The President’s Message:
The Round Table is
officially a non-profit organization.
Legally we will be known as “The Nineteenth Century American
History Round Table.” Alas,
it was a name not already taken.
The printed documents have arrived.
Thank you to Bill McEachin for all his work that allowed us to
get our non-profit status.
It was greatly appreciated.
We shall be securing a new location soon.
Hear Ye! Hear Ye!
Great news:
After a long and
extensive search, I was able to obtain a new meeting place.
It is the Lake Clarke Town Hall.
The meetings will be on the usual second Wednesday of the month
and start at 7:00 PM. Our
mission statement will remain the same.
We are a non-partisan study and discussion group emphasizing the
years before, after, and during the Civil War.
Snacks, coffee, and sodas will be available.
I look forward to seeing everyone in November.
Mark your calendar now.
Gerridine LaRovere
November 13, 2019 Program:
The speaker for November will be Robert Schuldenfrei.
The program is titled
In Judgement of Ben Butler.
The historical figure of Benjamin F. Butler has always been
interesting. From the time
Bob learned about the American Civil War the character of this man, who
was impugned by both the North and the South, was a source of
fascination.. Who was this
evil, incompetent person, who was a leader of men?
For the next meeting we are going to investigate Benjamin
Franklin Butler.
Two Extra Articles:
Because there was no
October newsletter, and this one is named as the September issue, we
have provided two articles in place of a recap of the presentation of
our last speaker. Next
month’s, November, issue we will return to our normal format.
Naval Engagement with the Empire of
Japan
The following article
by Mike Hall was published in the Australian Civil War Round Table
Journal. Gerridine thought
that you might find it interesting about the global perspective during
the War years. The article
is reprinted as it was originally printed.
Did you know that
decades before the surprise attack on Pearl Harbor, elements of the
United States Navy fought pitched battles with forces of the Japanese
empire? In 1863 the U.S.,
despite its own configuration at home, became involved in the internal
struggles of Japan, which had become centered around the recent
encroachment of American and European traders into the “closed empire”
of Nippon.
In April of 1863 U.S.
merchantmen, while traveling through the Straits of Shimonoseki (between
the islands of Honshu and Kyushu in southwest Japan) were fired upon by
ships belonging to the local lord, Prince of Nagato.
One of the ships, the mail packet
Pembroke, was sunk.
This attack was in violation of the treaties which Japan had
signed with U.S. and European powers during the late 1850’s,
guaranteeing entry and trading rights to foreign shipping.
However, for previous centuries foreigners had been treated with
great suspicion by the Japanese, due to what they perceived as European
ambition towards the domination of those lands on the Pacific rim.
In 1639 the Shogun, who ruled the empire by the authority of the
emperor, expelled all foreign traders except for the Dutch and refused
ex-patriot Japanese permission to return home, and refused those present
permission to leave. In 1858
the shogunate, under control of the Tokugawa family, signed treaties
with foreign powers, including the U.S., granting them limited rights to
visit and trade in the islands.
Many feudal lords, including the Prince of Nagato, opposed the
Tokugawa family and its policies and used attacks such as those on the
American trading vessels to weaken the position of the ruling family.
USS
Wyoming
under the command of
Commander David McDougal, was in the area searching for Confederate
raiders, especially the CSS
Alabama.
McDougal was ordered to Shimonoseki to investigate the incidents
and. Once there, encountered warships of the Prince of Nagato inshore.
On July 16, 1863, battle was engaged and for about an hour USS
Wyoming
exchanged fire with
the Japanese ships and shore batteries.
USS
Wyoming
suffered a loss of
four killed and seven wounded, and afterwards returned to its patrol of
that region. However, that
was not the end of the affair.
European
merchantmen had also been attacked and those governments had
resolved to take immediate action.
Later in July a detachment of French landed in the area,
destroyed a shore battery, and burned a town and ammunition dump.
By September 5th a fleet of French,
Prussian, English, Dutch, and U.S. warships were anchored off
Shimonoseki. Capt. Cicero
Price of USS
Jamestown
reported to Gideon
Wells, Secretary for the Navy, that the English and French had landed a
combined force of 650 but had postponed a planned attack on Shimonoseki
due to news of the possibility of a new treaty being negotiated by
Japanese commissioners and the French.
However, the Japanese government repudiated the actions of its
commissioners, stating that they had exceeded their authority.
The U.S. Navy was in
an awkward position at this time.
Its major ocean-going warships were desperately needed to scour
the seas for its enemies, the Confederate raiders, yet the national
interest and policies demanded that the U.S. participate in this joint
action with the Europeans so as to maintain its role in international
affairs in general, and its rights to influence the decisions regarding
this particular incident.
Accordingly, a junior officer from the USS
Jamestown
, Ensign Frederick
Pearson, was ordered to charter a ship and use it to represent his
country. The merchant
steamship
Ta-Kiang was chartered by the
U.S. Navy and a detachment of sailors under the direction of Ensign
Pearson shipped aboard a Parrot-rifled cannon and then joined the
combined fleet.
The combined fleet
reacted to the repudiation of negotiations by attacking the town of
Shimonoseki, bombarding its buildings and batteries by ship-borne guns
and launching an assault by land forces.
Ensign Pearson’s merchant vessel-cum-warship was used to
transport supplies and to carry messages, and also managed to fire a few
rounds from its Parrot gun for the honor of the Union Navy.
By September 8th the Prince of Nagato
signed an armistice, agreeing that the Straits of Shimonoseki would be
open to shipping of all countries and that foreign ships would be
allowed to land at the port for all provisioning.
This entire affair
shows that although the U.S. government and Navy was mainly preoccupied
during the early 1860’s with the conflict between North and South,
events and developments in the international community, even in Asian
region, were not ignored.
The U.S. saw itself as a power to rival the strengths of Europe, at
least potentially, and its international position needed to be
maintained by participation in such affairs in order to preserve that
potential beyond the time and effort currently expanded in the civil
war. Thus the Federal
government was willing to make limited commitments to participatory role
in international crises such as the Shimonoseki affair, in spite of huge
demands on its resources caused by the War of Secession.
An Overview of Small Arms and
Artillery
The weapon most used by the Civil War infantryman was known officially
as the United States Rifle Musket, Model 1861.
Soldiers popularly called it the “Springfield since the
Springfield, MA Arsenal manufactured a majority of these guns.
The Springfield was a percussion-cap, muzzle-loading weapon,
caliber .58 and weighed 9¾ pounds.
The Springfield’s effective range was 500 yards, although it
could deliver a ball twice that distance.
It fired a soft lead mini bullet, known as a “minié ball.”
It was invented by the French army officer Claude-Etienne Minié.
In all, over 670,000 Springfields were manufactured during the
Civil War. They cost the
government $19.00 each. The
Springfield musket, not including its 18 inch bayonet was 58½ inches in
length.
Very popular among soldiers on both sides was the English Enfield Rifle
Musket, Model 1853. About
820,000 of these rifles were purchased by the North and South.
The Enfield weighed 9 pounds 3 ounces, had a caliber of .577, and
was deadly up to 800 yards.
It fired a bullet similar to the minié projectile.
Great strides were made at this time in breechloaders.
These weapons fired ready-made bullets, a series of which were
inserted at one time in the rear of the barrel.
Breechloaders could fire faster and more accurately than the
single-shot, muzzle-loading Springfield or Enfield.
The Spencer Repeating Carbine, first patented in 1860, was a
seven shot repeater that weighed 8¼ pounds and had an effective range of
2,000 yards. The Spencer was
capable of 15 shots per minute, three times the firepower of the
Springfield.
Another popular carbine among Federal soldiers was the 15 shot Henry
repeater which was a 42 caliber, rimfire carbine of extraordinary
accuracy. About 10,000 of
these weapons saw service in the Civil War.
This gun was the forerunner of the modern Winchester carbine.
Unfortunately for the North, red tape and political conservatism
by its leaders prohibited the wide and prompt adoption of the repeating
rifle.
The principal hand gun for the cavalry and infantry officers was the
Colt Army revolver, Model 1860.
Over 100,000 of these six shooters (six shots) .44 caliber
revolvers were manufactured during the War.
The same gun but .36 caliber was made for the U.S. Navy.
Some twenty other types of pistols were used by soldiers of the
Blue and Gray.
About forty-eight different types and sizes of cannons were used in the
Civil War. Identifying a
particular weapon requires knowing such facts as the same gun, howitzer,
rifle, or mortar; whether it was a smoothbore or a rifled gun, etc.
The two most popular cannons in the Civil War were the 12 pounder
Napoleon smoothbore howitzer and 10 pounder Parrott rifled field gun.
The Napoleon weighed about 1,200 pounds, fired a 12-pound
spherical shell with a time fuse, and effective up to a range of 1,500
yards. The Parrott rifle,
identifiable by a reinforced barrel seat, weighed 900 pounds.
At a maximum range elevation of 12 degrees, this piece was
accurate up to 3,500 or about 2 miles.
The Federals also made extensive use of mortars.
These squat heavy weapons were able to lob large shells a great
distance by high angle fire.
Mortars were ideal for siege operations.
Artillerists used various types of shells, depending upon the
action in which they were engaged. Solid shot was good for battering a
fortification or for striking an enemy column in flank.
Explosive shells and “spherical case” blanketed an area with what
is known today as shrapnel.
Canister, a shell filled with lead balls about the size of plums, was
deadly for close action up to 300 yards.
Somewhat similar to grape shot, this type of shell, filled with
balls the size of oranges, was effective up to 700 yards.
However, grape shot was rarely used in land warfare.
During the War, the North used many new types of field weapons including
the machine gun and cannons such as Rodmans, Columbiads, and Dahlgrens.
Despite the large variety both sides relied on the “old
reliables:” the Napoleons and Parrotts.
This article was written by former Round Table member
Al Tamberelli.
Last changed: 10/29/19 |
