"Caps and Kepis..."

Cough Cough...

Hack Hack...

Good Lord!!!

I just can't get over this lung crap...  and I've lost my voice again today.

We are out of class today so I had planned to go to Vicksburg today and look at the Confederate line positions...

The last time I went down, I spent so much time looking at specific places that I had never studied before that I only got through the Union lines before the park closed for the day.  I wrote about that trip HERE and HERE.  

... but I figured I would be better served staying at home and trying to get somewhat better so I can try to teach tomorrow.

I remember when Dad took us to Vicksburg back once upon a time... and he bought me a "soldier's cap"...

Being from Mississippi... 

I had to have one of these.

... but I don't know...

it didn't look right.

It didn't look like the ones on TV that Johnny  Yuma wore...

'Johnny Yuma...'

Nick Adams

... and it didn't look like the one that Mushy wore on 'Rawhide'...

'Mushy'

A couple of years ago... while working on my genealogy, I discovered that I had family members who served in the Civil War... on both sides... but then again, it was the war that was brother against brother, wasn't it?

During the time that I was researching battalions and campaigns, I became interested i the head wear that the soldiers of that war and time wore.

Of course, I knew that there was great interest in re-enactors who go to great troubles to attend various battle re-enactments... and they pay such detail to clothing, arms... shoes... even the stitching on the hats and clothing.

There are people who even have established themselves as sutlers, and they attend various re-enactments... and sell clothing and gear to the re-enactors just as the sutlers actually did in the Civil War.

I decided that I wanted a "real" Civil War cap... and since I had discovered that I had two great-great uncles who were at Vicksburg with the 87th Illinois infantry... I had one of these individuals make a cap for me...

1858 Forage Cap

This cap is SO cool!!!  These are the hats that the average Union soldier in the Western theater would have worn...  it was called a forage cap because the soldier could use the bill as a handle, and go out and collect berries and other things he may later want to eat.

James Garrison Coles

Great Great Uncle

This is the same kind of hat he is wearing in this photo... and although the photo isn't too clear, notice that he is wearing it with the bill bent upwards... like Mushy's above... and not like Johnny Yuma's... which is bent more like a baseball cap.

I just recently had this fellow HERE to make a Confederate kepi for me... he also crafted the Union Forage cap above!  The workmanship is incredible!

It is magnificent!

Incredible workmanship!!

He is in such demand for his work!  He has such a backlog of work that there is about a three-month waiting period.

I have learned of another relative from that time what was a captain in the 46th Virginia Infantry...  I am thinking that I need a cap for him as well...

This would have been the style of cap he would have worn... 

This is all way too cool to me...

Now if I can just get over this pulmonary issue...

ARGH!!!!

~shoes~

"Vicksburg...Pt I"

Battery De Golyer

Assault on the Stockade Redan

May 19, 1863

One of my great memories is that of our Dad loading us all up in our station wagon on a Sunday morning and his driving us down the Vicksburg, MS to tour the National Battlefield Park.  We would tour the park... go through all of the great museums... climb and play all over the cannons on display.  I always enjoyed the 'look out' towers that were scattered around the park.  They allowed one to view the sites within  the park from 90 feet high.  These were later deemed to be unsafe and torn down.

Observation Tower

Vicksburg, MS

1909

On Thursday, I drove down to Vicksburg and spent the afternoon going through the battlefield and checking out sites that I used to go to with my Dad.  I spent so much time at the different areas that I wanted to see that I only got through the Union Lines... I will have to go back another time in order to make it through the Confederate Lines.  

There are so many stories... so much history.

Battery De Golyer

Vicksburg, MS

May 23, 2013

One of the locations that I so remember is that of the Battery De Golyer...  This was a collection of field pieces that the 8th Michigan, commanded by Captain Samuel De Golyer, used to bombard a Confederate position, Great Redoubt, that was directly in front of these pieces.

Battery De Golyer

Vicksburg, MS

May 23, 2013

This position was established 150 years ago today (May 25, 1863)... even though Union forces had assumed siege position, this was a hot spot on the Union lines as they continued to  bombard Confederate positions,

This position was commanded by Captain Samuel De Golyer... who was mortally wounded by a Confederate sharp shooter while directing fire from this position.  He was transported to Memphis, and eventually made it back to his hometown (Hudson, MI) where he died on August 7, 1863.

Captain Samuel De Golyer

There was something greatly significant about the date of my visit to the park.  This year is the sesquicentennial anniversary of the battle... it's been 150 years.  On that date, 150 years ago, General Grant deemed Vicksburg to be too strong... too well fortified to be taken by force.  On May 19th and May 22nd, 1863, two strong attacks were made against fortifications and were repelled with heavy loss of life and injury.

On May 23, 1863, Grant resolved to take Vicksburg by siege... simply cut off all supply lines and starve them out.

Over time, the battlefield had grown up with trees... and all of the different sites seemed separated... removed from one another.  When I was at this site, I realized I could see the Illinois State Memorial... not that far away.  I really tried to remember being able to see that from the Battery before, but I just couldn't.  It seems that in  recent years, the Park Service decided to restore parts of the battlefield to its 1863 appearance... trees were removed and fortifications were better defined.  Instead of all of the artillery pieces being aimed at a great stand of trees, now one can see the old Confederate positions off in the not too far distance.

History intrigues me... We seem to simplify history down to one or two talking points, when in  reality, History is very much  like our lives today... very complicated... very difficult to understand or comprehend at times.  Sometimes, it's not what it seems

I always leave  places such as Vicksburg or Shiloh with nothing but great respect for the  soldiers who faced off against each other.

~shoes~