If you weren't with us Thursday night, you really missed a good one!!!!!!! We had letters that brought tears to your eyes.. we had a love letter.. there were poems written by our own room members.... Whatta night!!!!!!!!! So many requested a copy of JRose's narrative poem, I've decided to include it in the Fireside. Plus it will give those of you who don't join us each week an idea of what you're missing!!!! We reached 34 members in the room a couple of times and we welcome you all!!

This Thursday is OPEN CHAT. Please join us and bring any questions you may have with you..

FOR ALL YOU 1ST TIMERS ON THURSDAY - "WELCOME" WE REALLY ENJOYED HAVING YOU :-)..... COME AGAIN, WE "RELISH" YOUR COMPANY....

From Joan:
Well, here it is. My narrative poem. It doesn't rhyme. It doesn't sing. It just tells a story, I hope. Much of it is true. It is based on actual events of my great-grandparents and on family stories.....

THE REBEL HEART

I reckon I am going to wed him, Will. He’s a good man, and he will be a good Pa to the girls.
It hasn’t been easy for him, Will, not fer him or fer me.
He watched his brother die, Will, you remember, you was there.
He told me how the two of you held him up, and tried to give him water,
when y’all were slogging it out in the bayous of Arkansas.
He said as how the two of you got real close then, when his brother died.
And how glad he was he was already dead before y’all had to surrender to
those Yankees at Arkansas Post. He told me about that hell hole prison
camp up in Illinois, how cold it was, and how you sat around a little old fire,
the only light through the long winter nights. And then how you got sick, just like
"Thaniel," and they, the guards, would not let your brother come in because he was an officer.
Tom had tears in his eyes when he told me, Will.
He said you talked about how you wanted to come home to me and to
our younguns, little Mary and the baby named for you, the baby you never seen.
How you said you wisht you’d never left our farm down in Texas, and how
worried you was that I would not be able to manage.

Oh yes, I missed you, Will, but we was doing all right - for awhile..
With the help of that nigger boy of the Thomases, Maw and I got the corn
shucked and took to the mill and ground. We got the garden crops in, and we
canned enough for the four of us through the winter. And I birthed little Willie,
a little mite of a thing, she was, Will, with black hair just like yours.
But then Maw got the miseries something awful, and in not two days she was
dead, and I didn’t know to do. The babies were croupy, and I was weak and
teary, and I wanted you, Will, oh Lordy, how I wanted you back. And how I
hated that war that took you off, that you just couldn’t wait to be a part of.
A part of fightin and killin, Will, when you should of been at home with me and
watching our babies and our crops grow. Jest like we had dreamed, setting out
there on the porch, watchin the moon shinin over the old live oak tree.
Then the Comanches came, and I was scareder than ever. They didn’t hit our
place, but I feared every night for weeks. They fired several cabins not two hills
away from us. The Smiths, the folks that came with Maw and me from
Kentucky, they got burned out. I was never so glad, Will, to see your Pa
drive up that day in his old wagon. He came in, bundled up the girls’ clothes
and told me just to lock up, he was taking me back with him.
He didn’t get no argument from me. I was glad to go. I reckoned I would feel
closer to you, Will, at your old home, with your folks and all.
Your Pa was a good man, Will, and worried about his boys. And rightly so,
I reckon. You died there in that prison camp, and the joy went out of him, and then
your brother, the captain, died, in that fighting in Georgia, and your Pa jist
didn’t want to live no more I think his heart jest broke.

So there were jist women on the farm, to plow the dirt and tend the stock and
the chickens. Jist women, your Ma, your sisters, James’ widow and all their younguns.
It was not a happy place then, Will. We all could remember too well all you tall black-haired Bennett boys,
with your wide grins showin off your strong white teeth shinin in your dark faces,
so full of life and laughter and teasin.
Dead. Gone.
Even when we heared the war was over, it was not a joyful place for us. For the Bennett sons would not be comin home.

That’s when Tom Sharp rode up on that old mule that was all the Sharps had left.
He came to see me, Will, because he had promised you iffen he made it home and
you didn’t, he would see after me. He has been kind to us, Will. He don’t
laugh very much, not like you.. He limps, because he still has that minie ball in
his hip he got before Atlanta.And his eyes are tired. You can see the
sorrow in them. He seen too much. He watched too many friends, his brother,
his cousin, all die. He was in prison camp twice hisself. He was with you in
Camp Douglas, and then he and all the company were exchanged, and they got
sent to Tennessee to fight some more. His other brothers got it at Corinth, and
at Shilo and at Tunnel Hill. He don’t talk much about it. He wants to fergit.
When some of his buddies who made it back start talking, the funny sounding
names fall out. Chickamauga and Resaca, Missionary Ridge and Pickett’s Mill.
All acrost Tennesee and Alabama and Georgia they fought. They were raggiedy
and sometimes bitter cold and sometimes sweaty hot and hungry and sick.
They told them to take that hill, or hold that road, and they tried to. They were tired, and
sometimes they felt they could not go one foot more, goin without sleep or
jest layin on the ground. And the noise. He said the noise, the cannons and the
muskets and the yellin and the moanin from those who got hurt jest about drove him crazy.
And he wanted to run. But he didn't. Tom Sharp ain't the runnin kind.

Tom got separated from the company, the one with all the Limestone boys in it,
after your brother was killed, and he got sent down to the water, to Mobile Bay.
He was in the last bunch of Southron boys to fight, and to be took and even
after Ole Lee had give up, he was still a-fighting afore he was closed
up in prison camp again. And after all them months and years,
the war was over. They let him loose and he started walking home.
With lead in his hip, limping on a big stick for a crutch, he jest headed home.
He was skinny and his hair was straggly long and he swam in muddy rivers to
git clean and he begged meals from farm houses, where they didn’t have
hardly no more to eat than he did. And iffen their men hadn’t come home yet,
or wasn’t ever comin home agin, he helped them best he could
to do up around the place. He said he seen a lot of niggers
on the road too. Jest wanderin’. No place to go. He was over four months gittin’ home, Will.
His ma and his sisters were all a-feared that he was a goner, too, just like his brothers.

He didn't waste no time to come to see me, Will. To tell me about you.
To see if I needed anything. And I did. I do. I reckon I need a man, and Tom Sharp will do.
He’s buildin’ me a house, Will, no bigger than our cabin at Florence.
He has his share of the land from his Pa, and he ain’t scared to work.
So I reckon this really is good-bye, Will. It’s Christmastime, a good time to be wed.
It’s a new year ready to start. With no fightin, and a new and lively Texas comin up.
The Texas we all thought we'd find when we left the old home place and came West.

Tomorrow the girls and I will have a new name, and we will be a new family.
I don’t feel that excitement inside my heart, that set me afire when I first laid eyes on you,
ridin that big old roan that day we came into town for Ma to settle up my step-papa’s affairs.
But I feel good. It feels right. It feels like finally the fightin is over,
and the loneliness and the scaredness. He will take care of me. And of the girls.

Goodbye, Will. I loved you, more’n you ever knowed, or you wouldn’ta left me.
Tom won’t leave me. Not never again."

written by Joan Rose

THE HELP DESK

This segment is to address specific questions that hit our plate on Thursday night that we didn't have a chance to answer or needed a bit of time to check it out. Hope these answer the mail :D

Editor's Note: Regimental Histories and Letters, etc. Postings: AOL keyword "roots", after which will bring you to the main screen of the Genealogy Forum:

• Select the "Files Library Center"

• then "History Files".

• At that point select "Civil War Files.

Lectures and the Letters, Songs and Poems evenings are also posted in the "Files Library Center" under "History Lectures" as the Lecture Subject. The "Firesides" when they eventually get there after their 30 days in the New Files section are posted in the "Files Library Center" under "Meeting Logs and Newsletters".

New Postings since last we talked :-) The "Firesides" are uploaded into the NEW FILES area ... The Letters, Songs and Poems are posted in their usual place (History Lectures).

HOW TO LOG THE CHATROOM

To read a log file

1. On the File menu, click Open

2. Double-click the log filename you want to read
   (If the log is more than 64K, you will have to open it in your wordprocessor

Chat Feedback

Dear GFSJayne@aol.com,
Very much enjoy your Weekly Firesides. This week I read information in your column that you got from GFS TEG.
This weekend I read a book, The Professor and the Madman, written by Simon Winchester, published in 1998, which contained the following paragraph:

"But at the same time there came disturbing signs in Minor's behavior, of what with hindsight appears to have been an incipient paranoia. He began to carry a gun when he was out of uniform. Quite illegally, he took along his Colt .38 service revolver, with a six-shot spinning magazine that, according to custom had one of the chambers blocked off with a permanent blank."

This was 1866 and Minor was an Army officer and had been during the Civil War. I never heard of such a practice and what was the point of it?????? Hope you can help me. Beat wishes to all of you for such an outstanding contribution to knowledge.

Kujien,
I'm sending your question to GFSJim@aol.com and GFSTEG@aol.com because I'm not really sure what the answer would be... My "guess" would be that the blocked chamber would be kept behind the firing pin so if the gun should "accidently" go off he wouldn't shoot himself... or perhaps if someone took the gun from him and fired at him he wouldn't get shot... just a guess on my part. Jim & Tom, you have any other ideas???
~~~~~~~~
Kujen :-) Jayne has hit the nail on the head!! This is a long custom of folks who carried "repeating" revolvers. It is especially well known in the "Wild West Gunfighters". The "blank shell" or "empty chamber" in a six-shot revolver was to rest the firing pin on when carrying the weapon in a holster or otherwise. It was a precaution against an accidental blow to the hammer discharging a live bullet, and possibly causing harm to one's self.....
You take care now....
GFSJim@aol.com
~~~~~~~~~
Kujen, You would rest the hammer on either an emty chamber or one with out a percussion cap. That way if the hamer was cocked backed and triger activated it would fall on and emty chamber thus saving you from shooting your self.
GFSTEG@aol.com

Members Helping Members

Here's how it works.. If you are trying to get photographs of a gravesite or battlefield, to collect for your Civil War ancestor research and records, then send us a request and we will post it here... Other members seeing your request and being in the near vicinity, and are willing to assist can email you direct (this protects your privacy) and work out the details. We HIGHLY recommend the "Requestor" pay for all film costs and any postage involved for a helping member. This is intended to be a "Free" assistance between members (with the exception of defraying film and postage costs). Do unto others as........ you know :-)

Keep us posted on how this is working, so we can share them I the "Fireside"!!!!
GFSJim@aol.com

Locating a grave..
From: Scotlinda@aol.com>

I would be interested in getting a picture of the grave of my husband's gg grandfather, ROBERT SYLVESTER, he served with the 15th Infantry Regiment Company E from NJ. The information I have is that he is buried in the National Cemetery in Fredricksburg, VA. Division B, Section D, Grave 306. He died December 5, 1862, of typhoid fever shortly after mustering in on August 25th, 1862.

Thanks so much for any help..of course I will pay costs for film and mailing.
Carolee Logan

{{{Carolee}}} We'll put it up and see what hits we get....
################

Subj: Offer to take pictures
From: JRose10700@aol.com

I thought you may want to put this in one of your Fireside Chats. As you may recall, I have been planning to "battlefield hop" this summer on an extended road trip. I found so many places to "hop to" it kinda got out of hand, so I have decided to break it up into two separate trips --an early summer and an early fall trip.

And I am willing to take pictures of any gravesites along the way for anyone who will let me know in plenty times as much infer as they can so I can locate the graves. I don't spend all day looking, because I have a lot to look for.

On this first trip, I plan to drive from here in Tulsa, OK, to Ironton and Fredericktown, MO, which was General Grant's starting point and also where my great-great-great-grandfather moved his family in 1816. So I will be killing two birds with one stone there! (On the way, just for good measure, I will stop off at Wilson's Creek near Springfield.)

Then I will follow Grant's trail to northeast Tennessee, into Obion and Weakley Counties, where my great-great-grandfather moved his family in the 1830s, and where one of my great-granduncle, a Reb, was killed. A short trip over to Forts Henry and Donelson, and a side trip to Clarksville.

Then on to Shiloh, where another great-granduncle was killed, and then Corinth, where still another one died. Tupelo, too, probably. Then I will cross through Oxford, Ms. (always wanted to see that town, home of my writing idol William Faulkner) and back into Arkansas by way of Arkansas Post where my great-grandfather was captured by the Yankees and sent to prison camp - and where another great-granduncle was killed. The Federal leader there was not Grant, but Sherman, acting under Grant's orders.

Now, that is covering a lot of battles and battlegrounds and will take me about 10 days or so.

I will have slide film in one camera, regular film in another, a digital camera and a camcorder along, so I can take whatever anyone prefers. I don't have a way to send slides electronically, but I can e-mail either regular or digital prints.

In the fall I will go farther south through Vicksburg and Port Hudson, probably Jackson , Chickamauga, Chattanooga, Resaca in Georgia, some lesser battles in Alabama, Citronelle (where one great-grandfather was released after his capture after Lee's surrender) and then up through Virginia at Manassas and Antietam, maybe Chancellorsville and then Gettysburg. This will take about three weeks. I am tracking about six Rebel ancestors on this jaunt. While all my CW ancestors were Rebels, I am an American, so I am interested in sites on both sides.

But hold the requests for any pictures in that area for now.

I am immersed in reading material on all these battles and having a ball! Anyone with any suggestions about must-sees, places to stay around the battlefields, etc., please let me know.

Joan

{{{{Joan}}}} Bless your heart. Hugs to you for offering. In the newsletter it goes...

#########
From: DWear28921

Seattle has a GAR cemetery right in the middle of a residential neighborhood. I don't have the name of the cem. here at this time but can look it up. I also live near the old soldiers cemetery in Vancouver, WA that dates back to the Hudson's Bay Company. There are several Civil War vets buried there.
I am trying to locate the grave of Daniel South who died in Memphis, TN during the Civil War. He was from Carmi, IL. Had a brother, William. Daniel's son, Salanthaniel is the ggrandfather to my grandson. I have searched cemeteries of Carmi with no Daniel.

{{{{{Dorothy}}}}} Thanks so much for your offer... and in turn we hope someone can help you find Daniel South. How about you Illinois folks out there!!!

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FIREARMS OF THE CIVIL WAR (continued from last week)

Editor's Note: A while back, GFSTEG@aol.com sent me the following information. I'm sure most of you are already familiar with it all... but there just might me some folks, like me, who are beginners in the history of American Civil War, so I am sharing this with you all.

REPEATERS

It was the repeater that really began to change the aspects of warfare among infantry and cavalry arms. By increasing the rate of fire for the individual soldier, it made massed formations unnecessary and rendered formal charges suicidal.

The earliest form of repeater to see action in the Civil War was, of course, the revolver. It was already widely accepted by civilian and soldier alike well before the war began, and both sides purchased and issued them in a bewildering profusion of models. There were Colts,Remingtons, Whitheys, and Confederate imitations of each, as well as dozens of others. All came in at least two models, sometimes more. Most popular of all was the Colt in the .44 or Army caliber and the .36 Navy size. To add to the confusion, a great many soldiers preferred to carry .36s and some sailors were quite naturally equiped with .44s. Next to the Colt stood the Remington. Other makes fell far behind. Like the rifled muskets, almost all of these revolvers were percussion arms, requiring a separate cap for each of their six shots.

Every officer carried a revolver in a holster on his belt, So did almost every cavalry man on both sides and a large number of artillery men as well. Some of these carried two , three, or occasionally more. A revolver could be fired easily from horseback, even at a gallop. It was simpler to use than the traditional saber and it could strike from father away. Early in the War, John Singelton Mosby's Confederate raiders abandoned the saber completely, and the trend continued through the conflict. Union troops never gave up their swords, but they used them less. Afterward, as they fought the Indians in the west, they too relegated their symbolic weapon to parade duty and relied entirely on their guns. The revolver had eliminated the beau sabreur.

There were repeating rifles and carbines as well as pistols. The Colt revolving rifle, for instance, was simply a longer version of the popular handgun, but the soldiers disliked it because it was clumsy. The Henry rifle, a 16 shot lever-action rifle and the direct ancestor of the Winchester, was an excellent weapon but saw little service. Neither could compare with the Spencer for popularity or to the effect upon the War and its outcome.

Chistopher Spencer of Connecticut invented his new repeater in 1860. It was a seven shot arm, and it fired metal cased rimfire cartridges similar to those used today. A tubular magazine in the butt held the charges until they were fed into the breech by using the triggerguard as a lever. The principal difference from a modern lever action rifle lay in the fact that it was necessary to cock the outside hammer by hand. This was a rapid-firing weapon. A trained soldier could empty his magazine in ten seconds or less, and he could fire at a steady rate of 14 shots a minute. This was roughly seven times as fast as a man armed with the standard muzzle loading rifle, a tremendous increase in fire power.

Delays caused by over cautious officials, and by production difficulties, kept the Spencer out of action until the spring of 1863, then it began to make itself felt. At Hoover's Gap at Hanover Courthouse, and at Gettysburg the new fast shooting gun astounded the Confederates, making them think they faced more Yankees than they actually did. Chickamauga, Petersburg, and the Atlanta Campaign all witnessed the feats of the new repeater, which led General George H. Thomas, the dauntless "Rock of Chickamauga," to call it " the most effective weapon in use!" Companies armed with Spencers could beat back the attack of a regiment armed with muzzle-loaders. Regiments could drive off Brigades. Even more important, they could do it while taking cover in opened order. Protected, they mowed down troops forced to stand in the tight formations required by the older arms.

FIELD ARTILLERY

Big guns as well as small ones contributed to the holocaust of the War, Cannons changed, and so did their use. In the Mexican War, 6 and 12 pounder bronze smoothbore guns hauled by galloping teams had unlimbered in the open less than 200 yards from the enemy and battered him with relative safety. At such distances, artillery was master because the infantry muskets were not effective for more than a hundred yards. The rifled arms of the Civil War changed all that. Now marksman could pick off cannoneers at 500 or ever 1,000 yards. The big guns had to stay back and look for protection. At safe ranges and protected by their own infantry, the cannons did their work using long-range projectiles , they soften up the enemy for an attack; with short range missiles, they blunt his charge.

The major innovation in artillery was the introduction of the rifled gun. This gave cannoneers greater range, just as it did small arms. The new 3-inch iron Parrott and Ordnance rifles could throw their 10 pound shot well over a mile with only 5 degree elevation. At 20 degrees, they could shoot more than 3 miles. These were the most popular of the rifles for field use. They could fire solid shot for battering purposes, shells that would burst for striking troops at distances over 500 yards, and canister to decimate an attacking enemy at point blank range. Old bronze smoothbore guns were also rifled with a system of groves designed by Charles T. James, but the metal was to soft for long service. The James rifles quickly wore out in use. Iron and steel were the only materials for the new guns. Many newer types of rifles were invented and used, including the spectacular English Whitworth breechloaders with their unique hexagonal bores, but the muzzle-loading Parrott and Ordnance rifles remained the most popular for field use throughout the war.

Even more popular, however, was the 12 pounder bronze gun howitzer, technically designated Model 1857 but known far and wide as the Napoleon. Here was a truly versatile weapon. At medium ranges it was effective as rifled guns, and at close range it was murderous. Its 4 1/2 inch bore held massive loads of canister. This was the real killer among artillery projectiles. Each round consisted of a tinned iron can filled with little iron balls packed in sawdust. When fired, the can disintegrated, and the shot spread out in a wide pattern just like a huge shotgun shell. In desperate situations, double rounds of canister were loaded. This was where the artillery did its real work, and the extra bore size of the Napoleon gave it an advantage over the smaller rifled cannon. At Malvern Hill, at Stones River and at countless lesser engagements, iron hail from such guns broke powerful attacks and won the day. At Antietam, they harvested the storied cornfield and halted heroic charges; and at Gettysburg they cut the heart from the divisions of Pickett , Pettigrew and Trimble well before they reached the Union lines.

Grouped in battries of four to six guns, the field artillery of the Civil War served its purpose with distinction. Well trained crews of six to seven men per gun could fire two aimed shots a minute at a distant target or four round of canister into the teeth of a charging foe. Good artillery action demanded teamwork, quick thinking precision, and technical skill. These human qualities plus the number of available guns and the ammunition supplied made the difference in most engagements. The cannon themselves were virtually the same on both sides.

These were the guns of the big land battles. But arms alone could not make the Civil War the bloodiest in American history. It was the men behind the guns who did that. His belife that his ideals were worth fighting for brought him into conflict. His grim determination that these ideals must triumph steeled his courage. Given tools. He used them to the best of his ability, often with great skill, Idealism, courage, and arms that developed more rapidly than the methods for employing them this was the deadly combination.

I hope this gives you some understanding of the weapons used by both sides in the Civil War. Tom

{{{{{Tom}}}}} Thanks so much... I sure have a better understanding and I'll just bet others do also...

A BIT OF COMMUNITY

Check out the following member inputs for comments and requests for information, Feedbacks, Items of
Interest and Pleas for HELP

From: JRose107000@aol.com

What We're All About...

OUR FOCUS: the "History of the American (United States) Civil War".

OUR GOAL: to enhance your Genealogy activity, knowledge, and "wisdom" by talking about the history surrounding their lives and actions; specifically the "Civil War" that our ancestors lived through and died because of.

OUR PROMISE: to provide an "online" environment that is NOT judgemental and to address ALL aspects of this "Pivotal Period" in our History, with honesty and truth (where we know it).

We do "Fireside Stories" about the battles, the people and the social happenings. In addition we dedicate one Thursday a month to the sharing of Songs, Poems and Letters from that era. So come back and visit; we'll save you a seat at the Fireside, and keep the Cider warm..... For a full listing of upcoming events, either look on the Schedule at the end of this Notice or in the Upcoming Events of the Genealogy Forum.

As we review the logs, and we find new visitors who show an interest or have entered into discussions on this topic in our Thursday sessions, we automatically add you to the distribution for this "Weekly Fireside."

AND TO YOU "FIRST-TIMERS" THIS WEEK, "Welcome"... :)

We heartily enjoyed your visit and participation. We relish what members bring to the discussions, and we hope to see more of you.... Note that for any reason, should you desire to be removed from distribution of this "Weekly Missif", just drop us a line and we will comply with your wishes "poste-haste."

Schedule of Upcoming Topics/Events

Time: Every Thursday Night at 11pm ET in the Golden Gates Room with Hosts GFS Jayne, GFS TEG and GFS Jim and our many faithful friends :)

• 6/3-99 - OPEN CHAT

• 6/10/99 - Letters, Songs and Poems Night. Don't forget to send in any that you would like shared.... These are indeed special evenings.

• 6/17/99 - OPEN CHAT

• 6/24/99 - "Gettysburg Night - Part VI - stories and tales collected over the years by GFS TEG (our own Tom :-))

We'll see you Thursday Night!
Your Hosts
GFSJayne@aol.com, GFSTEG@aol.com, and GFSJim@aol.com