Spencers and Monterey Pass

[Preston County Rider]

FWIW - this weekend I was at a Civil War encampment in Waynesboro, Pa. I came across a local exhibit on the battle of Monterey Pass  with numerous dug artifacts. One was a case of four, intact bullets. I asked onne of the townfolk if I could get a closer look at them, she sais OK and opened the case. They were 56-56 Spencers, three in good shape, one rusted. She said she was told they could be Spencers; I said I was very sure they were and given the very limited number of Spencers at Gettysburg, we could probably identify the units that they came from. She also said the state of Michigan had approached the town about putting a monument at Monterery Pass to commemorate the Wolverines at the battle. I did a little research and sent the following email to the Town supervisor:

Ms. Gladhill,

My name is Vince Zalenski and I was the re-enactor you spoke with on Saturday at Renfrow Park about the four encased bullets in your Monterey Pass exhibit. I looked at the bullets to confirm if they were from a Spencer rifle or other Civil War era repeating rifle. I believe I can confirm that they are Spencer rounds and can pinpoint which units they came from.

There were only two cavalry units engaged at Gettysburg that carried the Spencer rifle, the Fifth and Sixth Michigan Cavalry. The Fifth was fully armed with the Spencers; two companies (E and H) of the Sixth were Spencer armed. This information comes from two authorities on cavalry operations and their weapons - John D. McAulay - Carbines of the U.S. Cavalry and Joseph Bilby - Small Arms at Gettysburg. Both these Michigan units were heavily engaged at Monterey Pass, the Fifth being one of the first units sent up the mountain. Since they were Spencer armed, I would say the odds are very good that those four bullets came from a trooper of the Fifth Michigan.

The Spencer rifle is a long rifle and the only effective way to use it in battle is on foot. A cavalry trooper would fight dismounted, as infantry. Spencer rifles held seven rounds which are loaded through the back of the rifle (through the butt stock). A loading rod is pulled out of the stock, then the trooper takes seven bullets out of his cartridge pouch, feeds the bullets into the rifle, replaces the loading rod, chambers a round and begins to fire. If the four bullets were found together, I would imagine they were dropped by a Michigan troops as he reached into his pouch to grab a handfull of bullets to load. Things like that happen in combat!

For what it is worth, a shortened version of the Spencer, the carbine, was not issued until the fall of 1863. So only the Spencer rifle was there (572 to be exact).

You mentioned that Michigan had approached you about a monument in Monterey Pass commemorating Michigan troops at the battle. I believe you have additional, physical proof of their contribution with these four, old, rusty, historic bullets.

Congratulations!

I Remain,

Your Obedient Servant

Vince Zalenski
Pvt. 61st Pa Vol Inf/1st West Virgina Cav

I am passing this along just to show how the Spencers can still influence our appreciation of the Civil War.

[major]

Vince
The cartridges could also have come from a Sharps & Hankins as it uses the same cartridge and some of the 9th NYVC had them at Gettysburg.

[Preston County Rider]

Major - all records indicate the 9th (and 10th) New York Cav were not involved with the fight at Monterey Pass, where the bullets were found. I had a Sharps-Hankins and thought this was possible but ruled out the NY boys. Thanks for covering that.

Vince