Sykes’ Regulars Schedule

March & April, 2001

Schedule Addition
Sykes Regulars has added an event May 5&6th 2001 to the schedule. The ‘McDowell’ event takes place in the village of McDowall in Highland County Virginia. There’s been good press about the event and it’s billed as a campaigner style reenactment. It’s supposed to be a running battle based on an action during Jackson’s Valley Campaign.
Here’s the history of it:
Generally considered the second full scale engagement of Jackson's brilliant Valley Campaign, the Battle of McDowell took place May 8, 1862 on the slopes of Sitlington's Hill, a spur of Bullpasture Mt. lying above the village of the same name. It was here that 2000 Federal troops under Robert Milroy & Robert Schenck attacked an advanced force of Confederates under Edward "Allegheny" Johnson, who had already occupied the hill. Johnson's troops were reinforced by the brigades of Taliaferro and Campbell (under Jackson), and the Federal attacks were successfully repelled.
Nevertheless, the battle furnished enough time for the remaining 4000 Federal troops to retire beyond McDowell, where they were joined by the attacking force at dark. Jackson's army, numbering nearly 10,000, took up the pursuit the next day, leaving behind a detachment of cavalry and the VMI Cadet Battalion to guard Federal prisoners (mostly wounded). The remainder of Jackson's troops chased the Federals through Monterey, and down the South Branch valley to just south of Franklin, West Virginia, where they turned back.

We are establishing an NR company for the event and if you are interested go to the web site and go to the registration page. There is a form there that you need to print and send in to the event organizers with $10.00. Also please contact Hutch that your are going so we have an idea of numbers. The deadline for registration is April 15th. Look for more information in the form of email from us in the month ahead. The web site address for the event is: http://www.geocities.com/mcdowellva_2001

Congratulations
Corporal Jason McConnell has received his NCO warrant. Congrats lad. You’re a good man and there’re not many of us left.
Jonah of the month.
There is no Jonah this month. Which is just plain sad.
Membership
Those of you who haven’t re-upped please do so, so you don’t miss another exiting issue of the Regular and you get your butt covered by our insurance. Plus don’t forget to get your registration to our treasurer so you can come out and play.

WELCOME TO THE REGULARS SAFETY CORNER



This article will be about nipples, the 19th century term for nipple is cone.
“The nipple(cone) is that essential part of the percussion firearm which conveys the flash from the percussion cap either directly to the powder in the flash channel and then to the powder in the combustion chamber of the musket.”1 Figure A, displays labels of the different parts of the 1855 musket cone, a-nipple, b-square, c-shoulder, d-screw-thread, e-vent-showing channel shape of the inside of the period cone. Figure B is a modern cone. By comparing the period drawing of a musket cone Figure A with the drawing in Figure B of a modern cone, you will notice that the vents are not the same. Modern cones actually have a cone shaped vent that is narrower at the bottom than the top.
The modern cone will become hopelessly clogged in a prolonged firefight. There appears to be two culprits of why this is happening. First, many people don’t clean this area of their muskets as well as they should. Fulminate is corrosive and is in many cases harder to remove than soot. Whenever you clean your musket, be sure that you clean the vent on your cone as thoroughly as possible by working a rag down the vent with your ventpick. At home, take the cone out and work a pipe cleaner into the channel leading to the bore. Pipe cleaners are excellent tools for cleaning nipples as they can get completely or mostly into the vent. Any time you clean this area, be sure to oil the threads on the cone. Otherwise, the cone threads might “freeze “ and you would require the assistance of a gunsmith to get your cone out. Avoid removing the cone or cleanout screw when in the field. If dropped on the ground, you might not be able to find them. The second culprit of why the musket gets hopelessly clogged in a prolonged firefight is the narrow shape at the bottom of the modern cone, as shown in Figure B, which was previously discussed. The way to fix this problem is to enlarge the vent on the cone. “This can be done at home with a power drill using a 5/64 inch drill bit and 5/64 inch is a maximum diameter, any drilling should start with next drill size up from your existing vent, usually less is best. Use the 5/64 inch drill bit to drill out the hole on the threaded end of the cone to provide a wider path for the flash to follow to reach the main charge. Drilling the nipple should be done only as a last resort, only proper maintenance will normally keep you firing. Be careful if you drill it too much there is the danger of suffering a flashback through the cone.
If you ever intend to shoot your musket “live”, you must change back to a standard cone before firing. Otherwise, you will risk a flashback through your enlarged cone opening and possible injury! Remember nipples(cones) are not interchangeable! You must remember that all nipples(cones) are not manufactured to the same specifications. It is absolutely essential that the reenactor learn exactly which nipple his musket uses. Otherwise, there is a real danger of installing a miss-fitted or cross-threaded cone, which could blow out of the nipple(cone) hole on firing with potentially harmful results. Always leave the spent cap on your musket nipple(cone) while loading! That is what keeps air from coming in through the nipple(cone) opening and mixing with the powder you are pouring down the barrel. Without the spent cap, After a few rounds, your musket will be hot and that air combined with sparks, could ignite your powder charge while you are pouring, burning you severely.”2
I hope this information is of help to everyone. If you have questions about a musket problem, contact one of the long time members of our group. We are always glad to help people “keep em’ firing”. I would recommend David T.T. Smith’s book “The Civil War Reenactor’s Blackpowder Guide” Send $12.95 plus $2.00 postage to Rusty Musket Enterprises, P.O. Box 3574, Gettysburg, PA 17325. The rest of the information came from a newsletter from the 1st Minnesota.

So…..
Here we are again once more in Civil War school where we learn a little bit more about how to do a better impression. We have reference books. We have Casey’s manual. We have Army Regulations and Customs of Service and we use them as guides. We learn the facts about drill and the life of a soldier and then we adapt it to our impression and hope that we are doing it justice. Just like the men who fought the war learned the basics of drill and then made it work on the battlefield.
We ‘interpret’ history. We interpolate the resources we have and try to judge authenticity. History is the recorded story of the human condition over time and it is written s ubjectively often times second hand. This leaves much room for error. We then interpret it through our own perceptions. Facts remain but the way we look at them is forever changing. We have a lot of folks looking at the facts at NCO school.
Each year at the school there is always something new that is added. Something looked at in a new way. Some maneuver has a new twist that wasn’t there last year. Someone found something in a reference and one more facet is added to our impression. The NCO school is great for this. It also reinforces things we already know. It reinforces how we do things and the imperative of authenticity. The sharing of collective knowledge and experience is what the NCO School is all about and the National Regiment is the only organization that runs this type of school. For those of you who have never attended NCO School you should make the effort. It is a great resource for reenacting as well as history.
Saturday morning started early with coffee and doughnuts. We found ourselves once more at the National Guard Amory in Gettysburg. The large auditorium served well as a class room aside from the trouble with acoustics. The first class of the day was company drill. Wheels & turns, company into line, forming platoons and flank maneuvers were covered in detail. Next on the itinerary was battalion drill. We reviewed forming a double column on the center, on the right of companies to the front and rear and assault formations by wing. We also covered breaking companies into platoons and forming column. There were many questions on details of the maneuvers and a thorough understanding was reached. After the noon meal which consisted of really good sandwiches and very tasty cookie we moved onto the group teaching sessions where the hall was broken into three sections with rotating students attending each station.
Position 1 was ‘Wearing Equipment’ and was taught by our very own First Sgt. Hanson. Steve explained how to wear the uniform and equipment efficiently as to not cause undo stress on yourself or those around you. If you wear your canteen and haversack too low it will keep hitting you and cause fatigue. If your gear is protruding from your person you will inevitably interfere with someone else in ranks. Steve also explained how to construct a blanket roll that doesn’t interfere with you using your rifle or accoutrements. Look for a page coming soon on our web site that will outline this wisdom and knowledge of the First Sergeant.
The next session was Will Hutchison teaching the basics of protocol or military etiquette. He explained that when you salute a ranking officer you are not just saluting a superior rank you are exhibiting pride in yourself and in your service to your country. He covered which salutes are appropriate and at what times. This is one thing that seems to be lacking in our impression and should be a focal learning point this year. If you are uncertain about salutes be sure to ask your First Sergeant.
The third session was on authenticity focusing on the camp impression. Mark Adler expounded on the absolute necessity of keeping anachronisms out of view at camp. If there is a modern convenience you can do without, leave it at home. Less is more. Those things we tend to let slide can easily be brought into a period form with a little effort and ingenuity. We will soon have the NR guidelines concerning authenticity and we’ll post them on the web site for reference.
The next series of sessions included how to salute with a sword conducted again by Mr. Hutchison. The sword being the tool of the officer was most often used ceremonially. It was also a very effective at taking an eye out so it behooved those who carried it to know how to safely salute their superior without causing bodily harm. The next teaching station was stacking of arms. This maneuver seems to change from year to year but this session emphasized form over content. How the maneuver was carried out. While at perfect attention and with little extraneous movement the demonstrators flawlessly stacked and took arms. They seemed liked cyborgs carrying out orders. With practice the Regulars could be this automatous. The final position cured the order of bayonet first or rammer first during inspection arms. For your information, the bayonet goes on first and the rammer is inserted into the barrel second. When the ‘inspecting officer’ (not the inspection party) passes you then you can remove the rammer and then the bayonet and return to order arms. Even if you start the maneuver from shoulder arms you return to the order after the inspection. At some point we had a break and were serenaded by Dave Drummer and his circle of favorites in the form of NR music corp. A fine band they are. The next program was Brian Pohanka expounding on the diversity of uniforms present at the Battle of Bull Run. In as much at we will be attending this 140th anniversary of the battle, many of the units in the NR will wear the uniform that initiated their Civil War service. The variety of uniforms was wide which went far to contribute to the confusion of that first clash of arms. Of course the Regulars will be in their dress uniforms and rumor has it that we will brigade with other Regulars to form square and cover the retreat. It will be amazing if it comes off.
Frank Hall gave an informed admonition on the possibility of heat stroke while doing an event. He described the symptoms of heat exhaustion and heat stroke and the best way to prevent them. Emphasis was placed on common sense and listening to what your body is telling you. Most of us aren’t conditioned for the physical exertion we place on ourselves and even back in the day they dropped like flies from the heat so be careful out there.
The next dissertation came from David Kinkaid on period instruments and music. He pointed out that guitars and banjos were distinctly different in the 19th century. The instruments were smaller and had different tonalities. The soldiers used ‘songsters’, small paperback collections of popular music not unlike the ‘Regulars Songbook.’
Now came time to take some of what we learned and practice. We all fell in and went through an inspection of arms and then stacked. After which we repaired to the great outdoors Where Larry McBeth of the 15th NY demonstrated poignantly the importance of handling a firearm safely. If you ever look about the ranks at an event, do you remember seeing guys with their hands or arms resting on the muzzle of the rifle? Well, if you were to see this demonstration you would think twice about doing it.
Larry had a piece of chicken propped on a pole. His assistant proceeded to fire a round of 60 grains at about 2 to 3 inches from the ill-fated bird. The bird was launched a good ten feet and when picked up found to have a large burned area. Larry then had his assistant fire a round with wadding in front of it. This further increased the distress of the bird in a marked degree. Lesson– always treat a firearm as if its loaded. Second, Don’t be Stupid. These are not toys were using on the field.
With that we broke for the day and made our way over to the Stonehenge restaurant, over near where the tower….. USED TO STAND! Yippy! We were treated to once again a fine pasta buffet. The Colonel loves Italian food. We dined heartily and then strolled to the next room where we perused all the neat stuff at ‘Show and Tell.’ There were some great displays and many wears to purchase if you were so inclined. Steve Hanson sold pearls of soldiering wisdom in handout form for 75 cents. There was a publishing table with all kinds of great 19th century literature, dime novel variety. One table sold some great items for very reasonable prices. Jason, Pete and I bought a 6 foot scarf for $2.00. There were some great displays with great original artifacts and much more.
After show and tell the lads spent a fine time fraternizing and discussing the coming season. Spring can’t get here soon enough. Sunday began with breakfast and hot coffee and then back to the books. Skirmish Drill was covered by Steve Hanson and Bill Wilson. Comrades in arms were covered with leap frogging.
Then of course the dress parade was practiced. The NR is consummate at the formation and execution of this daily drill where soldiers turned out and were inspected and officers found out what their duties of the day entailed. When you see the NR do the dress parade you are indeed looking into the past. At this point a ceremony that had been a long time in coming commenced. Our own Corporal Jason McConnell of the 4th US Infantry was issued his NCO warrant by the Colonel Daly.
AND THERE WAS GREAT REJOICING! The lad had finally taken the NCO test and had passed. It was a great and auspicious day. So any of you that had questioned Jason’s leadership in the past will now have no choice as he is a certified Non Commissioned Officer knowing every detail of the manuals and all aspects of drill. Quiz him anytime and often.
This concluded the NCO School for 2001 and all that was left was clean up. We had escaped this odious fatigue for many years but this year the Regulars were in charge of cleaning up the latrine. With stiff upper lips and held breaths the lads cleaned the hoppers and were proud.
Some of the lads went to the Gingerbread Man and partook of a parting glass.
For those of you who have never attended NCO School. You really should. You learn a lot and get to hang out with the pards in the middle of winter and dream together of spring and the wearing of the wool.