Civil War Times February 2022

GETTYSBURG MYSTERY SOLVED? How diligent research revealed the identity of the Devil’s Den “sharpshooter.” http://bit.ly/SharpshooterPhoto A COMPLICATED LEGACY The surrender at Appomattox Court House has been remembered—and misremembered—from the day the Army of Northern Virginia laid down its arms. https://bit.ly/AppomattoxLegacy A PLACE OF THEIR OWN As Civil War veterans struggled to reenter society, some formed their own unique communities out West. https://bit.ly/PlaceOfTheirOwn HISTORYNET NOW! Sign up for our FREE monthly e-newsletter at: historynet.com/newsletters LET’S CONNECT Like Civil War Times Magazine on Facebook FOLLOW US @CivilWarTimes GO DIGITAL Civil War Times is available on Zinio, Kindle, and Nook A Complete Civil War Times index from 1958 to present is available at historymagazinearticles.com…

ARMAMENT ISSUES In the December issue’s “Armament,” the picture of the flintlock is not of a Model 1816 but of a Model 1795 musket. The features of the 1795 are a faceted pan, a curl on the end of the frizzen, flat faceted hammer, and a flat and rear “teated” lockplate. The Model 1816 had a slanted rounded brass pan, convex and pointed surface at the rear of the lockplate, a rounded hammer, and a straight terminus to the frizzen sitting on the frizzen spring. Civil War Times is a fantastic magazine passing on important and fascinating data on the conflict, and as a historian I find it a must have for research. This small error does not alter my high opinion of the great research CWT puts out. Dr. Jay R.…

As Civil War scholarship and public interpretation expands, a greater importance is being paid to sharing the story of the African American experience during the Civil War, including on the home front and the role of Black troops in the U.S. Army. As part of those efforts, three new monuments honoring the contributions and sacrifice of the USCT have recently been unveiled. On October 23, 2021, Franklin, Tenn., commemorated the contributions of the USCT and Black Americans with the installation of a statue of a USCT soldier in its town square. The monument is positioned directly across from a Confederate monument. The installation was the culmination of an agreement reached through “A Fuller Story,” a project initiated by Reverends Hewitt Sawyers, Chris Williamson, Kevin Riggs, and historian Eric Jacobson. These four…

ON SEPTEMBER 28, the North-South Skirmish Association (N-SSA) held its inaugural American Civil War Live Fire Firearms Seminar at Fort Shenandoah in Winchester, Va., the N-SSA’s main range. A handful of participants, including Civil War Times Editor Dana B. Shoaf and Director of Photography Melissa A. Winn, had the opportunity to live fire a variety of firearms from the period, including the Smith, Sharps, and Spencer carbines; a Henry Rifle; an 1861 rifle musket; a Model 1822 smoothbore musket with buck and ball ammunition; and a Remington revolver. The grand finale included a live fire of a 10-pounder Parrot rifle. The event is designed to give participants in the Civil War field some rare hands-on practice with weaponry to expand their knowledge of the varied loading mechanisms and sights, ammunition, and…

SOMEONE, perhaps the subject himself, delicately scratched James L. Baldwin’s name on his photograph. Behind that name lies a story of a man striving for freedom. Before the war, Baldwin was enslaved on a plantation near Port Gibson, Miss. In 1863, he fled bondage and enlisted in St. Louis in the 56th United States Colored Troops in August. Baldwin became a sergeant and was shot in the neck on July 26, 1864, at the Battle of Wallace’s Ferry, Ark. After two months in the hospital, he rejoined the 56th, and was honorably discharged in September 1866. Sometime after his promotion he posed for this handsome image in front of the flag for which he shed his blood. Baldwin stayed in Arkansas after the war and enjoyed the freedom he earned,…

LINCOLN FORUM SCHOLAR and philanthropist Frank Williams has donated a bronze sculpture depicting the mortally wounded president to the Frank and Virginia Williams Collection of Lincolniana at Mississippi State University Libraries in Starkville. Sculpted by the late Richard Masloski, whose works focused on American history, the 3-foot high tableau titled “Moody, Tearful Night” shows Union soldiers carrying the wounded president after he was assassinated at Ford’s Theatre in Washington, D.C., on April 15, 1865, by John Wilkes Booth. LIBRARY OF CONGRESS; MISSISSIPPI STATE UNIVERSITY LIBRARY…