquiring those pistols that I assembled everything I could lay my hands on about the Harpers Ferry Pistols. Bruce shared a list of known M1805 Pistols, with serial numbers and descriptions, with me that he had gotten many years ago and had been adding to with pistols from other sources and that he had seen. I found an out of print book, The Guns of Harpers Ferry, by Stuart Brown II. Written in 1968, it was an unbelievable aid in assembling my collection. Flayderman s Guide was also indispensable as was The Southern Arsenal by Daniel Hartzler & James Whisker. As I did my research on these firearms, particularly the pistols, the more information I could find, the more intrigued I became about their history. I found that they were made in pairs, each pair with matching serial numbers, but issued individually. I also found that for years collectors were attempting to reunite pairs by tracking their serial numbers. The earliest effort that I have found to record serial numbers of these firearms is That is the year that Sam Smith began his list recording M1805 Pistol serial numbers. If not for some dedicated collectors attending shows and auctions over the last few decades, adding to the Sam Smith list, and sharing information, we would not have the record of observed pistols over the years. The book Harpers Ferry Arsenal and Joseph Perkin; the Classic Arms of the Early Years focuses on the firearms primarily used in the War of 1812; the M1795 Musket, M1803 Rifle, and the M1805 Pistol. There are 520 of these pistols listed, in order by serial number, with descriptions, and many with color photographs. For reasons given in the book, there is also a short section regarding the M1855 Pistol-Carbines made at the Springfield Arsenal. Also, in this book are found matched pairs (two M1805 Pistols sharing the same serial number) which have never been photographed together before. I did not start out writing a book. It was a list to be shared with a couple of collector friends. A couple of years ago Cathy Congdon, the wife of one of my best gun buddies, Bruce Congdon, saw the list that I had put into a word document format and printed with several color photos that I added. She asked if I was writing a book on the subject and between that, and my wife's encouragement, I kept adding information and eventually it became a manuscript. When I gave the electronic manuscript to my publisher, I discovered that even though the over 350 photos at the time were in their original high resolution, the electronic encoding format that I had 6

7 used degraded them when they were imported into the publisher s format. I had to spend the next two months finding all the original images (I had some on my computer at work and some had been deleted - plus I had replaced my office computer). I finally did recreate all of them, it even required resurrecting a failed hard drive. The commanding general from the Revolution and our first President, George Washington, was the impetus for the creation of the National Armory at Harpers Ferry. In his younger years he had surveyed the area and his ties to the Fairfax family, who owned land in the area, were reasons he was familiar with Harpers Ferry. He also maintained that its close proximity to the site of the new Capitol City would make it convenient for the War Department to assess the pattern pieces and arms made there. M1803 Rifle, J. Robert Roughton Collection. These rifles were state of the art military weapons in their day and today they are sought after by collectors for their aesthetics as well as their historical significance. There were only just over 4,000 made during their first run (1804 through 1807) but the War of 1812 necessitated the manufacture of additional rifles. For that reason there was a second production run from 1814 through Due to a request from the War Department, the barrel length was increased from 33 to 36 for the second run. Probably because there were existing barrels in inventory, the lengthened barrels were not in production until sometime in The total of the second production was just over 11,600. Although attempted at Springfield, all the rifles of this type were made at the Harpers Ferry Armory. These were the only flintlock rifles made at either armory. M1795 Harper s Ferry Musket, Type 1, dated Author s Collection. The M1795 Muskets are also discussed and there are several photographs of these firearms as well. The first true United States armory muskets were made at both the Springfield and Harpers Ferry arsenals and they were patterned after the Charleville Muskets left over after the Revolution. Much of the experience the craftsmen at Harpers Ferry had at first was the repair of the Charlevilles in the national inventory. It would have been a fairly simple transition to go from doing major renovations of the Charleville muskets (repairing locks, making and fitting barrels, and restocking) to putting all the experience together in making entire weapons. High quality examples of Charlevilles were used at both arsenals as pattern pieces. These muskets were smoothbore or not rifled. They were.69 caliber and they were fitted for a bayonet. They were used extensively in the War of 1812 and saw service in the Mexican American War. Some were also used during the Civil War, especially at the beginning before more modern weapons could be put into service. 7

8 The M1795 Muskets made at Harpers Ferry, although subdivided into four types over the years of production, are alike enough to be considered one model, unlike those made at Springfield, which had a definite model break or change in From the first muskets in 1800, the Harpers Ferry muskets were different than the Springfield guns. The cock assemblies had different shapes and the combs on the side of the stocks were also different than those made at the Springfield Arsenal. From left, C. P. (Pat) Norris, Dave Prawdzik, Bruce Congdon, and Rick Hudak at the author s featured display. October, 2012 O.G.C.A. Show in Cleveland. At first not wanting or expecting to write a book on the subject, I am extremely grateful for the support from the many sources that I needed to put everything together. I do not want to start naming my acknowledgements here, for fear of slighting anyone. They are listed in my book. Suffice it to say they are definitely in the Who s Who of early gun collecting. Taking two years to complete, I am honored and humbled at how well the book has been received. I am also surprised at the number of well known collectors and authors who have called or written and requested signed copies. Looking back on the whole project now, it was a lot of work, but also a lot of fun and quite an experience. The staff of the NEOCWRT COURIER would like to thank everyone who contributed articles to this month s edition and if your article did not appear this month, we will use them in future Courier s. Please keep the articles coming because we believe we have some of the best Civil War writers in North East Ohio. The NEOCWRT COURIER is John Sandy, Carl Dodaro, Franco Sperrazzo, Tom Horvath, Arlan Byrne AND every member of the NEOCWRT, past, present and future, all contribute in many ways. See you at the September 10 th meeting and in the next NEOCWRT COURIER which should be out around the first Tuesday in October. 8