Civil War

At A Loss

The surgeons kit above was fairly standard equipment for Civil War doctors. You can see there is not a lot there that is not made for cutting or sawing, that is mainly because that is what a doctor on the battlefield would do most, cut and saw.

It is estimated that over 60,000 battlefield surgeries were done during the war, and of those almost 45,000 were amputations. While it may seem extreme today at the time amputation was done to protect the patient against gangrene which was almost always life threatening. What made it worse was that there was really no anesthetic available, and even if the patient did survive the surgery, infection could always make the entire point moot. Needless to say amputation was something that many soldiers feared.

If whoever the amputation went well and the patient survived the recovery, there was a good chance they would be able to live a very productive life. Even though it was still not as advanced as today, prosthetics, artificial legs and even hands, were available to the men. In fact in the years between 1861 and 1873 over 150 patents were issued for artificial limbs. Both sides during and after the war provided funds to the veterans that needed these devices.

So for many the site of that kit in the photo above being brought out led to outright terror, for most of them it also meant a chance at life.

Movie Reviews

Movie Review: Lincoln

Lincoln (Blu-ray+DVD)

 

Steven Spielberg, Daniel Day Lewis, Sally Field, Tommy Lee Jones and more make for high expectations from this movie. We have come to expect that Spielberg can tell a story that deals with a certain historical setting and bring the times and people to life. Lewis is known for not just his acting, but his becoming the person he is representing. Those two aspects mash together to make this movie very nearly acceptable.

Focusing not so much on the war that Lincoln was fighting against the southern United States, this movie deals with the struggles of getting the 13th amendment passed. For those who do not know this amendment finally outlawed slavery in the United States. So if you are tuning in here to see another war movie, or even to see Lincoln the Commander-In-Chief you are in the wrong place.

I went into the movie with an open mind, but that quickly closed by the time the credits rolled. In reading articles and even reviews about this movie one thing kept popping up. When asked if it is historical the main response was always, “Well, it is a historical DRAMA, not a documentary.” or some turn of that phrase.

One of the mist glaring inaccuracies, among many, was that during the final act of the film when congress was voting on the 13th amendment, the screen writer changed Connecticut’s vote placing two of the three members in a position of supporting slavery. This frankly was not the way the vote went down. When confronted the screenwriter basically said that more tension was needed in the scene so he took some liberties.

Yeah, OK.

As a drama it is a good movie, but it is not history. Watch with your eyes open and afterwards be ready to Google up a storm looking for the truth. Recommended? If you like the drama, sure. If you want the history, nope.

Here is a google search that will get you a list of everything wrong with the movie, Lincoln. List

 

Book Reviews, Civil War

Book Review: The Impending Crisis: America Before the Civil War: 1848-1861

It would be easy to put this book in the same old prelude to Civil War books that have become a category all their own. It is however different. See most of these books treat the era between the end of the Mexican War and the start of the Civil War as a continuation of one or pregame for the other. This book however deals with the changes in the country and the growing sectionalism that would eventually split the country. In this book that time period has become almost its own epoch that is more than worthy of its own focus and study.

David Potter raises some interesting questions about the roots of sectionalism and how even if the question of slavery were not on the table a split may have become likely at some point. This flies in the face of much of the revisionist history that makes its way to history books. Using statistics and research Potter frankly turns the Antebellum South into a foreign country, that always questioned its place in the United States.

Personally one of the best things about this book is that it tears the cover off much of the wheeling and dealing that went in to presidential elections of the day and how the parties rose and fell and the sword of idealism. From Free Soilers, to Know Nothings, Democrats to newly minted Republicans, they all had a hand in creating the path that led to war.

This book is highly recommended and a great read. As always you can get your copy by clicking on the photo above.

Civil War

Sic Semper… Oops!

 

We all know the story. April 14th, 1865 the Civil War was all but over and President Lincoln decides (OK, Mary decides) that they need so enjoy a night at the theater. Originally General Grant and his wife we supposed to accompany them, but using many skills I assume he learned on the battle field, Grant was able to get out of going.  Instead it would be Henry Rathbone and his fiance that would accompany the Lincolns to the Ford Theater and “Our American Cousin.”

Joining that night would also be John Wilkes Booth, a famous actor and Southern sympathizer that wanted Lincoln dead. His story goes well beyond the scope of this brief article, but the important thing is that during the play he found himself with unfettered access to the President’s box and the man himself. A small pistol in one hand and a dagger in the other he looked to “avenge” the Confederacy.

Sneaking into the box he moved behind Lincoln and fired his pistol, jumped onto the ledge of the box and by most accounts yelled, “Sic Semper Tyrannis!” and leaps from the box to the stage. It would have been perfect if he had not caught his spur on one of the bunting flags that hung on the outside of the box. That snag of his boot caused him to land awkwardly and severely injury his leg. From that point on the story is well-known.

In the photo above is the flag from the box that Booth snagged his spur on. If not for that flag and the injury that Booth sustained, it is very possible that he may have avoided capture. That makes that relic pretty darn cool.

 

 

 

Uncategorized

Wednesday Words & Phrases: The Game of Darts (In Brief)

Image result for darts

 

Where the game of darts come from? Glad you asked.

Back in the day A barrel lid (Sometimes an entire barrel) was taken from the local pub and placed in the village green. The town archers in their down time would toss crossbow quarrels at it using an under handed, high arching toss. Whoever got closer to the middle of the lid would win that round.  Eventually the lid was hung up inside the local pub and the men tossed the quarrels at trying to get closest to the center. That eventually would become the game of darts we know today.  (I know what you are thinking and that sounds like a lot like lawn darts, I guess that actually predated wall darts!)

American Revolution

The Six Nations and the Revolution (In Brief)

In Albany New York in 1722 the English gave official recognition to the Iroquois Confederacy which was made up of the six main Iroquois tribes in the Hudson River Valley and to the west. The Mohawk, Oneida, Onondaga, Cayuga, Seneca and Tuscarora made up the six nations.

At the dawn of the American Revolution in 1775 the Six nations were determined to remain neutral in the conflict. They had fairly good relations with the British, mainly due to the flow of trade and exorbitant gifts that the Great White Father (King George) heaped upon them.  The Americans were unable to outspend the British and had a nasty habit of armed conflict with the Iroquois. Ultimately these were the reasons why the Six nations came into the war on the side of the British, and it did not end well for them. (The Oneida and Tuscarora did come in on the side of the Americans.)

They took part in most all of the British campaigns in the Hudson River Valley acting as light infantry and scouts.  The penchant for the Natives to torture prisoners and scalping their victims was frowned upon by both sides. officially the British attempted to retrain such activities, but unofficially several British officers were known to pay the natives for scalps taken during battle. The Americans were appalled by the activities of the natives and held the British responsible. In fact a passage in the Declaration of Independence outright accuses the Crown of stoking the violence between the two groups.  at the same though, Patriot leaders were able to use the actions of the natives to fuel the propaganda furnace that burned bright and kept the fires of rebellion burning.

In 1779 looking to knock the Iroquois out of the war, General Washington sent General John Sullivan on an expedition against the Six Nations. Sullivan and his troops burned a number of Iroquois villages and devastated their food supply. In the 1784 Second treaty fo Ft. Stanwix the Six Nations pretty much broke into its separate components and reached agreements with the US Government. Several tribes stayed in the New York region on reservations, the Onondaga, Seneca, Tuscarora and Oneida. The Mohawk and Cayuga ended up in Canada.

Being on the losing side of the war did not go well for the Six Nations, but the odds were good that even had the British defeated the Americans, further conflict between the settlers and the natives would have been unavoidable as the pressure of the colonists moving inland, whether they be British or American, would have led to issues.

Ironically the Six Nations were one of the oldest democratic governments in existence at the time it was all but wiped out by the newest democratic government. Of course in this brief article we can only touch a little on the role that the natives played in the war. If you would like to find out more start here

https://www.nps.gov/revwar/About_the_revolution/american_indians.html

Modern

A Few Tidbits About Memorial Day

Yes, the holiday has passed, but now with all the hubub dehubed we can take a look at a few interesting tidbits on the holiday.

In 1868 General John Logan, acting on behalf of the Grand Army of the Republic, established Decoration Day as a day to remember Union soldiers of the Civil War and as a time to decorate their graves with flowers. The day decided upon was May 30.

Interesting enough, Logan actually was actually “borrowing” from a similar tradition started in the South three years earlier to commemorate the graves of Confederate soldiers.

Decoration Day morphed into Memorial Day in 1882, though both names were used until after WWII.

In 1967 a Federal law was passed officially naming the holiday Memorial Day.

They weren’t done however as in 1968 Congress passed the Uniform Monday Holiday Act which moved four holidays from their traditional dates to a specific Monday in order to create a three-day weekend. So once the law took effect at the Federal level in 1971 the tradition May 30th Memorial Day was moved to the last Monday of May.

Since then the Veterans of Foreign Wars and Sons of the Unions of the Civil War have been lobbying to get the date changed back to the May 30th traditional date. In fact from 1987 up to his death in 2012 Senator Daniel Inouye of Hawaii introduced such legislation every year, never gaining much ground.

Traditional events that occur on or very near Memorial Day weekend include the Indianapolis 500, Coca-Cola 600, as well as numerous and many parades to commemorate the day.

In 2000 Congress passed the National Moment of Remembrance Act which asks people to spend a moment of silence at 3:00PM on Memorial Day to remember the actual reason for Memorial Day. Thank goodness we have the Federal Government to legislate that for us.

 

Cold War

Ever Hear of Davy Crockett? No, the other one!

 

Have you ever wanted your own person Atomic Weapon? Why bother with missiles and bombs when this little beauty will allow you (with help from a couple of friends) lay the smack down on your neighbors, stray cats, or that pesky town down the road that never has enough parking when they put on their farmers market.

What you see above is the M29 Davy Crockett.

This 155MM short-range nuclear weapons system allowed the infantry to get into the atomic fun at a maximum range of 2.5 Miles and warhead that was equivalent to 40 tons of TNT.

It could fire both directly at targets or be lobbed for greater range. It was designed to be used against enemy infantry, armor or against fortified positions.

Two versions of the system were deployed. One was mounted on a jeep and could be fired from that platform. The other was deployed in an armored personnel carrier, when at the firing location the launcher would be set up on a tripod. A later variant was employed at the end of its service by the  US 82nd Airborne Division. This version was attached to 1/2 ton truck and could be airdropped wherever it was needed.

Production of this piece started in 1956 and in the just over 2,000 were made and were deployed in units from 1961 through 1971.

Tested several times with live rounds (read as atomic warheads), and more often with depleted uranium rounds,  they suffered from very poor accuracy and while they did provide a big boom, their most devastating effect was radiation. From the point of detonation to 500 feet the radiation dosage would be lethal, and probably lethal out to about a quarter-mile. Which really gave the crews very little margin for error.

That just goes to prove, close only counts in horseshoes, hand grenades and portable atomic warhead launchers. Like its namesake though, I am fairly certain it could take down a bear.

 

Civil War

The Sniper Rifle of Artillery

 

The above shell is from a Whitworth Breechloading Rifle a nice piece of lang range artillery. The gun (and consequently the shell) are classified as a 12 pounder, was made of steel and manufactured in England. They saw most of their Civil War service with the Confederate army and approximately 50 were known to be in service.

These guns had exceptional range, up to 10,000 yards and due the fact the barrel was rifled it was incredibly accurate. A 1864 magazine stated that in a test one of these guns fired 10 shots with a deviation of only 5 inches. This kind of accuracy made them incredibly effective in counter-battery fire (against the opponents artillery) and in this regards they were employed almost the same way that a sniper rifle would be deployed by the infantry.

Most of the units in service were imported via Britain through the US Naval blockade of the South, though in 1861 a single battery of the guns was fielded by the US. As effective as these guns were they did come with a number of draw backs.

The ammunition, such as that above, was difficult to manufacture and the cost of importing through the blockade made the gun very expensive to operate. It could not fire the standard ordinance of the day so it would never reach the heights of popularity. The projectile was actually a long bolt that was twisted to conform with the barrel’s rifling, so it was less of a shell and more of dart.

The second draw back had to do with mechanical issues. Originally the gun was designed as a breech-loader meaning that it was loaded from the rear. This method was faster and actually safer for the crews. However many of the guns in service developed issues with the breech as the mechanism jammed. This caused the gun to revert almost back to the muzzle-loading of a standard cannon. This combined with the cost of ammunition meant the Whitworth was doomed to be a footnote in the war’s history.

 

Interwar Years

Remember When We Occupied Russia?

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(Sorry for the dark picture.)

After the end of WWI the United States struggled to find its place in the world. Still largely an isolationist nation, we had come out of our shell in a major way by sending troops to the fields of France. The Entente powers ended up winning the war against Germany, but something more interesting was happening in Russia which would test America’s new role in the world.

In October 1917 the communist forces came to power in Russia during the Bolshevik Revolution and immediately signed a treaty with Germany. This freed up many resources for the Germans and placed the outcome of the war in doubt. Russia was gripped in a terrible civil war as the Bolsheviks and Tsarists battled for the soul of their country.

The Allies had other issues besides the massive reinforcements the Germans were looking to throw their way. First off they had spent a lot of money and sent a lot of supplies to the Russians during the war, and no one wanted any of that to fall into the hands of the Communists. Second, all 50,000 Czechoslovakian troops were stuck in Russia, and were being attacked. They had one way out and that was through Vladivostok in Siberia. So the allies had to do something and the decision was made to intervene in the Russian Civil War on the side of the Tsar. England and France were tapped out for resources, so it was decided the US would lead the way.

In July 1918 President Wilson ordered 5,000 men to North Russia (The Polar Bear Expedition) and 10,000 to Siberia (The Siberian Expedition) with the mission to secure whatever war materials they could from the communists, and to help facilitate the evacuation of the Czech troops. As part of the expedition Imperial Japan occupied part of Siberia and China sent several thousand troops. The occupation ended in June 1920 when the Allies felt they had accomplished their goals, the Japanese however stayed untill​ 1922.

The uniform in the picture belonged to First Lieutenant Verner C. Aurell of the 27th Infantry Regiment, “The Wolfhounds” served in the expedition until April 1920. A very interesting artifact from the time the US invaded, and occupied Russia.

 

 

 

 

 

People, Places and Things from US Military History

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