OT: Civil War Buffs

[goru1869]

My brother Larry is a huge Civil War historian and memorabilia collector.
He says the exact same thing.
His last visit to Gettysburg, he insisted the Ranger take him down to the original starting point of Pickets Charge from the Confederacy side.
Pickets men walked up that hill side by side into 6,500 muskets and 240 cannons

Every artillery piece that could be effective against Longstreet's assault / Pickett's charge was used . The actual number of casualties inflicted on Johnny is not known. Kinda hard to figure out if historians only have a rough number of troops involved. The numbers I have always seen is anywhere between 12,000 - 15,000 . From what I understand is that the rebs did not do as good a job with numbers of casualties , etc as the north did. The federal 2nd corps that defended that part of the line was not going to run from that assault plus they had reinforcements coming from other parts of the federal line .
Zap have you ever been there ?

 

[HeywoodGiant]

Can any of you buffs answers this question, and if you don't know please don't guess? I've never been able to get a straight answer but
Did civil war artillery explode like in WWII or was it just a canon ball a roarin that would knock people over like bowling pins?

 

[hoquat63]

Can any of you buffs answers this question, and if you don't know please don't guess? I've never been able to get a straight answer but
Did civil war artillery explode like in WWII or was it just a canon ball a roarin that would knock people over like bowling pins?

They used both exposing shells and cannon balls. Also canister

 

[srru86]

Can any of you buffs answers this question, and if you don't know please don't guess? I've never been able to get a straight answer but
Did civil war artillery explode like in WWII or was it just a canon ball a roarin that would knock people over like bowling pins?

Both. And more. There was solid shot and explosive shells. Some were big spherical bombs. Others were more modern case or shrapnel. Maybe the scariest was canister (think really big shot gun pellets) and the roughly similar grapeshot

 

[hoquat63]

Just a sample of anti Irish feeling from George Templeton Strong”No wonder St Patrick drove all the venomous vermin out of Ireland. It biped mammalia supply that island it’s full share of creatures that crawl and eat dirt and poison every community they infest. Vipers were superfluous. But my own theory is that St Patrick’s campaign against snakes is Popish delusion. They perished of biting the Irish people.”

 

[e5fdny]

Just a sample of anti Irish feeling from George Templeton Strong”No wonder St Patrick drove all the venomous vermin out of Ireland. It biped mammalia supply that island it’s full share of creatures that crawl and eat dirt and loosen every community they infest. Vipers were superfluous. But my own theory is that St Patrick’s campaign against snakes is Popish delusion. They perished of biting the Irish people.”

And don’t forget how they were drawn in the cartoons of the day....ape like.

 

[goru1869]

Can any of you buffs answers this question, and if you don't know please don't guess? I've never been able to get a straight answer but
Did civil war artillery explode like in WWII or was it just a canon ball a roarin that would knock people over like bowling pins?

Cannonballs were used against fortifications and enemy artillery.
Caseshot, canister and grapeshot were used against infantry. These three exploded in the air and acted like shot guns .

 

[CERU00]

Slaves and immigrants do jobs people don't want to do. The argument that immigrants steal jobs is laughable. The jobs they take are available because no one wants to do them.

Umm,you should leave retail once in a while. You have no clue what you're talking about when it comes to other segments of our economy.

 

[WhiteBus]

Umm,you should leave retail once in a while. You have no clue what you're talking about when it comes to other segments of our economy.

Yes you are right. Everyone wants to be a migrant worker picking blueberries.
Before retail I worked for Fannie Mae, Bank of America and MetLife. I understand the economy and employment better than you do just based off your first post.

 

[ashokan]

I'd classify it as must read. That goes for the post-war period as well.

I also liked the pre-war - especially Grant's accounts of CA during the gold rush. He described how a lot of guys from back east came out and were often mild mannered and educated but they had no skills. Seemed like the 1849 version of millennials

 

[Ronnie_B]

These guys do a fantastic job on YouTube, I watched this one last night:

 

[Ronnie_B]

This is a baseball (called a Lemon Peel) that was found at Shiloh Battlefield by an Black Union soldier:

 

[hoquat63]

These guys do a fantastic job on YouTube, I watched this one last night:

View embedded media

American Battlefield Trust does a great job raising money to preserve battlefields threatened by development. Wonderful organization.

 

[hoquat63]

Another comment about Civil War shells. Confederates created land mines from buried shells. Also mined waterways - although mines were called torpedoes (hence “Damn the torpedoes, full speed ahead” from the naval battle in Mobile Bay.

 

[RUSeaGirtMA]

American Battlefield Trust does a great job raising money to preserve battlefields threatened by development. Wonderful organization.

Yes indeed. Know them firsthand. Great folks. Thanks for mentioning it.

 

[Ronnie_B]

Yes indeed. Know them firsthand. Great folks. Thanks for mentioning it.

One of the members Garry Adelman has a pretty neat Civil War page on Facebook:

Garry Adelman's Civil War Page

Garry Adelman's Civil War Page. 52,006 likes · 5,970 talking about this. Photos, rants, news, preservation, and energetic, enthusiastic, hyper thoughts from one whose obsession, life's work,...

www.facebook.com

 

[HeywoodGiant]

Cannonballs were used against fortifications and enemy artillery.
Caseshot, canister and grapeshot were used against infantry. These three exploded in the air and acted like shot guns .

Thanks. Do you know when or what war it was when artillery started exploding?

 

[goru1869]

Thanks. Do you know when or what war it was when artillery started exploding?

Not sure.

 

[Ronnie_B]

It shouldn't surprise anyone it was the Chinese who first started using exploding cannon balls, not sure what date, 12th or 13th century maybe?

 

[goru1869]

It shouldn't surprise anyone it was the Chinese who first started using exploding cannon balls, not sure what date, 12th or 13th century maybe?

That is how they spread virus's back then.

 

[Ronnie_B]

That is how they spread virus's back then.

Some people might think you're trying to be cute, but during sieges it was common to project things that would spread sickness into cities.

 

[goru1869]

Some people might think you're trying to be cute, but during sieges it was common to project things that would spread sickness into cities.

Aren't you cute.

 

[hoquat63]

Henry Shrapnel invented the Exploding shell whose content was named for him in 1784

 

[hoquat63]

Some people might think you're trying to be cute, but during sieges it was common to project things that would spread sickness into cities.

Also fire - Genghis Khan set fire to birds that had nests in city, flew back home and set fires in city under seige

 

[RU#1fan]

In some cases, justifiably so.

Weed out those who seek destroy the American Democracy. Nothing wrong with that.

 

[goru1869]

Weed out those who seek destroy the American Democracy. Nothing wrong with that.

Civil War

 

[BigWill]

new name; War Between the Woks.

 

[goru1869]

new name; War Between the Woks.

Is this a new Star Wars movie ?

 

[BigWill]

War of the cell phone videos

 

[hoquat63]

Saw an interesting documentary recently about the instance of young white Northern soldiers heading south to fight for the Confederacy was a far higher rate than the opposite, southern kids heading north.
The brother against brother happened at the border states like Missouri where brothers went in opposite directions and actually engaged in battles against each other.
Another crazy thing I heard, was there was a weird anti-establishment appeal to go fight for the south if you were an uneducated young white kid from the north.

The appeal supposedly had nothing to do with defending slavery and everything to do with the allure of running away and becoming a rebellious, renegade Rebel.
Is anyone familiar with this?
I thought it interesting.

Just to get back to the very first question in this tread, I was just watching a CSPAN3 civil war program, in which Adam Domby (professor at U of Charleston). One thing he stated was that 100,000 southerners fought in the Union army - more men then were in the Army of Northern Virginia at any one time.

 

[goru1869]

Just to get back to the very first question in this tread, I was just watching a CSPAN3 civil war program, in which Adam Domby (professor at U of Charleston). One thing he stated was that 100,000 southerners fought in the Union army - more men then were in the Army of Northern Virginia at any one time.

If I remember correctly , the only southern state that did not have a regiment from it in the Federal army was South Carolina .

 

[ashokan]

Also fire - Genghis Khan set fire to birds that had nests in city, flew back home and set fires in city under seige

Reminds me of Lenny Montana - the actor who played Luca Brasi in "the Godfather." Before acting career, Montana was in the mafia for real. He was sometimes an arsonist, and would attach a kerosene soaked tampon to a mouse tail, light it, and the send mouse into a building

 

[ashokan]

It shouldn't surprise anyone it was the Chinese who first started using exploding cannon balls, not sure what date, 12th or 13th century maybe?

The only branch of the service I really wanted to go into was the submarine service. I was really into Jacques Cousteau as a kid and loved scuba and submersibles. Only when older did I realize how smart I was to gravitate to ranged nuke weapons, fired from under the surface in a quiet nuke sub hundreds of miles away. No mortars, mines, punji sticks, Howitzers, IEDs etc. There was always the Thresher scenario thing but I was ready to roll with that lol

 

[BigWill]

The only branch of the service I really wanted to go into was the submarine service. I was really into Jacques Cousteau as a kid and loved scuba and submersibles. Only when older did I realize how smart I was to gravitate to ranged nuke weapons, fired from under the surface in a quiet nuke sub hundreds of miles away. No mortars, mines, punji sticks, Howitzers, IEDs etc. There was always the Thresher scenario thing but I was ready to roll with that lol

The Service Selection on selection night at USNA for Subs is the only one that commands Mids to go into Subs on orders rather than volunteering.

Usually they want 32 Grads to enter Sub Selection. Usually Mids with GPA's near 4.0 in some type of Engineering are "volunteered" to fill the remaining slots up to 32. You receive your Master's Degree in Nuke Engineering in around 18 months at two shore based schools/nuke reactors before even setting foot in a Sub. All USN Subs are Nuke as are Aircraft Carriers. Usually there is a bonus of around 30,000 to enter Subs, above your normal salary. The 2 Federal Credit Unions compete for grads to open accounts. Usually give out 30=35,000 loans at under 1 % interest, that is payroll deducted.

 

[ashokan]

The Service Selection on selection night at USNA for Subs is the only one that commands Mids to go into Subs on orders rather than volunteering.

Usually they want 32 Grads to enter Sub Selection. Usually Mids with GPA's near 4.0 in some type of Engineering are "volunteered" to fill the remaining slots up to 32. You receive your Master's Degree in Nuke Engineering in around 18 months at two shore based schools/nuke reactors before even setting foot in a Sub. All USN Subs are Nuke as are Aircraft Carriers. Usually there is a bonus of around 30,000 to enter Subs, above your normal salary. The 2 Federal Credit Unions compete for grads to open accounts. Usually give out 30=35,000 loans at under 1 % interest, that is payroll deducted.

I was getting stacks of recruiting material in late 1960s (USN still had conventional subs). Military wasn't particularly popular at the time. Alas once I got into high school and sports I forgot about subs.

On a side note, I grew-up near Indian Point . They had tons of Navy people working there. One night I stopped in a gin mill to visit a girl I knew tending bar (she was prettiest girl I ever saw in person). That night I met a Indian Point guy who lost his father on the Thresher. That was pretty amazing considering the environment (a real hole in the wall).

 

[hoquat63]

The only branch of the service I really wanted to go into was the submarine service. I was really into Jacques Cousteau as a kid and loved scuba and submersibles. Only when older did I realize how smart I was to gravitate to ranged nuke weapons, fired from under the surface in a quiet nuke sub hundreds of miles away. No mortars, mines, punji sticks, Howitzers, IEDs etc. There was always the Thresher scenario thing but I was ready to roll with that lol

Good thing it wasn’t the Confederate sub service

 

[zappaa]

The only branch of the service I really wanted to go into was the submarine service. I was really into Jacques Cousteau as a kid and loved scuba and submersibles. Only when older did I realize how smart I was to gravitate to ranged nuke weapons, fired from under the surface in a quiet nuke sub hundreds of miles away. No mortars, mines, punji sticks, Howitzers, IEDs etc. There was always the Thresher scenario thing but I was ready to roll with that lol

My dad had to send $50 of his $65 a month paycheck home to his parents from Norfolk VA class B baseball when he was 17 years old...1943
He was diagnosed with mal-nutrition, missed 5 games, and was to embarrassed to tell anyone he had no money to eat.
When he joined the service the day he turned 18 he chose the NAVY because “I heard they ate good”
He went in at 170 and came out 190

 

[BigWill]

The football players that are OL or DL ALL go on diets after the NAVY-Army Game.

Especially if they are Service Selection for USMC or any part of Aviation.
For example; Ejection seats are rated for people only under 225 lbs. So if you weigh 240 or anything over 225 the seat is not guaranteed to shoot you out of the cockpit successfully. There are also measurements that you must comply with to be in certain cockpits. Hip joint to knee joint, shoulder joint to elbow to finger tip for being able to reach the cockpit instruments for example. Shoulder width to each side of the cockpit.

John being 6' 6 " had to sign a DOD Waiver to not sue the Navy if he had to eject and it wasn't successful. He eventually lost the weight from being a 265 NG to a 225 Pilot.

My Friend that flew NJANG F-4's Phantom's was going to take me up in the rear seat for a day. As we were picking out the flight gear for me to go up. A Senior Enlisted Chief asked me to let him measure me. He put a stick up to measure the width of my shoulders. 'Sir, if you have to eject one of your two arms will be left behind." I was wider than the width of the rear cockpit.
They allowed me to fly the simulator as the Pilot. That is where I can claim that I flew an F-4 Phantom at Mach 2.0 (Twice the speed of sound or over 1,400 MPH).

 

[B1GRUfan]

Great thread everyone. Everything from Civil War battles to horrors of slavery to flying at Mach 2. Thanks for sharing. A lot of really interesting and knowledgeable people in our RU community.

 

[ashokan]

When he joined the service the day he turned 18 he chose the NAVY because “I heard they ate good”
He went in at 170 and came out 190

I came from an Army family with USMA grads. I have pics of me at 6 mos wearing Army booties. Its one of my darker secrets that if I applied to an academy it would have been Annapolis (and Army even called me about football). I was just a water/ocean person. Navy even has best officer uniforms . When I see Army and Navy officers together its like GQ vs UPS lol