Fellow Sharpshooters,


Publisher of Savas-Beattie, Ted Savas shares his rediscovery of the Payne Farm battlefield before the Milwaukee Civil War Roundtables. Among the artifacts Ted discovered on the eastern slope occupied by the Confederates were dozens of Sharps rifle bullets, fired by the U. S. Sharpshooters and Bowens Independent Rifles.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=rLE8v12ofjk

A few years after Ted Savas’ discovery of the Payne Farm battlefield, the American Battlefield Trust ramped up fund raising effort to preserve the land.

In 2005, the Stonewall Brigade (CSA) and Columbia Rifles (Federal) undertook an ambitious “real time” recreation of the 3rd Corps March from Jacob’s Ford to the unexpected and savage bloodletting at Payne Farm. As a member of the Bowen’s Independent Rifles (armed with our Sharps rifles), I found it to be a cold, exhausting and exhilarating experience. Like the original soldiers, the night after the “fighting” my (and fellow Rifles) biggest challenge was to keep from freezing. John Woodward, one of the ‘mortally wounded” Rifles, snuck away from the “aide station” to rejoin us around the flickering campfire. The next morning, both sides reunited to commemorate (and celebrate) the preservation of the field.

This is the ABT map of the preserved acreage acquired at Payne’s Farm: https://starexponent.com/paynes-farm-ma ... f95c5.html

Chris Mackowski presentation on C-Span about Payne Farm and Mine Run:

https://www.c-span.org/video/?463239-11/1863-battle-mine-run

Chris Mackowski book: The Greatest Battle Never Fought:

https://books.google.com/books?id=sRCEDwAAQBAJ&pg=PR2&lpg=PR2&dq=the+great+battle+never+fought&source=bl&ots=xvPmf0MPSz&sig=ACfU3U2jYfN_HnOhc06vS-Xa3213Y4bhqQ&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwj75vj7ivKDAxUEC3kGHad0AEI4KBDoAXoECAoQAg#v=onepage&q=the%20great%20battle%20never%20fought&f=false

Chris Mackowski, standing on the banks of the Rapidan River, describes the challenges that the terrain and Corps/Divison commanders frustrated the Major General George G. Meade’s plans for a successful campaign.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=N9B7v1_FVWA

Civil War Talk: Engineering Operations during the Mine Run campaign:

https://civilwartalk.com/threads/engineer-operations-of-the-mine-run-campaign.202637/

The Payne Farm battlefield has been preserved and now has paths and interpretive signs that allow visitors to appreciate the struggles of the original soldiers of the Army of Northern Virginia and Army of the Potomac veterans in November 1863.

Below is a partial list of USSS Casualties from Payne Farm/Locust Grove, that appeared in the
New York Herald on Dec 3, 1863:

Name/Regt/Co. Wound site
O Jackson 2F Hand, back, leg
Jas. Cramer I1 Lung
JW Johnson G1 Lung
F. Dalton i1 Side
C.E. Graves B1 Head
PE Sands B1 Breast slight
Sidney McNeil B1 Breast slight
Jas. Wiley B1 Jaw
Jos. Botz A1 Shoulder
Jno. Sentle A1 Head
R. McNair C1 Head
Chad. Low C1 Head
Chas. Baker C1 Head
A. Seaman A1 Lower jaw
C. Cross F1 Hand
S. Brown F1 Thumb, cheek
G. Smith K1 Shoulder
R.M Jordon 1 Side
E. J. Farnsworth C1 Head
Jas. Fisk 1 Head, breast
Eugene Payne F1 Arm, leg
E. C. Goodspeed K1 Arm
E. Hosmer F1 Head
C.K. Kimball E1 Hip
Issac Farnham F1 Back
H. A. Saunders E1 Arm, slight

Bill Skillman
Michigan Companies
Berdan Sharpshooters Survivors Association