He Tumbled Over Beautifully: Sharpshooting at Port Hudson

Captain Zenas Crane Rennie of Co. I, 49th Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry wrote the following letter to the Pittsfield Eagle from Port Hudson, Louisiana on June 2, 1863. This extraordinarily honest account describes his leading a detachment of sharpshooters tasked with plinking off Rebel gunners from a 64-lb cannon that was proving particularly troublesome to the Union siege of that bastion. Captain Rennie had a reputation as a crack shot, and drew this tough assignment of sharpshooting gunners but as you will read below, the hunters soon became the hunted…

 

Captain Zenas Crane Rennie, Co. I, 49th Massachusetts Volunteers

Near Port Hudson, Louisiana

June 2, 1863

          We are so full of excitement all the time that it is almost impossible for me to control myself enough to write you an intelligible letter. Day before yesterday Colonel [Charles J.] Paine, commanding our brigade, sent for me to come to his headquarters. He invited me to come into his tent and asked me if I thought I could shoot a man with a rifle at a distance of 25 rods [roughly 413 feet]- I told him I thought I could. He then asked me to go out with him to the skirmish line on the edge of the woods about a half mile from the breastworks of the enemy’s breastworks where we climbed a tree and by the aid of a glass, obtained a view of the whole line of the outer works of the enemy. The works are about seven miles in length and three miles wide from the inside line to the river on a road to Port Hudson. On each side of the road the enemy has a large gun mounted- 64 pounders. Colonel Paine wanted me to take a detachment of 16 picked men and crawl up as near as possible to their works and keep those guns silenced by picking off the gunners.

          I immediately returned to camp and made the detail. I started with a Sharps’ rifle and crawled on my hands and knees about 800 yards through briars, brush, etc. The ground was perfectly level but covered with felled trees, stumps, etc. I proceeded in this way to within about 10 rods [165 feet] of the guns- only five of my men followed me and they did their duty. The Rebs did not see us until I fired the first shot and keeled over one of their men. He tumbled over beautifully; I think I shot him square through the head.


The surrender of Port Hudson on July 9, 1863 fully opened the Mississippi; the surrender of Vicksburg five days before set in motion the events that led to the surrender of this last bastion on the Mississippi.


The Rebels then concentrated their sharpshooters immediately in front of us and the moment we showed any part of our bodies they would send a dozen shots at us. Our guns, which were stationed about a mile to the rear, soon commenced firing and many of the shells burst directly over our heads. I had nothing with me but a canteen of water, rifle, and revolver. We laid there in the hot sun from 10 a.m. until 5 p.m. and kept them from moving their guns all that time. These were the same guns that raked our brigade so terribly the day we made the attack on their works and you may calculate, I had an old score to settle.

About 3 p.m. as near as I could judge, the Rebs sent out a small detachment over their breastworks for the purpose of flanking us. I ordered my men to retire and covered the retreat. The moment we began to retreat, they began to pop at us. I had retreated a few rods and was crouched behind a stump watching a chance to return some of their compliments when a bullet came and shot a hole through my cap, cutting some of my hair, and carrying my cap six feet to the rear. I immediately sighted one of them and winged him beautifully; after this they fired not less than 50 shots at us and it is my firm opinion they intended to hit someone.

We retreated as fast as possible under the circumstances, the Rebs sending their compliments after us in the shape of bullets thick and fast. After arriving inside our lines, I reported to Colonel Paine and he expressed himself as greatly pleased with the success of our adventure. He told me that he watched us nearly all day with his glass and when the Rebs came out to flank us, he considered us captured for certain. I shall bring the cap home with me if I have the good luck to go home. I tell you when that bullet went whistling through my cap, it sent a cold shudder through me. [1]


After the war, Captain Rennie enjoyed a career in international business, living in both Sydney, Australia and San Francisco, California. After the 1906 earthquake destroyed his home, he relocated to Sydney, Australia and died there in 1923 at the age of 86. 


[1] “Adventures of a Sharpshooter,” Woodstock Sentinel (Illinois), July 29, 1863, pg. 1

Comments

Post a Comment

Most Popular Posts

Arming the Buckeyes: Longarms of the Ohio Infantry Regiments

Image
     A common question that comes up in conversation about Civil War Buckeye regiments is "What were they armed with?" We are fortunate in that the state of Ohio kept good records of how the regiments were armed when they went into service, this being especially true for those regiments which went into service in 1861 and 1862. The state adjutant general's reports for 1861 and 1862 have been heavily drawn upon to construct this article, as well as consultation with Phil Spaugy who has done extensive research on how Ohio's troops were armed during the war.      Buckeyes carried a fairly wide variety of weapons into the field, and the below article breaks this down into weapons of both domestic manufacture and imported arms. The early days of the war found the state of Ohio practically bereft of longarms; as an example, when the 1st and 2nd Ohio Volunteer Militia left the state in late April 1861, they left unarmed, being armed at Lancaster, Pennsylvania on their way to
Read more

Bullets for the Union: Manufacturing Small Arms Ammunition During the Civil War

Image
       Civil War bullets are perhaps the most common item collected from the era; the two armies expended bullets by the millions during the four years’ conflict and spent or deformed bullets of all shapes and sizes have made fascinating and affordable collectibles since the guns went silent in 1865.       I recently acquired a display piece featuring 35 different types of small arms ammunition used during the Civil War, including everything from a small .28 caliber ball up to a .69 caliber three-ring Minie and it triggered some questions: how did the Federal army obtain its small arms ammunition during the war? Where did the lead come from to make the bullets, and where and how was the ammunition manufactured? This post seeks to answer those questions. A typical .58 caliber 3-ring Minie bullet   “Whenever the blasts of war blow in the ears of men who trade in the implements of destruction, they are apt to experience more joy than the true warrior, for then comes the harvest of gain.
Read more

Dressing the Rebels: How to Dye Butternut Jeans Cloth

Image
     In the early days of the Civil War,  the Southern states found themselves with an abundance of cotton but a shortage of cloth with which to make army uniforms. The trade in cloth prior to the war had largely been to send raw cotton or wool north to New England (or Great Britain) where it was converted into usable cloth; but now that trade was broken and the Southern states were thrown upon their own resources in their efforts to properly clothe the Confederate army.  This collection of Confederate enlisted men's frock coats and shell jackets gives some indication of the variety of shades of butternut worn during the war. All of them are shades of yellow brown, some heavier on the yellow and some heavier on the brown. The blue used around the collar or as rank insignia indicates that the soldier was in the infantry. Surviving Confederate uniforms are considered rather rare and command quite a healthy price in the collecting market. For an in-depth study of how Confederate jacke
Read more

The Wizard of Oz and the Civil War

Image
T he 1939 film The Wizard of Oz has delighted viewers for 85 years and ranks as a personal favorite, especially during the Halloween season. While watching it with the family the other night, I wondered if there were any connections between the film and the Civil War. Not surprisingly, the answer is yes and those connections touch both the blue and the gray.           Interestingly both “witches” in the film not only had Civil War ancestors but had connections with Civil War soldiers from Ohio. Margaret Hamilton, the “Wicked Witch of the West,” was born in Cleveland, Ohio on December 9, 1902, to attorney Walter Jones Hamilton and his wife Mary Jane Adams; Margaret’s grandfather was Judge Edwin Timothy Hamilton. Judge Hamilton had served as a private in Co. D of the 84 th Ohio Infantry during the summer of 1862. The 84 th Ohio, a three months’ regiment, served nearly the whole of its service attached to the Railroad District in western Maryland, performing provost duty at Cumberlan
Read more

The Vaunted Enfield Rifle Musket

Image
     The English-made Model 1853 .577 caliber Enfield Rifle Musket was widely regarded as the best infantry arm in the world at the outbreak of the Civil War in April 1861. Favorable international press describing its efficiency in the Crimean War and in suppressing the Indian rebellion led to the widespread desire of American infantrymen (both Federal and Confederate) to be armed with these accurate and well-made arms. The lock plate of this well-worn P1853 Enfield rifle musket produced in 1862 shows the typical markings of a British-made weapon that made it through the Federal blockade.  ( Army of Tennessee Relics ) Enfield-pattern weapons were imported into the states by the tens and hundreds of thousands during the war years; one estimate stated that the Federal government purchased 500,000 while the Confederates purchased another 400,000. The Confederate government dispatched Captain Caleb Huse to Europe in April 1861 to purchase weapons and Huse focused on securing all the Enfi
Read more

In front of Atlanta with the 68th Ohio

Image
  The arrow corps badge of the 17th Army Corps was worn by many members of the 68th Ohio in the latter days of the war.       Private Edward A. Bigelow of Co. F of the 68th Ohio Volunteer Infantry wrote this brief account of the Battle of Atlanta just two days afterwards to his father back home in Henry County, Ohio. The regiment formed a part of Colonel Robert K. Scott's three regiment all-Ohio brigade consisting of the 20th, 68th, and 78th regiments, being designated the Second Brigade of the Third Division of Frank Blair's 17th Army Corps. Bigelow's letter originally appeared in the Napoleon Press newspaper and was copied in the Toledo Daily Commercial which was providential as no known copies exist today of the wartime Napoleon Press.  
Read more

Charging Battery Robinett: An Alabama Soldier Recalls the Vicious Fighting at Corinth

Image
W riting 30 years after the Battle of Corinth, James A. McKinstry of the 42 nd Alabama recalled his experiences storming Battery Robinett with Colonel William P. Rogers of the 2 nd Texas and expressed guilt that it was perhaps his action that brought about the colonel’s demise. “On seeing a line of Federals approaching, and before giving the situation a thought, I immediately raised my gun and fired full into the breast of a Federal sergeant, who was in front of the column, and only a short distance from us.  'Twas then that Captain George Foster shouted, "Cease firing, men! cease firing!" and waved his handkerchief, then I realized the true situation. 'Twas too late! That fatal volley had been turned on our little band from the muzzles of 1,500 muskets. I was still standing just as I was when I fired my last shot, and within a few feet of Colonel Rogers, when a Minie ball went crashing through my left hip and turned me half round; another went tearing through my
Read more

Federal Arms in the Stones River Campaign

Image
  T he following list, constructed after many years of research, lists unit by unit which type of weapons were carried by the Army of the Cumberland during the Stones River campaign. A number of sources were consulted including state ordnance reports, Federal quarterly ordnance reports (thank you Research Arsenal ), Ken Baumann’s Arming the Suckers, regimental histories and memoirs, captured ordnance reports, and consultation with knowledgeable experts in the field of firearms. Some of this information has been shared on the blog before in “ Rosy’s Heavy Metal: Artillery of the Army of the Cumberland ” or “ Shoulder Arms: How Sheridan’s and Davis’s Divisions Were Armed at Stones River ” but this is the first time the army as a whole has been presented. The overall conclusion I drew from looking at this data is that the Army of the Cumberland in December 1862 was an organization in the midst of transformation as far as arms. Many of the regiments still retained their original issue
Read more

Cook & Brother of New Orleans

Image
    The lockplate of a New Orleans-made Cook & Brother Enfield rifle produced in 1862 shows the fine craftsmanship that became the hallmark of the maker throughout the Civil War. Note the stars and bars flag at left, an emblem used on C&B's production throughout the war and the Cook & Brother, N.O. 1862 markings. Earlier production weapons at New Orleans had the flag located just above the maker's name while later weapons produced in Athens, Georgia would have a modified flag and Athens on the plate followed by the serial number.        In the spring of 1861, two English-born businessmen, Ferdinand and Francis Cook of New Orleans, perceived the need for the South to have its own domestic production of firearms and  set out to prove "that rifles could made here as well as in Yankee land or in Europe." The brothers  elected to produce copies of the British Model 1853 .577 caliber Enfield rifle as this was considered the benchmark longarm at the outset of the
Read more

Revisiting Snodgrass Hill: Memories of a 21st Ohio Officer

Image
Captain Isaac Cusac, Co. G, 21st Ohio Volunteer Infantry proudly displaying his rank as captain in an image likely dating from early 1863. One of his shoulder straps was shot off in the final stages of the 21st Ohio's fight atop Snodgrass Hill on September 20, 1863. Cusac brought it back to Chickamauga 50 years later.  I n September 1913, 83-year-old Isaac Cusac, a retired Presbyterian minister from the little town of McComb, Ohio, returned to Chattanooga to attend the national G.A.R. encampment. The former captain of the 21 st Ohio returned to Snodgrass Hill on the old Chickamauga battlefield on the 50 th anniversary of the battle carrying with him a precious relic of his wartime experiences. “He carried with him there an epaulet that was shot from his shoulder at the battle,” it was reported. “The bullet clipped off the epaulet and then struck him on the left hand, injuring two fingers.”           The flood of memories as he walked the grounds must have been overwhelming. The f
Read more