Excited to begin campaigning!

[44th OVI]

First of all i would like to say im excited to begin my journey of Civil War Reenacting. Ive gone and visited many battlefields and have loved civil war history since i was younger but never had the funds to get into it. Now finally graduating college I am ready to get started. I am out of Tulsa, Oklahoma and am in the process of finding some local units but until then i have been doing my own research. My biggest interest is in reliving what my ancestor Private Joseph C. McFarland would have worn and experienced when he was in the war. He was part of the 44th Ohio Volunteer Infantry Company D. I am going to attach a tin picture of him and was going to see if someone could help identify the uniform he is wearing and the gear he has so i can look into it further, particularly the rifle. I have records that i found on this forum of the arms issued to unit. Which do include the '61 Springfield, which luckily also happens to be one of my favorite guns. I also plan on going to my first reenactment either as a spectator or hopefully a participant to Gettysburg this summer. Again, thanks for the advice and lookin forward to getting started!



Josh Lee

[flattop32355]

Re: Excited to begin campaigning!

Unfortunately, the picture doesn't enlarge to see detail. He appears to be wearing a frock coat, (possibly) boots, forage cap, and dark trowsers, as best as I can tell.
Just too small to see well.

Information found on this forum by searching "Arming Ohio", gives information that the 44th OVI, through December 1862, was first issued "760 US rifle muskets, 69 cal. and 200 Enfield rifle muskets. Subsequent issue of 917 Enfield rifle muskets." Those 69's could be 1842 Springfields, but that may be contrary to them being rifled, as only about 10-14,000 total of them were changed from smoothbores. It was not an exact science in how such weapons were listed in official records.

[GWagner]

Re: Excited to begin campaigning!

First of all i would like to say im excited to begin my journey of Civil War Reenacting. Ive gone and visited many battlefields and have loved civil war history since i was younger but never had the funds to get into it. Now finally graduating college I am ready to get started. I am out of Tulsa, Oklahoma and am in the process of finding some local units but until then i have been doing my own research. My biggest interest is in reliving what my ancestor Private Joseph C. McFarland would have worn and experienced when he was in the war. He was part of the 44th Ohio Volunteer Infantry Company D. I am going to attach a tin picture of him and was going to see if someone could help identify the uniform he is wearing and the gear he has so i can look into it further, particularly the rifle. I have records that i found on this forum of the arms issued to unit. Which do include the '61 Springfield, which luckily also happens to be one of my favorite guns. I also plan on going to my first reenactment either as a spectator or hopefully a participant to Gettysburg this summer. Again, thanks for the advice and lookin forward to getting started!



Josh Lee

Josh,

Glad to see you are starting in the right place. Having this site when I started would have been a money saving blessing. The knowledge on this forum is impressive. You can learn allot from resources and people here. One peice of advice...when you buy gear...buy it from approved vendors, or used from this forum.

Welcome to the dark side!

[Skutatos]

Re: Excited to begin campaigning!

Do you have a higher resolution image of that tintype?

[44th OVI]

Re: Excited to begin campaigning!



I think i got the picture to be larger this time. Thank you for the replies thus far, I've spent too many hours browsing through the forums already haha.