The Irish Volunteer Official Newsletter of the 116th Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry, Co. B VoL. X. - No. 1] PENNSYLVANIA, September, 1863 [SINGLE COPIES SIX CENTS Entered according to Act of Congress, in the Year 1863, by Sullivan et-al in the Clerk's Office for the Far Western District of Pennsylvania September 2003 Joe and Holly Sullivan Editors 3/43/43/43/43/4(3/43/43/43/43/4 ADMINISTRATION IN THE FIELD Capt. Steve Stowell BEHIND THE DESK Chairman, Kevin Burton ON THE HOME FRONT Civilian Advocate, Lynette Stowell Official Web Site of 116 PVI http://www.116pvi.org 3/43/43/43/43/4(3/43/43/43/43/4 UPCOMING EVENTS AND MEETINGS Fort Hoskins Living History September 27th. Board Meeting September 27th at Fort Hoskins Fresno, Kearney Park Living History October 4th and 5th, 2003. Veterans Day Parade November 9th in Eugene, November 11th in Albany For a full calendar of events visit our events web page at http://www.116pvi.org/Upcoming Events.htm Fort Hoskins Living History Dear Members, Please plan on spending Saturday, September 27, 2003 at Fort Hoskins. Dr. Brauner has scheduled a public open house for Archeology Month and has asked for a living history presence. This will be a great opportunity for socializing and maybe for some drill! We need to be set up by 9-9:30 am. The 20th Maine has also been invited as the 1st Oregon. If you have questions mailto:john@nedbaker.com See you there! Regards, Lt. Baker 3/43/43/43/43/4(3/43/43/43/43/4 Company Commander's Report 10 September, 2003 Greetings to all, I trust everyone who went to Fort Stevens had as great time as I did. It was by far the best Fort Stevens event that I have been at in years. We had ideal weather the whole weekend and the only moisture we saw was a heavy dew from the fog early in the morning . We had great battles each day with two planned battle scenarios, one Saturday afternoon and one on Monday. For those who were not there the Saturday afternoon scenario was a battle at Fredericksburg . The 116th, with help from the 69th and the 79th, portrayed the Irish Brigade at the base of Marye's Height's. The Irish Brigade at Marye's Heights suffered great losses and so did we. On Sunday the whole battalion took part in a dedication ceremony for the new battalion national colors and a fine flag she is. We had several new recruits join the ranks at Fort Stevens, many which have had only a small amount of drill prior to the event. I would say from where I stood these new recruits preformed and handled themselves admirably and represented the 116th very well. On Monday we only had one battle and the battle scenario the was the Battle of Franklin. In this battle the soldiers of the 116th embarked on a new frontier for us, we had practiced beforehand and engaged in our first hand to hand combat during a battle. I was told by several people who watched as spectators that it looked quite well from the audiences' point of view. There's a good possibility we will do more of this in the future, now that we broke ground in this new aspect of battle re-enacting. Our year's not over yet, we have several events still coming up before the season's over. Hope to see everyone that can make it out to Fort Hoskins on September 27th and 28th. Also don't forget the Fresno event, this is also a good time to start planning to attend the Veteran's Day parade, there is one in Albany and we also now do the parade in Eugene. Of all the reasons we are re-enactors one of the reasons I reenact is for the opportunity to honor this service of the soldiers of the past as well as the soldiers of the present. I know no better way to honor them but to march in a Veteran's Day parade which is put on just for that purpose. So please if you can set the parade dates as a priority to attend. Your fellow re-enactors will appreciate your presence and so will the veterans who see you marching in the parade. Also elections are coming up. Look for information on available positions and offices that are up for election and consider if you might be interested . Company Commander 116th PVI Capt. Steven L. Stowell 3/43/43/43/43/4(3/43/43/43/43/4 ELECTIONS! ELECTIONS! ELECTIONS! Yes, it is election time again. This year we need to fill the following positions: Captain - currently Steve Stowell 1st Sergeant - currently Kevin Burton 2nd Sergeant - currently Mark Stevens Corporal - currently Mike Heggen Corporal - currently Eric Troxel Corporal - currently David Batty Anyone interested should sent a letter of intent to John Baker or Kevin Burton NO LATER THAN September 26th, 2003. 3/43/43/43/43/4(3/43/43/43/43/4 From the Civilian Advocate: From the Civilian Advocate We had only 5 tents on the 116th street but we had a great time at Fort Stevens and although we had a miner fire pit incident in which no one was injured,just some burned grass, and with gusts of wind trying to knock down tents and flys, thankfully none of our fell down, it was a great weekend. One battle was great with hand to hand fighting, well practiced and executed. All are welcome to join us out at Fort Hoskins on Sept.27 and 28. I would like to work on our personas and talk about what is and is not 1863. Please come with your thoughts and ideas. Also please think about walking in a parade for Veteran's day!!! submitted by Lynette Stowell Civilian Advocate of the 116th PVI 3/43/43/43/43/4(3/43/43/43/43/4 FRESH FISH! The 116th delighted to announce the following new members; Herbert and John Hoffman from Keizer Rich and Krisy Lindvall Family of Philomath Kelly Blanchard of Yakima Washington Please join us in welcoming these new members! 3/43/43/43/43/4(3/43/43/43/43/4 FAMOUS 116TH SOLDIERS On October 16, 1863, James Haley of 116th Pennsylvania Company I became the 69th soldier executed by the Union Army. James was executed by firing squad for desertion. On August 25th , 1864, William H. Howe of the 116th Pennsylvania Company A was hanged for murder and desertion from the Union army after a questionable trial at which a defense witness switched sides to become a witness for the prosecution after receiving a promotion. The hanging would be the only military execution to which tickets were sold to anyone wishing to attend. 3/43/43/43/43/4(3/43/43/43/43/4 DEADLINE FOR SUBMISSION This is your newsletter and all are encouraged to submit articles to it. All announcements, advertisements, letters to the editor, and articles must be received by the 19th of the month to make the next newsletter. Make submissions to: Editor 24465 Gellatly Way Philomath, Oregon, 97370 Or email: mailto:editor@116pvi.org 3/43/43/43/43/4(3/43/43/43/43/4 CLASSIFIEDS Place your classified ads here, free to members 3/43/43/43/43/4(3/43/43/43/43/4 SI KLEGG: HIS TRANSFORMATION FROM A RAW RECRUIT TO A VETERAN by John McElroy CHAPTER 3 THE DEADLY BAYONET - IT IS USED FOR NEARLY EVERYTHING ELSE THAN FOR PRODDING MEN. In common with every other young man who enlisted to defend the glorious Stars and Stripes, Si Klegg, of the 200th Ind., had a profound superstition concerning the bayonet. All the war literature he had ever read abounded in bloodcurdling descriptions of bayonet charges and hand-to-hand conflicts, in which bayonets were repeatedly thrust up to the shanks in the combatants' bodies just as he had put a pitch-fork into a bundle of hay. He had seen pictures of English regiments bristling with bayonets like a porcupine with quills, rushing toward French regiments which looked as prickly as a chestnut-bur, and in his ignorance he supposed that was the way fighting was done. Occasionally he would have qualms at the thought of how little his system was suited to have cold steel thrust through it promiscuous-like, but he comforted himself with the supposition that he would probably get used to it in time-"soldiers get used to almost anything, you know.'' When the 200th Ind. drew its guns at Indianapolis he examined all the strange accouterments with interest, but gave most to the triangular bit of steel which writers who have never seen a battle make so important a weapon in deciding contests. "What are these grooves along each side for" he asked, pointing out the little hollows which give the "prod" lightness and strength. "Why," answered the Orderly, who, having been in the three-months' service, assumed to how more about war than the Duke of Wellington, "the intention of those is to make a wound the lips of which will close up when the bayonet is pulled out, so that the man'll be certain to die." Naturally so diabolical an intention sent cold shivers down Si's back. The night before Si left for "the front" he had taken his musket and accouterments home to show them to his mother and sisters-and the other fellow's sister, whose picture and lock of hair he had safely stowed away. They looked upon the bayonet with a dreadful awe. Tears came into Maria's eyes as she thought of Si roaming about through the South like a bandit plunging that cruel steel into people's bowels. "This is the way it's done," said Si, as he charged about the room in an imaginary duel with a rebel, winding up with a terrifying lunge. "Die, Tur-r-rraitor, gaul durn ye," he exclaimed, for he was really getting excited over the matter, while the girls screamed and jumped upon the chairs, and his good mother almost fainted. The attention that the 200th Ind. had to give to the bayonet drill confirmed Si's deep respect for the weapon, and he practiced assiduously all the "lunges," "parries," and "guards" in the Manual, in the hope that proficiency so gained would save his own dearly-beloved hide from puncture, and enable him to punch any luckless rebel that he might encounter as full of holes as a fishing net. The 200th Ind.'s first fight was at Perryville, but though it routed the rebel force in front of it, it would have taken a bayonet half-a-mile long to touch the nearest "Johnny." Si thought it odd that the rebels didn't let him get close enough to them to try his new bayonet, and pitch a dozen or two of them over into the next field. If the truth must be told, the first blood that stained Si's bayonet was not that of a fellow-man. Si Klegg's company was on picket one day, while Gen. Buell was trying to make up his mind what to do with Bragg. Rations had been a little short for a week or so. In fact, they had been scarcely sufficient to meet the demands of Si's appetite, and his haversack had nothing in it to speak of. Strict orders against foraging had been issued. It was the day of "guarding rebel onion patches." Si couldn't quite get it straight in his head why the General should be so mighty particular about a few pigs and chickens and sweet potatoes, for he was really getting hungry, and when a man is in this condition he is not in a fit mood to grapple with fine-spun theories of governmental policy. So when a fat pig came wobbling and grunting toward his post, it was to Si like a vision of manna to the children of Israel in the wilderness. A wild, uncontrollable desire to taste a fresh spare-rib took possession of him. Naturally, his first idea was to send a bullet through the animal, but on second thought he saw that wouldn't do at all. It would "give him away" at once, and, besides, he had found that a single shot on the picket-line would keep Buell's entire army in line-of-battle for a whole day. Si wrote to his mother that his bright new bayonet was stained with Southern blood, and the old lady shuddered at the awful thought. "But," added Si, "it was only a pig, and not a man. that I killed !" "I'm so glad !" she exclaimed. By the time Si had been in the service a year there was less zeal in the enforcement of orders of this kind, and Si had become a very skillful and successful forager. He had still been unable to reach with his bayonet the body of a single one of his misguided fellow citizens, but he had stabbed a great many pigs and sheep. In fact, Si found his bayonet a most useful auxiliary in his predatory operations. He could not well have gotten along without it. Uncle Sam generally furnished Si with plenty of coffee-roasted and unground-but did not supply him with a coffee mill. Si thought at first that the Government had forgotten something. He saw that several of the old veterans of '61 had coffee mills, but he found on inquiry that they had been obtained by confiscation only. He determined to supply himself at the first opportunity, but in the meantime he was obliged to use his bayonet as a substitute, just as all the rest of the soldiers did. We regret to say that Si, having thrown away his "Baxter's Call to the Unconverted" in his first march, and having allowed himself to forget the lessons he had learned but a few years before in Sunday-school, soon learned to play poker and other sinful games. These, at night, developed another use for the bayonet. In its capacity as a "handy" candlestick it was "equaled by few and excelled by none. The "shank" was always ready to receive the candle, while the point could be thrust into thc ground in an instant, and nothing more was necessary. This was perhaps the most general sphere of usefulness found by the bayonet during the war. Barrels of candle-grease flowed down the furrowed sides of this weapon for every drop of human blood that dimmed its luster.