The FReeper Foxhole Remembers Little Round Top - Gettysburg (7/2/1863) - Nov 6th, 2003

military.com ^ | James R. Brann

[SAMWolf]

Good Evening Phil Dragoo.

I'm in the middle of reading "We Were Soldiers..." Excellent bok.

[SAMWolf]

LOL! I thinkk we can foegive you he may have only been a Light Colonel but he was the kind of leader the Generals were in the War Between the States.

[PhilDragoo]

The lack of shoes is reminiscent of Valley Forge winter 1777-8.

I could never conceive of that, building homes outside winters for twenty-five years--do it without Maine Hunting Boots and wool socks?

There was a Valley Forge organization that gave awards for patriotism; J. Edgar Hoover was a perennial winner as was my eighth grade teacher.

Some of that is returning as the majority of college students support the president, the troops, the war--pendulum returns.

Mick has been making boots for over 11 years. For the past seven years he has been concentrating on American Civil War footwear. He strives to produce footwear that not only looks historically correct, but also is made in the age-old tradition of custom handmade boots and shoes. He has also spent the last seven years researching and studying footwear from the Civil War era. His footwear has been worn by reenactors in movies and documentary films. Also some of his footwear has been displayed in museums across the country.

The old antique shop had been closed for years, but a few curiosities were left to gather dust in the attic. Dim daylight from the window filtered through a veil of cobwebs and fell on a pair of battered boots that hung on the back wall. Wiping away a layer of dirt, I examined the creased and wrinkled leather and soles still caked with the dust and mud of some forgotten field. I thought of the Civil War as I read the crudely lettered label with a faded name and "Boots 100 years old".

1939 Doubleday Field named in honor of Major General Abner Doubleday, USMA 1842, who is often called the "father of baseball."

The Spencer was the primary repeating carbine and rifle of the Civil War. Most were issued in carbine form for the cavalry although rifles were also made for the infantry. Of the 144,500 made, 107,372 were acquired by the Federal Government. It became the most popular of the carbines for cavalry use by the Union Army, and was widely used in the west after the Civil War.

The Spencer is a seven shot repeater loaded through the stock at the back end. Operating the Spencer required both working the lever to load a fresh cartridge and separately cocking the hammer. An experienced man could shoot all seven shots in about fifteen seconds. The Confederates could not use captured Spencers after the supply of captured cartridge ammunition was used up, as it could not be loaded and fired with separate powder, percussion cap, and bullet.

The Army was reluctant to purchase the Spencer early in the Civil War. The available wagon transportation was incapable of delivering the additional ammunition the soldiers would use when given a repeating firearm. President Lincoln intervened by endorsing procurement of the Spencer after test firing one in 1863 halfway into the war.

The Spencer used the first self-contained metallic cartridge powerful enough for regular military use. The standard Spencer cartridge is called the 56-56 being named for having the same size at the front end and back end of the copper cartridge case. It fired a 52 caliber bullet with a muzzle energy of 1125 foot pounds. The energy compares favorably with the [typical paper cartridges] of the Civil War muskets. By comparison, the other metallic cartridge available during the Civil War, the 44 Henry, only developed about 700 foot pounds of energy. The cartridge could be successful in the wide variance in barrel bore diameters shown below because the bullet had a huge hollow in its base of the same style as the Minie ball first used in the 58 Springfield musket.

A cartridge box was invented by Blakeslee to carry Spencer ammunition and hasten reloading. It held seven tubes of seven cartridges each to quickly slide one tube at a time into the gun. The Blakeslee box looks good in theory but was bulky. It bounced around and got in the way when in action or while running as they hadn’t then figured out how to hold such containers firmly to the soldier’s body. The soldiers could shoot out all the ammunition they could carry nearly as quickly when carrying ammunition as issued in bulk without the hassle of preloading the tubes of the unwieldy Blakeslee cartridge box.

Photo Credit: Richard Woodbury at USAMHI.

A Group of 8 Enlisted Men of Co. F, 2nd Regt., U.S. Sharpshooters. They are in front of a private residence with other soldiers standing near by. This photo was taken before June 18, 1862. They are identified as: Pvt. Charles R. Applin, Pvt. Isaac H. Farnum, Sgt. Horace Caldwell, Pvt. Amos S. Abbott, Pvt. William C. Beard, Pvt. William Spead, Pvt. Leonard Spead, Pvt. Cyrus R. Farnum. Examples of Model 1855 Colt Root Percussion revolving rifles and canvas sport shoes.

Colt Model 1855 Military Revolving Rifle

SABC Member Meeting 2002

Very rare 56/56 rimfire Spencer Civil War repeating rifle,WITH BAYONET

Model 1855 Harpers Ferry Rifle-Musket with Bayonet
photo by Richard T. Meagher

Spencer carbine, rifle, magazine, bayonet.

1952 1st hydrogen bomb exploded (by US at Eniwetok Atoll)

Rest in peace, Cold Warrior.

[Valin]

I see others asked same question. It's a big what if

Off-topic but somet5hing you migh want to read.
HIDDEN UNITIES Alternative Strategic Divisions (Please see reply #1) (Food for thought)
CETO | June 02 | Ralph Peters
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1016585/posts

And now "To die to sleep, to sleep perchance to dream..."

[Valin]

Great job!!!

And now I really have to go to bed.

And this time I mean it...unless I see something interesting.

[snippy_about_it]

This is wonderful Gail, tell all the ladies we think they're great (you, too).

[E.G.C.]

BTTT!!!!!

[carton253]

No...my family wants to go on the cheap. Best Western for us! LOL!

[carton253]

I can't believe how many times I have watched Gettysburg and Gods and Generals. I can't get enough. Stephen Lang as Pickett/Jackson is one terrific actor. I wish they would make Last Full Measure. I have the audio books of Last Full Measure. Lang reads it. It's good too.

[snippy_about_it]

Thank you Light Speed.

The Guy was giant...but the South had their tough sods too...often they are forgotten in the historic mix.

IMO, no matter which side they were fighting on they were all Americans and should always be honored as such.

[snippy_about_it]

...and I am dropping for twenty.

LOL.

[snippy_about_it]

Thanks Phil.

Teller Quotes;

"The biggest change in this century has not been the introduction of nuclear explosives, it is how the world has become smaller. In the 1930s, the United States was safe. Today, with terrorist attacks, our safety is vanishing."

"Research on nuclear weapons has provided the United States with the ability to deter the use of nuclear weapons throughout the past half century."

"We helped keep the Cold War cold. . . .A war without casualties cannot be as famous as a horrible war, but it is preferable."


On July 20, 1960, the navy conducted the first successful full-scale test of the Polaris weapons system, launching two Polaris A-1 SLBMs (submarine-launched ballistic missiles) from the submerged USS George Washington about 30 miles (48 kilometers) off of Cape Canaveral, Florida.
Credits - U.S. Navy Photo

[snippy_about_it]

Thank you Matt for the information on the press in Poland. Very insightful.

Thank you also for the last picture taken of Major Hieronim Kupczyk and again, we are sorry for your country's loss.

[carton253]

What if the Southern Arty did more damage in the centre

Or at least knocked down the fences that lined the Emmittsburg Road.

The scene from the Movie Gettysburg where the Old Officer tells Robert E lee about that ..."Bloody great Hill"..and... "He just stood there..I said ..give me one division..and I will take that Hill"!

That was Trimble... who was such a fighter, he even impressed Jackson.

"Give me one division, and I'll take that hill. And he just stood there. Give me one regiment, and I'll take that hill. And still he just stood there. Then I said, give me one brigade, and I will take that hill!"

kinda ponder if Lee was regretting entering Pennsy.

Entering PA was the correct thing to do. I think (in the movie) General Garnett summed up why they were so eager for the fight--even when they knew they did not have the good ground. "We are going to smash through their lines and then there will be an open road all the way to Washington. And this will be the last day! Maybe today!"

[carton253]

Could I be put on the ping list...

[snippy_about_it]

Could I be put on the ping list...

Of course!

I'll add you today so you will be properly and most politely ordered to 'Fall In' starting tomorrow. ;)

[snippy_about_it]

LOL. When I answered I didn't realize you were on yesterdays thread. I'll personally ping you to today's and starting tomorrow you'll be pinged with the others.

[Samwise]

Wow. Thanks for the report.

Lately, there have been more and more frequent voices from intelligence agencies of different European countries that those of Al Qaida fighters in Europe (estimated 20,000), who had to hide after Sep. 11, have continually been trying to find their opportunity to fight and that some other terrorist attacks seem to be rather imminent.

The national media here has a black out.