Donated gunboat model will be star of Sat. program at Louisiana's Port Hudson site

USS Essex (Marvin Steinback, Port Hudson SHS)

The USS Essex was a great big sister. Mess with me, and you’ll have to deal with her.

The Essex was converted in stages from a steam ferry to a fully armored Federal gunboat. Along the way, the crew saw action in the Fort Henry, Vicksburg, Port Hudson and Red River campaigns. The vessel took a beating, but it helped save the garrison in Baton Rouge, La., and it contributed to eventual victory at Port Hudson.

A 1:32 scale model of the gunboat was recently donated to Louisiana’s Port Hudson State Historic Site off U.S. 61 north of Baton Rouge.

“It is one of seven remote-controlled vessels that have a relationship to Port Hudson that I have built,” said Robert Seal, a park volunteer. “It is the largest, by far, and the most complicated.”

Using foam insulation and balsa wood, Seal, 69, crafted a vessel that is nearly 7 feet long and weighs about 30 pounds. “Everything is scratch built,” Seal told the Picket this week.

USS Essex in 1862 (Library of Congress)

(Martin Steinback, Port Hudson SHS)

Local artist Bill Toups has assisted with the USS Essex model, using a lathe to make 13 guns that comprise the business end of the ironclad.

The historic site and Seal at 11 a.m. Saturday will put on a program, “The Waterfront: Vicksburg, Port Hudson and the Fight for the Mississippi.” The event will be held at a pond that seasonally holds 1:32 models of ships that took part in Mississippi River and other campaigns. (The models are kept inside the rest of the year)

Seal, who researches their design and history, built them all, including a few in his personal collection. His entire fleet will be at Saturday’s program. The USS Essex and CSS Arkansas  -- which clashed in July 1862 -- will briefly sail across the water to help educate visitors.

The Confederacy put a lot of effort and manpower into defending the vital Mississippi River in 1861-1863.

“The whole purpose was to keep the Federals from going upriver at Port Hudson, while Vicksburg was to keep them from going downriver,” said Mike Fraering, an interpretive ranger at Port Hudson. The two forts were about 175 miles apart.

The Federal army and navy early in the war realized the importance of waterways and by controlling the Mississippi River, they could cut the Confederacy in half, disrupting commercial and military traffic and communication.

Annual re-enactment at Port Hudson (Robert and Pat Seal)

The USS Essex was heavily damaged by enemy gunfire at Fort Henry in February 1862. She was fitted with stronger armor and returned to service to take part in the Vicksburg campaign that summer. The Essex later hammered the CSS Arkansas and repelled an attack on Baton Rouge. The Arkansas was scuttled by its Rebel crew.

For a time, the USS Essex was the only Federal ironclad gunboat below Vicksburg, until July 1863.

“All the other gunboats on the southern end of the Mississippi were wooden or seagoing gunboats,” said Fraering. “The Essex had guard duty and protected wooden gunboats from gunfire. ‘Here comes the Essex to the rescue.'”

The Essex took part in the 1863 siege against Port Hudson and later served in the Red River.

The garrison at Port Hudson surrendered on July 9, 1863, five days after Vicksburg fell to the Union. Exhausted, short of supplies and knowing the fall of Vicksburg left them in a hopeless situation, the Confederates laid down their weapons after 48 days – the longest true siege on U.S. soil.

But it did not come without a few tries and heavy casualties among Federal troops and sailors over several months.

In March 1863, Union Adm. David Farragut defied Port Hudson, an earthen fort built on the east bank of the river.

“What we have on the pond is an annual static fleet,” said Seal. “They are anchored in position that represented the movement of Farragut as he attempted the battery.”

The 10 models on the pond include the Kineo, Genesee, Albatross, Monongahela, Richmond and Hartford. Seal acknowledges those models are not built with great detail, given visitors see them from about 50 feet away.

Port Hudson withstood the assault, and several of Farragut’s vessels were damaged. The USS Essex – which was about 200 feet long and had a crew of 250 -- helped rescue the crew of the sinking USS Mississippi.

The post was attacked two months later by a large Union ground force, among them soldiers of the Louisiana Native Guard, the first significant use of African-American troops during the war.

They earned respect of generals and white comrades, and black soldiers would see more action elsewhere in the months ahead.

“They were repulsed. (But) they showed they were capable,” said Fraering. “Everyone else got repulsed that day.”

The siege would continue for another six weeks.

Models are in pond February into June each year (Marvin Steinback)

Seal, an LSU retiree, said he wants to help schoolchildren learn what happened in Louisiana during the Civil War. He built a diorama of the Native Guard assault and has helped with other exhibits.

He and Fraering decided the Port Hudson story needed more of the naval aspect. “We like our boats,” Seal quipped about Louisianans.

Given the fact that he puts many of them in the water and transports and handles them, Seal says he cannot build his models to detail that includes individual rivets.

“(The Essex) is not sitting like a pretty girl. They break and if I put all the rigging and stuff on, you would have a difficult time launching them.”

Still, he wants them to be of high quality and reflect his research and period photographs.

CSS Arkansas model (Robert and Pat Seal)

Here’s a description of a radio-controlled models Seal will bring Saturday. They all likely will be placed in the water during an annual re-enactment on March 28-29.

-- CSS Arkansas: After the ironclad was intentionally sunk, its crew rushed to Port Hudson to help fortify its defenses.

-- CSS Manassas: Converted vessel fitted with iron plating, the Manassas did not see direct action at Port Hudson.

- - USS Barataria: The converted sternwheeler was lost in April 1863 during Louisiana operations.

CSS Missouri (Robert and Pat Seal)

-- CSS Missouri: Confederate ironclad paddle steam deployed in the Red River.

-- USS Carondelet: The City-class ironclad was “very effective in bombardment” and was used against Vicksburg and in the Red River Expedition.

Seal occasionally lets children use the radio controls to move the models.

“It would be good for people to learn something they didn’t know about the era, ships, crew and the different actions,” he said. “It lights me up on school days. We’ll have a couple hundred kids. There might be in a class of 30 with one or two kids that really connect with the program.”

Admission to the site and Saturday’s event is $4 per person and free for children 12 and under and those 62 and older. For more information, call (888) 677-3400 toll free or (225) 654-3775.

Gunboat models have moment in the sun during program at Louisiana site

(Photographs by Bonnie Guidry)

Two Civil War ironclads, through their miniature descendants, repeated their watery dance of death last weekend at a state park north of Baton Rouge, La. (Click photos to enlarge)

Models of the CSS Arkansas (left, above) and the newly built USS Essex tangled Saturday at Port Hudson State Historic Site. The Picket recently wrote about the gunboats ahead of the event.

Also on display were other 1:32 models made by Robert Seal, including (left to right), the CSS Manassas, the USS Barrataria and the USS Osage. They took part in naval operations on the Mississippi River during the Civil War.

USS Essex is about 6 feet long

On hand for the event were (left to right) Robert Seal; Marvin Steinback of the park; Dwight Landreneau, assistant secretary of the Office of State Parks; and Bill Toups, who lathed the cannon.

Pat Seal, Robert's wife, quipped that the USS Essex model, while under construction, was on saw horses in the living room for months until she banished it in order to put a Christmas tree. It received the final touches on their dining room table.

Marvin Steinback is dressed for the part

Abraham Lincoln's crucial blockade order on Southern ports is purchased by Illinois governor and wife and donated to presidential library in Springfield

Lincoln issued this order just after Fort Sumter fell (Photo: ALPLM)

President Abraham Lincoln’s monumental order that launched the “Anaconda Plan,” a strategy intended to place a stranglehold on the Confederacy, has been purchased and donated by Illinois’ governor and first lady to a library dedicated to the 16^th president.

Just a few days after the fall of Fort Sumter in April 1861, Lincoln issued the order, which called for a naval blockade of vital Southern ports, to be imposed in conjunction with land assaults. The seven states cited in the order had seceded from the Union by that time.

The office of Gov. J.B. Pritzker made the donation announcement Tuesday. The news was first reported by the Associated Press.

Pritzker and his wife M.K., who purchased the blockade order on behalf of the people of Illinois, on Tuesday visited the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum in Springfield.

The document will be available for viewing in the ALPLM Treasures Gallery beginning Wednesday and will remain on display until February 2025, when it will be transferred to the ALPLM vault for safekeeping, a news release said.

Cartoon of Anaconda Plan with caricatures (Library of Congress)

“To me, this document – and the museum as a whole – serves as a reminder of how far we’ve come,” said the governor. “Despite our divisions and challenges, more than 150 years later, our nation perseveres.” 

Steve Lansdale with Heritage Auctions confirmed to the Picket that the document was sold for $471,000 in July 2023. The document – formally entitled “Order to Affix Seal of the United States to a Proclamation of a Blockade” – had been owned by anonymous private collectors.

Lansdale says the company does not release information on buyers or sellers, and Pritzker’s office declined to provide details on the purchase or price.

Andy Hall, who has written extensively about the blockade, wrote in his Dead Confederates blog that Lincoln’s proclamation “was one of a series of actions and reactions that expanded the conflict between the national government in Washington and that of the seceded southern states. The blockade order was, most directly, a response to Jefferson Davis’ call on April 17 for privateers to obtain Confederate letters of marque to attack U.S. shipping.”

While the one-page order is now at the Lincoln library, the fuller proclamation is kept at the National Archives.

Harper's Weekly depiction of chase of a blockade runner (Library of Congress)

The blockade was meant to prevent the export of cotton from the South to foreign nations and the import of essential supplies into the Confederacy, according to Pritzker’s office.

The Lincoln document reads in full:

"I hereby authorize and direct the Secretary of State to affix the Seal of the United States to a Proclamation setting on foot a Blockade of the ports of the States of South Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, Florida, Mississippi, Louisiana, and Texas, dated this day and signed by me and for so doing this shall be his warrant. Abraham Lincoln, Washington, 19th April, 1861."

Dr. Ian Hunt, the ALPLM’s acquisitions director, said the order captures Lincoln at an unprecedented moment of crisis.

“A lesser president might have dithered and delayed while searching for a ‘safe’ option,” Hunt said in a statement. “President Lincoln acted boldly by ordering a blockade. This is the symbolic tip of the spear in his long struggle to save the nation and, ultimately, end slavery."

Hunt, in a library Facebook video, provided some historical background to the Lincoln order. The president's Cabinet had some reservations about the idea, including the possibility it could be construed as recognition of the Confederacy as a nation. Union Gen. Winfield Scott argued a total blockade would be needed to crush the rebellion. 

The blockade required monitoring 3,500 miles of Atlantic and Gulf coastline with180 possible ports of entry, according to the library. “The United States had about 40 working ships at the time. By war’s end, it had 671. The Navy destroyed or captured about 1,500 Southern blockade runners over the course of the war.”

Hunt said the addition of the document to the library is "phenomenal."

Fritz Kredel: Versatile illustrator and wood-cut artist left Nazi Germany, depicted uniforms of Civil War, other American soldiers for book, mounted prints

The five Kredel illustrations I have had for years (Civil War Picket)

A journey of discovery can begin with a few old pictures hanging on the pegboard wall of your garage.

That’s my story, anyway.

Five illustrations of American soldiers in uniform – including two from the Civil War era – have been hanging in my garage for more than three decades. Back in the 1960s, they were lacquered onto pieces of thin board and sold in shops. Now, (like me) they are showing their age, scuffed and a little weathered.

My parents bought them while my dad was attending command and general staff school at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas. The $2 mounted prints made multiple moves until I settled in the Atlanta area years ago.

Fritz Kredel

A few months ago, I took them down to have a closer look. The illustrator’s signature -- not surprisingly -- was a little tough to discern, but after a few Google tries I came up with his name: Fritz Kredel.

That’s where the journey to learn more about these five prints began. Who was this man?

My internet searches peeled back multiple layers of a renowned German-born artist whose work was distinct and was enjoyed by millions of Americans for decades. I felt sheepish about my ignorance of his prodigious illustrations and wood cuts.

Kredel learned wood engraving at a young age and that helped him become, as one observer writes, a master illustrator of books and prints. Yale University has a collection about his artwork.

“He had the great ability to show personality, movement and emotion with a tremendous economy of line,” wrote graphic designer Mark D. Ruffner in a 2012 post on his blog.

Depictions in "Soldiers of the American Army" (amazon.com/wayfair.com)

Kredel, born in Michelstadt in 1900, was trained as a graphic artist and designer, and became adept at wood cuts, pen and ink and water colors.

Kredel fled Nazi Germany in the late 1930s, moved to Vienna and ended up in the United States, where his career really took off. He and his family lived in New York City and Kredel taught at Cooper Union. He was much in demand as a book illustrator, and is remembered for his fairy tale characters and botanical drawings, among many genres.

Kredel teamed up with military historian and author Frederick Porter Todd for the volume “Soldiers of the American Army, 1775-1941," which came out just before America’s involvement in World War II. It was updated in a 1954 edition. My prints are reproduced from the book.

I asked his granddaughter, Tilda Brown Swanson, about Kredel’s interest in uniforms and other forms of militaria.

“He had a love for the heraldry, the uniforms, the helmets and the details that distinguished the various uniforms of different soldiers, and he was good at distinguishing those in various illustrations,” the Iowa glass artist wrote in an email.

Dover, the current publisher, has this description: “Splendid pictorial history of military apparel includes meticulously researched, beautifully rendered illustrations of regimental attire from the Revolutionary War, uniforms worn by the Texas Rangers (1846), Louisiana Zouaves (1861), Philippine Scouts (1904), and members of the Women's Army Corps (1954). Descriptive text accompanies each illustration. 32 full-color plates.”

The five in my small collection are:

-- Federal Infantry (1862) – Iron Brigade of the West and Vermont Brigade. Both saw intense fighting and endured high casualties. The Iron Brigade was known for its Maltese cross insignia and black felt hats. The Vermonters had a staggering 1,200 casualties at the Wilderness.

-- 7^th Regiment, New York State Militia (1861) – private in overcoat and private in full field equipment. This volunteer, “silk stocking” militia unit was mustered into service early in the Civil War, and was reactivated a few times, mostly in support roles.

-- The Regiment of Artillerists (1812) – matross and drummer, parade uniform

-- Thompson’s Pennsylvania Rifle Battalion (1775) – musketman and rifleman

-- Cuban Expedition (1898) – trooper, Rough Rider, in stable dress and private, 71^st New York, in full field equipment

"Corps d'Afrique (NY Public Library)

Other Civil War subjects in the book are Stuart’s Calvary Division, CSA (1862), colonel of cavalry and major of horse artillery, Corps d’ Afrique (1864), brigade bandsman and sergeant of heavy artillery, New York Zouaves (1863) 5^th New York and 44^th New York, Confederate Infantry (1863), and Louisiana Zouaves (1861), captain and Zouave.

The Corps d’Afrique was a predecessor of U.S. Colored Troops. It was comprised mostly of recently freed slaves in Louisiana.

An order from Washington created several regiments that would fight for the Union.

One of the first to form was the 1st Louisiana Native Guard. It originated in 1862 in New Orleans during the Federal occupation. It was made up of freed men and slaves who came for nearby plantations.

Famed Army Gen. Matthew Ridgway wrote a message on the back of hardbound copies of “Soldiers of the American Army” published in the 1950s.

Volume for sale at Abebooks.com

“The readers of this volume will become acquainted with the colorful story of our American uniform,” Ridgway wrote. “To every American soldier, his uniform is a symbol of the tradition of the past, of determination for the future. It is a reminder of the noble heritages which has been handed on by those who wore the uniform before us – a heritage of integrity and honor, of courage and steadfastness, of selfless devotion to country.”

While the book may be the most well-known reminder of Kredel’s talents, there was so much more to his creative output.

“My grandfather illustrated around 500 books and did dust jackets for many more, and so the books on soldiers are only a small part of what he illustrated,” says Swanson. “He also was very good at botanical illustration, fairy tales and suiting his illustration to the time of a text.”

"Grimm's Fairy Tales" work by Kredel. Courtesy of Mark D. Ruffner

His illustrations, many of them whimsical, were published in “Andersen’s Fairy Tales” (The Heritage Press, 1942) and “Grimm’s Fairy Tales (Grosset and Dunlap, 1945).

Ruffner, the graphic designer, said Kredel’s illustrations for children’s book were charming, witty and romantic.

“Illustrators of children's books inform and influence us at our most formative stage. At an early age -- if we are lucky -- we are introduced to so many morality plays, and while the morals of the stories are important, so too are the indelible cast of characters, and the way in which they are presented.”

In 2000, there were three major shows on Kredel’s work, according to Swanson. One was in his hometown of Michelstadt, about 30 miles southeast of Frankfurt. The New York Times wrote about an exhibition that year at the Grolier Club in New York City.

“Drawings, watercolors, woodcuts, lettering, book illustrations, maps, marionettes, political cartoons, paper dolls, the presidential seal for John F. Kennedy's inauguration and other works on paper sprang in profusion from Kredel's fertile imagination,” according to the article.

Another major Kredel work, the article said, is a woodblock map of Michelstadt as it appeared around 1650, replete with medieval buildings and narrow streets.

Begun in Germany, it was completed in the United States in 1954. “Woodcuts, he felt, had a crispness and sharpness that could not be achieved in any other medium,” wrote Times art critic Grace Glueck.

His earlier works in his native country included “The Offenbacher Haggadah,” which was published in 1927 and is considered “a landmark in German-Jewish bookmaking in Weimar Germany.” The Haggadah is text cited at the Seder table during Passover.

Kredel died in 1973 at age 73. His obituary cited several accomplishments, including winning the gold medal for book illustration at the 1938 Paris World Exhibition, about the time he came to the United States.

Promotional card for 2010 event at the University of Kentucky

Swanson and her mother, Judith, over the years have written and spoken about Kredel’s work.

“I have many things I hope to write, develop, and do in honor of my grandfather,” says Swanson. “I am currently working on a documentary and I hope to release that sometime in the next year or so.”

MIA: I've misplaced (lost!) paper written by Yankee soldier in 1864

If I weren't sitting down while writing this, I'd be kicking myself.

I've spent several hours trying to find something very precious to me. I have on weathered writing paper a Union soldier's handwritten copy of the lyrics to a sentimental song written during the Civil War.

Charles Carroll Sawyer wrote "Who Will Care for Mother Now?" in 1863. It became a maudlin hit among soldiers.

Many years years back, my northeast Missouri grandparents gave me a bag of old letters, bills and papers that once belonged to a neighboring family.

Most were addressed to a John Jones.

Among the papers was the now-missing sheet of folded paper. It is dated in the summer of 1864 in Resaca, Ga., site of a major battle a few weeks before. The ruled paper includes an embossed seal from some Federal unit. I couldn't believe I had a piece of paper that was written by a homesick soldier in enemy territory.

I did a little research 15 years or so ago and put the lyrics away for safekeeping. Or so I thought. I've looked all over the house for it.

No luck.

I will keep searching and kicking myself. For now, here are the lyrics:

Who Will Care for Mother Now?
(Charles Sawyer)

Why am I so weak and weary?
See how faint my heated breath,
All around to me seems darkness,
Tell me, comrades, is this death?
Ah! how well I know your answer,
To my fate I meekly bow,
If you'll only tell me truly,
Who will care for mother now?

cho: Soon with angels I'll be marching
With bright laurels on my brow;
I have for my country fallen,
Who will care for mother now?

Who will comfort her in sorrow?
Who will dry the falling tear?
Gently smooth he wrinkled forehead?
Who will whisper words of cheer?
Even now I think I see her
Kneeling, praying for me! How
Can I leave her in anguish
Who will care for mother now?

Let this knapsack be my pillow,
And my mantle be the sky.
Hasten, comrades to the battle
I will like a soldier die.
Soon with angels I'll be marching
With bright laurels on my brow;
I have for my country fallen,
Who will care for mother now?

In hindsight, this failed Confederate breech-loading gun may have been a bit ahead of its time (or improved technology)

Firing mechanism of Columbus breech loader (Picket photos)

The road to innovation is lined, shall we say, with disappointments.

A double-barreled cannon on outdoor display in Athens, Ga., is one such example. Its inventor hoped to convince the Confederate army that the two rounds, joined by a chain, would mow down infantry and cause chaos.

It did cause chaos. Test-fired in April 1862 in the early months of the Civil War, the gun turned out to be a flop. On one try, the chain holding the two rounds broke -- with one ball hitting a chimney and another killing a cow, according to observers. Another firing resulted in the rounds going off-center and plowing “up about an acre of ground, tore up a cornfield, mowed down saplings, and then the chain broke, the two balls going in different directions.”

About a year later and 140 miles to the southwest, innovators at the Columbus Iron Works on the banks of the Chattahoochee River were experimenting with another relative oddity at the time: breech-loading artillery.

Manufacturers in Europe were trying their hand with such technology, including production of the Whitworth, an English rifled gun that saw limited use during the Civil War. Benefits of such guns included protection for the crew by being behind the weapon, accuracy of fire and faster reloading. Southern breech-loading guns included the Williams and Hughes models.

Designers and craftsmen at the Columbus Iron Works, a large war materials, steam engine, iron cladding and artillery manufacturer for the South, decided to build and test a breech loader.

According to its history, the Columbus piece was designed by engineer and steamboat Capt. W.J. McAlister and Freeman C. Stewart, who worked for the iron works, which was then under command of the Rebel navy.

Prior to the war, some 200 steamboats traveled between Columbus south and the river’s exit in the Florida Panhandle, carrying cotton, crops and other items. Like other captains, McAlister lived near the riverfront and main wharf.

The barrel was fashioned from the wheel shaft of the steamer John C. Calhoun, which had its own misfortunate history. In 1860, its boilers exploded and the mail vessel caught fire, sinking near Ridleyville, Fla. At least one man died and others suffered horrible burns.

A 1978 article in the Columbus Ledger-Enquirer newspaper gave a brief description of how McAlister and Stewart fared in 1863.

The lathe work on the gun was done by Jacob G. Burrus. His sibling, George, paid a visit to the site, which was close to a naval yard.

"On a visit to my brother at the Columbus Iron Works, I found him engaged at the lathe turning the gun. When completed, it was tested three times, but the recoil broke the stirrup through which the breech screws passed for holding the breech plug in place.

"It was finally pronounced a failure. The federal raiders broke off a trunnion to prevent its further use. But it did service as a corner post at Springer's corner."

At this time in their development, breech loaders were fickle and presented some challenges.

An article in Wikipedia says: “The major problem to be solved with breech-loading artillery was obturation: the sealing of the breech after firing to ensure that none of the gases generated by the burning of the propellant (initially gunpowder) escaped rearwards through the breech. This was both a safety issue and one of gun performance – all the propellant gas was needed to accelerate the projectile along the barrel.

“The second problem was speed of operation – how to close the breech before firing and open it after firing as quickly as possible, consistent with safety.”

Eventually, designers came up with ways to create a safe seal and mechanisms that made the technology work. Along, the way they perfected what became forerunners of modern artillery. This Encyclopedia Brittanica article details how changes were made to improve breech-loading artillery, including increasing the strength of certain parts of the barrel to handle the pressure from firing of the weapon.

Today, the iron works gun sits outside the Columbus Museum on Wynnton Road. A sign affixed to its stand calls it “the first breech loading cannon.” It notes that Federal Wilson’s Raiders broke the trunnion when they took the city in April 1865.

(Picket photos)

The website for an auction house that sold a small replica outlined the concept: “This gun has a simplistic ingenious swiveling strap breech that allows easy access to bore for projectile and powder bag. Strap is then returned to position and screw is turned which closes breech, then friction primer is positioned through breech seal for firing.”

The Columbus Museum’s website says: “The breech-loading cannon is a testament to Columbus residents’ ingenuity and innovation in time of war.” It notes the North did not develop such a weapon, instead using a few imported Whitworths.

What became of the investors of the Columbus breech-loader? I have had no luck on McAlister, but Freeman died in February 1908 at age 77. He was superintendent of the Columbus Iron Works for 30 years after the war.

The W.C. Bradley Co. donated the cannon to the museum in 2016.

Colt revolving rifle bullets fired by Illinois troops among hundreds of artifacts recovered at Arkansas' Prairie Grove battlefield park

Recovered round from Colt revolving rifle (Prairie Grove Battlefield State Park)

Colt revolving rifle (center) -- Hmagg, Wikipedia

Removal of underbrush at the epicenter of a ferocious battle in northwest Arkansas has allowed archaeologists to recover about 400 Civil War artifacts, including spent bullets fired from innovative Colt revolving rifles.

The Colt Model 1855 was used by two flanking companies of the 37^th Illinois Infantry at the Battle of Prairie Grove on Dec. 7, 1862. The design was similar to Colt revolvers – with a rotating cylinder – and the weapon became a repeating rifle by adding a stock and barrel. 

While it had mixed success during the war, the rare rifle was largely effective at Prairie Grove and two other prominent battles.

Experts said the location of seven recently recovered Colt bullets may alter maps of the precise position where the regiment fought during a Federal charge on Confederate artillery and infantry at the Archibald Borden house. Its commander, Lt. Col. John Black, would receive a Medal of Honor for his leadership during the battle.

(Arkansas Archeological Survey)

Staff with the Fayetteville office of the Arkansas Archeological Survey conducted the survey at Prairie Grove Battlefield State Park in late February and the first two weeks of March. The coronavirus pandemic has halted the work and analysis of the artifacts. (June 7 update: Work recently resumed)

The four acres being studied in front of the Borden house are believed to never have been touched by metal detectors before. Mike Evans, station assistant with the survey, said he has worked many sites, but never with this many concentrated artifacts. “This area was wooded and fairly inaccessible. We wanted to take a look at the heart of the battle.”

“This is as central to that battle as you can get,” he told the Picket this week. The slope in front of the house, an orchard and other parts of the farm were the scene of two assaults each by Federal and Confederate troops.

The survey found numerous bullets, artillery shell fragments, friction primers, casings and canister. Interestingly, few personal items, such as buttons or insignia, were recovered.

“It is rich. It looks pretty thick,” Evans said of the artifacts, which he expects to number 1,000 when the crew eventually can return to the park to complete the survey. “And you are seeing little clusters. You are seeing a hot spot down the hill.”

(Note: Officials with the park and survey, which are partnering in the survey, emphasize that metal detecting and removal of artifacts from Prairie Grove by the public is prohibited.)

Confederate troops under Maj. Gen. Thomas Hindman squared off against the men of Union Brig. Gens. James Blunt and Francis Herron at Prairie Grove. While the fighting ended in somewhat of a draw, the Rebels withdrew from the field, giving the Union a strategic victory. Northwest Arkansas and Missouri would remain under Federal control for the rest of the conflict.

Casualties totaled about 2,700.

Park wanted terrain to look like 1862

Sampling of items from Prairie Grove (Arkansas Archeological Survey/AAS)

Bormann fuse for artillery (Prairie Grove Battlefield State Park)

The clearing of underbrush and thinning of trees below the Borden hill and along a foot trail was the impetus for the archaeological work, said Matt Mulheran, park interpreter at Prairie Grove since autumn 2018.

The growth “had not allowed anyone to get in there with a metal detector. All of those artifacts were there in pristine condition waiting to tell a story,” he said. The park for years had wanted to do the clearing project, and the interpreter got the ball rolling last year.

Official reports and soldier accounts showed the modern terrain was not accurate to the battle.

“That hillside was very open and the Borden family had taken a lot of time clearing the underbrush,” said Mulheran. “We wanted to get back to that landscape.”

Minie ball with impact damage, dropped.58-caliber and Enfield round (Prairie Grove BSP)

The Bordens lived on a large farm and were not aware of what was to come on the morning of Dec. 7, 1862. "A Confederate officer knocks on their door and tells them they have to flee.”

They rushed to a neighbor’s resident, where the families huddled in a cellar. The Bordens emerged after the fighting to find their home burned by Federal troops. Caldonia Borden Brandenburg years later spoke of the loss of livestock and stored food.

“All of the kinfolks and neighbors gave us food, clothing and bedding and household goods that they could spare, to help us get started again,” she said. “As soon as it was safe for us kids to go on the battle fields, we went and picked up clothes, canteens, blankets and anything we found to use. We had to put everything in boiling water to kill the “grey backs” [body lice] …”

Around 1870, the Borden family rebuilt the distinctive yellow home on the same site. They eventually moved west, Mulheran said, and others farmed the land until the 1940s or 1950s. The house eventually fell into disrepair. “There were trees growing out of the porch.”

Borden house in 1976 (Prairie Grove Battlefield State Park)

The property was acquired by the state in 1979 and rehabilitated.

Volunteers and a Bobcat with a mulching attachment have removed the undergrowth and the park will continue tree thinning and grooming this summer.

“It has come a long way in the time I have been here,” said Mulheran. “People can (now) see it just as the soldiers saw it.”

Some items came from filming of miniseries

Complicating the archaeological dig has been the presence of artillery and long gun components associated with Civil War reenactors who took part in events at the state park over the years.

Officials believe some of the recovered items date back to the filming of the 1982 television miniseries, “The Blue and the Gray,” which starred Stacy Keach and Gregory Peck and was based on Bruce Catton’s book.

Co-producer Harry Thomason spoke with The New York Times about why filming was done in the region.

''We are being extremely accurate in the spirit of this production,'' he told the newspaper. ''If purists want to say we should have filmed this picture exactly where the actual events happened, they have not visited many of those places lately. Some don't even exist anymore, and many have been overrun with commercialism. Most of the actual battlefields are covered with monuments and statues. We had 21 critical location scenes for this picture. We looked all over the country, and this 90-mile strip of western Arkansas met our requirements better than anywhere else.''

Evans, with the Arkansas Archeological Survey, says some of the artillery friction primers may be associated with reenactors.

But numerous items come from the period: Minie balls, grapeshot, Bormann fuses, exploded artillery, .69-caliber round balls, the tip of a bayonet scabbard and a piece of brass sash buckle, among them.

Much of the recovered debris is from Union guns fired from the valley toward Confederate artillery. “The hill was catching all that stuff,” Evans told the Picket.

Reenactors advance upon Borden home (Arkansas State Parks)

37th Illinois locked in fierce fighting

The ridge where the Borden home sat was the highest terrain on the battle and was an obvious place for the Confederates to place a large part of their artillery, as was done by Capt. William Blocher’s Arkansas battery. It provided a good view of a wide valley and Fayetteville-Cane Hill Road below. Gunners trained their weapons on a ford on the Illinois River.

Federal guns opened up below the Borden house, allowing for the Federal assaults. The 37^th Illinois – the only veteran unit in the assaults -- took part in the second wave.

Lt. Col. John Black

Commanding them was Lt. Col. Black, who was still recovering from a wound he suffered in the right arm at the Battle of Pea Ridge (about 40 miles north, ninth months before). Black rode in to battle on horseback, his disabled arm in a sling, and led his men up the slope to the orchard. Gunfire wounded his left arm during the pitched struggle.

Although the regiment became surrounded, Mulheran told the Picket, their experience and the five-shot Colt revolving rifle somewhat evened the circumstances. Eventually, they were forced to withdraw to the valley, where they fought off a determined Confederate counterattack and protected artillery.

Decades later, Black received the Medal Honor for extraordinary heroism: “Lieutenant Colonel Black gallantly charged the position of the enemy at the head of his regiment, after two other regiments had been repulsed and driven down the hill, and captured a battery; was severely wounded,” read the citation.

Black and his brother, Capt. William Black (for heroism at Pea Ridge), were among the few siblings to receive the Medal of Honor.

The 37^th had about 15% of its men killed or wounded at Prairie Grove.

A flawed weapon had its moments

The Colt revolving rifles did find success, and when used by experienced troops, they could result in a higher rate of fire.

Enfield bullet, blank from miniseries, fired Minie ball (AAS)

“They were a superior weapon but they did have a lot of trouble with them,” said Evans.

Carl Drexler, assistant research professor and station archeologist with the Arkansas Archeological Survey, said the 37^th Illinois was issued about 200 of the revolving rifles prior to Pea Ridge (about 18,000 were manufactured until 1862).

Companies A and K had them, as did several Confederate regiments. But those Southern units went east of the Mississippi River before Prairie Grove.

Drexler provided this summary of the weapon by email:

“As far as their efficacy and importance, it was a bit of a mixed bag. The idea behind them was to increase the individual firepower of a common soldier. The .56-caliber version (most often carried in the West) used a 5-shot cylinder that could be swapped out when empty, which made any unit armed with them a formidable opponent. Also, unlike other multi-shot weapons of the period, they did not use metallic cartridges, meaning they were usable by Confederates or anyone with a bullet mold. That was the good.

Jessica Kowalski at work (Ark. Archeological Survey)

“The bad was, well, pretty crippling to the use of the weapon. If you’ve ever fired a cap-and-ball revolver you know that you have to seal the chambers very well to prevent loose powder being exposed, because flash and hot gasses from one chamber firing can ignite exposed powder in other cylinders, causing what is called ‘chain fire.’ Given the orientation of the cylinder to the barrel, this means you’re basically shooting bullets into the frame of the gun, which usually destroys it. It also means that you have bits of lead and gun frame flying sideways. That’s startling if you’re holding a pistol out in front of you, but if you’re firing a long arm, you’re expected to be aiming with your left hand resting on the fore stock… in front of the cylinder. You now have lead, iron, brass, and flame flying at your left forearm and hand, and many soldiers wound up maimed for life as a result.

“I think around 5,000 such weapons were ordered by the U.S. Army for the war, and the above flaws kept them from being ordered in larger numbers and made them very unpopular with the troops. They are known to have been crucial in several situations, though. The 37^th Illinois used them to good effect at Pea Ridge, and the 21^st Ohio defended Horseshoe Ridge at the Battle of Chickamauga, Georgia, with them in the early fall of 1864. They were an interesting and fairly logical idea (turn a functioning pistol design into a shoulder arm), but I would prefer to have had a Spencer.”

More work and research lie ahead

Mulheran and Evans say the discovery of the Colt rounds may put the regiment in a slightly different position than believed, perhaps a couple hundred yards away.

“By tracing where these bullets landed we can document the movement of this regiment,” Mulheran said.

Borden house is at right center (Arkansas State Parks)

Finds during the survey indicate a possible location for a Confederate battery.

More excavations and analysis are required for any new conclusions to be made.

A Facebook post from Prairie Grove Battlefield State Park summarizes what can be gleaned by such research.

“Battlefield archaeology is an important science that allows researchers to gain a better understanding of what happened during the Battle of Prairie Grove. The evidence can provide new details on how we interpret the battle and completely change the current perception of events. We look forward to seeing the results of this survey.”

Before and after of hillside (Prairie Grove Battlefield State Park