The complete issue
Vol. X, No. 3
(32 pages)
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Inside
Cover image
The cover and back image of this current issue features the Marine Guard of the U.S.S. Essex taken in 1888. The “field musics” (drummer and bugler) and officer are included.
Editor’s Desk (p. 1)
The editor notes that the resting place of Marie “French Mary” Tepe had been given a new headstone and G.A.R. marker. Articles in previous issues of Military Images in 1982 and 1983 prompted a renewed interest in this vivandiere and her story.
Mail Call (pp. 2-3)
The letters to the editor includes many accolades for the magazine as well as clarifications and additional information, including one reader who solved the “puzzle” of a belt buckle by turning the image upside down and reversing it to show an eagle. Some suggestions for future issues were also made.
Passing in Review (p. 4)
The issue features four different reviews of publications, beginning with B.P. Gallaway’s The Ragged Rebel, which is a biography of David Carey Nance of the Texas Cavalry, a common soldier who provides insight into lesser-known aspects of the Civil War. Next is Hood’s Texas Brigade: Tom Jones’ Military Sketchbook No. 1 by Tom Jones. He has produced pencil sketches of all known photographs of the unit, clearing up some of the “murky” details from the original images in his drawings. A total of 74 illustrations are included. The Saga of the Confederate Ram Arkansas: The Mississippi Campaign, 1862 by Tom Z. Parrish is the story of the CSS Arkansas did not review well, with the reviewer feeling that the details about how this partially completed vessel was initially created were lacking and additional information not connected to this event is given much detail. Finally, Civil War Relics of the Western Campaigns, 1861-1865 by Charles Harris focuses on the unique and rarer relics found in the area between the Appalachians and the Mississippi. The volume includes 1300 photos of great variety and should appeal to all levels of enthusiasts.
Blue Strings Revisited by Harry Roach (p. 5)
This short article with an accompanying hand-drawn sketch in a carte de visite is an addendum to the article on the Blue Springs, Tennessee images featured in the July-August issue of Military Images. The sketch was made by William H. Morgan of the 9th Indiana, and shows where a number of the unit encampments were located in Grose’s Brigade. The original photographic image combined with this unusual carte de visite map provides greater insight into the location and condition of the 3rd Brigade, 1st Division, 4th A.C. during the winter of 1863-64.
The Best of Gettysburg ’88 complied by Irena Zogoff (pp. 6-15)
A number of collectors at the 1988 Mason-Dixon Civil War Relic Show allowed Military Images to feature a total of 34 images in the current issues. A wide variety of scenes, both indoor and outdoor, are included, such as the crossing at the American side of the bridge at U.S.-Canadian border (complete with rules for crossing and penalties for non-compliance), a team of Union bakers with their hardtack wares, and a full band from Camp Douglas in Illinois. Individual portraits in various forms were also selected, such as a full-plate daguerreotype of a Confederate lieutenant wearing a Model 1851 forage cap, a cabinet card of Emma Lou Jassoy wearing a kepi, a quarter-plate ambrotype of two “Wide Awakes,” and several images of military pals.
From the Halls of Montezuma… to the Bistros of Gay Paris: A look at the U.S. Marines, 1866-1899 unit history by David M. Sullivan (pp. 16-20)
The stories of seven different international incidents which helped establish the United States as a global power and the Marine Corps as the first American force utilized in those conflicts are told, beginning with skirmishes in Formosa in 1867 and ending with Samoa in 1899. Intervention in Columbia in 1885 to protect the lives and property of Americans living there presaged the eventual uprising that led to independence from Columbia early in the 20th century. Other events in Mexico (1870), Korea (1871), and Egypt (1882) tell the story of a world that was still unsettled and grappling with the reach of the West towards the East. Perhaps the most unusual of the stories was in France in 1889 during the Paris Exposition when the Marines who were sent to protect the American contributions to the fair became of such interest that they themselves became part of the American exhibit by their precise drill that drew crowed and impressed European military observers, with each Marine being given a medal by the French.
Sgt. Joseph Camersac LeBleu of Company K, 10th Louisiana Infantry vignette by Michael Dan Jones (p.21)
The Confederate soldier with his slouch hat pinned on one side was born in the bayous of Louisiana, the son of a pirate associated with Jean Lafitte. He began the war with Company K, 10th Louisiana Volunteers in July 1861, but after serving in several battles in Virginia such as Malvern Hill, he eventually reassigned himself and became part of the 7th Louisiana Cavalry, fighting in the Red River campaign in 1864 and being paroled in Natchitoches in early June, 1865. Le Bleu served in many public offices in the Lake Charles area, eventually serving as a major in of a troop of cavalry he organized for the Spanish-American War in 1899.
The 1st South Carolina Rifles: An Album of Officers in Orr’s Regiment unit history by John Mills Bigham (pp. 23-27)
Although he did not serve as Colonel of his namesake regiment (he was elected to the Confederate State Senate in December 1861), Orr’s Regiment of Rifles held a storied service, including Gaines Mill, Fredericksburg (where their brigade general, Maxcy Gregg, was killed), and beyond to Appomattox. The 16 different images coming from a Charleston family’s photograph album are of officers from Orr’s Regiment, mostly from the beginning of the war. The execution of rank on the uniforms differed from most Confederate uniforms, gradually conforming to a more recognizable standard later on. A short biography of each officer is provided.
Uniforms and History: 22nd Regiment, National Guard, State of New York (p. 28)
Not only Confederates wore gray. The initial uniform of the “Union Grays” (home guard put together to protect New York City after the militia of the area was called to defend Washington in early 1861) was gray with a red collar and cuffs that were edged in white. Notably, they carried a two-banded Enfield rifle, and other unique uniform markings once they were designated as the 22nd Regiment. Seeing action at Harper’s Ferry against “Stonewall” Jackson in the Valley campaign of 1862 and again at Gettysburg with the VI Corps, the unit had adopted a blue frock coat with grey trousers, with a “22” on the cap front and the company letters were on the belt buckle plate.
Stragglers (pp. 29-31)
Rick Carlisle submitted two different images of the same well, each found in a different part of the U.S.; any readers with insight regarding the significance of the well are encouraged to reply. Other stragglers include a possible image of the “Mad Gasser” of Mattoon, Illinois, a carte de visite with images of 67 different Confederate generals, and a warning about fake dress uniform coats from the 7th Regiment of the New York National Guard from the 1920s; their gray uniforms appealed to many 150th anniversary Confederate reenactors in the 1960s and are now being passed off as those belonging to the 7th New York.
