Topic: any civil war experts out there ?

[simon#42]

i was in work last week when a group of confederate soldiers walked passed the garage , even for toxteth this is slightly unusual .
they had been to the cemetery , i checked on line but all i could find was the last surrender of the civil war was by the captain of the css shenandoah  in liverpool  but that does not explain why they
were at the cemetery .  any ideas ?  im curious !

[martin99]

http://www.sarsfieldmemorialsliverpool.co.uk/liverpools-cemeteries-and-the-american-civil-war/

[Terry in Australia]

What an interesting story, my dad used to tell me about an old American cowboy who lived up in Omeo in the 1930's, who was supposedly a very well known (and supposedly wanted) gun slinger who'd disappeared in the US and travelled to Oz figuring that nobody would come looking for him "Down under".

I don't remember enough of the story to say much more, but dad told me that this old guy was the real deal, and he'd paid for the first "Golden Age Hotel" with gold bullion, which he seemed to have a lot of, interestingly. Dad moved back to Melbourne at the outbreak of WW2, and never saw or heard of the old guy again, and none of the locals could remember what happened to him either. Another mystery that'll probably never be solved.........  

[Lostboy Steve]

Very interesting. Without getting into politics at all, I just finished "hillarys America" and there was a good amount of civil war info in there. Obviously the political side, not the war itself. I never realized how much I enjoyed history.


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[simon#42]

thanks for that martin as terry said it is very interesting . might take the dog for a walk round the cemetery tomorrow and see what else of interest i can find !
here is the grave , the inscription on the base reads  ' an american by birth an englishman by choice

[Terry in Australia]

Geez that's better than my dad's Simon, it just says "I told you d1ckheads I was sick!" He was a grumpy old bugger.......

[simon#42]

just as well you take after your mother then terry !

the inscription on bulloch's grave made me laugh , i suspect his only real choice was stay in england or go back to america and get hanged .

[Terry in Australia]

Yep, "I picked the wrong team" might have been more appropriate, methinks.....

[Don R]

  No, but I spent last Sunday at Gettysburg. It's difficult to imagine the carnage that took place.

[Terry in Australia]

I've got a .50 cal Springfield Snyder Carbine that was used in the ACW, interestingly it's stamped "US", to my knowledge they weren't general issue to US soldiers, so I wondered if they were taken from Confederate stocks and issued to US Cavalry soldiers? Cheers, Terry.

[Don R]

 I have a trap door Springfield in 45/70. it was a rifle but converted to a carbine. It still has the rifle sights and the rifle forestock that was cut down. The popular opinion is it was sporterized after it's military use was over but I found one with the same modifications in a museum recovered from the little bighorn battlefield. (Custer) That says to me the military converted these. I think at times it was anything goes as far as weapons procurement. If one side had been supplied with repeating rifles and revolvers it would have been a very different war. The technology wasn't proven or trusted for a few more years.

[simon#42]

just over seven thousand killed at gettysburg . thanks to technology within 50 or so years we managed to kill one million men at the battle of the somme . now theres progress for you

[BobbyR]

I have a trap door Springfield in 45/70. it was a rifle but converted to a carbine. It still has the rifle sights and the rifle forestock that was cut down. The popular opinion is it was sporterized after it's military use was over but I found one with the same modifications in a museum recovered from the little bighorn battlefield. (Custer) That says to me the military converted these. I think at times it was anything goes as far as weapons procurement. If one side had been supplied with repeating rifles and revolvers it would have been a very different war. The technology wasn't proven or trusted for a few more years.

The Cavalry carried a 22" Carbine.

[sixthwisconsin]

Early trap door Springfields were converted from 58 caliber muskets after the civil war (1861 - 65) by the Springfield Armory. The 45/70 is widely considered an "Indian Wars" gun (big production numbers in 1870's, 80's & 90's) as mentioned and was issued as a carbine but are not common. The Henry repeating rifle I think in 44/40 brass frame or iron frame was issued during the Civil war but not in great numbers. It was known by the south as that that "Damn gun you load on Sunday and shoot all week". Black powder revolvers by Colt & Remington were plentiful during the Civil war as well. Civil war carbines by Sharps & Smith were also commonly used.

The South struggled for weaponry the entire war due to the fact that most manufacturing was in the north. They relied heavily on purchasing guns such as the Enfield throughout the war and found eager partners to supply them.

Now take a guess where my forum name comes from!


Clarification:
Trapdoors themselves are very plentiful. Its the carbines that are not.

[Don R]

 I visited the 8th Illinois cavalry monument. It seems they were on picket duty on one of the ridges and may have fired the first shots.