Fox Warrior, 1731

While browsing the superb website of the Bibliotheque nationale de France (gallica.bnf.fr) today, I came upon this striking image labeled "Guerrier Renard." It's a watercolor depicting a warrior of the Fox tribe in 1731. The Fox, an Algonquian people, were noted as warlike and appear to have been held in rather low regard by both the French and their Indian neighbors. At that time, they inhabited the region around Green Bay and Saginaw Bay in Wisconsin and Detroit in Michigan. They appear to have had the distinction of being the only tribe against which the French warred. This image represents a people rather outside the bounds of the blog, but it's so impressive, I just had to share it.

French Beaulieu 4-lb RML Light Field Gun (1860)

After the Crimean War, the standard French bronze 4-lb SBML light field guns were rifled on a plan devised by Col. Treuille de Beaulieu. Although the elongated projectile fired by the new rifle gun was heavier than the old four-pound ball of the smoothbore, the new gun retained its old designation. The service life of the tube was 1,200-1,500 rounds. When the rifling was worn, the gun was recast, “an operation of no great difficulty.”

Illustration from:

Moltzheim, Auguste de. Esquisse historique de l'artillerie française depuis le moyen-âge jusqu'à nos jours, avec un atlas de... planches dessinées par A. de Moltzheim... Strasbourg : E. Simon, 1868.

Leaders of the Lost Cause (2)

Returning to this interesting book, I thought that I’d mention an interesting approach that editors Gary W. Gallagher and Joseph T. Glatthaar took to the selection and assignment of authors to subjects. Essays were assigned to authors who had never previously written on the particular subject. Although this could not be followed completely, the essays largely do provide fresh views on the subjects and are free from the crippling hagiography and “amen chorus” aspects so often encountered in similar collective biographies. In addition, the authors were asked to look closely at the pre-war careers of their subjects -- an aspect of biography that often suffers in popular works.

Leaders of the Lost Cause

This handy volume provides biographical and interpretive essays on eight Confederate general officers who attained the rank of full general (equivalent to four-star) during the course of the U.S. Civil War. These men were: Robert E. Lee, P. G. T. Beauregard, Braxton Bragg, Samuel Cooper, Albert Sidney Johnston, Joseph E. Johnston, Edmund Kirby Smith, and John Bell Hood. In addition, the editors, in their Introduction, profile Confederate President Jefferson Davis, “the common thread among these officers, to whom they were beholden for their appointment.” This in itself is an important and essential essay that knits the others together in a useful fashion.

The Florida Brigade at the Battle of Gettysburg

The latest issue of Blue & Gray (Vol. 27:4) arrived recently, and by coincidence, the feature article focuses on the combats of the Florida Brigade of the Army of Northern Virginia at Gettysburg. In the battle, the brigade, consisting of the 2d, 5th, and 8th Florida regiments, saw action on July 2d and 3d in the attacks against the Federal III and II Corps along the Emmitsburg Road between the Rogers and Codori farms (July 2) and in the follow-on attack to Pickett's Charge, mounted by two brigades of Anderson's Division in the same area (July 3). This is a nice complement to the Waters and Edmonds book described in my last post.

  

The Florida Brigade in the Army of Northern Virginia

This excellent book details the service of the Florida Brigade in Lee's army. Very little has been written on this formation, and the records are scant. Robert K. Krick's Foreword states that the authors "have resurrected the Florida brigade...from oblivion. Nearly a century and a half after their campaigns, the Florida men who fought under Perry, Lang, and Finegan on the battlefields of Virginia and Maryland and Pennsylvania emerge from the shadows in the pages of this book."

Henri de Schomberg (3)

Above: Schomberg's victory over the English on the Isle de Re

At the epic Siege of La Rochelle (Aug. 15, 1627-Oct. 28, 1628), Schomberg was one of the commanders of the Royal Army and led the force that relieved the citadel of St. Martin on the Isle de Ré, which was besieged by the English under Buckingham. Schomberg’s relief force landed on the island on Nov. 7, 1627, and drove the English off with great slaughter the next day.

Schomberg next served in Italy, at the Pass of Susa (1629), and in Languedoc in the war against the Huguenots. There he besieged and took Privas (May 19-27, 1629), a success that led directly to the triumph of the Royalist cause and the Edict of Grace or Peace of Alais (June 28, 1629). In 1630, he was again in Italy, serving as one of the commanders of the French forces that moved to the relief of the fortress of Casale, besieged by Spinola. Following the conclusion of peace, he became embroiled in the political crisis that culminated in the Day of Dupes (Nov. 11, 1630). A firm supporter of the king and Richelieu, he was called upon to arrest Marshal Marillac, one of the conspirators. He accomplished this, and Marillac was executed for his role in the plot. Later, he commanded the Royal Army at Castelnaudary (Sept. 1, 1632), defeating the rebel Duke Henry II de Montmorency, who too was condemned and executed.

A distinguished soldier, who was invariably successful, Schomberg’s outstanding virtues were loyalty, industry, and thoroughness. His son, Charles de Schomberg, duc de Hallwin (1601-1656), also attained the dignity of mdF.