National Event- Shiloh

[ohpkirk]

Re: National Event- Shiloh

Ya'll are welcome to pitch in with the rest of the Trans-Miss trash....whatever company assignment we end up having.

[GenuineInformation]

Re: National Event- Shiloh

Gents,

I have been doing some research on the 6th Miss. in the main library here at Ole Miss. I checked out "Going to Meet the Yankees," Grady Howell's regimental history on the 6th. If there is anything you want me to look for in that book or in something else at the library, let me know and I'll be glad to, as I realize copies may be difficult to come by for many of us. What I've gathered so far is this:

When the regiment was first armed, it was with a mix of Hall rifles (of which they had 400, given to them by the Governor of Louisiana--he got them from the Baton Rouge Arsenal), flintlocks, and flintlock conversions (records have them receiving cartridges for Hall rifles, cartridges for muskets, and musket caps). This is evidenced by a telegram from Col. Thornton (in Camp Johnston in Union City, TN) to Gen. Polk, dated September 29, 1861, quoted on pp. 51-52 of "Going to Meet the Yankees." Thornton complains of the need of a blacksmith to "fit up some of the guns in camp" and to drill touchholes in the barrels. Perhaps this means to complete flintlock conversions?

Howell notes on p. 51 that until arriving in Trenton, TN, all previous supplies had been drawn from Mississippi's arsenals and commissaries.

Over the winter of '61-62, which the 6th spent in Bowling Green, Kentucky, they received lots of clothing and equipment, noted on pp. 67-68 of Howell's book.
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The following is my pure conjecture:
They may have been receiving shipments from Nashville (closer, more direct by rail, and there is one account of soldiers faking sick to get to ride the train to the hospital in Nashville) or perhaps Memphis (which in turn, looking at documents scanned and hosted on the Missouri Boot & Shoe webpage, was receiving goods through a contract with Magee & George and I believe also through the Baton Rouge Arsenal, who was marking things on its own as well as buying Magee and George stuff), which was only 150 miles downriver from Columbus, KY where there seems to have been a major supply depot.
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Back to Howell's book:

The 6th was in the rear guard for the retreat toward and through Nashville in February. They went from Nashville to Huntsville to Corinth, where they arrived on March 27. Howell writes:

"Sometime between March 29th and the 3rd of April, the balance of the regiment was issued Enfield Rifles with accoutrements recently run through the Union Gulf blockade..." (Howell 74)

***It's not really clear what Howell means by "the balance of the regiment," since he doesn't talk about what the other part of the regiment had at Corinth.***
His sources on that footnote are from The Confederate Veteran magazine, from issues dating from 1910 and 1917, so it might just be a unclear/imprecise reminiscence of a soldier in the 6th fifty years after the fact.
He later directly quotes one of the soldiers listed in the "balance of the regiment" footnote, Sgt. T.B. Cox of Co. I, "The Rankin Greys":

"Col. Thornton, standing cool and unflincing in the rear of the regiment and within ten paces of the position I held in the line, ordered a 'lie down,' then a charge, then again 'lie down,' another charge, at which the regiment cleared the branch and opened with their Enfields upon the enemy, pushing up the line of battle and their encampment." (Howell 84)

This suggests that the whole regiment had Enfields--and at least Co. I had them. However, this quote is taken from the same page and issue of The Confederate Veteran, in 1910, that is listed as the footnote for the "balance of the regiment" quote on p. 74 of Howell.

Some ordnance return records posted in another thread by Will MacDonald state that the majority of the ammunition used by the 6th was .69 cal. Buck and Ball.
That thread is located at this link: http://www.authentic-campaigner.com/...enfield+shiloh

The following is historical conjecture on my part:

Judging from "Portraits of Conflict: Mississippi," I saw a ton of forked tongue buckles on early war Mississippi troops. This is the pattern similar to those documented to Magee & George. These troops, however, are from Mississippi units that wound up in the ANV. Still, if they were equipped before arriving in Virginia, it might help with determining what Mississippi was supplying her troops.

However, after referencing "Going to Meet the Yankees," and looking at the ordnance return records posted by Mr. MacDonald, it seems that an Enfield rifle with English leathers may be the most specifically documented equipage for the regiment in general, even if it did not represent an overall majority for the regiment. The problem of course with Howell's sources is that they were published approx. 50 years after the battle of Shiloh.

My hunch is that by the time the 6th arrived at Shiloh, the regiment's soldiers without Enfields would have likely had a mix of unmarked leathers, Magee & George stuff either that they got in Winter of 61-62 via Memphis or Columbus, KY, but also some Nashville stuff in there as well. Other than that, I suspect Corinth probably had (in addition to the English stuff documented) stuff from Memphis due again to proximity (with Memphis having received some stuff from Baton Rouge/Magee & George). So, in short, any of that stuff is fair game in my opinion.

At any rate, when the 6th arrived at Shiloh, they were certainly muddy (See Ch. IV in Howell).

I hope this helps and is not a hindrance.

Note to Moderators: I have attributed information in this post where it is applicable. If anything in this post creates copyright issues, regardless of citation, please edit it out. As I am new to this forum, I'm getting used to what is and is not postable.

Best regards,

[Justin Morris]

Re: National Event- Shiloh

Thank you for taking the time and effort to share all of this info Joseph! I don't have this book, so any info you can post I for one will greatly appreciate it.

Justin

[GenuineInformation]

Re: National Event- Shiloh

At some point there is a reference early on to receiving "Infantry buttons." I will try to find it. If it was before they got to Trenton, these might be the Mississippi star I buttons made by Hyde & Goodrich of New Orleans. If after Trenton, who knows what sort of Confederate I button they would have been.
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I found the reference to Infantry buttons--in the excellent posted by Mr. MacDonald, linked at: http://www.authentic-campaigner.com/...055#post191055

In it, Col. Thornton notes in May 1861 of getting 4 gross of "small Infantry buttons". Thanks for posting this, Mr. MacDonald. This date would put their receipt well before the regiment arrived at Trenton, TN, and began receiving items from sources outside Mississippi.

[Coatsy]

Re: National Event- Shiloh

Joe has some spare time and a nice library to peruse in Oxford.. Lucky dog! For being out of reenacting for big kid school Joe is jumping back in with both feet. Very cool stuff.

[rdykes]

Re: National Event- Shiloh

Glad you posted this Joe I want that book but don't feel like paying 98.00 on amazon.

[GenuineInformation]

Re: National Event- Shiloh

So far, it seems to be a great book. It isn't quite as heavily footnoted as I would like, but coming from reading law journal articles, nothing is. My only rub thusfar is, for example, him citing a Confederate Veteran article as if it were a first-hand account. It is, but it isn't. History of memory is interesting, though.

I'll try to post anything I find of interest here (WITH CITATIONS!), including the best parts of the Shiloh chapter.

Best,

[Mississippian]

Re: National Event- Shiloh

Joseph,

Glad you liked what I've posted. Some points:

Forked Tongue Buckles: Magee and George did ALOT of business with the state of Mississippi, I've seen state records that show where there were many contracts between them and the state, and we don't know what was ordered, there is a partial listing in another thread about the company that I started some time ago. I've seen plenty of pictures of Mississippians who served out west with those buckles on.

Enfields: Larry Daniels in his "Soldiering in the Army of Tennessee" had the following quote from an unnamed soldier from the 6th MS "We have received a large number of Enfield Rifles, Co. B & A have to take these as they are the wings of the Regt." Unfortunately, it's not footnoted. It's on pg. 42-43. The way Daniels places this quote makes it seem like the rifles were issued a few days before the regiment started out towards Shiloh. In that ordnance record I posted I always wondered what the "1,000 Minnie" Cartridges were for, I wonder if the 6th picked up some '55 or '61 Springfields from the battlefield.

Will MacDonald

[GenuineInformation]

Re: National Event- Shiloh

I was reading today in Larry J. Daniel's Shiloh and found the following passage that strengthened my suspicion that the supplies the Sixth Mississippi received while in winter camp at Bowling Green came primarily from Nashville:

"The deplorable condition of the Louisville & Nashville Railroad meant that only one thirteen-car train had been able to roll north for Nashville to Bowling Green daily, a fraction of what was needed, but a thin lifeline that kept Hardee's corps supplied." (41)

H. Grady Howell's Going to Meet the Yankees provides a glimpse of what those supplies entailed:

"At Bowling Green between October 25, 1861 and January 25, 1862 the Sixth was issued the following allotments of clothing for distribution among its companies: 170 caps, 28 blanket coats, 85 coats, 2 shirts, 184 flannel shirts, 28 pairs of drawers, 99 pairs of pants, 14 pairs of socks, and 121 pairs of shoes. Also included were the following requisitions for camp hardware: 9 tents, 36 blankets, 488 haversacks, 47 axes and helves (handles), 27 hatchets, 11 tin buckets, 24 fry pans, 9 mess pans, 36 coffee mills, 4 coffee pots, 6 tea kettles, 40 tin cups, 44 canteens, 44 canteen straps, and 381 gun slings." (67-68)

However, the haste and confusion surrounding the evacuation of Nashville, which the Sixth left on February 17, 1862, caused the 6th to "los[e] some of its supplies and equipment" (Howell 69).

The persistent conditions throughout the retreat from Bowling Green to Nashville to Murfreesboro to Shelbyville to Fayetteville to Decatur, and then the march to Huntsville and then to Corinth, were freezing cold and mud:

"The same foul weather which had thus far sapped the regiment of much of its strength now hampered its retreat. Marching through cold rain that soon turned to sleet and snow, the men struggled and stumbled in porridge-like mud." (Howell 68)

"To make matters worse, prior to leaving Kentucky Watson's Battery of artillery was attached to the brigade. Many times on the retreat Thornton's mud-splattered, cursing Confederates had to help push and pull Watson's heavy field pieces through the mire." (Howell 69)

"Cleburne's Brigade spent the night of [February] the 17th in the 'Nashville Court & Market House' and was moved four miles south of town on the following day. With Union Gen. Buell hot in pursuit, and the city's defenses ill-established, Gen. Johnston chose not to remain in Nashville very long. Instead, the Sixth with the rest of the army sloshed its way through the city's muddy streets in a driving cold rainstorm and continued its slow, frozen trek to Murfreesboro, Tennessee on February 18th, arriving there on the 21st." (Howell 69)

"Thornton's badly straggling regiment limped into Corinth on March 27th during a driving rainstorm and immediately went into encampment two and half miles south of the city." (Howell 70)

The mud followed the 6th on the road to Pittsburg Landing:

"On the evening of April 4th the en-route troops met with cold, drenching rains which made the journey very disagreeable. The poorly maintained country roads quickly turned to quagmires, and in some places became virtually impassable. The Sixth received a minor taste of battle on this day when Cleburne's Brigade repulsed a small detachment of Federal cavalry." (Howell 76)

[GenuineInformation]

Re: National Event- Shiloh

Another book that mentions the appearance of the Sixth Mississippi at Shiloh is "Shiloh: In Hell Before Night" by James Lee McDonough (Univ. of Tenn. Press, 1977).

First, McDonough describes the smartly-uniformed appearance of the Louisiana Crescent Regiment. He then contrasts that neat, uniform appearance with that of "units like the Sixth Mississippi, which, to judge from the picture of some of its members, was a ragtag regiment whose men were dressed and equipped with little or no regard for uniformity" (p. 13). Frustratingly, this is not footnoted! I wish I knew what documents led him to draw this conclusion.

[dixieflyer]

Re: National Event- Shiloh

McDonough's work from the 70's & 80's (haven't read anything by him in recent years) is like that though Joseph.

[JimKindred]

Re: National Event- Shiloh

Guys,

Please keep the topic on the subject of the 6th Mississippi at Shiloh. Posts concerning the 4th Kentucky have been moved to their own thread. Thank you.

[Michael Comer]

Re: National Event- Shiloh

Been kind of quiet about this endeavor. Is the batallion slated to take part in the march that is being set up?

[coastaltrash]

Re: National Event- Shiloh

No it is not Michael. It's quiet because the information is already out there for people to read. I appreciate the enthusiasm though. Hopefully the company commanders are working hard on getting the registrations in rather than waiting on me to drop some information about what we're eating or ammo. All that will come in due time, and to the registered participants.