Civil War Notebook

A New Weapon In The Army – "Coffee Mills"

2013-05-25T12:22:00.001-05:00

The correspondent of the Philadelphia Press with Gen. McClellan’s army says:

“In one of the brigades of the Union army they have six guns of a new construction, and terribly effective. We have not yet learned their names. The men designate them ‘coffee mills.’ It is a heavy rifle barrel mounted on wheels. At the breach is a kind of clock-work machinery, surrounded by a hopper similar to the hopper of a coffee mill, at the side is a crank.

One man turns the crank, while another supplies the cartridges, and a third sights the gun. By means of a leaver he moves it laterally, or raises or depresses it at pleasure. Its effective range is 1¼ miles. It throws 240 balls per minute, the size of an ordinary minié ball. When operated with, the rebels were utterly amazed, not knowing what to make of them. One of these guns properly worked, and well supplied with cartridges, is estimated to equal about 300 men.”

– Published in The Burlington Weekly Hawk-Eye, Burlington, Iowa, Saturday, June 7, 1862, p. 1

Diary of Alexander G. Downing: Saturday, August 2, 1862

2013-05-25T02:32:00.000-05:00

I was detailed on brigade guard this morning, but was taken sick while at my post and was relieved at 11 a. m.

Source: Alexander G. Downing, Edited by Olynthus B., Clark, Downing’s Civil War Diary, p. 61

In The Review Queue: Of Blood And Brothers, Book One

2013-05-24T13:19:00.001-05:00

Of Blood and Brothers: Book One

By E. Michael Helms

In the spring of 1927, ambitious cub reporter Calvin Hogue covers a family reunion in the Florida Panhandle. He learns two Malburn brothers fought on opposing sides during the Civil War, and encourages them to tell their stories. Before the night is over, Calvin realizes he has a far greater story than a run-of-the-mill family reunion.

Thus begins the first of many sessions with the Malburn brothers. The saga unfolds in their own words with wit, wisdom and sometimes, sadness. Before long the brothers are confronting troubled pasts and conjuring up ghosts laid buried throughout the long post-war years. Calvin is swept along by the harrowing eyewitness account of our nation’s most trying era, through bloody battles, personal trials and losses, and the mutual love of a beautiful young woman.

The South surrenders, but the peace is far from won. Trouble stalks the Malburns in post-war Florida. Amid the violent days of Reconstruction, Daniel and Elijah face continuing conflict, family turmoil and heart-wrenching tragedy as they struggle toward a hard-earned and costly reconciliation.

Book One follows the exploits of Daniel Malburn and the 6th Forida Infantry through the battles of Chickamauga and Lookout Mountain/Missionary Ridge. While working at the salt works along St. Andrew Bay, Elijah is taken prisoner by Union forces. Faced with imprisonment, he reluctantly chooses to join the 2nd US FL Cavalry as a scout, only to learn he must lead a destructive raid on the Econfina Valley—his lifelong home.

Book Two, the sequel to Of Blood and Brothers, will be released in March of 2014. The story of the Malburn brothers, Daniel and Elijah, picks up where Book One in the series ends.

About the Author

E. Michael Helms is a USMC combat veteran. His memoir of the Vietnam War, The Proud Bastards, has been called "As powerful and compelling a battlefield memoir as any ever written . . . a modern military classic," and has been in print for most of the past 20 years. His work has also appeared in the books: Semper Fi: Stories of U.S. Marines from Boot Camp to Battle (Thunder's Mouth Press, 2003); Soldier's Heart: Survivors' Views of Combat Trauma (The Sidran Press, 1995); and Two Score and Ten: The Third Marine Division History (Turner Publishing, 1992). Book One of his two-part saga of the Civil War, Of Blood and Brothers, will be released in September 2013, with Book Two to follow in March 2014. The first of his Mac McClellan Mysteries, Deadly Catch, is scheduled for a Fall 2013 release. Helms lives with his wife in the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains in the Upstate region of South Carolina, where they enjoy canoeing, hiking and bird watching. More information about his writing/books, and how he can be contacted, is available at his website: http://www.emichaelhelms.com

The Charleston Mercury, in anticipation of . . .

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. . . an attack there, puts the query – “Is not Charleston to be defended?” and a correspondent, speaking of a contemplated surrender of the city says – “If, indeed this decree is written in the book of fate then let us know it at once, that patriots may have the chance to die before so terrible a doom shall overtake them.”

– Published in The Burlington Weekly Hawk-Eye, Burlington, Iowa, Saturday, June 7, 1862, p. 1

A gentleman who has just returned from Mexico . . .

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. . . where he had excellent opportunity of acquiring information, expresses the opinion that the French and rebels have an understanding with regard to operations in that country. He confirms the report that the rebels are attempting to get a footing in the states of Sonora and Chihuahua, with the design of annexing them and Lower California to the dominions of Jeff. Davis, and of thus having a Pacific coast and one excellent harbor there at least, Gauymas.

– Published in The Burlington Weekly Hawk-Eye, Burlington, Iowa, Saturday, June 7, 1862, p. 1

Northern troops in hot climates are . . .

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. . . said to enjoy more robust health and perform more work, under certain precautions as to health, than natives. Actual experience in Jamaica under the direction of Capt. Marryatt, and in Africa under Dr. Livingston, the great explorer, has proved the ability of northern men to withstand the most deadly of the tropical miasmata. Capt. Marryatt, demonstrated the utility of wearing flannel next the skin. Dr. Livingston proved the value of quinine as a prophylactic. At Port Royal our troops use quinine with whisky, in the proportion of two grains of powdered quinine dissolved in half a gill of whisky, diluted with half a gill of water. This is taken in the morning before eating, and again at night, by troops exposed to malaria, and it is said that so far from promoting intemperance it really gives a distaste for intoxicating drinks.

– Published in The Burlington Weekly Hawk-Eye, Burlington, Iowa, Saturday, June 7, 1862, p. 1

General Butler has . . .

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. . . the faculty of using the right language at the right time. During a recent interview with Major Monroe, the latter remarked that “he (Gen. Butler) had always been a friend of the South.” The General here interrupted him with the following remarks: “Stop, sir, let me set you right on that point at once. I was always a friend to Southern rights, and an enemy to Southern wrongs.”

– Published in The Burlington Weekly Hawk-Eye, Burlington, Iowa, Saturday, June 7, 1862, p. 1

Diary of Alexander G. Downing: Friday, August 1, 1862

2013-05-24T02:37:00.000-05:00

All hands are at work cleaning up our camp. We have a very pretty camping ground right on the bank of the river. The entire Crocker Brigade is in this camp and is in command of General Crocker.

Source: Alexander G. Downing, Edited by Olynthus B., Clark, Downing’s Civil War Diary, p. 61

A young lady named McConn . . .

2013-05-24T00:00:00.000-05:00

. . . was saved from falling out of a second story window at Cohoes, N. Y., being caught hold of by the feet. Her modesty was so much shocked by the liberty that a young man took in rescuing her in this style, that she left Cohoes the next morning and has not been seen since.

– Published in The Burlington Weekly Hawk-Eye, Burlington, Iowa, Saturday, June 7, 1862, p. 1

Coolness On The Field

2013-05-23T13:39:00.001-05:00

A lad of fifteen years of age belonging to the 5th Wisconsin, whose name is Douglas, and resides at Beaver Dam, was in the battle of Williamsburg, and got his gun wet so that he could not fire. During the hottest of the fight, and whilst the regiment was falling back, he deliberately sat down, took out his screw driver, unscrewed the tube from his gun, dried it out, put it back, capped it, got up and put into the field as if nothing unusual was going on.

– Published in The Burlington Weekly Hawk-Eye, Burlington, Iowa, Saturday, June 7, 1862, p. 1