Conservation of two McGregor Museum artifacts

I just finished doing conservation work on two Civil War weapons at the McGregor Museum this weekend.

Here are the details as written up in my reports:

Model 1861 U.S. Norwich (Connecticut) with ramrod.

Musket condition before conservation

Same musket, after conservation work

The Model 1861 was the primary musket at the start of the Civil War.  Musket was designed as a single shot .58 cal. rifled muzzleloader featuring iron buttplate, "C" shaped hammer, bolster with clean out screw, two leaf sight, iron trigger guard, three flat barrel bands held in place with springs, two strap hooks on middle band and trigger guard, tulip head ramrod with bulged shank and threaded end, iron nose cap.  Springfield Armory supervised the manufacturing and distribution of the Model 1861 musket.  In order to fulfill shortages, production was sub-contracted to a number of private manufacturers, Norwich Arms Co., Norwich, Connecticut produced 25,000 muskets under the subcontract.  Lock is marked "1863." behind the hammer, with eagle over "U.S." and "NORWICH." in front.  Barrel is marked "VP" over eagle head and "1863" (date is not readable on this example).  Buttplate is marked "US".  Three bands each marked "U".   Cartouche in wood on left side opposite the lock indicate government inspection, additional inspector mark "T" on the barrel.  Metal appearance pleasing with light brown patina, two leaf sight intact, tulip head ramrod intact with threads cut off, 3 bands intact, both strap hooks intact, bore is needs cleaning, rifling definite, wood solid with dings and scratches from use, mechanics fully functional, nice representative example from one of the scarcer makers. 

Serial #: NSN

Manufacturer: Norwich

Model: 1861

Type: Musket

Caliber: .58

Barrel Length: 40 inch round

Finish: bright

Stock: walnut

Description: A substantial number of firms were contracted to manufacture the Model 1861 Rifle-Musket. Norwich Arms Company was one such manufacturer making about 18,000 rifle-muskets in 1863-64. The lock plate is dated "1863" behind the hammer and marked with the eagle motif and "U.S. / NORWICH." ahead of the hammer. The left rear of the barrel is marked with the "V / P / eagle head" proof marks. The buttplate tang is marked "U.S." and the barrel bands are correctly marked with a "U". Fixed front sight which doubles as a bayonet lug and three leaf folding rear sight. Mounted with a full straight grip stock with a "JG" and "ELA" ovaled cartouches, a sling swivel mounted on the middle barrel band and front of the trigger guard and iron buttplate.

Condition: Very good as assembled. The barrel shows signs of light cleaning and is a smooth gray with heavy pitting around the bolster extending to about the rear sight and a small area of heavy pitting near the muzzle. The nipple is battered and the head of the clean out screw is marred. The lock, inconsistent with the other metal, retains most of the original bright finish, the hammer shows signs of cleaning and both have a thin coating of dried protective oil on them. The stock, again inconsistent with the metal is near excellent with almost all of the original oil finish remaining, crisp sharp edges and a few minor dings and dents.

Model 1850 Foot Officer's Sword

Sword before conservation

After conservation

 

Object ID: 1948.4.1 (Catalog #106)
Object Name: Model 1850 Foot Officer's sword
Description:. Brass guard with floral designs and Phrygian helmet pommel; the handle is wrapped in ray skin and wire; a 21 1/2" long fuller starting at the top of the blade and running down towards the point.   
No scabbard.

Dimensions: 37" (overall); 31" (blade)

Date: ca. 1861

Identifying Marks: "KULL" is stamped on left side of blade near guard. 

KULL makers mark

Mark of circle with three dots inside (skull?) on right side of blade near guard.   

Evidence of at least six sharp blows to blade edge at center. 


Maker:  Possibly Peter or Samuel Kull, Solingen in Germany. (Peter Kull - Solingen - 1830 - 1870, Samuel Kull - Solingen - 1847 - 1860)

 Many sword blades were imported from Solingen in Germany during this time period, and then were mounted with guards and handles here in the states. 

Thanks for maker information provided by Scott Cross - Oshkosh Public Museum, Oshkosh, WI

I think this sword is a German import purchased privately by Captain Drips in the United States (all officers had to buy their own uniforms and equipment.)

Provenance: Oral history relates that this sword was owned (and possibly carried) by Captain Andrew 

W. Drips, "A" 9th Iowa Infantry (U.S.A.) Killed in Action at the Battle of Pea Ridge, Arkansas, 7 March 1862.  

Category: T&E for Science & Technology
Sub-category: Armament -- Edged

The following letter was
published in the North Iowa Times in April 1962, relating the deaths of three officers of the 9th Iowa Infantry at Pea Ridge, Arkansas on March 7, 1862:




The Vinton Eagle
Wed., April 16, 1862

H. C. Bull, Captain of the Company of which N. Rice was First Lieutenant, recently addressed a letter to 'Squire Rice, of this county [Benton] from which we are permitted to make the following extract:

St. Louis, March 27.
Mr. Rice:--Dear Sir--The telegraph has doubtless conveyed to you ere this, the sad intelligence of the death of your son, Lieut. Nathan Rice, who was shot dead upon the field of battle, at Pea Ridge, on the 7th inst. You have this to console you in this sad bereavement, viz: that your son behaved nobly, being stricken down while at his post animating his men, and urging them on to the contest. On account of the hotness of the battle at that point, it was impossible to obtain the body of your son until some hours had elapsed, and when obtained, the enemy had robbed it of sword, pistol, boots, and had even cut the buttons and straps from his coat, and had taken the money from his pockets, his watch, etc., etc. The body was interred in a very pleasant spot, in an orchard on the battle ground, along side the bodies of Capt. [Andrew W.] Dripps, of Co. "A," and Capt. Bevins of Co. "E," of the same regiment.

Note:
Captain Andrew W. Drips. Age 35. Residence Maquoketa, nativity Pennsylvania.
Appointed Captain Sept. 7, 1861. Mustered Sept. 7, 1861. Killed in battle March 7, 1862, Pea Ridge, Ark.

From "Historical Sketch, Ninth Regiment Iowa Volunteer Infantry:" "The loss of the regiment was very heavy. Of the 560 who went into the battle, 4 commissioned officers and 34 enlisted men were killed, 5 commissioned officers and 171 enlisted men wounded, and 1 commissioned officer and 3 enlisted men captured, making a total loss of nearly forty per cent of the aggregate number engaged.
The compiler of this sketch finds this loss statement in the return of casualties of the Army of the Southwest in the battle of Pea Ridge, Ark., attached to the report of Major General Curtis, found on page 205, Series 1,
Vol. 8, War of the Rebellion Official Records. In the history of the Ninth Iowa Infantry by Lieut. Col. Alonzo Abernethy, found on page 174 of the Adjutant General's report of the State of Iowa, for the year 1866, the
aggregate loss in killed, wounded and captured is given as 240, making nearly 44 per cent of the number engaged. In either event, the loss was far above the average of the battles of the War of the Rebellion."

Civil War in Pipestone!!!

Photo By Brian Korthals - Worthington Globe - 2010

This past weekend marked the 8th time our little city served as host to an event celebrating the times of the American Civil War (1861 - 1865). Each successive event has been better and bigger since the first small version in 1992. Originally we selfishly thought everyone would love this event when we started it all those years ago. It wasn't until after the first one was a minor success that we even considered the possibility that many factors (weather, competition from other local events, badly spent advertizing money or bad planning) could have made the event we loved so much a failure from the beginning.

The first four of these Civil War Days events I served in the capacity of a Union Infantry Soldier, as well as the Chairman of the committee put together from local residents and business people from the Pipestone area.

A few examples of wet plate photographs I took over the Civil War Weekend:

Rebs of the 4th Alabama Infantry

Tintype by Dave Rambow- 2010

Brothers

Ambrotype by Dave Rambow- 2010

President Lincoln and Secretary Nicolay

Ambrotype by Dave Rambow- 2010

Hartquist, The Undertaker
Tintype by Dave Rambow- 2010

Keturah and Lisa

Ambrotype by Dave Rambow- 2010

Gia was such a big help to me on Saturday and the rush we went through on Sunday morning (and she looked so adorable in her dress.) Tom assisted on Sunday afternoon and helped me set up and take down all the equipment and tentage. Now the final step is to get these packaged and ready to ship to the subjects who ordered them.

Replicas of Nina and Pinta dock at McGregor

 

In their second year sailing together, the Nina and the Pinta docked and overnighted along the Mississippi River at McGregor Landing Tuesday evening, causing much excitement among us 'landlubbers' who happened to be in teh area to watch them arrive. The ships are replicas of what Portuguese explorer Christopher Columbus used to sail across the Atlantic Ocean more than 500 years ago.

Captain Kyle Frieauf heads up the Nina, which has been called the most historically accurate replica of a Columbus ship ever built. He’s been with the Columbus Foundation for about six years. Frieauf says he slept through history class as a kid and now that he’s older, especially since he’s captaining a historic ship, his interest in history has been rekindled and he’s learning a lot.

Frieauf is one of six members of the crew on the Nina while the Pinta has a crew of eight. He says they’ve sailed up dozens of rivers while also spending time on both coasts, the Great Lakes and the Gulf of Mexico. He says it’s a fun adventure and he feels like Columbus as there’s something new around every turn.

The ships will be in Davenport this weekend before setting sail downriver toward the gulf on Monday. For a complete schedule, go online at http://www.thenina.com/

Hot & Humid Iowa

Iowa has what Wikipedia refers to as a "humid continental climate", which to the layman translates as "miserably hot and humid in the summer; freeze-your-balls-off cold in the winter". Iowans often face very severe weather in the warmer months of the year, as the state lies in Tornado Alley.

If this picture doesn't scare the ever-living crap out of you, you're lying to yourself.

I've been miserable here in McGregor this weekend. I am hoping to get out of the 'driftless area' of NE Iowa tomorrow after work. I just wish it were under happier circumstances. The wife of a very good friend and a tribal elder - both of whom I have respected since the first days I moved into Pipestone, died over the last weekend. Their funerals are in Pipestone Tuesday and Wednesday this week.

                                                                  'CHUCK' DERBY

Chuck at work in his quarrypit

Chuck Derby, a Sisseton/Wahpeton Dakota elder, was a pipemaker and quarrier for over 50 years in Pipestone Minnesota, where he and his wife Gloria have their home. Chuck was a rare person in this modern millenium. He was a dignified, passive, proletarian working for Native American rights both in Pipestone and elsewhere. During his time on this earth, he touched so many lives with his gentle wisdom and courage.

Chuck was been a lifelong adherent to traditional values, and served on many Native American committees and Boards, dealt with various things regarding historical and traditional Native American issues. Through the years of working with pipestone and making ceremonial pipes Chuck associated with many Native American elders, spiritual leaders and medicine men, in 1998 he was adopted by the now late, Lakota Spiritual leader Joseph Flying Bye as his son. He was taught many things by Grandpa Joe as well as by the spiritual leader, the late Amos Owen. Due to these ancient teachings he incorporated traditions into his everyday life, just as his ancestors did many years ago.

After suffering with pain and sickness over the past winter, Chuck was diagnosed with Pancreatic Cancer this spring. He passed from this world on Saturday morning, Aug. 7, 2010 in Pipestone at age 69.


(From his obituary) Surviving are his wife, Gloria (Hazel) Derby, Pipestone, two children, Ray (Kelly) Derby, Springville, Calif., and Diana (Richard) Allen, Flandreau, S.D.; five sisters, Alice (Gary) Erickson, Maddie (Ray) Redwing, Marge Parsons, Betty (Earl) Tellinghuisen and Carol Derby, all of Pipestone; five grandchildren; and three great-grandchildren.

SANDI LANIE

Sandi was a devoted mother and hardworking x-ray technician at the Pipestone Medical Center. I first met Sandi through my best friend Louie, when they joined our local Civil War Roundtable, (later becoming the founding members of our reenactment unit) & the Pipestone Civil War Festival. She was always willing to help with any project I had at the museum or our trips together as she and Louie helped with wetplate photo projects. Always helpful, always positive, ALWAYS cheerful under any circumstance. I will miss her smile and our talks we would have, she was a very caring person.


(From her obituary)
She was born to Arden and Constance (Petersen) Johnson on April 13, 1960 in Tyler, Minnesota. She was raised in Balaton, Minnesota where she attended school. While growing up, she was baptized and then later confirmed at Zion Lutheran Church in Balaton. After her graduation from Balaton High School in 1978, she worked at the Toro Plant in Windom, Minnesota. A year later, she moved to Minneapolis, Minnesota and attended school at Abbott-Northwestern for two years to became a Radiological Technician. Upon completion of her education, she became employed at Sioux Valley Hospital in Sioux Falls, South Dakota. A short time later, she began working in the Radiology Department at the Pipestone County Medical Center. On January 18, 1986, she was united in marriage to Louis Lanie at Peace United Methodist Church in Pipestone. Following their marriage, they lived in Pipestone. Several months later, they moved to Ihlen, Minnesota, and Sandi continued to work at the hospital in Pipestone. This past week, she and her husband traveled on their annual motorcycle trip to Sturgis, South Dakota. On Thursday, August 5, 2010, they were enjoying cycling to Devils Tower Canyon to take some pictures when Sandi was involved in a motorcycle-auto accident near Sundance, Wyoming and died at the age of 50 years, three months and 22 days.  

Sandi was a member of Peace United Methodist Church in Pipestone where she taught Sunday School. She and Louie were instrumental in helping to start the Civil War Days in Pipestone in 1989 and enjoyed participating as re-enactors in the event. She was currently serving on the band board at the Pipestone Area Schools. Starting in her teens, she enjoyed riding motorcycles. She also enjoyed learning to fly airplanes and loved to go flying with her husband. Her family was her number one priority, and she especially enjoyed spending time with them.


She is lovingly remembered by her husband, Louis Lanie of Ihlen, Minnesota, her three children, Jesse Lanie of St. Cloud, Minnesota, and Erin and Cassie Lanie of Ihlen, Minnesota; two sisters, her twin sister Sonya Johnson and her husband "Buckwheat" of Windom, Minnesota, and Kathy Sievers and her husband Travis of Reading, Minnesota; and her brother, Arthur Johnson of Balaton, Minnesota. She was preceded in death by her parents.

The pics for "Cowboys and Aliens"

Two worlds are set to collide next summer in the movie "Cowboys and Aliens," under the command of Jon Favreau. The "Iron Man" director is combining the mystery of a 1873 time period Western complete with the thrills of an alien invasion movie, with sci-fi and hero legend Harrison Ford as the lead.

The people of Dreamworks/Imagine motion pictures saw the metal and glass plates I did of actor Josh Brolin for Paramount's remake of TRUE GRIT, and as a result I was hired to produce sixteen copies of 6th plate sized aluminotypes of actress Abigail Spencer for Favreau's movie. (Thanks and a tip of my hat to pal Dave Baumann, who suggested me for both jobs). Sounded to me like "easy money" for a static copy job for a a couple hours at night on July 31st. I was plagued with an assortment of chemical problems due to the hot/humid weather here, and the 30 second per plate exposure times made it into a long 6 hour session! I ran over 30 plates to produce the necessary sixteen I was hired to make. As usual, my time estimates were WAY too low for the work it took me to get these. Oh well, at least in the end the final products are nice crisp representations they all should be happy with. 

First view of the night set near Santa Fe, NM

Favreau, whose previous films were Iron Man and Iron Man 2, and they've been shooting the  to-be-released in 2011 feature for a month. He called the movie a "by the book Western," in the vein of John Ford, which will definitely be in 2D. (Why no 3D? He just doesn't think you can shoot a Western in digital.) And he said his scifi influences include Close Encounters of the Third Kind, Alien, and Predator. "We wanted it to look like practical effects, with minimal CGI," he added. And it really worked.

Along with the rest of the interested world I am wondering how this movie will play out. Will this be hard science fiction, or more fantastical like the Indiana Jones series? What will the aliens look like? Is Harrison Ford actually playing a bad guy? And Daniel Craig as a cowboy? I predict that this film, based on a comic book by Scott Rosenberg, is going to be mind-blowingly awesome when it comes out this time next year.
 
Several scenes were previewed recently at the July Comic-Con. They include: 

The first clip opens with Zeke Johnson (Daniel Craig) riding his horse into a tiny old west town of Absolution, accompanied by a scruffy dog. He looks wary, and his face is covered in grime. Seeing nobody around, he slips into a house and begins to clean up. Immediately, we notice that he has a bulky, steampunk-looking wristband on one arm; then he pulls aside his shirt to reveal a deep, bloody bullet wound. As he's cleaning that, the house's owner pokes a shotgun into his ear and he's forced to put his hands up.

The man says to Zeke, "Only two kinds of people get shot: Criminals and victims. Which one are you?"
"I don't know," Zeke replies.

Next time we see him, Zeke is in jail and a scruffy teenager in the next cell is spitting on him, saying, "I want to see you suffer for a long time." Finally, after a few more seconds of torment, Zeke gets up, grabs the kid by the scruff of the neck, and smashes him unconscious against the bars dividing their two cells. So Zeke is a tough character. And when the lawmen arrive, they tell him he's been charged with murder and he's being taken for a trial - chained to the snotty kid he knocked out.

The two of them have been bundled into an armored carriage when a large group of armed men ride out of the night and into town carrying torches. Their leader is Col. Woodrow Dolarhyde (Harrison Ford), and he's a venomous bad guy who refuses to hear the pleas of his son, who turns out to be the snot-nosed kid who spat on Zeke.

Pointing at Zeke, Woodrow says, "That's the son of a bitch who stole my gold." He wants to snatch Zeke out of the carriage right that minute to find out where his gold is, but he's interrupted when the horizon begins to glimmer with lights. It's a very Close Encounters-esque looking UFO, which zooms toward the town, fragments into several ships which disappear, then reappear directly overhead, shooting blue lasers and blowing up the town house by house. Fires erupt from windows, people run screaming (including Sam Rockwell), and the jail carriage is knocked over. Zeke and the kid scramble out and we see Zeke's wristband has grown to cover his lower arm. It's also glowing blue. He aims it at the ships, and shoots out a beam of light that brings one down in a haze of dust and fire.

A hush falls over the town as everybody stares at the fallen ship, looking a little like a TIE fighter surrounded by mounds of displaced dirt. Woodrow is standing next to Zeke, who is still in a fighting stance, his arm outstretched. His wristband suddenly closes back up, becoming the small band we saw earlier. The two men exchange a significant glance, their faces lit by UFO fire.

Kicking back on my McGregor Porch

A lot has happened the first 1/2 of this year and I feel I have not sufficiently committed any of it to memory. I am going to attempt to describe some of the things in my world out here at Effigy Mounds National Monument and my travels between McGregor Iowa & Pipestone Minnesota.