Brigade Structure

Brigade Structure:

Army of N. Virginia

Longstreet’s Corp.

Alexander’s Battalion

Officers:

Colonel Phill Matteson

Lt. Col. Craig McCann

Captain Mike Karnitz

1^st Lt. Gordon Clifford

NCOs:

1 First Sergeant

2 Sergeants

2 Corporals

Ordinance:

4 – 3" Light Artillery

with Limbers

Phone Numbers:

Col. Phill Matteson-

(716) 694-0947

Lt. Col. Craig McCann

(585) 225-8984

Capt. Mike Karnitz

(585) 637-9069

1^st Lt. Gordon Clifford

(607) 478-5100

Campbell, NY 2006

Officer’s Page

Colonels Concerns:

Lt. Colonel’s Minute:

Greetings members of the Bedford Light Artillery!

Before we begin a new season of "giv'n them Yankees what fer" I would like to thank Gordon and Rosemary Clifford for opening up their home to us to close the past season by hosting the Unit's year end meeting and Holiday get-together. Everyone seemed to be in good cheer as we held conversations, had a few laughs, and stuffed ourselves to the gills.

LuAnn Henry took copious notes of the meetings minutes which have been sent out by Captain Karnitz. To those that have not received them please let us know. I wish to thank everyone in attendance for coming to the meeting/ party and hope those who missed out on a great time will be able to attend the festivities at the end of the 2006 season.

This season's Unit meeting is tentatively set for February 18th or 25^th and the details will be published soon. As in years past we will determine
our final schedule after attending the Longstreet's Corps meeting at the end of this month taking place in Fredericksburg, Va. Once the Corps events are placed on the calendar, we can fill in the schedule with whatever events the membership desires that are practical for guns and crews to attend. If there are events you wish to (and can) attend please
bring the information to the Unit meeting. Some events, such as Gettysburg, where we are expected to attend, the attendance fee will
increase rapidly as the event approaches. Therefore, please contact Captain Karnitz ASAP (even before the Unit meeting) and let him know if you will be attending so he may get you registered at the lowest
possible rate.

My schedule is expected to be very tight this year because, sadly, I still have to work rather than pursue the hobby in its fullest. For example, this week I have a contract in Conyers, Ga, (near Atlanta), the following
week I go to Windsor, Col. (near Denver) and will fly back just in time to make the Corps meeting. Towards the end of February I head back to China and will return in early April. Following that I expect more trips to Conyers, Ga. and also to Temple, Tx. (between Dallas and Austin). In spite of all that travelling around, Miss Sandi and I will attend every event we can!

I'm looking forward to seeing y'all again in camp and on the field!

Your Obedient Servant,

Lt. Col. Craig F. McCann

Bedford Light Artillery,
Alexander's Battalion,
Longstreet's Corps, CSA

Captains Corner:

Greetings,

I would like to start by offering my sincere condolences to 1^st Sergeant Meiers and Corporal Henry and their families for their recent loss of family members. I apologize for not being able to be with them at their time of grief. They are in God’s Hands now.

At the February meeting, we promoted Gordon Clifford to 1st Lieutenant. He has the qualities I want in my second-in-command. I look forward to working with him. Lt. Clifford has many years experience (I think he was there when they made the first cannon). He will help me lead us forward in this hobby.

School of the Cannoneer will be May 27^th and 28^th at Pine City, NY (Pine City is outside Elmira) and is hosted by Sgt. Sheerer. I will be sending out directions for this. On May 29^th we will again attend the Bath V.A. Hospital Memorial Day parade and celebration. We need a second gun and crew to help Sgt. Sheerer. The plan is to have the School until Monday morning when we will break camp and travel to Bath and set-up for the parade. Unfortunately this is the weekend that Melayne graduates so I am unsure if we can be there. I will try. On June 3^rd, we will attend a ceremony in Elmira at the site of the former P.O.W. camp. Sgt. Sheerer will have more details on this at the School. We also will be participating in a salute in Kendall, NY on May 30^th. We need a crew for this. I believe we will have one gun there. It would be nice to have two and crews for both. We have the Brockport School on the 9^th of June. We need to have two guns and crews there. We also need those that have long arms to bring them with rounds to fire as we are allowed to actually demonstrate the loading and firing of the Civil War era weapons. On June 16^th -18^th, we will participate in a Living History at Union City, PA. So you see we will be busy for a few weeks. We will raise $750 to $900 at the Brockport School and Union City Living History. This will help pay for powder and gas for the gun owners. Please make an effort to attend these two events. I cannot stress enough how important they are to helping to keep the unit dues where they are. Without Brockport and Union City we might have to double the dues to help offset operating cost. This is the last thing I want to do.

I’m looking forward to this year.

Adjutant Announcements

Firstly let me say a big thank you to the Officers of the Battery for their confidence in promoting me to the rank of 1^st lieutenant. I hope that I will not let you down.

From hereon in it gets worse!

All of the NCOs will have by now received a copy of the NCO Manual. I have added my two-cents-worth for inclusion/revision of that which Capt. Karnitz had already written. Suffice to say that from this coming season on, we will be adding a little extra stiffening to our military impression – at least when that most welcome of guests, General Public, is around. For instance, as I see it, if you persist in calling officers by their first names, instead of "Sir" or their rank (Colonel/Captain/Lieutenant), you will most likely be ignored until the correct mode of address is given.

Orders of the Day will be posted daily in camp. PLEASE READ THEM! These will detail duty crews for getting water, wood, and other daily essentials to camp life. It is something that has tended to fall by the wayside recently, such that the same people caught in camp seem to be getting landed with the "menial" tasks. This must stop! If your crew is slated for the water detail, it is the responsibility of the crew commander to ensure that there is sufficient water available for the immediate future requirements BEFORE leaving the camp area. And so on for the other daily tasks that must be carried out to make our camp life tolerable.

On a related issue, keep your eye on your watch! Orders of the Day will also detail event timetables. It is very irritating for times to be set for things to happen, only to have people turn up late. We nearly lost a gun at Gettysburg last year because 2 people were late back from lunch. My advice to everyone going to the larger National events such as Gettysburg, Manassas and Cedar Creek will be: "Don’t leave the event site unless it is an emergency. You will have difficulty getting back in time because of the horrendous ‘civilian traffic’ that surrounds the area." This applies especially to the Gettysburg event!

I am told that "punishment" is not appropriate to our modern modus operandii. If this is the case, then we will have to dream up "something else"!!!

And now for something completely different:-

I remain, as ever, your very obedient servant,

Gordon Clifford

1^st Lieutenant (Adjutant)

1^st Sergeant’s Desk:

Quartermaster’s News

(This is a new column. We hope to have information in the future for you.)

Cook’s Column

We look forward to serving you once again this year! At this time we are still waiting for the counts to be determined so we can plan which menus to serve. Please help us by turning in your attendance selections to the Captain as soon as possible.

With the rising cost of gas, we will strive to keep the cost of food down and still give you the best meals.

If there any concerns about the meals, please let me know.

See ya’ all soon!

Miss LuAnn

IMPORTANT MESSAGES

Remember, if you would like to submit information to be published in the newsletter, please mail to Cpl. Bob Henry, 17025 Roosevelt Hwy. Kendall, NY or e-mail to bvhenry@rochester.rr.com

OPINION PAGE

I was going back through newsletters past, and came across an artillery quiz that was set in the March 2002 issue. There are some serious errors in the answers, and some omissions.

Q3. For a 6-gun Federal battery front, it is simply a question of working out the width of the carriage (about 4.5 feet), and adding 5 times 14 yard interval, making a total of about 80 yards. For a 4-gun Confederate battery, this reduces to 48 yards.

Q7. Grape was never used in a Civil War artillery piece. Anti-personnel ordinance was always either case or canister (or solid shot if you had the infantry in flank).

Q9. If artillery is being attacked by infantry, you concentrated on the attacking infantry! Defend the guns at all costs! I doubt if there was any counter-battery fire from Cemetery Ridge once Pickett's Charge got underway.

Q11. There is a big difference between "horse" and "light" artillery. "Horse artillery" was always attached to cavalry, and all the men were mounted in order to keep up. "Light artillery" was always attached to infantry formations and the men walked or ran alongside their guns. However, they could ride on the limbers and caissons (I have a painting of Dilger's Battery riding into action at Gettysburg with all the cannoneers mounted on the limbers/caissons), but were sometimes ordered down by senior officers if they were of the "nasty" ilk.

Q12. Smoothbore is better if shooting into a sloping target area, but you may not have had the choice. Some army formations only had rifled artillery available, especially on the Federal side.

These back issues are an interesting look back into the history of the "modern" Bedford Light. It's interesting to see how things have changed in recent years.

Gordon Clifford

Names For The Civil War

       The conflict known to most of us as the Civil War has a long and checkered nomenclature. To this day some patriotic Southerners wince at the term, Civil War. These partisans usually favor The War Between the States-and some organizations of descendants of Confederate warriors use this term under their by-laws, and none other. The tide seems to stem from the two-volume work by Alexander Stephens, the Confederate Vice-President, published after the war.
        Most of the names listed are of Southern origin, since the defeated and their heirs grasped for some expression of unquenched ardor and defiance which would do justice to the Old South. These names have been seriously, not to say apoplectically, offered to the world.
        In a more jocular vein the war has been known as The Late Unpleasantness, The Late Friction, The Late Ruction, The Schism, or The Uncivil War. But in the South in particular it is known simply as The War, as if the planet had not heard a shot fired in anger since '65.

Some samples:

The War for Constitutional Liberty
The War for Southern Independence
The Second American Revolution
The War for States' Rights
Mr. Lincoln's War
The Southern Rebellion
The War for Southern Rights
The War of the Southern Planters
The War of the Rebellion
The Second War for Independence
The War to Suppress Yankee Arrogance
The Brothers' War
The War of Secession
The Great Rebellion
The War for Nationality
The War for Southern Nationality
The War Against Slavery
The Civil War Between the States
The War of the Sixties
The War Against Northern Aggression
The Yankee Invasion
The War for Separation
The War for Abolition
The War for the Union
The Confederate War
The War of the Southrons
The War for Southern Freedom
The War of the North and South
The Lost Cause

Source: "Historical Times Encyclopedia of the Civil War" Edited by Patricia L. Faust

Extracted from Civil War Potpourri http://www.civilwarhome.com

Street Etiquette

While walking the street no one should be so absent-minded as to neglect to recognize his friends. If you do not stop, you should bow, touch your hat, or bid your friend good day. Lift your hat from your head with the hand farthest from him. If you are on such terms that it is necessary to shake hands, lift your hat with your left hand and then give a hearty shake with your right. If your friend has a stranger with him and you have anything to say, you should apologize to the stranger. Never leave your friend abruptly to see another person without asking min to excuse your departure. If you meet a gentleman of your acquaintance walking with a lady whom you do not know, lift your hat as you salute them. If you know the lady you should salute her first. Never fail to raise your hat politely to a lady acquaintance, nor to a male friend who may be walking with a lady -- it is a courtesy to the lady. When you meet a lady with whom you are slightly acquainted, wait until she gives you some mark of recognition; if she fails to do so, pass on. Should she bow, lift your hat and slightly bend. If you are smoking, remove your cigar with your disengaged hand. If you meet a lady friend with whom you wish to converse, you must not stop, but turn and walk along with her and should she be walking with a gentleman, first assure yourself that you are not intruding before you attempt to join the two in their walk. She too, decides when the conversation is to end. If, while speaking, she moves onward, you should turn and accompany her. If she makes a slight inclination, as of dismissal, raise your hat, bow and go your own way. In walking with a lady, never permit her to encumber herself with a book, parcel or anything of that kind, but always offer to carry it.

Young Ladies' Conduct on the Street

After twilight, a young lady would not be conducting herself in a becoming manner by walking alone. If she passes the evening with any one, she ought, beforehand, to provide some one to come for her at a stated hour; but if this is not practicable, she should politely ask of the person whom she is visiting, to permit a servant to accompany her. But, however much this may be considered proper, and consequently an obligation, a married lady, well educated, will disregard it if circumstances prevent her being able, without trouble, to find a conductor.

Extracted from: Quick Reference Guide - Etiquette, Dress and Deportment for Re-enactors

Presented by the 7th MI, Volunteer Infantry Co. B Civilians

Boys in the Civil War!

More than 2,000,000 Federal soldiers were twenty-one or under (of a total of some 2,700,000)-
More than 1,000,000 were eighteen or under.
About 800,000 were seventeen or under.
About 200,000 were sixteen or under.
About 100,000 were fifteen or under.
Three hundred were thirteen or under-most of these fifers or drummers, but regularly enrolled, and sometimes fighters.
Twenty-five were ten or under.

A study of a million Federal enlistments turned up only 16,000 as old as forty-four, and only 46,000 of twenty-five or more.
    Yet by other authorities, the Union armies were made up like this: 30 per cent of men under twenty-one; 30 per cent from twenty-one to twenty-four; 30 per cent from twenty-five to thirty; 10 per cent over thirty.
    Confederate figures are skimpier, but one sample of 11,000 men produced about 8,000, the great majority, between eighteen and twenty-nine. There was one of thirteen, and three were fourteen; 31 were fifteen; 200 were sixteen; 366 were seventeen; and about a thousand were eighteen. Almost 1,800 were in their thirties, about 400 in their forties, and 86 in their fifties. One man was seventy, and another, seventy-three.
    Most of the youths of tender age slipped in as musicians, for there were places for 40,000 in the Union armies alone. There are numerous tales of buglers too small to climb into saddles unaided, who rode into pistol-and-saber battles with their regiments. Most famous of these on the Union side was Johnny Clem, who became drummer to the 22^nd Michigan at eleven, and was soon a mounted orderly on the staff of General George H. Thomas, with the "rank" of lance sergeant.
    No one knows the identity of the war's youngest soldier, but on the Confederate side, in particular, there was a rush of claimants. Some of their tales belong with the war's epic literature:
    George S. Lamkin of Winona, Mississippi, joined Stanford's Mississippi Battery when he was eleven, and before his twelfth birthday was severely wounded at Shiloh.
    T.D. Claiborne, who left Virginia Military Institute at thirteen, in 1861 reportedly became captain of the 18th Virginia that year, and was killed in 1864, at seventeen. (This likely belongs with the war's apochrypha.)
    E.G. Baxter, of Clark County, Kentucky, is recorded as enlisting in Company A, 7th Kentucky Cavalry in June, 1862,when he was not quite thirteen (birth date: September 10, 1849), and a year later was a second lieutenant.
    John Bailey Tyler, of D Troop, 1st Maryland Cavalry, born in Frederick, Maryland, in 1849, was twelve when war came. He fought with his regiment until the end, without a wound.
    T.G. Bean, of Pickensville, Alabama, was probably the wars most youthful recruiter. He organized two companies at the University of Alabama in 1861, when he was thirteen, though he did not get into service until two years later, when he served as adjutant of the cadet corps taken into the Confederate armies.
    M.W. Jewett, of Ivanhoe, Virginia, is said to have been a private in the 59th Virginia at thirteen, serving at Charleston, South Carolina, in Florida, and at the siege of Petersburg.
    W.D. Peak, of Oliver Springs, Tennessee, was fourteen when he joined Company A, 26th Tennessee, and Matthew J. McDonald, of Company I, 1st Georgia Cavalry, began service at the same age.
    John T. Mason of Fairfax County, Virginia, went through the first battle of Manassas as a "marker" for the files of the 17th Virginia at age fourteen, was soon trained as a midshipman in the tiny Confederate Navy, and was aboard the famed cruiser Shenandoah.
   One of Francis Scott Key's grandsons, Billings Steele, who lived near Annapolis, Maryland, crossed the Potomac to join the rangers of Colonel John S. Mosby, at the age of sixteen.

Source: "The Civil War, Strange and Fascinating Facts" by Burke Davis

Extracted from Civil War Potpourri http://www.civilwarhome.com