The Sunken Road in 54mm

The Bloody Lane, September 17, 1862

(for larger views, click on the images)

An eighth of a mile south of the Dunker church a country lane runs zigzag east and south from the Hagerstown road, going for a quarter of a mile under the lee of a long hill, climbing to a plateau for another quarter mile, and there making a sharp elbow as it turns south...



By years of usage and erosion this lane had been worn down several feet below the surface of the ground, and it was bordered on both sides by snake-rail fences. (Bruce Catton, Mr. Lincoln’s Army, 1951 pp. 291-292)


The blood-soaked sunken lane that became a charnel house that late summer day had for decades been a simple rural shortcut. it wandered across the pastoral countryside, taking advantage of terrain anomalies to get from the Hagerstown Pike to the Keedysville Road while bypassing the village of Sharpsburg.

In covering that convenient route, the wagon road formed the jagged hypotenuse of a triangle, the larger roads being its legs, Rain and usage by farm wagons had worn most of the lane down to a depth of two or three feet, in places more than that. (Robert K. Krick, The Antietam Campaign, edited by Gary W. Gallagher, 1999 p. 224)



On the night of September 16, 1862, Anderson’s Brigade bivouacked on either side of the Boonsboro Turnpike near the end of the sunken Road. (War Department tablet No. 336, Antietam National Battlefield)

On the northern side the Rebels had taken these rails down and piled them in a low breastwork, and they were lined up strongly in the low road behind this obstruction, as securely entrenched as if they had been digging all night...



... Lying below the brow of the hill, the lane could not be reached by federal artillery. The men who defended it were almost wholly protected; the men who tried to take it would have to advance in the open, exposed to a crippling fire. It was as nasty a strong point as the army ever ran up against: the famous sunken road, known forever after as Bloody Lane. (Bruce Catton, Mr. Lincoln’s Army, 1951 pp. 291-292)

The Alabamians and North Carolinians crouching in the hollowed-out wagon way were veteran troops, confident and extraordinarily well led. Division commander Harvey Hill fell far short of the mark as an administrator, but he clearly was one of those rare men who thrived in battle, rather than merely facing a stern duty with poise and determination. (Robert K. Krick, The Antietam Campaign, edited by Gary W. Gallagher, 1999 p. 225 )

On paper, French’s 5,700 men held a better than two to one advantage over the 2,600 Confederate defenders. Severely mitigating factors rendered these odds meaningless: first, the division had been formed but three days before and lacked cohesion; second, almost 3,000 of its strength came from green regiments just mustered into the service; third, French attacked with a single brigade at a time; fourth, he made no attempt to maneuver but came frontally against the Sunken Road; and fifth, the strong Confederate position amounted to natural rifle pits that had been strengthened by piled fence rails as breastworks. (Joseph L. Harsh, Taken At The Flood, 1999 p. 395)


With battle flags waving and bayonets shining in the morning sun, the long lines of French’s division advanced southward in almost perfect precision toward the Confederate position at the sunken road. G.B. Anderson’s North Carolina brigade and Rodes’s Alabama brigade waited in the lane, using it as a trench...

...Rodes and his men heard the incongruous sound of music played by bands beyond the crest about 100 yards to their front. The mystery ended when the enemy battle standards rose above the ridge followed by a sea of Federal soldiers marching in perfect battle formation. (Darrell l. Collins, Major General Robert E. Rodes of the Army of Northern Virginia, 2008, p. 166)

As the Union lines pressed steadily closer, hundreds of Confederates peered along the sights of leveled rifles, awaiting the command to open fire, The tension mounted with each passing moment – the union lines being allowed to advance until the features of individual faced could be distinguished by the Southern riflemen. (Ibid. p.202)




War of the Rebellion Official records of the union and Confederate Armies, Series I. Vol 19, Part I reports,1887. Report of Brig. Gen. Nathan Kimball, U.S. Army, commanding First Brigade, French’s Division

…Directly on my front, in a narrow road running parallel with my line, and, being washed by water, forming a natural rifle-pit between my line and a large corn-field, I found the enemy in great force, as also in the corn-field in rear of the ditch.


Gordon: My troops held the most advanced position on this part of the field …the predicted assault came. The men in blue…formed in my front, an assaulting column four lines deep. The front line came to a “charge bayonets,” the other lines to a “right shoulder shift.” The brave union commander…placed himself in front…It was a thrilling spectacle. Their gleaming bayonets flashed like burnished silver in the sunlight. As we stood looking upon that thrilling pageant, I thought, if I did not say, “What a pity to spoil with bullets such a scene of martial beauty!” (James V. Murfin, The Gleam of Bayonets, 1965 pp.249-250)


As the blue host crested the ridge, officers halted the men to fix bayonets – an ominous indication of the expectation of closing with the Rebels before them. The men marched a little farther, halted again in perfect order about 80 yards off, raised their muskets, and fired a crashing volley into the Sunken Road position. (Darrell L. Collins, Major General Robert E. Rodes of the Army of Northern Virginia, 2008 p. 166)




War of the Rebellion Official records of the union and Confederate Armies, Series I. Vol 19, Part I reports,1887. Report of Brig. Gen. Nathan Kimball, U.S. Army, commanding First Brigade, French’s Division

As my line advanced to the crest of the hill, a murderous fire was opened upon it from the entire force in front. My advance farther was checked, and for three hours and thirty minutes the battle raged incessantly, without either party giving way.


The Confederates had been in the road for about one hour when Weber’s men swarmed to the crest of the ridge directly opposite Gordon, who described the opening volleys in breathless prose: “With all my lung power I shouted ‘Fire!” (Robert K. Krick, The Antietam Campaign, edited by Gary W. Gallagher, 1999 p. 231)





…Rifles flamed and roared in the Federals’ faces like a blinding blaze of lightning accompanied by the quick and deadly thunderbolt. The effect was appalling. The entire front line, with few exceptions, went down in the consuming blast.” (Ibid. p. 231)

…a long sheet of flame ran from end to end of the sunken road, a wave of smoke drifted up the hillside, and the yankee charge ceased to look like a holiday parade. The first line of the assaulting wave was almost torn to pieces. The men halted, tried to re-form, and the Southerners, reloading with desperate haste, stood up and whacked in another volley. (Bruce Catton, Mr. Lincoln’s Army, 1951, p. 292)

The Confederates could hardly miss at that range, and large numbers of men fell, especially those in the First Delaware. After bravely withstanding the devastating fire for a full five minutes, the Federals fell back behind the crest...

...where they quickly rallied and, with the support of a fresh brigade, came on again. (Darrell L. Collins, Major General Robert E. Rodes of the Army of Northern Virginia, 2008 p. 167)

Gordon: Before the rear lines could recover, my exultant men were on their feet, devouring them with successive volleys. (James V. Murfin, The Gleam of Bayonets, 1965 p.250)



Colonel Gibson decided to attack. perhaps the most remarkable aspect of Confederate defense of the Bloody lane was the series of incredibly brave – and unredeemably foolish – attacks launched out of the road toward the enemy. Throughout the defense of the position by the two brigades that held it from the beginning, fecklessly aggressive officers had sent forlorn hopes forward toward the parallel enemy high ground. (Robert K. Krick, The Antietam Campaign, edited by Gary W. Gallagher, 1999 p. 243)







Richardson came on strong. he had personally led his division as the advance unit pursuing Lee after South Mountain, and here he was in personal command again. The division made an impressive sight, the band drumming the march, the Irish Brigade in front, green flag fluttering in the breeze. (James V. Murfin, The Gleam of Bayonets, 1965 p.254)



Gen. Thomas F. Meagher’s Irish Brigade – a stout organization, albeit grotesquely magnified in twentieth-century imaginations – fought opposite the North Carolinians and was badly used up in a static firefight. (Robert K. Krick, The Antietam Campaign, edited by Gary W. Gallagher, 1999 pp. 244-245)



War of the Rebellion Official records of the union and Confederate Armies, Series I. Vol 19, Part I reports,1887. Report of Brig. Gen. Thomas Francis Meagher, U.S. Army, commanding Second (Irish) Brigade

…My orders were, that, after the first and second volleys delivered in line of battle by the brigade, the brigade should charge with fixed bayonets on the enemy. .. I permitted them to deliver their five or six volleys, and then personally ordered them to charge upon the rebel columns…relying on the impetuosity and recklessness of Irish soldiers in a charge, felt confident that before such a charge the rebel column would give way and be dispersed.


War of the Rebellion Official records of the Union and Confederate Armies, Series I. Vol 19, Part I reports,1887. Report of Lieut. Col. Vincent M. Wilcox, One hundred and thirty-second Pennsylvania Infantry

…When our men were nearly exhausted of strength and ammunition, you directed me to fix bayonets and charge upon the rifle-pits, but at this moment the Irish Brigade came up and joined our men in the charge. The drove the enemy from their stronghold and captured some 300 prisoners, including a number of officers.

Then it was “Forward” into the fray. Onward went Israel “Dick” Richardson’s division until it was within thirty yards of the Sunken Road. Men were falling all around. Confederate General G.B. Anderson fell mortally wounded. Robert Rodes was hit in the thigh. Gordon took three bullets, but remained on his feet...




In the midst of the smoke, death, and destruction was Richardson on foot leading his men, his face blackened with powder, sword drawn and pointing at the enemy, he was yelling at the top of his voice...



…by now one Confederate draped over the rail fence had seventeen bullets in his body. (John W. Schildt, Drums Along the Antietam, 2004 pp. 127-128)

In the end, Richardson nearly repeated French’s performance. Attacking over much the same ground and committing a single brigade at a time, he nearly exhausted Meagher and Caldwell without taking the road. Only with the advance of Col. John Brooke’s five regiments, the last fresh brigade of the Second Corps, did the Confederates finally retreat from the Sunken Road. Shortly after one o’clock the Federals finally held the key to the field on the Confederate left. (Joseph L. Harsh, Taken At The Flood, 1999 p. 397)


War of the Rebellion Official records of the union and Confederate Armies, Series I. Vol 19, Part I reports,1887. Report of Capt. Julius Wehle, Sixty-sixth New York Infantry

…We pressed forward across the hill, and came in full sight of the enemy…By a successful flank movement we here assisted in resisting the enemy’s attempt to turn our right. n Then came the order to drive the enemy from their strong position on the left…Here now was the terrific part of the engagement. The men were falling thick and fast but never faltering. The battalion pressed forward an completely routed the enemy, who fled in a disorganized mass, leaving the field strewn with their dying and dead.


...rebel reinforcements emerging from the battered corn behind the sunken road mingled in confusion with men in the line or hung back under cover. At the far end of the rebel line, and order to reposition one regiment was misunderstood and two regiments pulled pack in retreat. Alert and aggressive, Colonel Francis Barlow pushed his New Yorkers into the gap, a position that enabled them to fire down the sunken road. With that, a line that had stood for two hours gave way in minutes; the Rebels turned and fled… (Mike Pride Mark Travis, My Brave Boys: To War with Colonel Cross and the Fighting Fifth, 2001, p. 135)

Caldwell steadily gained ground and pushing forward broke the line from shallow to the crest of the road bed, sweeping Wright’s and Anderson’s Brigades back to the south side of the road and on into Piper’s cornfield. Now only Rodes was left, still entrenched in the sunken part of the road. Barlow’s 61st New York swung to its left facing Rodes’s right. The Confederates were making a desperate attempt to hold, by now firing over their comrade’s bodies. The fire was a intense as it was on any part of the field that day, but the Federals were now on the crest of the ridge and on the road, firing down… now nothing could save the vulnerable Rebels. (James V. Murfin, The Gleam of Bayonets, 1965 pp. 257-258)



The sunken road that had served the Confederates so well became a deadly trap as soon as its integrity was compromised. ( Robert K. Krick, The Antietam Campaign, edited by Gary W. Gallagher, 1999 p. 246 )


Confederates driven from the Bloody Lane by Barlow and Miles attributed much of the eventual collapse to internal misunderstandings. An officer of the 4th North Carolina described how “the men of different regiments became mixed with each other so that all distinct organization…was broken up, and all identity lost”. Colonel Bennett of the 14th wrote aptly of “confusion that seemed remediless.” (Ibid. p. 245)



Confusion and chaos coursed up and down the line. The Yankees poured into the road from which Anderson’s and Rodes’ men had fought and died for three hours in a defensive stand that would forevermore tag the position as the Bloody lane. The triumphant Federals shot down scores of Alabamians, converting their withdrawal into a rout. (Darrell L. Collins, Major General Robert E. Rodes of the Army of Northern Virginia, 2008 p. 169)


Richardson’s success was visible from army headquarters and, although not a part of his plan, was eagerly welcomed by a commanding general for whom the past few hours had brought nothing but bad news. “By George,” McClellan exclaimed as he watched Richardson seize Bloody lane, “this is a magnificent field, and if we win this fight it will cover all our errors and misfortunes forever!” (Ethan S. Rafuse, McClellan’s War, 2005, p.320)


In sum…the Federals poured 10,565 fresh troops into the battle and suffered 3,020 casualties (28.6 percent). The Confederates added 6,723 new troops to the fray and lost 2,508 (37.3 percent) of them. (Joseph L. Harsh, Taken At The Flood, 1999, p. 397)








…But most of the fallen men received a rough burial at best. A local man wrote that the surrounding property was “as common for graves as the cornstalks are on a forty acre field”. Seven hundred men killed in or near Bloody Lane were buried on William and Margaret Roulette’s farm. (Kathleen Ernst, Too Afraid To Cry:Marylalnd Civilians in the Antietam Campaign, 1999, p.163)




The bloodstains and bones confronted many residents for years. In the years after the battle it was not uncommon for Sharpsburg or South Mountain residents to unearth human remains while plowing or pulling stones or after a hard rain. (Ibid. p.235)

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Production note: I began this project in early August when I removed a tarp from my front lawn that had been there since last summer. The delightfully bare patch that was revealed below it called out for a special project, one that included toy soldiers. Over a period of many weeks, with breaks for inclement weather, cloudy days, and other commitments, I daily staged the various phases of the Sunken Road fight. Using existing narrative by some really outstanding historians I had the captions ready-made, The hard part was composing this post and keeping the neighbors' curious cats away from the battleground.

I hope you've enjoyed looking in on this post and I also hope that you've gained a little more understanding of the Sunken Road phase of the Battle of Antietam. To see the real thing come to Antietam National Battlefield in Sharpsburg Maryland.

I'll see you there!

Mannie

More on Artillery

Please look again at my Monday post.  After visiting Gettysburg today I added five more types of guns to the discussion, with some startling revelations down those barrels!  And thanks Eric and Kevin for your comments.

Scroll down, it'll be worth the trip.

Mannie

Mute witness in iron and bronze (revised)

On my two days off I traveled to both Antietam and Gettysburg to aim my handy little digital camera down the muzzles of several guns to bring some light to the subject of smoothbores, rifles, and howitzers.

Here's the muzzle of that elegant little Model 1841 6-pounder gun in our four gun battery across from Dunker Church.  This weapon was state of the art in 1848.  By the time of the Civil War, however, it was quite obsolete, though still making its voice heard, especially among Confederate batteries.

"Smoothbore" is pretty self-explanatory.  Of note is the wear within the bronze barrel.  This wear or "windage"  (that's right, it had nothing to do with wind)  forced the gunner to have to be very aware of the idiosyncrasies of the barrel and the influence of the windage upon the shot.

And here is the gaping maw of the big brother to the six-pounder; the twelve pound light gun howitzer.  A heavy, versatile, and feared piece of artillery.

With even more pronounced patterns of wear than seen in the six-pounder, one has to wonder how much of this scoring was the result of firing canister?  Click here to see a video of four of these guns in action.

Here's a little bronze six-pounder that was rifled to accommodate James system rifled ammunition.  James projectiles had lead sabots to engage the rifling rather than the usual wrought iron.  Iron would have quickly worn the softer bronze to an off-caliber diameter. Although the lead sabot was very effective in engaging the rifling without barrel wear, lead tended to build up in the barrel, again affecting the inside diameter of the tube, and impacting the ability to ram the projectile home.

This view down the barrel of the James gun shows crisp rifling as well as an empty swallow nest.

The muzzle of a three-inch Parrot gun.  This cast iron tube was very accurate, very cheap to produce, and very brittle.  These guns often burst, doing more mayhem to the gun crew than to the enemy.

This shot down the tube of the Parrot show the three "lands and grooves" of this system, as well as the ubiquitous bird's nest.

The apex of light artillery (arguably) is this 3-inch ordnance rifle.   Light, deadly accurate, and of much stronger wrought iron, this was a reliable and highly desirable gun on both sides.  Note the late "1865" casting date on the muzzle ring, this may account for...

The still, very crisp, rifling.  Clearly this gun saw less action owing to its late entry in the conflict. 

 Of note in this view is the severe pitting that these iron tubes were subject to, of course this example is quite extreme as this tube has been out in the weather for nearly a century and a half.  Nonetheless, iron tubes, unlike the bronze, would develop pits over the course of use and these pits made it very important to dilligently run that dampened sponge-rammer down the barrel between each loading to extinguish any sparks hiding in those pits prior to the insertion of the next powder bag.

Here's part two:

Moving now, to Gettysburg (and a sunny day) we have five more examples.

This is the Confederate manufactured version of the "Napoleon".  Unlike the union version which has a pronounced muzzle swell, the Confederate copy deleted that swell as an economy move, that's merely extra bronze that can go into the manufacture of another tube.  The unopened bottle of wine in the foreground?  One finds more than just birdnests in the muzzles of these guns.

Again, as the name "smooth-bore" implies. The brown paper bag apparently was the wadding for the bottle of wine.

Here's the 12-pound howitzer.

In 20th century warfare, howitzers are guns characterized by their high trajectory, the arc of flight, of the projectile. They almost "lob" shells into the target. During the time of the Civil War "howitzer" had a different meaning that had nothing to do with trajectory.

12-pound Howitzers were the same caliber as their big brothers the 12-poound Napoleon, that is they both fired the 12 pound ball. but the howitzer weighed about 1/3 less than the Napoleon, a savings of metal as well as the horseflesh to tow one of these things around. The difference was made up by the size of the powder charge. As the tube walls of the howitzer were thinner and had less mass the full-size Napoleon, the howitzer simply used a much reduced powder charge, lessening the pressures on the tube but also reducing the effective range of the gun. The trade off was between weight, available resources (bronze and battery horses) and range.

It wasn't a very good bargain. The reduced range of the howitzers meant that the battery had to move much closer to the action, well within range of not just counter-battery fire by enemy artillery, but by enemy infantry as well.

The muzzle ring 0f the 12-pound howitzer is chock full of information regarding its manufacture.

There seems to be an obstruction at the far end of the breech of this bronze gun, a rusty obstruction, a spherical, rusty obstruction!  Sometimes its not just bottles of wine you find down these tubes.  (click on image and decide for yourself)

Now comes the giant of the battlefield, the largest and heaviest of the field artillery, the long-range 20-pound Parrott rifle.  
The yankees had four batteries of these at Antietam and they served continuously throughout the day. Their extended range, about two and one half miles, meant that they could reach out and "touch" nearly every part of the battlefield all the while remaining safely out of range of Confederate artillery.

Crisp rifling at the very muzzle indicates cosmetic care by the park, as the view below shows...

both the twist of the rifling as well as the pitting of the iron due to exposure to 150 years of weather.

Here's a reminder of why the Civil War is often referred (erroneously or not) as the "first modern war".

The 12-pounder, breech-loading, Whitworth was manufactured in England and imported by both sides though its most notable service was with the Confederates.  Breech loading made for safer operation by the crew, faster loading, and the nature of loading from the rear rather than the muzzle made for a tighter fitting projectile that popped out of the barrel like a champagne cork, rarin' to go.  These things were extremely accurate and had a range up to 5.5  miles! This extreme reach  served to work against their most effective employment.  With limited optics, erratic fuses, and the lack of visibility created by smokeless powder, these guns weren't often used at the extreme ranges they were capable of.  What sense would it make to fire farther than the battery commander could actually see (even with binoculars)?

The lands of the Whitworth rifling are quite worn on this example.  And a look down the tube reveals the twist as well as...

three swallow eggs!  It's not just bottles of wine and cannonballs  you find down these things.

And I saved the best for last.  The 24-pound howitzer.  
This is one of two at the park that features the old fashioned lifting "ears" above the trunnions. These handles fell into disuse as another savings in casting material.

The gaping maw of the massive 24-pounder.  Typical of a howitzer, the tube walls are quite thin to sustain the firing of a 24 lb projectile.  Here's the trick:

There was another characteristic feature of howitzers that set them apart from other bronze guns.  Click on this image to enlarge it and that feature will become evident.  At the very base of the breech you can see it reduces to a diameter about half that of the rest of the tube.  This smaller cavity accommodates that much-reduced powder charge, which will propel the heavy projectile down range without creating the high pressures that could burst the barrel.  The secret of the howitzer revealed.

Here's a link to one of my favorite online ACW artillery sites.

Thanks for coming with me on this little artillery safari across two National Battlefield parks in two days.  Lets do it again real soon!

Keeping my powder dry, just north of Boonsboro.

Ranger Mannie

How Nature is Supposed to Work

This evening, as I was walking to my truck after another good day at the battlefield, I saw three visitors (two adults, one child) making a bee-line for me.  Although my working day had ended five minutes earlier, I changed course and headed toward them as the sight of a blood-spotted paper towel wrapped around one of the adult's hands caused me some concern.

The visitor was just fine.

The blood on the paper towel was coming from what was wrapped inside the towel; a very young  rabbit,  very young...okay, I'll say it, a "baby bunny".

The visitors were very concerned for the welfare of this bunny, they had rescued it and were now bringing it to a person in authority so that everything could be made right.  I took the bunny and assured them that I'd contact the appropriate people, thanked them for their concern, and reminded them that wild animals should never be touched or picked up.  That last part seemed to fall on deaf and over-wrought ears.

They thanked me profusely and with great relief, and we parted ways, me with the very damaged rabbit, they with a damaged view of how nature is supposed to work.

Yes, I agree,  there is nothing cuter than a baby bunny.  That being said, let me point out that cute baby animals are food to most other animals.  Are there now some cute little owl babies that are going to miss supper because their mommy got rooked out of the little bunny she caught by some well-meaning humans?

Perhaps a fox had just dropped that bunny, spooked by the approach of humans, and now there are three hungry fox kits whining in a den on the battlefield.

Animals survive, in many instances by eating other animals.  Predators, often cute themselves, usually eat their prey while their equally cute prey are still alive.  The natural world is a cute and furry lesson in cold, dispassionate survival.

A shocky, bleeding four-week old bunny is a square meal for many of the predators on the battlefield.  Being food seems to be the lot of prey animals.  Hey, I don't make the rules, I just try to stay away from bears!  But there you have it - animals kill and eat each other.  Even animals that die of natural causes (heart disease and stroke) are eaten by other animals.  Its not ugly, its not mean, its not unfair, its just nature, pure and simple.

Look, here's an illustration I did for you:

Here's a piece of advice from old Ranger Mannie:  if you come across an injured animal; do notify the authorities, don't touch or hover over the animal.  If you think that your presence will somehow  sooth the passage of that animal as it passes over to animalia, think again.  That injured or dying prey animal is absolutely terrified of humans, your presence, believe me, will be anything but comforting to that injured animal.

Just note the location,  notify the authorities, and be on your way knowing you did the right thing.

Now if you are curious about what became of that little rabbit...

I think you need to read this entry again.

Mannie

How I spent (part of) my summer vacation

Last week I was in Buffalo New York working aboard the WWII Fletcher class destroyer U.S.S. The Sullivans. The Sully is part of the Buffalo Naval and Military park which also hosts the guided missile cruiser U.S.S. Little Rock. Although the Little Rock is a large and impressive vessel, it's not in particularly good condition as far as its weather-decks are concerned, lots of rust, rot and neglect. As you'll see in this short video.

As I allude to in the video, the Little Rock has been pretty much "Mannie-proofed" since my last visit. I used to be able to do a lot of spelunking throughout that ship with hardhat, kneepads, and flashlight. There were enough scuttles, hatches, and watertight doors that were still unlocked, (or poorly locked) to let me worm my way deep within the insides of the vessel. But now, its all battened down, all of my old reliable access points have been pretty well sealed off, except for one which somehow got overlooked, the old reliable! I'll see if its still available when I go back next year, that is if they even let me onboard after seeing this video.


As usual, I returned from three days living and working aboard a destroyer all scuffed and bruised up, just like the old days. Man there's a lot to bump in to on a tincan, even in port!

It's great to be a part of this preservation effort.  And its always a refreshing treat to spend a long weekend working side-by-side with 39 other destroyer veterans.

Fair winds and Following seas,

Mannie

my other blog's a Cadillac

new  post at my toy soldier blog

Anchors Aweigh!

Here's a little sea story for you.  Pictures, and text, of how I sometimes spend my vacation time. I hope you enjoy the side trip.

This is me in 1973:

              (U.S.S. Dehaven, Long Beach CA)

This is a later version of me just a few years ago:
        (U.S.S. Laffey, Mount Pleasant, SC)

I'm off for a few days, taking a trip up to Buffalo New York to participate in a working field day aboard the Navy destroyer, USS The Sullivans (DD-537) which is now a museum ship.

                        The "Sully"

I used to do this every year as a member of the destroyer veterans organization; TinCan Sailors.

              (me, waving from the back row)

Most people are unaware of the fact that the third largest fleet (currently) in the world, is the historic fleet, that is, ships of all nations (mostly U.S.) that are preserved as museum ships.

I've been helping out as a field day participant since 1996, first aboard the Gearing class destroyer, U.S.S. Joseph P. Kennedy (DD-850) in Fall River Mass.

It was a real deja vu weekend, walking the passageways of a ship that was utterly identical to my second ship (back when I was in the Navy) the U.S.S. Higbee (DD-806). It was both a little weird and a lot of fun.

Closer to home (when I lived in Michigan) was the U.S.S. LST 393.

This amphibious ship was part of the Normandy invasion and then in civilian life was converted over to a Great Lakes car-carrier.  I think the 393 is still undergoing a very long process to return to WWII livery as a museum ship in Muskegon Michigan.

Here I am doing overhead work in the well-deck of the 393...
and chipping paint on the pilot house door:

I've also helped out on the U.S.S. Laffey (DD-724) in Mt. Pleasant South Carolina...


the sister-ship and spittin' image of my first ship the U.S.S. Dehaven (DD-727). I did two field day weekends aboard the Laffey and made the acquaintance of one of the finest guys I've ever known, retired senior chief petty officer Vic Fletcher, who has since gone to his celestial reward.

Vic was the Chief engineer at Patriot's Point just outside of Charleston.  He was responsible for the upkeep of, among other things, a Coast Guard cutter, a submarine. a destroyer, and an aircraft carrier; all museum ships.  He was really outstanding at what he did.  As a crew boss he worked his volunteers really hard, and then fed them really well.  You never found yourself with nothing to do for want of instructions or tools.  Vic really knew how to maximize the efforts of his volunteers.



That's Vic in the center of this jolly group, Jim Sehey (bottom left) is a National Park Service Volunteer at Cowpens (I think).  Vic actually served aboard the Laffey when they both were on active duty.

Here's my favorite shot of Vic as I was leaving the Laffey.  Vic is on a bollard, what he referred to as his "favorite seat".

This is the last time I saw one of the nicest guys I ever knew.

Aside from the endless sea-stories, catfish fries, adult beverage consumption, and general fun, an enormous amount of preservation work occurs during these working field days.  Imagine yourself the curator of an historic vessel and every year thirty guys show up with pickup trucks full of tools, materials, and often spare parts (don't ask) to spend three intensive days chipping, painting, welding, patching, splicing, calibrating, and generally putting your ship right.  Its like getting a major grant!  When the weekend is over the shipmates return to their far-flung homes and the ship is always in much better material condition than it was prior to that whirl-wind of elbow grease.

Check out the before and after shots of this interior bulkhead.  This is the "veggie locker", part of the galley on the Sullivans.  Rust and rot were having their way with this space:

Three days later it looked shipyard new, This is typical of the sweat and attention to detail that these veterans apply to the task:

Yes, there's some clowning around by the occasional doofus(that's the battleship Massachusetts in the background, also a museum ship).  But everybody else works very, very hard.  That's Retired Chief Boatswains Mate, Ron Black (below) making a splice.

Its a real treat to call a guy like this "shipmate" even if only for one weekend a year.

I always really enjoyed these events.  It felt great to be doing  something so worthwhile, alongside such a great bunch of guys, on these remarkable steel veterans of so many oceans.

However, I've taken the past four years off as I redirected my life.  other things, including relocating to Maryland and starting a whole new life and career intervened.  And that life has been very, very good.

But now, I've got a hankerin' to get back aboard for a weekend of work and bullshooting with other former destroyermen.

Here is part one of a YouTube I produced on the subject.  This, as well as part two , will give you a really good idea of what these events are all about.  I hope you enjoy watching them as much as I enjoyed making them.

I'll be back Sunday night.

Ranger (former petty officer) Mannie

The "Honeydo" list

Yesterday a visitor shared with me his opinion of where the park should cut a view shed through the trees to provide a better view of Antietam Creek.  I thanked him for his idea and promised to pass his suggestion on to the appropriate department.  He persisted, saying that he didn't understand why we couldn't make that sort of thing a priority.  Again I assured him that our park staff is always very receptive to ways they can enhance the visitor experience at the park and that I would pass his suggestion on to the appropriate people.

One might think that all we'd have to do is round up a truckload of the guys and gals in green and gray armed with some chainsaws (and safety equipment) and go right out, quick-a-minute, and make that view shed for that visitor.  But I'm sure its not that simple.

Now, let me be very clear here, I'm not speaking for the park, this is just my own opinion, but I'd imagine that the park, with its limited resources, probably has a prioritized list of projects that range from "most pressing" to "can wait for a season or two".  I mean, that sounds pretty reasonable right?

What might be more pressing than establishing a new view shed of the creek?

Ladies and gentlemen,  I present the Cunningham/Park barn:

This is the Cunningham barn as it was last year when this blog made its first visit to that core area of the battlefield:

An original building that survived the battle of Antietam.

We sometimes forget just how fragile these old veterans are.

This is the same barn after that big storm this spring (which you can revisit here):

The west wall is all stove-in from the intense winds of that furious storm.

I'd imagine preserving this barn has just moved very near the top of the priorities list.

And here it is one week later as it continued to collapse from that nearly catastrophic storm
damage:

Repair parties had to wait for storm-downed mature trees to be cleared from the access road leading to the barn, 

The situation was growing more pressing with each passing day.

Disaster loomed.

And here is the same barn as I viewed it today:

The scaffolding and longshores will be removed as the newly-hewn skeleton is pegged and hammered into place and the siding again shelters the interior from the weather.

The phrase; "they don't make 'em like they used to" sometimes doesn't really apply.

The skills that raised this barn over 150 years ago are still practiced by talented hands at the Park.  Get a load of the length of this main timber!

From the inside you can get an idea of the work that has been done over the past week.

New wood mated to the sound old wood;  entropy postponed for another generation.

The crew doing the work expects to have the barn all closed, and healed up,  by next week.

This witness to the battle has been rescued by a very talented and committed team of Park Service employees.  Brought back from the very brink of disaster, this barn will continue to enhance the visitor experience at the battlefield for many more years to come. 

These are the same workers that have been restoring the Joseph Poffenberger Barn (view here),   a job that had to take a temporary back seat, allowing the crew to fight and win the race against gravity at the Cunningham site.

Sometimes a barn can't wait for a view shed to be cut.

But I'm sure, one sunny day in the future, the Park's "honeydo" list will be completed, forever and for all time.

Sure.

Staying busy, just north of Sharpsburg,

Ranger Mannie

What an action-packed weekend

This was "Technology of War weekend" at Antietam National Battlefield.  In addition to our regular slate of programing we had Berdans Sharpshooters on hand giving tactical demonstrations, volunteer Justin returned with his wonderful Army Signal Corps program, and Colonel Vince Armstrong ("Unfurl Those Colors!") brought his fabulous Civil War long arm collection to share with visitors.

The weather, for the most part looked like this:

Until late this afternoon when it looked like this (I just missed capturing the multiple lightning strikes):

Col. Armstrong captivated the crowd with his presentation "Why did they fight that way?"

Here are just a few detail shots of the various rifles Col Armstrong brought with him from his home in Tennessee: 

Our sharpshooter friends, as usual,  cut a very martial figure...

and demonstrated the ease of loading and firing a breechloader from the prone position...

contrasted with this poor infantryman...

struggling to load his muzzle-loader while lying down:

Damn you,  fickle mistress gravity!

Justin, as always was a real crowd-pleaser sending signals to the visitors with his colorful flags.

And here's  a Youtube video from two years ago that features all of the above talented volunteers.

I also made a new friend:

Aside from my TMJ (painful, ouch-filled, jaw-joint syndrome) killing me, it was a delightful weekend.

Ranger Mannie

An interesting development

I, and others, will soon be producing short videos for the park website on a variety of Antietam-related topics.

How cool is that?

Oh Canada!

In all of my orientation talks and tours of the battlefield I've always made it a point to mention the importance and proximity of Canada in relation to the 1862 Maryland campaign. When I mention British intervention I'll point north toward Canada and remind the visitors that those redcoats wouldn't be coming from Britian, they were already right there, "...just north of Pennsylvania!".

I've often had Canadians come up to me afterwards and tell me that they appreciate the mention. They, as Canadians, and I, as a teacher are fully aware that the only thing Americans ever learn about (sorry, "aboot") Canada is the currency exchange rate.

Coming from Michigan, where I actually lived North of Canada (Point Pelee, look it up), Canada and Canadians were a tangible presence. Every kid, including me, who pulled out a pocketful of change to by a Milky Way would have, in that mitt of coins, one or two Canadian nickels or pennies, which, in Michigan, spent just the same as American.

Now that the U.S. and Canadian dollars are running neck and neck we're getting many more visitors from "way" up north visiting the battlefield. Generally from that giant province straight north - Ontario.

This past weekend I had a very nice couple from London, Ont. on my tour and they enjoyed it very much. At the end of the tour they came up to me and thanked me for the experience, which is always a nice thing to have happen, but for an added thanks she told me she was making me an "honorary Canadian citizen", and presented me with a tiny Maple Leaf Flag pin and a really cool lapel pin commemorating the 50th year of "her Majesty's reign".  She was quite moved as she was telling me this.



Now, I know that this won't get me anywhere next time I cross into Fort Erie from Buffalo, but it was a very touching gesture.

Speaking of touching gestures involving Canada you may enjoy this.

You meet the nicest people, from all over, at your National Parks.

Best wishes from just north of the Booner, eh?

Ranger Mannie

Another reminder...

of why I love living in the Cumberland Valley.



This, from yesterday evening. I wish you many of these, wherever you may be.

Mannie