The Army at first thought a shell found this summer on a Wisconsin range may have been from the Civil War. Who actually made the 10-pounder? These guys!

The shell found at a Wisconsin training range (Claudia Neve/U.S. Army) and Bruce and Bernie (right) Paulson
on the set of "The Blue and the Gray" miniseries in 1981 (Courtesy Stephen Osman)

Stephen Osman has been pards with Bernie and Bruce Paulson for 50 years. They traveled in the 1970s to historic sites around the country, setting off cannons and having a good time along the way.

“They’re just characters. I spent a lot of time with them,” said Osman, who served with the identical twins in the First Minnesota Volunteer Infantry reenactment group.

He describes them as exuberant and a force of nature, barging into a museum or military site with a host of questions. He jokes they even snore in tandem.

But when it comes to their occupation, the Paulsons are decidedly serious. Their inquisitiveness, creativity and resolve have made them leaders in the field of replica Civil War ammunition, cannons and gun carriages.

Osman’s friendship with the siblings, who operate Paulson Brothers Ordnance Corporation in Clear Lake, Wis., came full circle this summer, when the U.S. Army turned to experts after an unusual artillery shell – believed to possibly date to the Civil War -- was found on a training range at Fort McCoy, Wis.

Bernie Paulson in the large room that holds cannons, carriages and wagons (Courtesy John Phillips)

“There was no Civil War battle around here, no training from that era, so it left us wondering: how did it get here?” said garrison archaeologist Ryan Howell, according to an Army news release about the mystery find. Compounding the mystery was the ordnance had a spot for a fuse, common in the 19^th century.

The Army said the ammunition was rendered safe, but Osman  said black powder inside would long have been by ruined by rainfall.

Osman, retired site manager of Historic Fort Snelling in Minneapolis, was among those contacted by the Army. Could this be an authentic Civil War shell, as first believed? That seemed unlikely since the fort began operations in 1909.

Osman took a look at the photos and determined the round was non-ferrous and – most importantly – was made by the Paulson brothers and fired by them at Fort McCoy decades ago, back when the Army allowed certain groups to use the site. The siblings were known for using zinc, an element used postwar.

The bottom of the shell indicates it is a modern make (Claudia Neve / U.S. Army)

Another clue was the inscription “10 PDR” on the bottom of the shell, referring to it as a 10-pound round. That label did not appear on ammunition made during the war.

The replica shell was an early prototype when the twins were still figuring out how to make quality reproduction weapons. The shell either never made firm impact or the fuse popped out upon landing, Osman and Bernie Paulson said.

Bernie, 83, told the Picket in a recent phone call he and Bruce were making these in the 1970s and before they found drawings that helped them improve design and construction.

“You talk about crude,” he said of their fuses in the early days.

But the Paulsons went to the West Point foundry and a New York library to dig deep into Civil War artillery, including the work of Alfred Mordecai and a muzzle-loading cannon and ammunition created by 19^th-century inventor Robert Parrott.

The First Minnesota fires a mortar at Fort McCoy in the 1980s (Courtesy Stephen Osman)

Since then, they have made or finished thousands of rounds and are well-known in the re-enacting community.

Thomas Bailey, who operates Historical Ordnance Works in Woodstock, Ga., said he participated in gun firings with the Paulsons several years back. Back then, that could be done on military ranges, including Camp Ripley in Minnesota.

“I shot with them numerous times and they like to do that as authentic as possible,” said Bailey. “I served on their 10-inch mortar, their heavy 12 (Napoleon) and a 20-pounder.”

He noticed something else about the interaction between Bruce and Bernie.

“They could anticipate the other man’s thoughts and facilitate that.” 

They have another lasting bond: Bernie's son is named Bruce, and Bruce's son is named Bernie.

The First Minnesota firing weapons in the early 1980s (Courtesy Stephen Osman)

Historians' research saved shell from being blown up

It’s not uncommon for firing ranges or battlefields to be littered with unexploded ordnance. That was especially true during the Civil War, when artillery shells failed to go off for myriad reasons. Many Confederate shells fired at Gettysburg turned out to be duds, likely because of poor or ejected fuses.

Fort McCoy, in western Wisconsin, has an array of training – including firing ranges -- for the armed forces.

The artillery shell in question was found in July in what is called the Northern Impact Area, which has been operational since 1942. The Army did not provide details on whether it was found flat on the ground, protruding or otherwise.

The shell eventually will be displayed at Fort McCoy (Claudia Neve / U.S. Army)

An Army article earlier this month said a Wisconsin Air National Guard ordnance team was expected to blow the shell up. “Thankfully, before that was possible historians stepped in to do research on the possibly rare artifact,” the article said.

“Initial theories speculated that the artifact could have been a battlefield souvenir brought to the base during World War II, as it wasn’t uncommon for soldiers to collect items to take home.”

Tonya Townsell, public affairs officer for Fort McCoy, said Matt Flueger and Osman (right), both historians and collectors, were eventually consulted and Osman made the positive match with the Paulsons.

The Army news release highlighted the overlap between artifacts and modern weaponry.

 “Pictures of it fooled all the experts,” Howell concluded, “but in the end, what we found was not from the 1860s battlefield -- it was from a 1970s reenactment.”

The shell will eventually make its way to be on display at the Fort McCoy History Center, officials said.

It's one thing to read about fishing ...

Re-enactors including the Paulsons were permitted to fire replica and period cannon on the post between 1970 and 1991, Townsell told the Picket.

Bernie Paulson recalls the brothers and the First Minnesota firing various original artillery pieces once a year at Fort McCoy after the garrison gave them permission. (That ended after Sept. 11, 2001). The firings were closed to the general public, he said. “Let’s try it out at Fort McCoy to field test this equipment,” they thought at the time.

“Let’s just say you are an avid fisherman. You read all the books you can find about fishing and the bait. But it doesn’t do you any good unless you throw your line in the water.”

They brought in bigger guns, including a massive 13-inch seacoast mortar (above). Grainy videos on the Paulson Brothers website show crews in action and puffs of smoke at various locations. At Fort McCoy, their 10-pounder guns had an effective range of about one mile.

“The whole idea is you can bring Civil War cannon to an Army artillery range and fire live ammunition just like it was in the Civil War,” Bernie said.

'Risk takers' took their game to another level

According to news articles I have perused, the brothers had an interest in the Civil War since they were young. They first got into making garden and agricultural tools before turning to the Civil War. They love working with machinery.

Stephen Osman (with sword) next to the Paulsons in 1978 (Courtesy Stephen Osman)

“We were risk takers. We were always risk takers. We just happened to be successful,” Bruce told the Pioneer Press in 2015.

Their operation is about an hour east of the Twin Cities and they have restored or made new weapons. As Minnesota Public Radio points out, cannons and mortars are lined up outside and appear to be trained on a parking lot and buildings across the street.

The website lists metal gun carriages, cannonballs (minus explosive material), parts and implements, including sponges, buckets and spikes. The Paulsons formerly produced cannons.

As their research improved and production increased, the Paulsons became well-known in re-enacting circles. They were filmed for the 1982 TV miniseries “The Blue and the Gray,” starring Stacy Keach.

John Phillips, a Civil War reenactor and member of Battery I, 1^st U.S. Light Artillery, has toured the Paulsons’ building and uploaded six videos.

“As you can imagine, touring the Paulson museum holds quite a bit of history,” he told the Picket.

The brothers source their material from five foundries and often finish products before sale.

A couple cannoneering keepsakes in his garden

Osman, a collector who writes for a monthly newsletter for the Twin Cities Civil War Round Table, did not fire with the Paulsons at Fort McCoy, but he did at Camp Ripley. The twins recreated progressive rifling, he said.

Bailey, the Georgia ordnance seller, said the twins “are the first people in my lifetime that really started to produce Civil War artillery carriages and related vehicles.”

The brothers have slowed down a bit but are still actively in business. Osman keeps a couple Paulson shells (left) in a rock garden at his Minneapolis home.

Osman said the men are innovators in the field of explosive rounds.

“They were fanatics and tripled their effectiveness by learning and researching.”

I asked Osman for photos showing the Paulsons. One image is from “The Blue and the Gray” set (above), humorously holding cannon props.

The other was taken in 1978 of the First Minnesota re-enactors (also above).

Osman is in the front row, holding a sword and standing next to a drummer. The Paulsons are to his left.

I asked him to identify the pair.

“Gimme a break,” he said. “They are identical twins.”

Williams Cleaners, Enfields and three-ringers: Each of these bullets found by Battle of Nashville Trust on acquired battlefield property has a story

Recovered Federal and Confederate spent and dropped bullets (Courtesy of BONT)

When I came across a bit of news this week from the Battle of Nashville Trust about efforts to prepare a portion of Shy’s Hill for public access, I marveled at a photo of fired and dropped bullets found during recent clearing of brush.

I confess to knowing little about Civil War ammunition, so my curiosity led me to ask the nonprofit to describe each bullet and artifact by row.

Lo and behold, I had the answer within minutes (see below).

Bobby Whitson, president of BONT, is a history enthusiast and expert in metal detecting. He provided the details and said Confederate pickets, probably from Georgia or Florida, were deployed on the newly acquired 1.2-acre site. The 5^th Minnesota and 9^th Minnesota on Dec. 16, 1864, rushed up the hill, signaling the beginning of the end of the Battle of Nashville, a major Union victory.

Howard Pyle's depiction of the Minnesota brigade charging Shy's Hill

BONT found evidence of fighting that occurred as the Confederate line, above and to the east, fired on the Union soldiers.

“Even though Civil War relic hunters have scanned Shy’s Hill for decades in their search for artifacts, the clearing of the property led to BONT recovering a number of bullets left undetected over the years, along with other relics including a Union uniform button and unidentified shrapnel,” the group said.

The organization emphasized relic hunting/metal detecting is prohibited on this and other battlefield ground it owns or maintains. That includes Shy’s Hill and Redoubt 1, a few miles north.

“Digging without permission on someone else's property violates many rules,” Whitson wrote in an email to the Picket.

His identification of bullets and other artifacts (photo courtesy Battle of Nashville Trust):

Top row: Silver-washed pewter button, .58-caliber three-ringer, the next eight are .570ish Confederate three-ringers.

Middle row: U.S. general service eagle button, fired three-ringer, six dropped Enfields (one is stepped on), dropped Williams Cleaner, fired three-ringer.

Bottom row: Fired three-ringer, fired Williams Cleaner with separated disk, fired Confederate three-ringer (note the difference in width of the base ring), fired Enfield, two fired Williams Cleaners, two fired three-ringers.

Also recovered were a sabot fragment from an artillery round and an unidentified brass piece (below, Battle of Nashville Trust).

Whitson said the Williams Cleaners are probably Federal “but the dropped three-ringers do not have even thickness in the bases of them, which almost always points to being a Confederate bullet; plus they mic' at .57 with a couple being spot on .577.”

“While not all Enfields can just be assumed to be Confederate, the location of these Enfields on the hillside and the arc across the land on which they were found, combined with the other Confederate drops, give them an extremely high probability of being Confederate drops. The fired bullets are a combination of Federal and Confederate,” he wrote.

The trust, with the assistance of American Battlefield Trust, bought the small “core battlefield” vacant lot in April and is hoping to open it to visitors this fall in time for the 160^th anniversary of the battle. There are plans for parking at some point.

“BONT is working with Civil War Trails to install interpretive signage, both at the 4601 Benton Smith Road site and the plateau further up the hill where BONT has placed field artillery pieces in the area most likely used for Beauregard’s battery on Dec. 16, 1864.”

The site was the location of the Federal assault against Rebel troops holding the summit of Shy’s Hill on the second day of the battle. The boys in blue broke the line and routed Hood’s troops, and permanently disabling the Confederacy’s military capability in the Western Theater of the Civil War.

Looking up from the vacant lot toward the summit of Shy's Hill (BONT photo)

“We are devoting the highest level of expertise, time, energy, and resources to preserve fully this hallowed ground on which so many Minnesotans and others were wounded and killed assaulting the Confederate position on the hill,” Whitson said in the news release.

The tract is a short walk from BONT’s Shy’s Hill historic site and trailhead.

Whitson sometimes gives presentations on Tennessee metal detecting, including one in April at Lipscomb University in Nashville.

“What interests each detectorist is different; some do it to get outside and get exercise, some do it for the thrill of the hunt, some do it to save the history, some do it to learn from what is in the ground, and some do it for all of the above reasons. We are simply stewards of the past and of the history; the more we find, the more we validate the history that we are trying to interpret for the community,” he said.

A monument to the 114th Illinois was dedicated at Shy's Hill last fall (BONT)

Items found on trust property are being kept separate from other collections and may eventually become part of a hoped-for museum.

“Unlike treasure hunters, we are historians with detectors that document everything in order to validate what we think we know from the written history,” Whitson said. “What's in the ground does not lie, and each artifact tells a unique story.”

Union officer brought formerly enslaved family to Minnesota after war

Brad Edgerton takes particular pride in one simple gesture amid his great-great-grandfather's many accomplishments: After commanding a regiment of Black soldiers during the Civil War, Alonzo Edgerton invited a family born into slavery to join him when he returned home to Minnesota.  "Everyone knows the North was sympathetic to Black people, but Alonzo walked the walk and followed up the talk with philanthropy for a family he loved,” said Brad Edgerton. -- Article

Soldier's descendant connects with curious Minnesota history buff

Genealogist Aaron Syvertson of Southern California was surfing the internet when he discovered Free Press articles that mentioned his great-great-great-grandfather, Milton Hanna. One story in the Minnesota newspaper quoted history buff Marlin Peterson, who said he’d like to know what happened to Hanna’s Medal of Honor and if the Civil War soldier buried in Glenwood Cemetery had any living descendants. “We are right here!” Syvertson messaged to a staff writer. -- Article

Soldier's grave to be rededicated

The grave of a Minnesota Civil War soldier that became overgrown will be rededicated during a formal ceremony Saturday. Pvt. Edmund Sampare, who died on Sept. 17, 1862, during the Battle of Antietam, was a member of the Second Regiment, U.S. Sharpshooters, which saw action until nearly the end of the conflict. He was buried at Calvary Cemetery in St. Paul, and his gravestone laid flat in 1940 to protect it from further erosion. The stone became overgrown, but was found by a member of the Minnesota Historical Society. • Article

Coming full circle with Maj. Clayton

I'll be traveling Saturday to Fort McAllister Historic Park near Savannah, Ga., for a celebration of the recent return of a Confederate flag captured by Union troops there in December 1864. The Picket has written three articles about the subject.

A descendant of Maj. William Z. Clayton will speak at the ceremony.

Clayton, who served during the Civil War with the 1st Minnesota Light Artillery, left instructions for the return of the Emmett Rifles flag to either Atlanta or Savannah.

During my recent visit to Shiloh National Military Park in Tennessee for the 150th anniversary of the battle, I made a point of visiting spots where the battery saw its first significant action during the Civil War.

The unit was led there by Prussian-born Capt. Emil Munch, who, like Clayton, was wounded in the fighting.

Early on the morning of April 6, 1862, the unit was forward of the Peach Orchard, in Spain's Field (top photo).

After fierce fighting and a Confederate push, the 1st Minnesota saw heroic action at the Hornet's Nest, in the Union center. Its marker there reads:

ENGAGED FROM EARLY IN THE MORNING, WHEN CAPT. MUNCH WAS WOUNDED AND DISABLED, IN THE FIRST DAY’S BATTLE OF SHILOH, APRIL 6, 1862. THE RIGHT AND LEFT SECTIONS UNDER COMMAND OF 1ST LIEUT. WILLIAM PFAENDER PARTICIPATED IN THE STRUGGLE OF THE “HORNET’S NEST” WHERE THIS MONUMENT STANDS. THE TWO GUNS OF THE CENTER SECTION WERE DISABLED EARLY IN THE DAY, BUT ONE OF THEM TOOK PART IN THE EVENING IN REPELLING THE LAST CHARGE OF THE CONFEDERATES. CAPT. E. MUNCH AND 1ST LIEUT. F. E. PEEBLES WOUNDED; THREE MEN KILLED AND SIX MEN WOUNDED

I believe that Clayton was wounded while Union artillery units attempted to repulse heavy Confederate assaults at the Hornet's Nest. He was a sergeant at Shiloh and was promoted soon after to second lieutenant.

Clayton first suffered a flesh wound in one of his lower legs late in the afternoon. Then came the more serious injury.

“I saw one of my best boys fall and in came a shot and killed my horse and I jumped from him and just as I raised to my feet I received my wound,” he wrote in a letter. The round “paralised” his left leg and he sat against a tree, revolver drawn because he expected to be bayoneted. Clayton witnessed others being shot.

“I looked towards the guns and as I peaked out from the tree a ball struck the tree right in the rainge (sic) of my face but it struck the tree just far enough to glance the ball and carry it by my face knocking the bark into my face. My gunner was with me and jerked me back.”

The Minnesotans, unlike thousands of others in blue, avoided capture at Shiloh. A general wrote that Clayton should be promoted for his service that day.

By nightfall, the exhausted men were back near Pittsburg Landing (above), where they were dug in for the remainder of the battle. With Munch's injury, Clayton commanded the unit for the balance of the war.

By the time he helped capture Fort McAllister, Clayton had seen more than two years of combat since Shiloh, including the Vicksburg, Corinth and Atlanta campaigns.

He would survive the war and life a long life, dying in 1929 at age 94. Clayton carried the Confederate ball in his leg to the grave at Mount Hope Cemetery in Bangor, Maine.

Photo of Clayton grave courtesy of Stephen G. Burrill.

Black-powder revolver goes for $25K

A Samuel Colt .44-caliber black powder revolver once owned by a sergeant with the First Minnesota Volunteer Infantryman sold for auction for $25,000. The piece included the original box, holder, cartridge box, belt and belt buckle. • Article

143 years later, monument becomes reality

Residents of the tiny southern Minnesota town of Wasioja will mark Veteran's Day by dedicating a Civil War memorial that was first proposed for construction 143 years ago. • Article