Private James C. "Jim" Burba, Co. B, 9th Regiment, 1st Kentucky (Orphan) Brigade (CSA)

This is one of my wife's ancestors, and he fought with the famed Orphan Brigade. Because of this, there are a wealth of books and information available for research.

He enlisted as a Private in Company B on October 2nd 1861 at Camp Green River in Kentucky. He fought at Shiloh, the defense of Vicksburg, Baton Rouge, Hartsville, Stones River, Jackson, Chickamauga, Mission Ridge, Rocky Face Gap, Resaca, Dallas, Kennesaw Mountain, Peachtree Creek, Intrenchment Creek, Jonesboro, and Cavalry operations in South Carolina when the Brigade was converted to Cavalry. He was wounded at Dallas.

The 9th's flag.

The most famous member of Company B by far is Johnny Green, and in his memoirs he writes of two incidents involving Jim Burba:

"We slept in this post one night; when I wakend up in the morning as I opened my eys I saw a great big rattlesnake coiled up on top of my blanket. I rolled out in a hurry, at the same time calling out to my messmate who was sharing my blanket, “Rattle snake in bed with us!” He got out in a hurry too, but mr rattler after poking out his tongue once or twice crawled quietly away beside a log near by & coiled up again; Jim Burba, (3) one of our Co, cut a forked stick, crept up on the other side of the log & pinioned Mr Rattle snake with his head under the fork of the stick & captured him alive. With this pet in his hands he was running nearly every body out of camp until the Capt made him kill the creature."

[It's fitting, because it sounds exactly like something that my wife's brother would do.]

He also writes about the Battle of Stones River:

"One man raised his gun to fire at Jim Burba running towards him while placing a cap on his gun. Jim called to him, “Surrender or I’ll kill you!” The fearless hearted Yankee heard his threat with scorn & fired point blank at Him; by some mysterious intervention he missed him, though not ten feet from him. Jim at once executed his threat & sent that poor fellow beyond all the cares of this world."

We're still trying to find his grave, but we believe this is it (we're waiting on the cemetery to confirm it for us).  If it is, we'd like to get a proper memorial set up.

Redoubt Confederate Casualties and Skirmishers

I'm really enjoying painting these figures.  The sculpts are really nice and the figures are full of character.  I'm also enjoying taking my time and painting these 2-3 at a time with no hard deadline to finish Regiments, etc.

The casualty's musket is a simple conversion.  I bought an extra pack of loose muskets and just super glued it so that it appears to be suspended mid air.

Two more- not much to comment on.

Next up will be a few posts on other Civil War ancestors, and maybe a few Revolutionary War (American War of Independence) ancestors.  If you haven't checked them out, I've added a few pages as well.

"Ragged Reb Wounded and Stragglers"

These are from Redoubt's "Ragged Reb Wounded and Stragglers" set.  They are really nice figures and were a lot of fun to paint.  They are really shiny but when I base them they will get a spray of matte coat.

First post of 2012! Redoubt Casualties

Happy New Year everyone!

Here are some casualty figures from Redoubt.  Hopefully what I'm lacking in quantity I will make up for in quality.  I've put a lot of effort into improving my flesh painting, and it seems to be paying off.  I've also starting using some more washes for ACW.  Games Workshops 'Ogryn Flesh' to be exact.  I've been reading a lot on the Civil War lately, including a lot of actual first hand accounts, and I'm starting to lean towards making them DIRTY!  

Here is another figure for the 146th NY.  I'm slowly but surely finishing the Regiment.

This puts me on pace for 365 posts this year!  Now let's see if I can keep up the pace!

Redoubt Confederates

Well what do you know!  I'm posting actual miniature related content!  I have actually been painting a small amount but with our continued computer problems I haven't really been uploading/posting anything.  I'll try to get some more up soon and in a month or so we'll have a new computer so posting should resume to a normal level.

My secret project that I was working on for a Christmas present will now be a "sometime in the spring present" for two reasons: I didn't finish in time, and I won't see the recipient for a month or two anyways as they are in another state.  But I decided to post a few pictures of some of the miniatures that hopefully won't give away any secrets if anyone is snooping around.

These are all from Redoubt Enterprises.  This was the first time I've painted any of their miniatures and I have to say they are really nice.  At first I wasn't thrilled about having the heads separate from the bodies but now I'm sold.  I'm really glad I ordered a few extra pack of heads, it gave me a lot of freedom to customize them.

Thanks to all of my followers and readers for sticking with me through my posting droughts!  I appreciate all the views and comments.

More to come soon!

Paintings on the Stones River battlefield markers

In a previous post I mentioned the paintings on the markers at the Stones River battlefield.  I couldn't find the artist's name so I e-mailed the park and after a few days had a response!  The artist is Andy Thomas and the paintings were commissioned specifically for the park. You can view his website here.  Now to find out where I can buy a print!

Stones River National Cemetery

Adjacent to the Stones River battlefield is the Stones River National Cemetery, final resting place to 6,850 soldiers.

Click to enlarge if you'd like to read the marker explaining the history of the cemetery.

Position of Loomis' Battery, 1st Michigan Light Artillery, during the battle.  They were engaged on December 31st, 1862, and January 2nd 1863.

Pvt Henry B. King, Co. F, 3rd Kentucky Infantry (US)

Pvt William H. Simmons, Co. A, 4th Tennessee Cavalry (US)

Pvt William R. Breedlove, Co. H, 82nd Indiana Infantry

Pvt David Martin, Co. A, 10th Ohio Cavalry

Sgt John Martin, Co. D, 4th Ohio Cavalry

Pvt Clay C. Martin, Co. B, 21st Ohio Infantry

Unknown soldier marker.

Cpl Joseph Martin, Co. K, 6th Ohio Infantry

Grave marker for 7 unknown soldiers.

Grave marker for 3 unknown soldiers.

I'm thankful for a patient wife, who walks countless cemeteries with me, but far more thankful for the hero's buried there. 

Stones River Battlefield. Part 2: The Battlefield

After visiting the museum, we did the driving tour of the battlefield, and stopped and walked around at several locations.  The battlefield itself is huge and would take a couple of days to see on foot.  I took a lot of pictures and I'll just post a few here to give a sense of the battlefield.  Above is the Chicago Board of Trade Battery.

My favorite thing at the battlefield were the paintings on all of the battlefield markers.  If anyone has any more info on these I would be interested to know.  Please comment or send me an e-mail. 

View from the Union defenders position on the first day of the battle (December 31st, 1862) as they rally and stem the tide of advancing Confederates.

Closeup of the painting.

Position of Batteries H and M, 4th Regiment, United States Artillery (Regular Army) on December 31st, 1862.

Marker for "The Slaughter Pen".

It was a little intimidating to walk through the rocks of the slaughter pen, knowing that it was on this difficult ground that such a violent struggle took place.

Here Sheridan's Division stood when the rest of the army fled, and held it with heavy losses while Rosecrans could rally his disordered command.

As a bit of an Orphan Brigade connoisseur, I was extremely excited to see the site of their heroic charge from the 3rd day of the battle (January 2nd, 1863).

I would love to get a print of this painting!

Under horrific fire, the Confederate attackers had to cross the Stones River...

...and climb the rocky banks.

Once across the river, the orphans were faced by massed artillery just beyond those trees.

On this hill stood 57 Union guns.