I could never conceive of that, building homes outside winters for twenty-five years--do it without Maine Hunting Boots and wool socks?
There was a Valley Forge organization that gave awards for patriotism; J. Edgar Hoover was a perennial winner as was my eighth grade teacher.
Some of that is returning as the majority of college students support the president, the troops, the war--pendulum returns.
Mick has been making boots for over 11 years. For the past seven years he has been concentrating on American Civil War footwear. He strives to produce footwear that not only looks historically correct, but also is made in the age-old tradition of custom handmade boots and shoes. He has also spent the last seven years researching and studying footwear from the Civil War era. His footwear has been worn by reenactors in movies and documentary films. Also some of his footwear has been displayed in museums across the country.
The old antique shop had been closed for years, but a few curiosities were left to gather dust in the attic. Dim daylight from the window filtered through a veil of cobwebs and fell on a pair of battered boots that hung on the back wall. Wiping away a layer of dirt, I examined the creased and wrinkled leather and soles still caked with the dust and mud of some forgotten field. I thought of the Civil War as I read the crudely lettered label with a faded name and "Boots 100 years old".
1939 Doubleday Field named in honor of Major General Abner Doubleday, USMA 1842, who is often called the "father of baseball."
The Spencer was the primary repeating carbine and rifle of the Civil War. Most were issued in carbine form for the cavalry although rifles were also made for the infantry. Of the 144,500 made, 107,372 were acquired by the Federal Government. It became the most popular of the carbines for cavalry use by the Union Army, and was widely used in the west after the Civil War.
The Spencer is a seven shot repeater loaded through the stock at the back end. Operating the Spencer required both working the lever to load a fresh cartridge and separately cocking the hammer. An experienced man could shoot all seven shots in about fifteen seconds. The Confederates could not use captured Spencers after the supply of captured cartridge ammunition was used up, as it could not be loaded and fired with separate powder, percussion cap, and bullet.
The Army was reluctant to purchase the Spencer early in the Civil War. The available wagon transportation was incapable of delivering the additional ammunition the soldiers would use when given a repeating firearm. President Lincoln intervened by endorsing procurement of the Spencer after test firing one in 1863 halfway into the war.
The Spencer used the first self-contained metallic cartridge powerful enough for regular military use. The standard Spencer cartridge is called the 56-56 being named for having the same size at the front end and back end of the copper cartridge case. It fired a 52 caliber bullet with a muzzle energy of 1125 foot pounds. The energy compares favorably with the [typical paper cartridges] of the Civil War muskets. By comparison, the other metallic cartridge available during the Civil War, the 44 Henry, only developed about 700 foot pounds of energy. The cartridge could be successful in the wide variance in barrel bore diameters shown below because the bullet had a huge hollow in its base of the same style as the Minie ball first used in the 58 Springfield musket.
A cartridge box was invented by Blakeslee to carry Spencer ammunition and hasten reloading. It held seven tubes of seven cartridges each to quickly slide one tube at a time into the gun. The Blakeslee box looks good in theory but was bulky. It bounced around and got in the way when in action or while running as they hadn’t then figured out how to hold such containers firmly to the soldier’s body. The soldiers could shoot out all the ammunition they could carry nearly as quickly when carrying ammunition as issued in bulk without the hassle of preloading the tubes of the unwieldy Blakeslee cartridge box.
Photo Credit: Richard Woodbury at USAMHI.
A Group of 8 Enlisted Men of Co. F, 2nd Regt., U.S. Sharpshooters. They are in front of a private residence with other soldiers standing near by. This photo was taken before June 18, 1862. They are identified as: Pvt. Charles R. Applin, Pvt. Isaac H. Farnum, Sgt. Horace Caldwell, Pvt. Amos S. Abbott, Pvt. William C. Beard, Pvt. William Spead, Pvt. Leonard Spead, Pvt. Cyrus R. Farnum. Examples of Model 1855 Colt Root Percussion revolving rifles and canvas sport shoes.
Colt Model 1855 Military Revolving Rifle
Very rare 56/56 rimfire Spencer Civil War repeating rifle,WITH BAYONET
Model 1855 Harpers Ferry Rifle-Musket with Bayonet
photo by Richard T. Meagher
Spencer carbine, rifle, magazine, bayonet.
1952 1st hydrogen bomb exploded (by US at Eniwetok Atoll)
Rest in peace, Cold Warrior.