Category: Guest Blogging
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National Archives Flooded
If you’ve been anywhere near a radio or television you’ve no doubt seen something of the flooding all up and down the East coast. Some of the flooding, unfortunately, was in Washington, specifically the National Archives building. For those of us who depend on the NA to keep all those precious documents safe, this is […]
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Shriver House Reenactment tomorrow
Some weeks ago I blogged about the Shriver House in Gettysburg, where Confederate sharpshooters under Major Eugene Blackford holed up during the battle, keeping up a steady fire on Cemetery Hill. The house was restored in 1996 and now houses a museum. During the restoration work workers found both CW-era medical supplies and unfired rounds […]
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Civil War Weekend at Pamplin Park
I had the honor of attending the Civil War Weekend at Pamplin Park, which seemed to get quite a good turnout, both from period groups and spectators. There were lots of cannon that made big noise, and a mortar competition. I was particularly impressed by the artillery unit that showed up complete with horses, which […]
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Some Targets Were Bigger Than Others
“Marksmanship,” said one wag, “is the prerogative of the firing squad.” Meaning that if some poor sumbitch is tied to a stake, it’s easy to take careful aim and put the bullet where you want it. If he’s armed and shooting back at you, however, it tends to shake your aim. In the military, this […]
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Where Did Those Rifles Go?
In my last post I looked at English match rifles, and of course this invites a comparison with the much heavier American target rifles and raises the question of why the Federals never made use of these high tech weapons. I’ll defer that one for later. Instead, I want to look at where those long […]
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Sir Joe and His Fabulous Rifles
The period 1850-1900 witnessed some of the most radical changes in small arms in history. In 1850 the standard infantry weapon was still the equivalent of the Brown Bess .75 caliber smoothbore; but by 1900 we have the fully modern .30 caliber box magazine repeater (i.e. Mauser) firing smokeless powder. One of the men most […]
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American Target Rifles
As promised, today I