The Farb, the Farb!!!!!

[le Voyageur]

You're right in a way. The matchcoat (aka the justicorp), and capote are nearly the same as Native Americans copied the pattern. The differance being choice of material, the trade blanket, and simplicity.

 

 

[Eagle92]

Speaking of doign yoru own research... on another thread it was said that toques did not have the balllike fringe at the end, and it certainly looks like that last link has a toque with the balllike fringe.

[le Voyageur]

Toques had both...during the Rev War, the toque was known as the Liberty cap being worn by a considerable number of militas, these lacking the ball fringe.

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phrygian_cap

 

 

[JoeBob]

Stosh,

 

Good info on volleys. Thanks!

I've often wondered how many blackpowder rounds could be fired before the weapon becomes fouled and has to be cleaned. The limit on my .44 cal muscle-loader is about 5 shots between cleanings, since it's still tight and accurate.

 

I do occasionally capitalize the 'D' in Damnyankees, because damnYankees doesn't look right...

 

;^)

JoeBob

[Stosh]

Because the .577 Enfield and .580 Springfield both shot the minnie ball rather than a patched ball, they didn't foul as readily. When I load my Enfield clean, the minnie falls all the way to the bottom without ramming. Once the barrels began to foul (50-75 rounds) the men had a special minnie with an extra zinc ring on it that would scrape the barrel when loading. This helped a bit, but the best option for the men in battle was to pour water down the barrel to soften the burnt powder and then ram a load. This helped a bit. Once the piece became so foul it wouldn't shoot, they would pick up one from the ground and hope it wasn't as dirty as the one they had.

 

After a battle it was found that there were a number of guns with 2-8 rounds already in the gun. At first they attributed this to men panicing and ramming more rounds without firing. However, these men were very well trained and the theory now is that when a man picked up a dropped piece he would automatically load without running the rammer down to see if it was loaded. That took extra time he may not have had. If he put a round in and it didn't go all the way to the bottom, he'd drop that one and get another and load until he found an empty gun.

 

The ball and buck smooth bores didn't have as much problem because none of the 4 projectiles were large enough that they couldn't be rammed. The rate of fire for the flintlock smooth bores was about 4 a minute and the percussion caps, 3 a minute. It was easier and faster to charge the flash pan than put a cap on. However, the range of a smooth bore was about 100 yards and the effective range of the Enfield/Springfield used in the Civil War was 450-650 yards. The technology changed but the tactics didn't. However, with the smooth bore 4 balls went out the end of the barrel but with the minnie setup only one went. The casualties of the Civil War was not as high a rate as the previous wars until the men began to take shelter and more accurately aim. By the end of the war trench warfare was the way to go and the casualties began to rise considerably as they figured out the advantages of the minnie setup.

 

I hunt with my rifle/musket in shotgun only areas and those that are restricted to 50 yards on a modern shotgun are envious of me when I take aim and drop my deer 200-300 yards out and with the paper cartridge I can reload faster than any modern patched speedloader on the market, too.

 

In spite of the technology changes only about 10% of the deaths in the CW were on the battlefield. All the rest of the deaths occurred due to medical limitations and disease.

 

Of course if one is doing rendesvous era one must keep with the flintlock to be correct. The fur trader could make his own black powder, pour his own lead balls and replace the flint at any creek. With the percussion cap he had to carry an extra piece of high technology that couldn't be replaced in the field. It wasn't until the invention of the brass cartridge came along and multiple rounds/fire power began to take over did the fur traders/buffalo hunters of the plains make the change. Early rimfire .45 caliber bullets didn't have enough powder to be very effective. Once they incorporated the center-fire cap in the shell case, did the higher amounts of powder become the norm.

 

Also if one does fur trader prior to the CW, the gun was .36 cal. and after .50 cal because no game east of the Mississippi required the heavy guns of the plains. The Pennsylvania Rifle (misnamed the Kentucky Rifle) was .36 cal. Modern reproductions are difficult to come by at that caliber. Remember, the fur trader carried a hunting weapon, not a military one as did most pioneers crossing the plains later one.

 

Stosh

[Hal_Crawford]

Since we are talking farb, Showtime is re-running The Tudors a steamy pot boiler that makes total hash of the history of Henry VIII (reign 1509-1547) and his 6 wives and numerous girlfriends.

 

Some examples:

 

A flint lock pistol (17th century invention but it looks like an 18th century model).

 

Carriages with leaf spring suspension (19th century).

 

Many of the costumes are Elizabethan, a later period with a different silhouette. (Tudor think squares, Elizabethan think triangles).

 

A bishop wearing his hat (biretta) sideways.

 

King Henry wearing his pumpkin pants to bed as if they were boxers. That's silly.

 

King Henry still looking buff and not a day over 30 at a point in his life where he would have been 45 and fat.

 

Of course everyone too clean.

 

Can people be farb? The characters of Henry's sisters Margaret and Mary are combined into one. "Margaret" marries the King of Portugal (never happened) and after murdering him (?) she marries Charles Brandon who was the real Mary's second husband (the first was Louis XII of France who reputedly died from overexertion in bed). Since the real Margaret should have married James IV of Scotland then I guess this series eliminates the rest of the Stuart line including James V (Margaret's son), Mary Queen of Scots (her granddaughter) and James VI of Scotland (geat grandson) who would have succeeded Elizabeth to the throne of England as James I but I guess couldn't because his great grandmother never meets his great-grandfather.

 

Various characters and time lines are drastically changed for dramatic purposes. There is lots of sex and nudity at least when they are naked they aren't wearing farb.

 

Oh yes, and in this version Cardinal Wolsey commits suicide. Who could blame him?

 

Hal