Spanish soldier
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Custer: Charge at gettysburg (1 Viewer)
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Francisco: Nice locate. Those figurines appear to be really well done combining the Spencer repeating rifles which is accurate as Spencer repeating carbines and the Blakeslee cartridge box did not hit the field until late 1863 with some well done troopers and a Custer figurine that has some resemblance of look with that of the previously released WB figure and the Collectors Showcase figure.
"Only two units of the Army of the Potomac were armed with Spencer Repeating Rifles at Gettysburg. In February 1863, Governor Austin Blair of Michigan purchased 680 Spencer Repeating Rifles (not carbines) with state funds which were then issued to Colonel Russell Alger’s 5th Michigan Cavalry, which during the battle was in Brigadier General George A. Custer’s brigade. Blair and Alger were close friends which accounts for why the 5th was the lucky recipient of these weapons. Alger had nearly 80 of the rifles his regiment received given to a “captain friend” in the sister 6th Regiment Michigan Cavalry, who used them to arm two of their companies. Ordnance records of the 5th and 6th Regiments Michigan Cavalry, submitted a month after the Battle of Gettysburg, indicate these two regiments carried a total of 572 Spencer Repeating Rifles and 10,000 rounds of ammunition to the field. The men of these regiments made good use of their Spencers in the July 3 cavalry battle east of Gettysburg, but this was the only place on the Gettysburg battlefield that the Spencer saw action except for those rare cases of soldiers who had privately purchased the weapon."
"For many years, students of the Battle of Gettysburg have sung the praises of the Spencer rifle and its contribution to the great Union victory. Numerous authors have suggested that it was the Spencer that helped derail the Confederate attack on the morning of July 1; that General John Buford’s cavalry troopers, armed with their Spencer carbines, repelled wave after wave of Confederate infantry. The contributions of the Spencer to Union victory are not limited to July 1st however. Captain O. E. Hunt, U.S. Army, and Instructor at the U.S.M.A. wrote in his report on The Ordnance Department of the Federal Army: 1860-1865, about the superiority of the Spencer rifle and its use by General John Geary’s 12th Corps soldiers on July 2nd. “Due to the use of the Spencer rifle by part of General Geary’s troops at Gettysburg, a whole division of Ewell’s corps was repulsed by inferior numbers.” Captain Hunt continues: “ Of this action an eye-witness said, ’ The head of the column ( Confederate) , as it was pushed on by those behind, appeared to melt away or sink into the earth, for though continually moving, it got no nearer.’” As we shall see, Hunt’s report made for stirring reading but like many references about Spencers and Gettysburg it had no foundation in fact."
Black Hawk's depiction is thus going to be very well received: historically accurate for the 5th and 6th Michigan Cavalry on that epic July 3 fight at East Cavalry Field while Pickett's charge was occuring over at Cemetary Ridge. It is very refreshing to see historical myth's debunked by a well thought out introduction of cleverly depicted troops like Buford's cavalry using this recently introduced weapon day 1 at Gettysburg, the careless application of yellow stripes to enlisted troopers trousers, disregard for reading and interpreting official ordnance records, period photgraphs and written descriptions by actual participants. A great Memorial Day weekend rollout of an occurence almost 150 years ago.
Black Hawk's depiction is thus going to be very well received: historically accurate for the 5th and 6th Michigan Cavalry on that epic July 3 fight at East Cavalry Field while Pickett's charge was occuring over at Cemetary Ridge. It is very refreshing to see historical myth's debunked by a well thought out introduction of cleverly depicted troops like Buford's cavalry using this recently introduced weapon day 1 at Gettysburg, the careless application of yellow stripes to enlisted troopers trousers, disregard for reading and interpreting official ordnance records, period photgraphs and written descriptions by actual participants. A great Memorial Day weekend rollout of an occurence almost 150 years ago.
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