TOCWOC – A Civil War Blog

Author: Fred Ray

  • Short Takes

    I came across this representation of a target shot a 500 yards by a .577 Enfield and a .451 Whitworth, which shows pretty clearly why the Whitworth made a better sharpshooter’s rifle. Source: W.W. Greener, The Gun and Its Development (1910) Google Books now has Life magazine in their collection, and among the issues is […]

  • Short Takes

    A beautifully engraved LeMat repro is up for charity auction at Gunbroker. This is #158 of 500 of the Museum of the Confederacy Tribute to the Confederate cause and those who fought valiantly for that cause. The revolver is an F.LLI Pietta historical reproduction of the famous confederate LeMat revolver. The LeMat revolver was a […]

  • Last Shots of the War

    One of our local columnists, Rob Neufeld, pens a short item on the last shots of the war, which were supposedly fired right here in Western NC. What caught my eye is that they were fired by sharpshooters under the command of Lt. Robert Conley of Company F, Thomas Legion on May 6, 1865. On […]

  • Short Takes

    The remnants of a blockade runner have come to light in Tampa, Florida. Chief researcher John William Morris said the dimensions of the wreck are within inches of that of the Scottish Chief, and it’s in a spot where the vessel was believed abandoned by Confederate troops after Tampa’s one and only Civil War skirmish. […]

  • The Becker Collection

    Another most amazing Civil War resource has recently become available at Boston College—The Becker Archive, an extensive collection of the original drawings of the special artists working for Frank Leslie’s Weekly. There’s a long article about in Boston College magazine. It is … an extraordinary cache of previously undocumented eyewitness depictions from the second half […]

  • Short Takes

    When you’re firing that nifty new replica cannon you built, try not to drop a round shot through your neighbor’s medicine cabinet as it tends to strain neighborly relations. Video here. And speaking of big guns, there’s always that double- barreled Confederate cannon, which can still be viewed at Athens, GA. A young Yankee soldier, […]

  • NC Museum of History Returns Civil War Flag to Rhode Island

    The North Carolina Museum of History has returned a Civil War flag of Company L, First Rhode Island Cavalry to its home state. The V-shaped flag, called a guidon, was captured by the 63rd North Carolina Troops (Fifth North Carolina Cavalry) on June 17, 1863, during the Battle of Middleburg, Virginia. The battle was part […]