Very cool! Looks like a new bail was added, because I think that's longer than the originals. Or maybe it just looks that way because of the oval shape.
Should have known that Brian would spot something like that.
Mike
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| Petersburg Virginia-Soldiers Quarters http://www.berdansharpshooters.com/usssbb/viewtopic.php?f=60&t=427 |
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| Author: | Bill Skillman [ Thu Sep 28, 2023 6:15 pm ] |
| Post subject: | Petersburg Virginia-Soldiers Quarters |
Fellow Sharpshooters In 1864 Timothy O’Sullivan traveled to Petersburg to take a series of glass plate images of Union fortifications, artillery and soldiers. One image is of a solder sitting in front of a spacious wall tent. Thanks to Brian Whites excellent eye for obscure details, after you go to the LOC link, look for the civilian coffee server at the base of the left tent flap support, half way up the pole you will find suspended a shiny, rectangular object. It is a USSS mess kit boiler. There is nothing about the solder or the setting to indicate his regiment, so it is impossible to say he is Sharpshooter. But by this time in the War, the original issue Tiffany imported knapsacks and messkits were largely lost; either abandoned, dropped before going into combat, or worn out. Wyman White noted only a few remained in the 2nd USSS by Petersburg. One of his comrades had to shed his in the brush when pursued by closing Confederate skirmishers. Whether this same knapsack was captured by a South Carolina Sharpshooter (and residing in that state’s history museum) is unknown. Here is the link to the Library of Congress image: https://www.loc.gov/resource/cwpb.01305/ Bill Skillman Michigan Companies Berdan Sharpshooters Survivors Association |
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| Author: | Calum [ Tue Dec 26, 2023 7:12 pm ] |
| Post subject: | Re: Petersburg Virginia-Soldiers Quarters |
Very cool! Looks like a new bail was added, because I think that's longer than the originals. Or maybe it just looks that way because of the oval shape. Should have known that Brian would spot something like that. Mike |
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| Author: | Bill Skillman [ Sun Jan 07, 2024 3:18 pm ] |
| Post subject: | Re: Petersburg Virginia-Soldiers Quarters |
Cal, I’m not sure how many of the original USSS discovered, as I did, that the soldering that secures the domed attachment to the body of the boiler (that in turn, retains wire bail) is the weak link in an otherwise well thought out system. I think it was the second event after I purchased my boiler from the Village Tinsmith (Bill Hoover), that I filled the boiler half full of water and set it on the coals. When i went to lift it, the bail and both domes came away in my hand. USSS Experimental Archaeology lesson #6, learned. When I returned home I resoldered the attachments. Afterwards I made sure the level of any liquid (water, coffee, soup, etc.) was higher than the domed attachments. When Brian arrived with his brand new Axel Ulrich USSS boiler at the CSA encampment at Pitzers Wood for the 150 Gettysburg Commemoration weekend, he immediately wanted to try boiling up water for tea. Unfortunately, I’d forgot to remind him to fill it to nearly the brim before setting it on the fire. Sure enough, when he grabbed the bail, it and both dome retainers popped off. Brian’s face melted into anguish, as I reassured him the problem could be easily corrected. Brian vowed there was no way he was going to go back to Axel’s tent (especially after his comments about getting kicked in the face before he’d make another USSS messkit). Because the Tiffany-Berdan messkit is such a classical part of the USSS impression, I’ve never had the motivation to make a “field modification” by pitching the dome attachments, punching a pair of holes in the boiler, bending the end of each wire, and call it good. Despite 30 years of research, I’ve never discovered any account by the original Sharpshooters that this happened with their Tiffany import messkits. But if it did, this provides a fairly reasonable explanation as to why so few survived. Bill Skillman Michigan Companies Berdan Sharpshooters Survivors Association |
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