24th Michigan Infantry

Since I included the commander of the 24th Michigan in our last post and I've seen a roadside plaque monument to the regiment, I felt I would just do a very brief look at them to highlight the monument.

Unit history taken from the Soldiers and Sailors Database.  For further information, I recommend reading Alan T. Nolen's The Iron Brigade: a Military History. Originally Published in 1961, this book is still available and is a personal favorite of mine.

As a small side note, I'm often asked why there were so few casualties (relatively speaking) given the amount of ammunition fired by the infantry soldier.  The answer to that, which is included in the book, is that the soldiers were drilled in the carrying and loading of their weapons.  They were not normally given target practice! I would have to call that the ultimate in "on the job training."  The 24th did have two recorded target practices.  The first resulted in three men getting wounded and one dying of a heart attack.  The second occurred after the battle of Gettysburg during which the regiment suffered 80% total casualties.

-Corporal

UNION MICHIGAN VOLUNTEERS

24th Regiment, Michigan Infantry

Overview:

Organized at Detroit, Mich., and mustered in August 15, 1862. Moved to Washington, D. C., August 29, 1862. Attached to Defences of Washington, D. C., to October, 1862. 1st Brigade, 1st Division, 1st Army Corps, Army of the Potomac, to November, 1862. 4th Brigade, 1st Division, 1st Army Corps, to June, 1863. 1st Brigade, 1st Division, 1st Army Corps, to March, 1864. 1st Brigade, 4th Division, 5th Army Corps, to August, 1864. 3rd Brigade, 3rd Division, 5th Army Corps, to September, 1864. 1st Brigade, 3rd Division, 5th Army Corps, to February, 1865. Springfield, Ill., Northern Department, to June, 1865.

Service:

Duty in the Defences of Washington, D. C., till October 1, 1862. Moved to Frederick, Md., October 1, thence to Sharpsburg, Md., October 6, and to Warrenton, Va., October 20-November 6. Guard Richmond, Fredericksburg & Aquia Creek Railroad November 25-December 6. Advance to Falmouth December 6-11. Battle of Fredericksburg December 12-15. "Mud March" January 20-24, 1863. At Belle Plain till April. Expedition to Port Royal and Port Conway April 22-23. Chancellorsville Campaign April 27-May 6. Operations at Pollock's Mill Creek April 29-May 2. Fitzhugh's Crossing April 29-30. Battle of Chancellorsville May 2-5. Operations on Northern Neck May 20-26. Gettysburg (Pa.) Campaign June 11-July 24. Battle of Gettysburg, Pa., July 1-3. (Division was first Infantry force under fire, and Regiment lost in first day's fight 316 killed, wounded and missing, out of 496.) Pursuit of Lee to Manassas Gap, Va., July 5-24. Duty on line of the Rappahannock and Rapidan till October. Bristoe Campaign October 9-22. Haymarket October 19. Advance to line of the Rappahannock November 7-8. Mine Run Campaign November 26-December 2. Demonstration on the Rapidan February 6-7, 1864. Campaign from the Rapidan to the James River May 4-June 15. Battles of the Wilderness May 5-7; Spottsylvania May 8-12; Laurel Hill May 8; Spottsylvania Court House May 12-21. Assault on the Salient May 12. North Anna River May 23-26. Jericho Mills May 23. On line of the Pamunkey May 26-28. Totopotomoy May 28-31. Cold Harbor June 1-12. Bethesda Church June 1-3. Before Petersburg June 16-18. Siege of Petersburg June 16, 1864, to February 11, 1865. Weldon Railroad August 18-21, 1864. Boydton Plank Road, Hatcher's Run, October 27-28. Warren's Raid on Weldon Railroad December 7-12. Dabney's Mills February 5-7, 1865. Ordered to Baltimore, Md., for special duty February 11, 1865. Moved to Springfield, Ill., February 15, and assigned to garrison and guard duty there at Draft Rendezvous till June 19. Regiment selected as escort at funeral of President Lincoln. Mustered out June 30, 1865.

Regiment lost during service 12 Officers and 177 Enlisted men killed and mortally wounded and 3 Officers and 136 Enllsted men by disease. Total 328.

Henry Morrow

At the suggestion of a coworker of mine, I'm going to try to regularly post photographs and histories of the grave stones of common soldiers so that they might be remembered here as the stones themselves fade away.  This particular post will not be of the common soldier however.

Henry Morrow, Commander 24th Michigan Infantry

In my hometown of Niles, Michigan is buried Henry Morrow. Morrow was commander of the 24th Michigan Infantry, one of the regiments that made up the famous Iron Brigade of the Army of the Potomac. As I got to participate in a grave re-dedication along with the Sons of Union Veterans and the 1st Michigan Infantry back in 2010 I decided to include Morrow in the list of soldiers we would honor.

Morrow family plot marker

Morrow Personal Marker

Sons of Union Veterans speaking

Myself with the 1st Michigan Infantry

-Corporal


Col. Henry A. Morrow, 24th Mich. United States, None. [Between 1860 and 1870] Photograph. Retrieved from the Library of Congress, https://www.loc.gov/item/cwp2003002707/PP/. (Accessed March 30, 2018.)

Artillery Ammunition-Unusual

In this, our final look at Civil War artillery ammunition, we are going to look at three types that rarely if ever saw field use but was used at sea against sailing ships.  These consist of Hot shot, Chain Shot and Bar Shot. Sadly I lack photographs for Hot and Chain but I do possess one for Bar shot.

Hot shot is actually extremely simple but extremely dangerous to use. Hot shot consists of a solid shot or cannon ball that is made smaller than normal for the cannon it is intended for.  When heated in a special furnace to red or possibly white hot, it is loaded into a cannon with the intent of starting a fire on the enemy warship.  As wooden ships float a solid shot is not likely to sink it. Wooden ships, though, have a tendency to burn easily as they have tar, hemp, and other highly burnable materials not to mention the hull itself.  If the idea was to simply destroy the enemy ship, hot shot was the most effective way.

You may be asking "How the heck can you put a red hot cannonball next to Black Powder? Wouldn't it set off the powder?"  The answer is yes and no.  The hot shot would set it off, if there weren't precautions taken.  To prevent the round from rolling back out as the ship pitched in the waves, wadding of shredded hemp was used to retain the ball. A wad of dry hemp would be placed against the powder charge and then a wet one on top of that.  Then the hot shot is loaded, followed by another wet and then possibly a dry wad.  The theory was that the hot shot would cool in the barrel before it burned through the wet wad.

If you want to disable a sailing ship, the best way to do it is either chain shot or bar shot.  Both serve the same function. Once again being balls smaller than normal for the cannon, this time there are two connected by either a length of chain or a solid iron bar. When fired these rounds would spin through the air, shredding any rigging or men in their way.  Potentially they could even bring down the masts themselves.  Given enough damage in this way, the enemy ship would be disabled and ripe for capture. 

Example of Bar shot.

These types of ammunition, while not seen in field use, are interesting to include here because they were common for several hundred years at sea and in the ammunition magazines of coastal forts. Hot shot was largely replaced by the time of the Civil War by the exploding shell as it was much quicker to make ready, less dangerous to the user, and results were much more rapid in occurring.

-Corporal

Bar shot photograph was taken at the Michiana Pirate Fest. It was taken during the talk abut Black Powder weapons given by Hooka Joe.

Artillery Ammunition-CANISTER!

In this look at Civil War artillery ammunition, we will take a look at antipersonnel ammunition. We will cover two types of ammunition, Grape Shot and Canister. The easiest way to describe these rounds is that it turned a cannon into a giant shotgun, firing multiple sub-caliber balls at the on coming enemy infantry soldiers. The difference between them is number of balls and potential ranges.

Grape Shot

The older ammunition is what is called Grape Shot. This consisted of usually nine iron balls stacked on top of each other and separated by iron plates.  These large, sometimes over two inch diameter in field use, balls had a relatively long range.  Their chief disadvantage was the limited number of projectiles in each round. Part of why it was called Grape Shot was the fact that it was often encased in a cloth bag with twine running between the rounds, somewhat resembling a bunch of grapes.

Canister serves the same function but much more effectively. As of the battle of Gettysburg (July 1-3 1863) the canister round for a Napoleon consisted of twenty-seven 1.5 inch iron balls. This version had a maximum effective range of 400 yards. As the enemy got closer it was not uncommon for the order to be given for "DOUBLE CANISTER!" or even "TRIPLE CANISTER!" This usually happened when the oncoming enemy infantry was getting to less than 100 yards range.  This consisted simply of loading one powder charge into the cannon with multiple canister rounds stuffed on top.  This increased the danger of bursting the cannon itself due to back pressure. At the same time, if the enemy is at twenty yards distant and fully intend to kill me, I think I'd take my chances.

Canister Write up

By late 1863 it was determined that the conventional canister round was not effective enough.  It was rarely used at 400 yards so why have balls inside for that range? The Union developed a version with 78 smaller balls inside for the Napoleon, trading long range for close in lethality and reducing the amount of doubling required.

Components of a fired Canister Round

A few side notes. Due to the larger bores on smoothbore guns the canister rounds contained more balls than rifled guns firing similar weight ammunition.  As such while the rifled gun might do damage to the enemy at the start of their advance, up close the smoothbore did the superior damage. At the same time, canister scraped along the walls of the bore when fired. On an iron gun this had little impact but on a bronze gun it often removed metal, resulting in the bore at the muzzle being larger than at the back or breech of the gun.  "Goldie's" muzzle is indeed enlarged so it is possible that she sent many rounds of canister at the enemy.

Goldie (Bronze 6 Pounder)  Muzzle

A final note, most guns only carried five rounds of canister with them into any given battle.  If the battery has gone to canister there likely is no time available to bring up more ammunition from the rear. To supplement the canister rounds the gun crews would press any case shot rounds into emergency service.  Loaded without the fuse the projectile would explode at the muzzle, serving as a reasonable substitute for canister or grape shot.  The common term for this was "rotten shot."  Artillery fuses will be discussed in a later post.

-Corporal

I will apologize for the blurriness of some of the photographs.  I did not realize it until after the event.

Indiana Pirate Fest 2018

As some know, Jade and I do like history OTHER than Civil War era. To be honest, one of the areas I first studied was the "Golden Era of Piracy."  For the last three years I have attended the Indiana Pirate Festival in Mishawaka, Indiana including this year.  Sadly Jade was unable to attend with me.

Pirate Ship/Parade Float

This festival is a miniature one day Renaissance Faire, featuring a number of vendors, entertainment, educational and musical acts. Spending almost the entire day there, it was fun to talk to some of the friends that Jade and myself have on the Renaissance circuit.

Vendors

More Vendor tables, with the Corporal in his Renn "peasant" look.

 

For entertainment the festival brought the high speed, high comedy of The Rogue Blades sword fighting comedy show. I have watched their shows in Indiana and Michigan for many years now when I've attended Faire.  Of the normal three man show, Dave the Knave and Captain (Squire) Paul attended and performed. Dave has written two "Knovels" as he calls them and I highly recommend them for reading.  They can be found as kindle books or sold at any Faire he is attending.

Captain Paul (Left) and Dave the Knave

 



Swords move fast in the duel between Dave the Knave and Captain Paul

For education the festival had Hooka Joe from the Brethren of the Great Lakes Black Powder Show talking about weapons of the pirate era.  I'll admit I failed to take a huge number of pictures but there are some that will appear in a future post with his permission.  If you ever get the chance to see their education/entertainment show at a Faire, do so.  They mix education with mildly destructive bangs. Tomatoes tend to be exploded at the end of their musket barrels is all I can say...

Hooka Joe explaining a Flintlock and the Plug Bayonet

Also for education was the local historian T.S. Rhodes. She gave talks on life aboard ship in the pirate era, including the story of a little cabin boy who lost his life in a shipwreck off the future American coast. While I lack pictures of her, her books can be found on Amazon as well as bought in person. I highly recommend them.


For music the groups Red Rum Band and "The Minstrel and The Mayhem" were in attendance as well.  Both groups are highly enjoyable to listen to.  I sat to listen to both for one show each and bought a CD from the Minstrel. Already had Red Rum's albums or I'd have bought from you guys too.  The joy of this venue is it is small enough that even if you aren't sitting in the "audience" the entire hall filled with music so everybody is the audience after a fashion.

Red Rum Band

The Minstrel and the Mayhem

This event is held the second to last weekend of March every year.  This year was Saturday, March 24th.

killers of the home in the 1800s ( part one : the crinoline/ hoop skirt)

The one thing we all think of  even if you dong reenact  like the corp. and I, is the the big dresses so lets jump into this topic.

first what is a crinoline:

 the google definition is : 

1. historical

   a stiffened or hooped petticoat worn to make a long skirt stand out.
2. 2.

   a stiff fabric made of horsehair and cotton or linen thread, typically used for stiffening petticoats or as a lining.

the hoop skirt was made to make the hips look larger and the waist look smaller. 

the first of the major problems of the skirt was it was unpractical for home life and a lady of the home.

coming from experience it is not easy to cook over fire in skirts so you can guess dresses were burned.

the second is the difficulty of them to walk in. 

How we know what we know

Library of Congress 1866

Corporal here. This post is simply an explanation of where we get our knowledge on subject matter.

From an academic perspective, it looks like we aren't "citing our sources" as they say.  The reason for that is we are often writing things in much the same way as we would tell people in the field.  We aren't going to tell people "On page 143 of Hard Tack and Coffee he says..." to the average person.  I do like to cite when I get photographs from the Library of Congress as they are not taken by myself, Jade or a member of my family at a reenactment.

But where do we get the information presented here? Study, study, study.  Both of us have enjoyed history for years and yes, I went to college for it.  History is a passion for any reenactor. But that is still not explaining where exactly we get the information from.  We have several sources.

Our first source is of course books.  Neither of us are professional historians so we do read others work.  Often when writing the more technical posts I'm boiling things down from twenty pages or more to a few paragraphs to aid in accessibility in this format.  When I get the opportunity I will cite books I use frequently on this post so stay close to your telegraph.

The second resource is other reenactors.  We aren't all experts in all things. We both have learned much just listening to other reenactors at events.  They have done the research already and it helps a great deal.  My head wouldn't be so full of Civil War trivia without them.

Our last major source is the internet. It is readily available and occasionally an article can come from there that triggers a thought or a full post. Sometimes I've used it to verify a piece of information that I know but don't have at my fingertips.

If a source is not made clear, as it usually won't be directly cited, please message us on our Facebook page or leave a comment at the bottom of a post. We will do our best to give the source books at least.

In the end, we hope that this blog will inspire others to either become reenactors themselves or just get out the books and study because we sparked an interest.

-Corporal

Source Citing:

Internet:
Two I've used often is the United States Library of Congress and the Soldiers & Sailors Database.

Book Citing to follow.

Alan T. Nolen, The Iron Brigade: A Military History (1st Indiana University Press Edition, 1994) original Copyright 1961.

Photograph Citation:

Wakely, G. D., Copyright Claimant. Interior of Library of Congress. Washington D.C, ca. 1866. Photograph. Retrieved from the Library of Congress, https://www.loc.gov/item/2010646112/. (Accessed March 25, 2018.)

Artillery Ammuniton-Shell

The next type of ammunition we will discuss is the exploding shell.

There were two types of exploding ordnance during the Civil War era, common shell and case shot. The basic methods of production were similar but their use and effectiveness were considerably different. In both cases the projectile was cast with a hollow core and some means of fuse installation so it would detonate at the proper moment,

In common shell the cavity is often not very large relative to the body of the projectile. Unlike in later wars the only filler was Black Powder which as previously stated is not an extremely powerful explosive compared to later developments. As such, the destructive power of the common shell was limited. When the round detonates it would often burst into as few as six large fragments, thus limiting the destructive potential. As such it was primarily meant for anti-material work, such as buildings and artillery batteries.

Case shot was produced slightly differently. The central cavity was made larger than common shell and the bursting charge was made smaller. This made for a thinner shell wall so the actual powder charge was sometimes reduced to avoid the risk of it shattering inside the barrel of the cannon. In addition to the Black Powder filler there were iron or lead balls inside as well. The idea was the round would explode over the heads of enemy troops and they would suffer a hail storm of iron to inflict many casualties. As a side note, case shot was invented in the late 18^th century by a British artillery officer named Henry Shrapnel. Adopted first by the British in 1803, the basics of the round remained through World War I. Today, any fragmentation is referred to as “shrapnel,” a generalization of the inventors name.

In the post on solid shot we talked about how the rifled projectile was referred to as bolt. While they did exist, they weren't as common as the shell. Indeed, according to the ordnance returns of June 30, 1863 there were no solid projectiles in any Federal rifled batteries with the Army of the Potomac at Gettysburg. Instead there were a high proportion of common shell. The feeling being that the weight was similar enough that if the fuse wasn't armed the effectiveness was much the same as solid shot. Indeed, in November of 1863 the orders were to include 25 shells, 20 case and 5 canister rounds per gun. No solid shot included.

Next ammunition post will be on the most deadly artillery ammunition of all... canister. We will get to fuses, but that will be another post.

-Corporal

Another marker to be removed? A rant.

Cross on state land to possibly be removed

Corporal here. Jade brought my attention to this article and we felt it would be a good idea to share it. If this seems like a rant, I'll apologize now. It rather is actually.

We understand that someone could be offended, it is their right to be. However, a thought crossed my mind (no puns intended) about this. I did a quick Google search on the graves in Normandy. Those are United States government markers on government land. Yes, those cemeteries are actually United States territory if I recall correctly.

The reason I bring those markers up is that most are in the shape of crosses, with a few Star of David's mixed in. I do not recall seeing other religions in the photographs. I would hate to have someone take offense to those and decide to sue to have all those markers replaced with the round stones you often see Civil War and other soldiers getting.

Granted, in this day and age we are trying to be an inclusive nation. If you go to the government headstones webpage there are over 90 different options for religious emblems to be put on current government stones. These include many denominations of Christianity to Hinduism, Islam, Judaism,  and even Wicca.

Sadly we are in a time where people can't just get along over relatively minor things. Perhaps in a public park isn't the best place for it, but I wonder how many complain about the tall building scale crosses that can be seen from the public space of the interstate highway system?

Personally, and I believe Jade will agree with me, monuments that have been up for decades should remain as they are. Religious or not. As for reenacting and what this had to do with it, we really don't care what your beliefs are. If you are a decent human being willing to teach and portray history, whatever the era, we welcome you.

-Corporal

Artillery Ammunition-Solid Shot



Artillery Ammunition

A frequent question we get when out in the field is what did the artillery fire? There were many, many different types of ammunition used by cannon on both sides.  Some rounds were patent by a particular manufacturer (generally rifled ammunition) and some were not.  Each round can be divided into one of four categories or types.  Solid shot, common shell, case shot and canister/grape shot. In this post we will cover the most basic type of ammunition, solid shot.  In this series, where possible I will use write ups already in the photograph for explanation to shorten the length of the overall post.



The Cannonball

The write up in the picture actually covers most everything rather clearly. The ammunition on the paper is six pound ammunition while the one next to it is twelve pounds in weight, for a Napoleon. The skipping or bounding fire described was best done when firing Enfilade, meaning down the line of enemy soldiers.  After the cannon ball lost enough energy to fly it could still roll for some distance.  Early in the war it was not unknown for soldiers, in a "hold my musket" moment, to literally hand their weapon to another soldier and attempt to kick the ball to a stop. Most learned that all they did was have a leg torn off as the ball continued on its path.

Hotchkiss Patent Ammunition

Hotchkiss ammunition was one of the patent types of ammunition.  Each type had its own characteristics the differentiated it from another manufacturer.  Eventually there were so many patented types of ammunition that the Federal government ordered only certain types to be issued to a given battery based on preference.  They would be issued one type per category. A given battery might have Hotchkiss bolt and Parrott shell, but preferably not two manufacturers in the same category. This allowed for a degree of uniformity in action.

Parrott Ammunition

20 Pound Parrott Bolt with round shot

This gives a very short explanation of the solid iron projectile called round shot, bolt, or "cannon ball."  Ammunition much like this was fired from "Goldie" at Grayling at the artillery competition. The Twenty Pound bolt was a round used by the Twenty Pound Parrott also used at the artillery competition.  As of this writing, to see a picture of that gun refer back to the post "What is Black Powder"

-Corporal

Kalamazoo Living History Show 2018

Kalamazoo Expo Center

This past weekend,  March 17th and 18th, Jade and I attended the Kalamazoo Living History Show. Mostly a giant swap meet with hundreds of vendors and thousands of people, it was a good opportunity to restock supplies and get a few things before start of main reenacting season.

Many members of our respective home units attended as well, the 21st Indiana Artillery on Saturday while Robinsons Battery had a table setup. What was the nicest thing was seeing many friends and people we knew from multiple eras in one place. Covering primarily the 17th through 19th Centuries there was much to buy.

I took too many pictures to put them all up here. If you are unfamiliar with us there, search for Black Powder and Lace on Facebook to find additional photographs and see three videos of our favorite Fifers, The Wind Rose Minstrels.

Main Room from entrance

Fall Creek Sutlery table

Corporal Johnson, Private "Luke" Johnson and Private Mark of Robinson's Battery

President Lincoln Speaking to the staff of the Olde World Village table

Large sideroom seen from booth of Quartermaster Shop

1st Michigan Infantry Table

These pictures only give a small idea of the scale involved. Please see our Facebook for the additional photographs and videos. 

-Corporal

Civil War Artillery: the Six Pounder

Six Pounders in storage

We will begin our look at the common types of artillery used in the American Civil War beginning with the Six Pounder, model of 1841. Close ups of this particular gun will serve as type examples for other types of guns where possible.

To explain the nomenclature a little, most smoothbore field artillery was named by the approximate weight of the solid shot fired.

Six Pounder owned by Robinson's Battery

The weapon photographed here is an original six pounder, named "Goldie" by the battery she serves. She is made of bronze, hence the name.

Six Pounder Muzzle

Most artillery pieces were stamped with multiple types of information. While not all founders followed the same procedures, "Goldie" has all of them so she can represent. Stamped on the muzzle of the barrel are the weapon's serial number and the initials of the original government inspector.

Left Trunnion

On the left hand trunnion is the date of manufacture.  Yes, this gun was cast in 1861 so as of this writing she is 157 years old.

Right Trunnion

On the right trunnion is the manufacturer. In some cases it might simply be initials or a number but in this case it is full name and where they were located.

Breech

On the breech is stamped the actual weight at time of manufacture. In this case, the barrel weights in at 890 pounds.

Something I lack a close up of is the government acceptance stamp of "US" on top of the barrel.


This type of gun was employed primarily in the first year of the war. By the middle of 1863 they had largely been phased out by the larger and more effective Napoleon.  Indeed, General Robert E. Lee faced a shortage of the Napoleon and recommended those six pounders still in Confederate service towards the end of 1863 be turned in to depots to provide raw material for Napoleon manufacture.


You may wonder if this weapon is still able to be used...

READY!

 

FIRE!

 

These photos show the live fire artillery competition at Camp Grayling, Michigan in 2017. The white specks in the distance were the targets at 600 yards. Yes, that's me standing there holding the worm. As a little side note, I am pleased to report that Robinson's Battery (Jade's home unit and my second home) took first place in the smoothbore competition.

 

 

Some general specifications for the Six Pounder, Model 1841 according to one book I have in my possession:

 

Bore Diameter: 3.67 inches

Length of tube: 60 inches (5 feet)

Weight of tube: 884 pounds (meaning Goldie is a little overweight.)

Powder Charge: 1.25 pounds

Range at 5 degrees Elevation: 1,523 yards

That's it on the general overview of the Six Pounder. Next time in artillery we will take a short look at the 3 inch Ordnance Rifle, the weapon of my home unit.

-Corporal



Unknown Location. 6-Pdr. Field Gun, Model. United States, None. [Between 1860 and 1865] Photograph. Retrieved from the Library of Congress, https://www.loc.gov/item/cwp2003001035/PP/. (Accessed March 10, 2018.)

Goldie was photographed during a living history event at Western Michigan University on 3/3/18. That is why she is surrounded by modern construction.


An Old Country Church

In the second of what seems to be turning into a series, I wish to present a simple country church and cemetery that predates the Civil War. It is on M-140 a little north of Niles, Michigan. I will admit I find a certain elegance and charm in churches of this style over a modern mega church.  Once again I have no history on this church other than the sign, so I present it as is.

 

View inside through a very old window

 

 

 

-Corporal