Every January the President of the United States gives his "State of the Union Address". It occurred to me that a similar type of article might be appropriate. So here goes. The past year has been an important one for us. This was the first year of my captaincy and the second year of our association with the 1st Texas regiment. I think we have moved forward as a company during this time period. Although the weather certainly did not cooperate with our campaigning season, we have once again proven ourselves to be a campaign company. On Sunday morning at Ft. Towson, when General King’s infantry was down to 8 men, the Texas Rifles had six men present. Our civilian members also stuck it out despite cold and wet conditions. Later at Wilson’s Creek , our company again remained in the field until the battalion officers voted to leave early. We did not desert our post. This time the civilians saved us with a hot meal and gallons of coffee. Most recently at Liendo Plantation the military and civilian Rifles set the example for the hobby. We stuck it out until the sun finally came out. I think we have had enough rain for one season! There is a theme running throughout the year. We are a dedicated bunch of people. We portray our military and civilian impressions to the best of our ability, and we take care of each other. I guess you could say we are a band of brothers and sisters! Our unity is our greatest strength, and it is one of the reasons we have been around for nearly 15 years.
Over time our company has evolved in a lot of ways. We no longer show up with A frame tents at a campaign event. The boys have learned to survive in shelter halves. We developed a Transmississippi impression which included a move away from the cadet grey shell jacket to the jean wool jacket. During the past year, with our adoption of the 1st - 4th Texas impression, our authenticity committee has worked very hard researching just how our impression should be improved. This newsletter will contain the final draft of their research findings. We stand on the threshold of a new campaign season. We have some decisions to make regarding our company. I hope that everyone will vote their conscience at Winedale, but please keep in mind this one thought. "If we aren’t getting better, we are getting worse."
Chris Strzelecki
Captain, Texas Rifles
We have worked an several "new things" at the last few events or more aptly put "things we have been doing wrong" so I want to start putting them down in writing for those of you who have not been at the events and thus missed the instruction.
This Edition: Saluting the piece
I assume most of you are aware of the focus we have put on this final motion of the Shoulder Arms position. If you don't know what I am talking about you need to come out more, but here is a description of saluting the piece.
"With the musket at the shoulder position, smartly bring the left arm across the middle of the chest, with fingers together forming a plane that is parallel to the ground and finishes off with the middle of the index finger touching the barrel of the piece. This motion is paused briefly, then the arm is returned to the side."
This begs a couple of questions. I have about 3 sources that I can use to find answers to questions like the ones that follow, but as of the writing of this segment, I have not yet found the answers. I will then put to you, the men of the Texas Rifles, the following two questions and will hear your responses at Winedale. The best, and most complete answers will win a prize.
Question # 1:
Does this mean there are two versions of "Saluting the piece"? Meaning, the one described above seems to fit the situation of saluting the piece when returning to Shoulder arms from some other arms position, but does not seem to fit what a soldier would do when saluting an officer while under arms. When a soldier addresses an officer while carrying a piece, he should do so at the shoulder arms position and salute the piece. I have always been under the impression that when you initiate a salute to an officer, you hold that salute until he reciprocates, then you can finish the salute. Is that true while saluting the piece? Maybe not. Since saluting the piece means you are bearing arms, maybe the formality is eliminated to expedite the exchange between an officer and an inlisted man? I don't know the answer to this. Start reading and find out.
Question #2:
It has been our practice that when you go to shoulder arms from the order arms position, you do not salute the piece. When you go there from right shoulder shift, or support, or present, or arms port you do. What about when you go from the shoulder to the shoulder. Right now you are thinking "What the hell does that mean", right? Well, when we fix bayonets from the shoulder, we return to the shoulder, right? OK, so do we salute the piece? Start reading and find out.
These are two question that I have thought of over the last two events. But like I said, I do not know the answers to these questions. There may not be answers to these question. Remember, John Keahey is going to be watching and listening, so don't think you can B.S. your way into a prize at Winedale.
Three soggy and cold brave cheers to the Ladies of the Texas Rifles and Marvin "Handiman" Schroeder and Mike Stockton for their efforts at Liendo. Under the most difficult of circumstances, the Hempstead Soldiers Home fed the wet and bedraggled men of the 1st Texas. General King & his Staff saluted Ms Laura & Ms Ann as they informed them that there was food available.
This coming year will be an interesting one. I have proposed an Amendment designed to cure the sometimes tensions between the Civilians and the Military in the Rifles. I think it is important to add this to the ByLaws because it will, in the long run, improved the function of the Rifles as a group.
See you all at Winedale, where I will be available for a second year as Civilian Coordinator, if such a thing is agreeable.
Y'r Ob'd'nt S'rv'nt
Philip
I am looking forward to seeing all of you at Winedale. I am would like you to arrive on Friday evening if at all possible. What always happens is people intend to get up early and arrive by 7 AM or so on Saturday morning, but we oversleep or the boss calls and we are delayed. I would like to get the business meeting started by 9 AM on Saturday, so come out Friday night. That will give us an additional evening to enjoy the company of our pards!
We plan to have some drill time. This is especially good for our new recruits who need time to practice their drill. We always have our fun romp in the woods on Saturday afternoon, don’t miss it! The Tom Heard Firing Cup will be up for grabs again this year. Robert Stripay is last year’s champ. Will he repeat? Of course we all love the stacking competition! I may even have a few surprises for us this year. Who is the best drilled among us in the manual of arms??? Ok, we all know it is John Keahey. Who is the next best drilled? Maybe we will find out.
Most of all I am anxious to see all of my friends again. Winedale is a fun mixture of business, drill, and socializing. Don’t miss it!
1. John Keahey has proposed that all military members of the Texas Rifles be required to join the regiment.
This has been proposed to help us increase our roster strength for the regiment. It also would show our support for our umbrella organization the NCLHA. Several members have expressed their support for this, just as several have expressed opposition to it. The later group believes it should be an individual decision , and if Rifles members don’t want to join, they shouldn’t be forced. It was pointed out that only 1 dues paying member did not join the regiment. Is there really a need to accept this proposal.
2. Our authenticity committee has produced a document for our adoption.
It appears in this issue of the newsletter. Please read it carefully and be prepared to discuss it and vote on it at Winedale. This proposal has also been given to the regiment and at the time of this newsletter was approved of by all the captains of the regiment. It has not yet been formally adopted by the regiment. Regardless of the regiment’s decision the work of our committee deserves a close look. Feel free to call or email me with questions.
3. The Rifles made a bulk purchase of 25 pounds of powder.
The cost per can came to about $7. This is much more reasonable that $14 a can, like we have to pay here in Houston. Members who would like to have powder distributed to them should bring a seven dollar donation to Winedale. This will allow us to make further purchases of munitions.
4. Phil Ulbrich has made the following proposal to amend the bylaws at Winedale 2001
I] The governing body of the Texas Rifles is to be bicameral. The Captain will be executive of the Military Contingent and the Civilian Coordinator the executive of the Civilian Contingent. Both will have discretionary access to the treasury. The Captain and Civilian Coordinator will take care that their respective contingents are maintained in accordance with the Texas Rifle's Mission.
II] The Captain, Lieutenant & 1st Sgt of the Texas Rifles will also be considered President, Vice President and Secretary of the Texas Rifles.
III] The Captain will maintain signatory control of the Treasury (as per pertinent Amentments; this clause may be redundant and unnecessary depending on body of ByLaws)
The University of Texas at Austin Center for American History: Winedale Conference Center.
If you are coming from the Houston area by way of US 290 , go west on FM 159 at Hempstead. Continue on this road until you pass through Industry. Before you get to Fayetteville turn North on FM 1457. You will pass through Shelby, and in a few miles you will turn east onto FM 2714. You are close now. Travel down this road for three miles or so. The Winedale Center will be on your left.
If you are coming from Houston by way of I-10 , make your way north to Bellville. Then follow the instructions as listed above.
If you are coming from the Austin area by way of by US 290, turn south on FM 458 near Carmine. Travel to Round Top on FM 458, then take FM 1457 east to FM 2714. The Winedale Center is about three miles on your left down FM 2714.
If you are coming from Dallas , it will probably be fastest to travel by way of Austin. Travel east on US 290 from Austin and then follow the above instructions for travel from Austin.
I would recommend using a Yahoo map or an old fashion road map. We will try to scan a map into the newsletter, but this doesn’t always work.
If you are coming to this event, get yourself to I-45 or US 59. FM 1960 connects the two freeways at Spring , Tx and Humble , Tx. The park is located about four miles from Humble just off of FM 1960. Turn north off of FM 1960 onto Kenswick Drive. The park is located where Kenswick Drive dead ends. Parking is available about ¾ of a mile into the park. Don’t park near the gate.
New! Straight to you from a successful engagement in beautiful northern Alabama! "Mid-Nineteenth Century Homespun Dresses," a slide-show extravaganza. Historic quotes! Maps showing textile and carding mills! But that's not all! Slides of actual, real, not made up homespun dresses, in full and in detail, gathered for your perusal from far away sites such as Richmond, Raleigh, and Atlanta! Did I hear someone ask how many? Not five, not ten, but nineteen homespun dresses! Not only that, but slides of fabric swatches gleaned from the Texas Heritage Museum, here in our own fair state. All of this only seen once before assembled together. And again I hear, how much will this wealth of information cost me? Others have paid over $100 to see these treasures.......um, and a few other speakers as well..... But for the very special civilians of the Texas Rifles I am prepared to make you a one time FREE OFFER! Be at the Texas Rifles muster at Winedale in January, and after the military has gone off to play in the woods on Saturday afternoon, the screen will lower (or raise), the lights will dim, and the true treasures of the Sunny South will be spread before your astounded eyes! Don't miss it!!
The Texas Rifles yearly dues are $18 or $25 for the family. The vast majority of us pay our dues at Winedale, but occasionally some of us do not pay their dues until months after Winedale. Even more rarely some never pay their dues no matter how many times I remind them. This puts a strain on our meger treasury. So I wanted to let everyone know what to expect this year. Of course we have a wide range of incomes within our organization. So there are no surprises I am listing known expenses now.
Texas Rifles dues: individual $18 , family $25
Regimental dues: increasing to $30. The NCLHA is now mailing a newsletter to each paid member, as well as a publication of period news to help improve our impressions. In addition the extra $5 for the year helps arrange for wagons and mules to provide us with logistical support on campaign events like Ft. Towson and the Vicksburg Campaign. In the past, much of this cost has come out of Jack King’s own pocket.
Winedale meals: The ladies of Winedale feed us three meals: lunch, supper, and breakfast. The Winedale organization doesn’t charge us for the use of the facility. All we pay for are our meals. Plan on something like this. Saturday lunch $6, Saturday supper $8, and Sunday breakfast $7. So you will need about $21 or so for all three meals at Winedale.
The brigade will provide us with rations for Raymond and maybe even for Port Hudson. Rations for Wilson’s Creek were about $16 per person. I would look for something like that for these events as well.
Event registrations: The only events that we will have to pay a registration for will probably be the national events. They tend to be about $10.
Since we now publish a electronic version of our newsletter, we have been able to keep expenses of the company as low as possible. I don’t see any reason to raise our company dues.
This is quite a list of expenses. I don’t expect anyone to write a check for the entire amount at Winedale. However, I would like you to come to Winedale prepared to pay for your meals and to renew your dues for this year. If you are a recruit then you will be paying thesE dues for the first time.
Company Treasury:
December 7, 2000
The weekend before Thanksgiving the 2nd Liendo Plantation event was held on the 2000 acre Liendo Plantation in Hempstead, Tx. This historic property is surrounded by huge Live Oaks, and at one time hosted a Civil War prison, Confederate camp, and was the headquarters of George Custer after the difficulties. So the plantation has a great Civil War history.
As was the pattern for most of the main events of the 2000 campaign season, the event was underwater until about 1AM Sunday morning. The cold rain made it a little tough. Luckily we all had shelter, although some of it leaked or had a "river run through it". The ladies of Rifles spoiled us rotten with hot food. As much as I don’t like to spoil you boys with the "easy life" , warm food and hot coffee kept up our soggy spirits. When the sun came out on Sunday morning it showered its rays on the brave and soggy boys of Company G. I heard many compliments from the few remaining reenactors. They were amazed that we stuck it out in dog tents, but remember the famous words of Steve Wolford, "that’s what the Rifles do". We had a number of new fellas out in the field and they did themselves proud. If you haven’t met them yet, you are in for a treat. We have some great recruits: Chris Huey (who had bronchitis !, but his dad still brought him), Troy Powell, Matt Rechtien, Patrick Kolek, and Steve Wolford III or Wolfpup as we called him. In addition the ranks were filled out by Steve Wolford II, Brian Porter, Frank Marek, James Burnet, Rob Williamson, Bob Huey, Rene Kozarsky, Marvin and Vivian Schroeder, Vicki Betts, Ann Stockton and Marjorie, Phil Ulbrich and Laura Fitzpatrick. Thanks so much for coming. You helped make a great impression with our impression!
In closing the chapter on this event, we may have opened an whole new book. It seems the owner of the property was very impressed by the 1st Texas. We were the only Confederate infantry left on Sunday morning. He was very appreciative and asked our regiment to help plan future events at the Plantation. General King has been involved in some conversations with the plantation people and some interesting options may be on the horizon. Not many of you may know about our old muster site in Oklahoma, Ft.Washita. It was a great winter muster site because it was a truly historic site that gave us shelter for a usually bad weather event. We have proposed to the owner to let the 1st Texas construct a winter emcampment somewhere on his 2000 acres. He is very interested. This would be one more way he could showcase his property, and it would give us the truly unique chance to build and live in rough log and canvas shelters. A winter camp impression would be a great time to experiecne another part of the soldier’s life. Guard mount, drill, sutlers, and social activities could be experieced in first person. Personally I am very excited. Let’s not put the horse before the cart. Lots of details have to be worked out, but wouldn’t that be something? This would also be a perfect place for our civilians to interact with our military impression. So bring your opinions and ideas to Winedale. I am pumped!
Chris Strzelecki
Captain, Texas Rifles
On the weekend of December 2-3 Hood’s Texas Brigade mustered on the Strand in Galveston, Texas. The presence of our regiment has grown steadily over the past three years. Just two years ago I was the only member of the company to attend. The holiday season makes attendance difficult for the majority of us. Despite that difficulty seven members of the company braved the cold to attend the event. On Saturday Mike Covington, Phil Sozansky, Patrick Kolek, Frank Marek, John Keahey and I fell into the ranks of the regiment. On Sunday recruit Matt Rechtien came out and practiced his drill. He even stayed longer on Sunday than his captain, and he is just a recruit. This showing by the men of our company was appreciated by the other companies. A total of about 36 infantry were present. Althought the two parades were lots of fun, I would have to say that the social time spent sipping a beer or two in the evening was good. I even heard a rumor that the Captain bought the first round. In addition to the "fun" of the event, some serious work was done to bring the results of our authenticity committees research to the attention of the rest of the regiment. John, Phil, and Frank answered all the regiments questions, and gave a good showing of their research on the uniforms and arms of the 1st Texas. Can I count on seeing you next year? Put it on your calander.
Chris Strzelecki
Captain, Texas Rifles
It is time for me to put together the slide show for Winedale. I have some photos already collected, but I could use more. So if you took pictures of our group this year, please send them to me. Put your name on the back and I will return them to you. Don’t send me the negatives. I actually take slides of the photos using my schools copystand. The sooner you send them to me the sooner I can put the slideshow together. Thanks for your help!
Chris Strzelecki
Captain, Texas Rifles
The company will discuss these proposed changes at our Winedale muster in January. In the meantime read them over, prepare questions and comments to be discussed. Feel free to email either John , Phil , or me for clarification.
Due to Lee's busy job schedule (he is currently working in Italy), he is going to sell his gear and get out for a while. His "stuff" is as follows:
ITEMS FOR SALE
LEE GOODELL
WEAPONS
Armisport 1853 .58 cal Enfield- $300.00
Armisport .58 cal Calvary carbine- $60.00
Enfield bayonet w/scabbard- $45.00
UNIFORMS
Federal sack coat 44 reg- $30.00
Shell jacket jean wool gray 44reg- $50.00
Blue kersey trousers 34 reg- $50.00
Butternut kerseys 34 reg- $40.00
Brogans size 9 rough side out- $40.00
Kepi union- $15.00
kepi jean wool confederate- $25.00
ACCOUTRAMENTS
Cartridge box w/ Texas star plate- $35.00
Cap box- $15.00
US issue belt w/Texas star buckle- $35.00
Carttridge box sling w/breast plate- $15.00
Leather sling for Enfield- $10.00
Cloth sling for Enfield- $3.50
Cloth rifle case for Enfield- $8.00
Holster/pistol belt for Remington (black)- $20.00
Federal haversack(tarred)- $20.00
Bullseye canteen, Kersey blue- $25.00
Tin cup (lrg)- $3.50
Tin plate (9in)- $5.00
Drum canteen (metal)- $15.00
Blanket, gray, wool- $30.00
Blanket, Butternut, wool- $30.00
Gum blanket- $25.00
Knapsack, Federal, tarred-$50.00
Smoking cap- $7.00.
Kepi, Union 7 3/8- $15.00
PRICES ARE NON-NEGOTIABLE
ITEMS ARE IN GOOD CONDITION AND WORTH WHAT I'M ASKING FOR
THEM. THE DO HOWEVER SHOW TYPICAL FIELD WEAR WHICH MAKES
FOR A GOOD IMPRESSION.
If interested please contact myself or my wife at 281-398-1228 or email at lgoodell@swbell.net. I live in Katy. Thanks
Brady Williams has contacted me about selling his gear. At Winedale a number of his items were sold. However some things do remain: Enfield Musket: $300 (missing front sight). Cartridge Box, cap box, bayonet and scabbard, tin cup, pants and shirt pattern: Contact Chris for prices on these items. Also, check out the new CLASSIFIED section of the website and post anything you want to sell to Rob Williamson at rhwillia@sprynet.com.
The following contacts produce or sell goods of the finest quality. They are the recommended source of supply for members of the Texas Rifles.
John Keahey:
2810 West Pebble Beach
Missouri City, TX 77459
281-261-0665
Shell jackets, uniforms, leather gear
Gaye Frazer
5641 Yale Blvd, Ste 125
Dallas ,Texas 75206
214-696-1865
fax 214-361-9720
www.frazerbrothers.com
Jean Cloth & Period Fabrics
Thistle Hill Weavers
Rd #2, Box 75,
Cherry Valley, NY13320
518-284-2729
Charles Childs
13979 – C Georgetown St. NE
Paris, Ohio 44669
216-862-3307
Ready Made Shell Jackets
Terri Parker
738 Currey Rd.
Nashville, TN 37217
615-361-8765
Ask for Alabama Depot Style in gray brown jean
Hats
Clear Water Hat Company
Bob & Kaye Brewer
Box 202,
Newnata, AR 72680
5017464324
Leather and Paper Goods
Dixie Leather Works
P.O. Box 8221
Paducah, KY 42002-8221
800-888-5183
Custom Made Brogans
Robert Serio
Missouri Boot and Shoe Co.
Rt. 7, Box 207
Neosho, Mo.
417-451-6100
General Merchandise
Fall Creek Sutlery
P.O. Box 539
Freedom , CA
408-728-1888
Musket Tools & Parts
S & S Firearms
74-11 Myrtle Ave.
Glendale, NY 11385-7433
718-497-1100
(This schedule can also be viewed from the "Schedule" link on the main page.)
*January 12-14, Winedale 2001