00:02 - Morning. If you can't hear, move

00:06 - in.

00:07 - I do not talk loud.

00:08 - I'm a confederate captain and I

00:10 - do not have to talk loud.

00:12 - In fact I can whisper and

00:13 - they'll do exactly what I told

00:15 - them to do or I'll shoot them.

00:18 - That's simple. Civil war.

00:22 - You're all interested or you

00:23 - wouldn't be here.

00:25 - I represent the South.

00:27 - I represent a group of men that

00:29 - come out of Athens, Georgia.

00:30 - Clark County, Georgia. Fought

00:32 - the entire war.

00:34 - And I'll tell you a little bit

00:35 - about them at the end of the

00:36 - presentation.

00:39 - The weapons that they're

00:40 - carrying and the way that we

00:44 - fought the war we used

00:46 - Napoleonic tactics. Napoleon was

00:51 - the man that designed how major

00:53 - armies are going to fight one

00:55 - another.

00:56 - And both sides of that civil war

00:59 - that the commanding staffs of

01:01 - both sides basically went to

01:03 - West Point and knew each other.

01:06 - They were friends.

01:08 - They had different philosophies,

01:10 - but they knew each other very

01:11 - well.

01:12 - What I'm showing you today we

01:15 - could go back in our tents, flip

01:16 - on a uniform, walk up here, and

01:19 - basically I would tell you the

01:20 - same thing.

01:21 - Both armies did the same thing.

01:24 - I'm going to tell you a little

01:25 - story later.

01:25 - And you're going to start to

01:26 - understand a little bit deeper

01:29 - about the Civil War through this

01:31 - story.

01:33 - But right now we're going to

01:34 - talk about gun firing.

01:37 - Basically these fellows all have

01:40 - replicas of 1861 1863

01:44 - Springfields and Enfields. That

01:48 - weapon fire is a mini ball. A

01:51 - mini ball is one ounce of lead.

01:55 - Looks like a football and has

01:57 - two or three circles in the

01:58 - bottom of it. When the explosion

02:01 - occurs it causes the bottom of

02:04 - lead to spread out, causes the

02:06 - ball to make one twist up the

02:09 - barrel.

02:10 - One twist only, spins one time,

02:13 - but it comes out and the

02:15 - spinning motion is like throwing

02:16 - a football and throwing a

02:19 - basketball.

02:20 - The early weapons were a round

02:23 - ball and you know you can't

02:24 - throw a basketball very far

02:26 - versus the football. Early

02:29 - weapons could kill you at 50

02:31 - yards.

02:32 - This weapon will kill you at 500

02:34 - yards. 500 yards don't mean much

02:37 - to you.

02:38 - I realize that.

02:39 - But everybody look across the

02:41 - field.

02:41 - If you were over there in that

02:43 - fence line on the other end of

02:45 - the field and you got hit with

02:46 - one of these bullets, it would

02:48 - kill you.

02:49 - The killing field would be a

02:50 - little longer than what this

02:51 - field here is.

02:53 - That's about 400 yards over

02:55 - where another 100 yards and you

02:57 - understand that the weapons were

02:59 - very deadly.

03:01 - Our tactics though are designed

03:03 - for weapons that will kill us 50

03:05 - yards and as you go through the

03:07 - firing demonstration everything

03:09 - is based on a 50 yard kill

03:11 - ratio. By the time we get to

03:14 - 1863...

03:17 - You got to come down here.

03:19 - By the time you get to 1863 we

03:22 - realized that we can't stand

03:24 - shoulder to shoulder anymore and

03:26 - we start building earthworks.

03:27 - There are earthworks at

03:29 - Gettysburg. Earthworks are

03:31 - nothing but a predecessor to

03:35 - trench warfare.

03:36 - So we start the civil war

03:38 - fighting one way and we end the

03:40 - civil war fighting another way.

03:43 - We start the civil war.

03:45 - Civilians aren't involved.

03:47 - Towns aren't involved.

03:49 - We end the civil war in

03:51 - surrounding towns and bombarding

03:53 - the civilians in the towns.

03:56 - Our philosophy changes in that

03:59 - four year period.

04:01 - Now we spend our whole entire

04:03 - life today like we did them

04:05 - teaching young boys and girls

04:08 - not to fire a weapon to kill

04:10 - anything.

04:11 - We'd go hunting, kill something

04:13 - to eat, but not to shoot

04:16 - somebody.

04:17 - Then we take a young boy today

04:19 - like we did then, put them in a

04:21 - uniform, and tell them to go

04:22 - kill somebody.

04:24 - Very difficult thing we're

04:27 - finding out like we've had found

04:28 - out from every war.

04:29 - When the boys come home it's

04:31 - very hard to turn that part of

04:34 - your education off and go back

04:36 - to the way you were before you

04:38 - didn't kill somebody.

04:41 - To fire a civil war weapon takes

04:44 - nine steps.

04:47 - The command that I'm going to

04:48 - give is load in nine times. Nine

04:52 - steps.

04:54 - The whole group here is going to

04:56 - do it all at one time. Nine

04:59 - distinct steps.

05:02 - First Command I'm going to give

05:03 - is attention. At which time they

05:09 - bring their weapon out in front

05:10 - of them.

05:11 - Barrel facing away from their

05:12 - face.

05:14 - So if it fired prematurely went

05:16 - off it wouldn't burn the front

05:19 - of your face. Handle. Cartridge.

05:23 - At this point in time they reach

05:24 - back into the cartridge box and

05:26 - the cartridge box has 40 rounds

05:31 - packed and tend to go around and

05:33 - in fact there's one blue round.

05:37 - The blue round his arm is a

05:38 - window cleaner bullet.

05:41 - Looks like a regular bullet, but

05:42 - it looks like it has a dime

05:44 - welded to the bottom of it.

05:46 - And what happens is you put that

05:48 - in your 7th to 10th round is

05:51 - when you put that into your gun

05:54 - and it cleans the inside of the

05:55 - barrels to continue fighting.

05:58 - If you're using on your first

05:59 - round or your second round by

06:02 - the time you get your 10 rounds

06:04 - you can't get the bullet down

06:05 - the barrel. Is just too much

06:06 - garbage.

06:07 - They all knew this one bullet,

06:10 - one Williams bullet.

06:11 - And if you went and you look at

06:12 - the bullet displays you'll see a

06:14 - Williams bullet and it looks

06:15 - like it's got a dime in the

06:16 - bottom of it.

06:17 - And that's what it's for.

06:21 - Prepare cartridge, they would

06:22 - take the cartridge to mount and

06:25 - ripped it from the card.

06:26 - You know what's great about this

06:27 - is in a civil war to tear a

06:35 - cartridge you fired your four

06:37 - front teeth.

06:38 - It was until 1938 to be an

06:42 - infantry soldier in the United

06:43 - States Infantry.

06:45 - You had to have your four front

06:46 - teeth.

06:47 - I will repeat that it was till

06:50 - 1938 when the United States Army

06:53 - understood they no longer tore

06:55 - cartridges. That went away at

06:57 - the end of the civil war.

06:59 - So when we think about our

07:00 - government takes time to do

07:01 - things it took time at that time

07:04 - to do things too. It didn't

07:05 - happen overnight.

07:09 - Now I bring the cartridge up.

07:11 - Looks like two of them already

07:12 - did.

07:13 - And what they're going to do is

07:15 - command. Charge cartridge. At

07:19 - which time these two guys went

07:20 - ahead of themselves because

07:22 - they're so used to load a unit.

07:23 - That's what happens when I'm

07:24 - dealing with sergeants and

07:25 - corporals that are generally

07:27 - given that they're charging the

07:29 - cartridge. What they're doing is

07:32 - they're putting 60 grams of

07:34 - powder down and they're putting

07:36 - that one inch bullet in.

07:38 - Well that's the part you're not

07:39 - seeing.

07:39 - That's the part we're not doing.

07:42 - But they would take the thumb

07:43 - and push the bullet down.

07:45 - So it was even. Draw rammers.

07:48 - They draw their rammer. Ram

07:51 - cartridge.

07:52 - At this point they drive it all

07:54 - to the bottom.

07:56 - Now what's new about this is if

07:58 - they neglect the next step in

08:00 - battle, the Rammer, it's going

08:03 - to go down field.

08:05 - And if the rammer goes out with

08:07 - the bullet, it goes down field.

08:09 - They now have a nine pound club

08:12 - because they can't load their

08:13 - gun.

08:15 - And when they asked their file

08:16 - partner to use their Rammer

08:19 - their fire partner's going to

08:20 - look at them right smack in the

08:22 - eyes and say you already lost

08:23 - your own Rammer.

08:24 - I ain't giving you mine.

08:27 - So but in the heat of battle you

08:30 - would see rammers go down field

08:32 - and they would have grabbed the

08:33 - next fellow's Rammer to do this.

08:36 - Return rammers. And bring the

08:39 - rammers back.

08:40 - At this point I'm going to have

08:42 - to bring them and we will come

08:43 - around from you because up to

08:45 - this point the gun is totally

08:47 - safe.

08:49 - What's the next step?

08:50 - It becomes a real gun.

08:53 - So what I'm going to do is

08:54 - shoulder arms. Left wheel.

09:00 - March. Forward march. Left wheel

09:13 - march. Prime. The word prime.

09:22 - They're going to take the cap. A

09:24 - little cap.

09:25 - They're going to put on the

09:26 - nipple. For all you that have

09:28 - ever fired a cap gun in your

09:30 - life.

09:31 - The cap gun has a red strip with

09:33 - black dots on it.

09:35 - The black dots is Fulminated

09:37 - Mercury.

09:39 - That's what's inside the little

09:40 - brass caps, the Fulminated

09:42 - Mercury is what makes your cap

09:44 - gun go bang and if you do that

09:46 - right you'll see sparks come off

09:48 - of it.

09:49 - The spark comes off.

09:51 - Goes down to the nipple.

09:52 - Follows the firing channel, goes

09:54 - in, lights the powder. Powder

09:56 - explodes, drives the projectile

09:59 - out. We gotta prime. Next

10:04 - command would be ready.

10:09 - Fire! Recover arms. What you're

10:14 - seeing is the nine steps. Now

10:18 - we'll let them load them in.

10:21 - Civil war time to load and fire

10:23 - a weapon.

10:24 - The average soldier in North and

10:27 - South could fire his gun three

10:29 - times in one minute.

10:32 - Now this is important. But 98

10:38 - percent of all the actors

10:40 - including myself cannot load and

10:43 - fire my gun three times a

10:45 - minute.

10:46 - I have tried. The best I've ever

10:47 - done is a minute and five

10:49 - seconds and I'm not putting the

10:50 - bullet in.

10:51 - They were very good at doing

10:53 - this compared to us today.

10:56 - Now what's important is I'm

10:59 - going to show you the ready work

11:04 - load.

11:06 - What happens now.

11:09 - I've got a 20 second interval.

11:12 - 20 seconds that I cannot defend

11:14 - myself. In 20 seconds you can

11:19 - cover this whole field.

11:21 - You can be in my line and I

11:22 - cannot protect myself.

11:24 - So if I fire my entire company

11:28 - or brigade or regiment or corps

11:31 - for a twenty second period.

11:33 - I cannot defend myself.

11:36 - Most battle lines are columns of

11:38 - two. Form two columns.

11:41 - March. Most battle lines are in

11:48 - a column of two. Second way I

11:52 - can fire is I can fire my front

11:54 - rank, I now have two ranks which

11:56 - I would normally have.

11:58 - I can fire my rank. Firing by

12:02 - rank. Rank ready! Fire! My rear

12:09 - rank still loaded.

12:11 - I now took from firing three

12:14 - times a minute.

12:15 - To firing six times a minute. I

12:18 - cut it in half.

12:22 - But I've given up half my

12:23 - firepower. Napoleonic tactics

12:27 - are to fire as much lead down

12:29 - the field at the enemy.

12:31 - You don't aim, you point it. You

12:34 - don't aim like today.

12:36 - Point it the direction that you

12:38 - want the ball to go in in the

12:40 - Civil War time.

12:42 - The idea was you get the first

12:44 - fire off you're going to bring

12:45 - down some of your enemies before

12:48 - they can return back to your

12:49 - fire.

12:50 - If any of you have seen the

12:51 - movie The Patriot you can see

12:53 - that the very well demonstrated

12:55 - towards the end of The Patriot

12:57 - when the angry Patriots are

12:58 - fighting you can see that the

13:01 - Patriots get the first round the

13:02 - English get the second round

13:04 - fired and the Patriots fire, but

13:05 - the lines are getting smaller

13:07 - and smaller.

13:08 - That is Napoleonic tactics.

13:10 - Rear rank! Ready. Aim. Fire!

13:15 - I was here talking away, but I

13:17 - was protected. All along I was

13:22 - protected. 4 and 1 rank. March.

13:28 - So I've now shown you two ways.

13:30 - Part 1 Everybody fires at one

13:32 - time. Firing by company. Second

13:34 - line firing by rank.

13:36 - Front and rear rank is served by

13:39 - way of firing.

13:40 - It's going to be firing by file.

13:42 - Each two man to his file. It is

13:44 - one of my most favorite ways of

13:46 - firing.

13:47 - Go to a re-enactment and you see

13:51 - the U.S. they called the Mifflin

13:53 - guard or Jackson corps or the

13:55 - one of the bigger units had an

13:57 - appeal and they got 10 companies

13:58 - up there and they do this

14:00 - command firing by file.

14:03 - That's a beautiful thing to

14:04 - watch because each company

14:05 - starts firing. Bang bang bang

14:08 - bang bang bang you look over at

14:10 - your wife or your husband and

14:11 - say that looks pretty neat.

14:13 - You know really is. And all of a

14:14 - sudden chaos breaks out and

14:16 - they're firing from all over.

14:18 - It is the only command in a

14:20 - civil war that allows you to

14:21 - load and fire your gun.

14:23 - At your own rate. After you

14:24 - fired your first round firing by

14:28 - file from the right.

14:31 - Commence firing.

14:39 - I had my full company here. I

14:40 - would have 41 guys, it would be

14:42 - 10, uh--

14:43 - There would be 20 files they

14:45 - would come with down to the end.

14:47 - Now as fast as you can load your

14:50 - gun and fire you're gonna fire.

14:53 - So after you just look to your

14:55 - wife and husband said Boy that

14:56 - looks really neat all of a

14:57 - sudden chaos breaks out and are

14:59 - firing from all over.

15:01 - Man these guys really aren't

15:02 - firing much. Cease fire.

15:06 - These guys aren't firing much

15:09 - fire.

15:09 - Real neat. Now it's chaos. Now

15:12 - you know there was a command

15:13 - given and they were following.

15:15 - They're going to continue to

15:16 - fire until they hear cease fire.

15:19 - It's the only time you can load

15:21 - and fire your weapon without

15:22 - somebody telling you to do it

15:24 - either side.

15:26 - Now I'm going to make the weapon

15:27 - safe and I'm going to have them

15:30 - prime. Prime!

15:32 - This is a safety factor to make

15:34 - sure that the guns are in fact

15:36 - fired and the powder ready.

15:43 - And the cover arms.

15:49 - Bayonets. Now what I'm going to

15:52 - do.

15:53 - I'm going to bring him around

15:55 - and let you people sort of see

15:57 - what it was like to look at cold

15:59 - steel coming at you.

16:00 - There are very few bayonet

16:02 - charges in the civil war.

16:04 - Why?

16:05 - Because the weapons will kill

16:06 - you.

16:06 - Five hundred yards. Not 50.

16:09 - You can't get to me with a

16:10 - modern weapon.

16:12 - The only unique thing about a

16:13 - civil war bayonet is it makes

16:15 - three sides.

16:16 - Cut. Makes a triangle cut. For

16:19 - all you laymen like myself.

16:21 - That doesn't mean much, but if

16:22 - you were a medic you would know

16:24 - that a triangle cut is one of

16:26 - the hardest cuts to fix because

16:28 - you can fix two of the three

16:30 - sides.

16:30 - One side will always rip open.

16:33 - The idea is the side that rips

16:34 - open will become infected.

16:36 - Eventually they'll cut your arm

16:38 - off and I've gotten rid of you

16:40 - without killing you.

16:42 - After the Civil War they said it

16:43 - was too ill humane to have a

16:46 - three sided bayonet and they

16:48 - outlawed them.

16:49 - Now that sort of being a

16:51 - hypocrite when you say a weapon

16:54 - is ill humane.

16:56 - But that's the way we worked.

16:58 - I'm going to move around here.

17:00 - Give me a chance here and we'll

17:02 - get to show you.

17:08 - March! Forward march!

17:19 - We marched in columns of four.

17:23 - We fought in columns of two. But

17:26 - I'm going to wheel them around

17:27 - here.

17:29 - Left wheel march. Charge!

17:36 - Bayonets! Halt! Recover arms. On

17:42 - fix bayonets.

17:47 - Now what you didn't notice they

17:49 - used a Confederate soldier. A

17:55 - Confederate yell is in three

17:58 - parts. It cannot be duplicated

18:01 - except by a large group of

18:03 - people.

18:04 - That's why you can't hear it.

18:07 - The Confederate yell that was

18:09 - used.

18:11 - The first part of it is 3 part

18:13 - movement.

18:14 - The first part is a "huuh!" The

18:16 - top of your voice.

18:19 - The second part of it is a "ho!"

18:20 - With the lower part of your

18:22 - voice.

18:24 - And the third part is "hanh" in

18:26 - the middle of your voice range.

18:28 - Now one person doesn't sound

18:32 - like much, but you put a

18:33 - thousand people together and you

18:35 - don't synchronize it all of a

18:37 - sudden.

18:38 - It's a unique scream.

18:42 - And it brought terror to to the

18:44 - Yankee lines because they knew

18:47 - that the Confederates were

18:48 - coming.

18:49 - It cannot be duplicated because

18:51 - you need a group of guys to

18:52 - duplicate it.

18:54 - They did that but it just

18:55 - sounded like they were

18:56 - hollering.

18:57 - If you multiply these few guys

19:00 - by 10000 guys and all of a

19:02 - sudden you realize wow, that

19:05 - really sounds different.

19:06 - That's why nobody can show you

19:09 - because you can't do it

19:10 - individually.

19:11 - If you would like to hear what

19:12 - it sounds like with a group of

19:14 - people there is a guy that went

19:16 - up on the computer. He took one

19:18 - person put to three of them,

19:19 - overlap them on one another and

19:21 - has a thousand of the same

19:22 - person doing it and you turn it

19:25 - on and you will hear it.

19:27 - If you go Rebel Yell on your

19:29 - computer at home and listen to

19:32 - it and you realize there's three

19:34 - parts to the yell.

19:38 - Ladies and gentlemen. Company.

19:40 - Present arms.

19:42 - I know we're small right now.

19:44 - This 44th Georgia. Company C.

19:49 - Order arms. Sergeant return the

19:52 - men. But before you do.

19:56 - When he returns the men it's the

19:59 - only time that they're allowed

20:01 - to speak back to me.

20:03 - Remember when I started this and

20:05 - I said I'm a captain.

20:07 - I have three bars up here.

20:08 - Represent.

20:10 - First post is kind of easy to

20:12 - step over.

20:13 - Second post which is a first

20:15 - lieutenant.

20:16 - Little harder. Three bars

20:18 - appear.

20:18 - It's really hard to get over.

20:20 - That's what that represents a

20:22 - fence post. Three fences.

20:24 - I'm a captain in the

20:25 - Confederacy.

20:27 - Flanks. March!

20:30 - Believe me the captain doesn't

20:32 - sometimes listens to his men

20:35 - when they break ranks.

20:37 - Now I'll tell you a little bit

20:38 - about the forty fourth for about

20:39 - two minutes.

20:40 - I don't want to bore you to

20:41 - death.

20:43 - The 44 GA come out of Clark

20:45 - County, Georgia.

20:46 - They fought the entire war with

20:48 - fourteen hundred and twenty five

20:50 - men that served in the 44th

20:51 - Georgia

20:53 - Fourteen hundred and twenty five

20:54 - men served in the 44th.

20:56 - Only nine surrendered at

21:00 - Appomattox, but we were at a

21:03 - place called Sailors Creek.

21:05 - Two days before Sailors Creek

21:08 - they captured over 300 of us.

21:10 - So we didn't all die.

21:12 - We were all at Point Lookout in

21:14 - a prisoner war camp. OK.

21:17 - This day 150 years ago yesterday

21:22 - we had just crossed at

21:24 - Hagerstown, Maryland on our way

21:27 - to Carlisle, Pennsylvania.

21:30 - We are going to come in to

21:31 - Carlisle the week before we go

21:33 - to Gettysburg.

21:35 - While we're at Carlisle. One of

21:38 - our sister companies is North

21:40 - near little town of Harrisburg

21:42 - here and burns the bridge.

21:45 - When we burn the bridge north of

21:47 - the town we knew what the town

21:49 - looked like.

21:50 - We knew what the Susquehanna

21:52 - looked like. It was in the same

21:54 - breath we were in Carlisle and

21:57 - we start to out of the people of

22:00 - Carlisle. When we marched into

22:02 - Carlisle.

22:04 - But one of the first things they

22:05 - found was number one we spoke

22:07 - English.

22:10 - That surprised them.

22:13 - Number two we believe in God.

22:18 - Very religious and we were very

22:20 - religious as was the one that

22:24 - surprised number three.

22:28 - We had wives, mothers, and

22:30 - daughters back in Georgia and we

22:34 - wanted to tell the truth about

22:36 - what's really unique is from the

22:38 - Carlisle newspaper when we march

22:41 - out of Carlisle and were

22:43 - marching to Gettysburg. As we're

22:45 - leaving Carlisle. The ladies of

22:47 - Carlisle, you would think we

22:49 - were their army leaving town not

22:52 - the Confederate army.

22:54 - They all baked goods and cake

22:57 - and had goods and stood out in

22:59 - the road and were crying as we

23:01 - were leaving the town. We're the

23:03 - Confederate army leaving a

23:05 - Yankee town and they were sorry

23:07 - to see us go because they now

23:10 - understand that the Southern

23:12 - army and the Southern people

23:15 - were Americans too.

23:20 - We fought over our principles.

23:23 - We were taught that all of us

23:26 - have slaves.

23:28 - Most of the soldiers never owned

23:30 - slaves.

23:32 - Most of the soldiers that fought

23:34 - were fighting to protect their

23:37 - country.

23:38 - And by the way when you go home

23:41 - tonight look up in Webster's

23:43 - dictionary the word civil war.

23:48 - And Daniel Webster says the

23:50 - civil war is when people of a

23:52 - nation split into two groups and

23:56 - try to overthrow the government

23:58 - of their nation.

24:03 - At no time between 1861 and 1865

24:09 - did the Southern people ever

24:11 - want to overthrow the northern

24:13 - government.

24:18 - So I guess when the people from

24:20 - down south say the War of

24:23 - Northern Aggression if you take

24:26 - a step back and you're honest

24:27 - you realize that's what it is.

24:29 - The North comes down and forces

24:31 - us back and sometimes when you

24:33 - don't want to be a member of a

24:37 - civil war as we all have been

24:41 - taught. Isn't it a shame that we

24:45 - don't call things what they're

24:46 - supposed to be?

24:48 - I thank you for your time.

24:50 - I hope you have a lovely day.

24:51 - If you have any questions I'll

24:52 - be glad to answer.

24:53 - You are more than welcome to

24:55 - come into camp and talk with the

24:56 - boys.

24:57 - I do want to apologize to

24:59 - everybody that I have such a

25:01 - small company here.

25:02 - I actually have a company of 42

25:04 - men that fight and unfortunately

25:09 - I made a mistake.

25:10 - We were fighting three of at

25:12 - least four weekends in June and

25:14 - for all you men and all women

25:16 - that have husbands I'm gonna say

25:18 - it's kind of simple.

25:20 - I can go away maybe one weekend

25:21 - a month and my wife will say

25:23 - fine. I can get away with going

25:25 - away to weekends, but when I say

25:26 - I'm going away three out of four

25:28 - weekends she's on top of me like

25:31 - you wouldn't believe.

25:32 - No you're not!

25:33 - And that's really what our

25:34 - problem is.

25:35 - We've got the 150th Gettysburg

25:39 - in two weeks and the blue gray

25:41 - when you see the charge on

25:43 - Sunday on television the 44th

25:45 - will be part of that charge and

25:48 - we are going to be in

25:49 - Armistead's brigade.

25:50 - We are going to be the people

25:52 - that are going to be close to

25:53 - the war.

25:54 - We're going to be part of that

25:55 - group.

25:56 - So when you see television in

25:57 - the news because it will be on

25:58 - the news and you see the charge

26:00 - of Pickett's Charge and you see

26:02 - the group coming to the front

26:03 - you can turn around to people

26:04 - that might be around you and say

26:06 - I know some of those guys. The

26:08 - 44th Georgia.

26:11 - Thank you very much.

26:12 - Have a nice day.