Confederate Sniper Rifle

[Capt. Hamp Cox]

An interesting article in today's Austin American Statesman http://www.statesman.com/life/content/auto/epaper/editions/tuesday/life_entertainment_1495c071c097c17a00fe.html about this rifle.  Photo was in the hard copy edition, but not in the on-line version.

[Brazos Bucky Smith]

 



Man that is some long shooter!  The target was already dead by the time his compatriots heard the shot.   As I am not a registered user of th Austin paper, does the article say about what power that scope would be?

BB

[Capt. Hamp Cox]

Sorry, Folks, didn't realize the article wasn't accessable.  Here's the text.

Local man helps solve Gettysburg mystery
A rifle found two days after the historic Civil War battle finally gets identified by sharpshooter's great grandson and museum
   
By Patrick Beach

AMERICAN-STATESMAN STAFF

Tuesday, September 28, 2004

Gettysburg, July 5, 1863.

The battle that was not yet history had ended just two days before. A 16-year-old boy named John Rosensteel sees a sharpshooter's rifle, very distinctive, definitely not standard Confederate infantryman's issue. Two clues as to its owner are engraved on a plate on the rifle's stock: the initials "H.C.P." and "1862."

For three days, Rosensteel's hometown in Pennsylvania had looked like a Hieronymus Bosch painting come to life. Now the battlefield is emptying as the Union army leaves. The Civil War will burn for almost two more years, but Lee's Army of Northern Virginia will never again strike so far north. Some 22,000 wounded soldiers occupy every available space. Lincoln has yet to compose and deliver the Gettysburg Address.

The boy picks up the rifle, unaware that in that moment his life and the memory of the nation pivot. A card at the Gettysburg National Military Park tells the story: "His experiences that day in carrying this heavy rifle home across a landscape corrupted by war changes John's life forever. Instead of marrying and raising a family like other young men, John chooses to devote the remainder of his years to collecting relics associated with the Battle of Gettysburg."

The 36-pound rifle becomes the cornerstone of Rosensteel's collection, and Rosensteel's collection becomes the cornerstone for what becomes, after three generations of Rosensteels run it privately, the Gettysburg National Military Park. The rifle is prominently displayed in the visitors' center, one of the first things tourists see when they come inside.

The park facilities age. The "cyclorama" exhibit is restored. Plans are drawn and money raised to build a new $95 million facility.

The case with the rifle is still there. Still, no one knows who "H.C.P." was.

**

Gettysburg, summer of 2003.

Raymond and Zelda Herrington of Austin and their son, Les, visit Gettysburg while back East for a reunion of Korean War veterans, with whom Raymond served half a century ago. Zelda signs them up for a guided tour with a licensed battlefield guide named John Fuss. There's a two-hour wait.

Raymond Herrington, a retired auditor for the state highway department, sees the engraving on the rifle in the case and starts telling people, sort of half-joking, that it belonged to his great-granddad, Henry Clay Powell.

As it happens, there's a genealogist in the family out in California, Raymond Herrington's second cousin Artie Fay Powell McDonald. She has informed Herrington that he needs to be in the Sons of Confederate Veterans and what all because his great-grandfather -- McDonald's grandfather -- fought with the First Texas Infantry and was wounded in the head at Gettysburg on July 2, 1863, the day that saw the most vicious fighting. Artie Faye has the documents that prove all this.

Henry Clay Powell was committed to the cause, even after it was lost. Born in San Augustine in 1842, he traveled 16 miles on July 11, 1861 to sign up with the First Texas unit.

His injury at Gettysburg was the second of three he suffered on the battlefield. But still he kept fighting all the way through the war, until Lee's surrender put the matter to rest at Appomattox. He was one of 16 survivors from his company. And after the war, Powell named his youngest son -- one of 10 children he and his wife had -- Robert E. Lee Powell.

He and his family missed the 1892 land rush on Cheyenne and Arapaho lands in the Oklahoma Territory by four hours, and he died of pneumonia on the way home. His wife, Nancy Alice, suffered the same fate 10 days later, leaving 10 children in a covered wagon, 10 children who would be scattered. Some of them would not see their siblings for decades.

Again, this is what Artie Fay Powell McDonald has found.

So the Herringtons take their guided tour of the Gettysburg site with guide Fuss, and Herrington tells Fuss what he knows, and by the end of the day everybody is agreed this is worth taking a step further.

It is known that the First Texas held a place called Devil's Den. It is known that Rosensteel found the mystery rifle behind a rock or boulder, a place not in plain sight, the kind of place from which a sharpshooter would snipe. It is known that Henry Clay Powell was wounded in the head, and that if he were a sharpshooter, only his upper body would have been exposed. And it is known that Union artillery "shelled the bejesus" -- in the phraseology of museum specialist Paul Shevchuk -- out of Devil's Den on July 1-2, 1862.

It is not known whether Henry Clay Powell ever owned such a gun, known as a bench rifle because it was so heavy it had to rest on something. Such a firearm would have been custom-made by a gunsmith and very hard indeed for a wounded soldier to leave behind. Besides their superior value for picking off the enemy, such weaponry earned their owners extra pay -- and even with chronically short supplies, the quartermaster made sure the sharpshooters had plenty of ammunition.

It becomes, for Shevchuk, who's responsible for maintaining the collection and exhibitry at Gettysburg, a relatively straightforward process of elimination: Knowing that the First Texas and the Third Arkansas held Devil's Den, where the rifle was found, which soldiers among them with the initials H.C.P. would be the most likely suspect? First the answer is five. Three are eliminated, making it two. One of them was H.C. Patrick, who lost an arm at Antietam the year before Gettysburg. He could not have fired the rifle or most any long gun.

The other was Henry Clay Powell.

The display case is updated to include the new information. Shevchuk says he's at least 90-95 percent certain the gun belonged to Powell, although iron-clad proof -- a receipt of payment for the rifle with Powell's name, for instance -- remains elusive.

The Herringtons make a return trip this summer. This time Herrington wears his uniform from the George Washington Littlefield Sons of Confederate Veterans Camp 59.

They let him hold the rifle. He tells the Civil War News, because, yes, there is such a publication, it is "the thrill of a lifetime." And thus the relic alters lives again, in ways smaller but no less profound.

You never know, says Shevchuk, who might walk in the door of the museum and tell officials about an ancestor who was at Gettysburg, and who has some sort of documentation to fill a page of the story that has been waiting, blank, for 140 years.

"It's like a mystery novel you just can't put down," he says. "Many of these artifacts may be the last earthly connection with these veterans. There may be nothing in existence that is left of that person. That's what makes it so special. Everything, in its own way, is exceptional."

pbeach@statesman.com; 445-3603

[Delmonico]

"They couldn't hit an elephant at this ra"...plop..spat................and muffled in the distance a boom.

[Silver Creek Slim]

Did I miss what make the rifle is?

Slim

[Delmonico]

Would have been a custom gun, mostly hand made.  I have heard many were not marked in case the war went wrong for the South, the maker would not be punished for makin' such and evil thing.  (Snipers were not considered sportin'.) 

They are never well liked in any war, if captured they never end up in prison camps.

[Capt. Hamp Cox]

Did I miss what make the rifle is?

Slim

Obviously the writer isn't a gun person - didn't mention the caliber either.  Just thought the story was was interesting.  Reckon a person could get all the pertinent details from the curator at Gettysburg.

[Four-Eyed Buck]

I know they had specialized sniper rifles that shot a different shaped bulet, just can't remember the name. Can't get over the weight stated either, 36 lbs?. todays Sharps replicas can get over 12-13 lbs depending on the type of barrel. thats a get up on high ground,shooting sticks( or in this case, shooting logs!) type of gun. A Billy Dixon precursor?AH, it came to me Whitworth was the specialized sniper rifle I was thinking of. The ones I've seen in media didn't look that big however ...........................Buck

[Delmonico]

The Whitworth used a hex riflin' and the sides of the bullet matched the twist.  They were musket weight and one could move around quicly after a shot.  (smoke)  These big heavy bench guns used by both sides are harder to move with.  One usin' one of these might want not to shoot at guys with red on their caps, they have no humor about such things and sometimes will shoot double canister back at ya.

[Four-Eyed Buck]

Ouch!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!Buck

[Standpat Steve]

Howdy Capt. Hamp Cox,

That is a really great article, I'm glad you posted it. Not just the chance timing of the Korean War Vet seeing it and making the possible connection, but also the CW Vet's life. Wounded, but surviving into the 1890's, missing the Land Run, dying, and a few weeks later his wife dying, orphaning ten children away from home.

I figure anybody that had a 36 pound, scoped rifle back then-could probably shoot it pretty darn well! 

[Capt. Hamp Cox]

Thanks for your comments, Standpat. I've visited the Gettysburg Battlefield a couple of times, and found the Devil's Den area to be particularly interesting .  The military "tactics" of that time still amaze me.

[Four-Eyed Buck]

That rifle looks like a CW version of todays 50BMG rifles, just needs the flash deflector on the front. Guess to get out farther they had to go bigger. Stands to reason, the later Buff cartridges had to go big to get distance as BP has to have more volume of charge to get speed/distance......Buck

[john boy]

... scroll down to the middle of the page Weapons of the Civil War   Notice any similarity of the bench rest rifle with the Morgan James long tube scope on it?
... postscript:  Sorry Tripod blocks the pic

The Col Berden New Hampshire Sharpshooters Regiment used Schutzen rifles that were similar in appearance with the Gettysburg rifle.  These schutzens, mounted with the Morgan James scopes were 48 caliber, 31 inch barrel and weighed 32 pounds

I remember as a kid visiting the Gettysburg Museum, seeing the rifle exhibited there on a table with other battlefield arms and my eyes lit up the size of saucers viewing it

[Capt. Hamp Cox]

Great addition to the thread, John Boy.  Many thanks.

Hamp

[Tangle Eye]

That article and story were fascinating - a great read.  I'm an SCV member myself and, of course, am very interested in the War. I'm also a fan of the big rifles. I can just imagine using such a rilfe as a sniper in wartime. How different from the infantry techniques of the day!  Thanks for this thread!

[john boy]

TE:  Grab your front stuffer and go back in history to an excellent narrative of what took place at the Devils Den

One can even image that 32 pound schutzen resting on the rocks, lead zinging all over the place, boolits pinging against the rocks and heavy smell of sulphur from the small arms and artillery fire....with the Confederate boys trying to draw a bead through the 4x scope on their next target.

Yep, War is HELL ... "Keep Yer Heads Down Low Boyzs" ...If Only Could that War Relic in the Museum ...Talk

[Frenchie]

Amazing, absolutely amazing, story. That's the sort of thing that archaeologists and historians live for.

Let me get my pedantic nit-picker hat on here and mention that "sniper" wasn't a period term. The men who were recruited or picked from the ranks to use their skills to kill individual targets such as artillery crewmen, officers and the unwary were called "sharpshooters". Col. Berdan's 1st and 2nd US Sharp Shooters, men recruited to specifically do this duty and to be élite skirmishers, are two of the more well-known units of this kind. The Confederates took men from the ranks who had demonstrated high levels of marksmanship (and there were proportionally more of these in the South) and gave them the best arms, with orders to pick off targets that were valuable or that just didn't get the hang of keeping their anatomies under cover.

At the beginning of the War there were more of these specialized, heavy-barrelled rifles; they were all brought to the War by men who had honed their skills at home and who wanted to serve in the best way they could. Some of Berdan's men had them, but they were mostly sent home again after it was realized that trying to move at "double quick time" in a skirmish line was just a bit awkward with a piece that might be a quarter of one's own weight. They still had a few for special circumstances, such as the trench warfare around Vicksburg and Petersburg, however. Mostly they used government-issued arms like the Colt's Revolving Rifle at first and then Sharp's breech-loaders (which is not where "sharpshooter" comes from, btw).

It was very unlikely that a particular civilian sharpshooter rifle would be of a standard military caliber and loading (not that there was a whole lot of "standard" there to begin with, but that's another subject). They ranged from small, .36 bore or so, to .58 and even a few larger ones, but they pretty much all had their own bullet molds and loading equipment that was matched to the particular rifle. Most likely the young fellow who picked up the rifle and toted it home never thought of the rest of the accoutrements that belonged to it or would have had much chance to recover them also, but wouldn't that be a great thing if we had them to display with the rifle?

[Capt. Hamp Cox]

Hey Frenchie,

Good to see you over here finally.  Really appreciate your comments.

Hamp

[Delmonico]

The British seems to have coined the word "sniper" during WWI.  WWhen the trench warfare brought things to a standstill the British had scoped hunting rifles sent over, a person who was a good game shot was a sniper, cause he could hit snipe.

"Yes there is a game bird called a snipe, if you were ever left holdin' the bag on a snipe hunt I don't feel sorry fer ya one bit.")

Slim, how bout Googlein' us up a snipe and description.