Preserving and Sharing Rhode Island Military History to Inpire and Educate the Public.
Our monthly member dinner featured Frank J. Williams, Lincoln Scholar & Former Chief Justice, Supreme Court of RI. There was also great food and even better company! Check out the gallery!
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The Varnum Continentals welcome Frank J. Williams, a former Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Rhode Island, as the guest speaker at our September dinner meeting at the Varnum Memorial Armory Museum on Monday, September 14, 2015.
Williams is one of the country’s most renowned experts on Abraham Lincoln and has authored numerous books on our 16th president, including “Lincoln as Hero” and “Judging Lincoln”. He has also contributed chapters to and/or edited several other books on Lincoln. He is founding Chair of The Lincoln Forum, and served as President of The Ulysses S. Grant Association and as a member of the Abraham Lincoln Bicentennial Commission.
A native of Richmond, RI, Mr. Williams is a graduate of Cranston East High School and received degrees from Boston University, BU School of Law, and Bryant University. He served as a captain in the US Army in the 1960s, and was awarded numerous medals and commendations for his military service. He was appointed to the RI Supreme Court in 1995 and became Chief Justice is 2001. He has also served as Chief Judge of the US Court of Military Commission Review. Since stepping down from the Rhode Island Supreme Court at the end of 2009, he has lectured at universities and institutes throughout the country.
Please join us for what promises to be a most informative meeting. As always, your guests of members are welcome. Thanks to Varnum Member Larry McDonald for arranging for the speaker.
Meeting Date: Monday, September 14
Time: 5:30 p.m. (social hour); 6:30 p.m. (dinner followed by program)
Fee: $15/person
ONLY VARNUM CONTINENTAL MEMBERS MAY ATTEND THIS EVENT!
TO JOIN, JUST CLICK HERE.
West Greenwich native Charles Tillinghast James was a product of the Industrial Revolution who achieved fame in such diverse areas as the textile industry, politics, and ultimately, munitions. It was the latter that brought him to his end and for which he is perhaps best remembered. James was born in 1805. From humble beginnings as a carpenter, he became a largely self-taught machinist and engineer. In a state as small as Rhode Island, it didn’t take him long to be noticed by none other than famed local industrialist Samuel Slater, who took him under his wing. Before long, James was propelled into financial success in setting up and operating steam-powered mills throughout New England. He then tried his hand at politics and served in the U.S. Senate from 1851 to 1857 as a member of the Democratic Party. During this period, he also became active in the Rhode Island State Militia and was appointed as a major general.
Here’s where his story turns really interesting and the Varnum connection eventually comes in. Prior to the outbreak of the Civil War, the United States Army relied solely on smoothbore cannon. One of the most popular was the Model 1841, a bronze six-pounder, referring to the weight of a solid projectile. (The term “pounds” is applied to the weight of shot that can be fired from a cannon of the same caliber or width of the bore, in this case 3.67”.) When the smoothbore 6-pounders were rifled, the bore was expanded to 3.80”. Because of that they were sometimes confused with future, heavier cannon that were designed to fire a 14-pound projectile.
Rifling a cannon barrel allowed the round to twist in flight, increasing its range and accuracy. As the Civil War loomed, it was apparent that increased range, accuracy, and the versatility of ammunition would become important and decisive factors in future battles. Because of the abundance of smoothbore weapons in the Army’s inventory, a quick solution was to re-bore existing cannon such as the Model 1841 with rifling to accommodate the more sophisticated rounds being developed.
Remember that Charles James had trained as a machinist and engineer? Well, in 1856, shortly before leaving the Senate, he was granted the first of two patents (the second was issued in 1862) for “improvements to a cannon projectile.” Called James Federal Pattern Projectiles, they were designed for use in a rifled cannon barrel. Functioning properly, these shells would result in added range and power. Unfortunately for James, he had a good idea but couldn’t get it to work according to plan. The first variant of the James Projectile had the nasty habit of tearing the sabot lead ring from the shell during flight, resulting in friendly fire casualties from short rounds and shrapnel. The second attempt wasn’t much of an improvement. Although the rounds mostly stayed intact, the projectiles caused significant wear on the rifled barrels of the bronze cannon in which they were used. To add insult to injury, the shells often failed to explode.
Despite the unpredictability of these early designs, the U.S. Army chose to use James’ Pattern Projectiles in the early stages of the Civil War. The Army contracted with the Ames Manufacturing Company of Chicopee, Massachusetts, to re-bore a number of bronze six pounder smoothbores using James’ design. The company had already gained worldwide fame as a maker of military swords and sabers (a number of which are in the Varnum collection). James worked directly with the Ames Company on their early re-bores as well as a series of 3.80” bore variants, ranging up to 14-pounders. The final variation – and the most durable – was cast from iron instead of bronze.
In the early months of the war, James continued to experiment and tried to interest others in his designs. On October 17, 1862, he was demonstrating his projectiles to a group of foreign military officers gathered on Long Island. One of his workers was attempting to remove a misfire, when the shell exploded, killing him instantly and fatally wounding James himself. He died the next day. He was 57 years old. James is buried at Swan Point Cemetery.
In spite of the unpredictability of the James round, when it did work, it was with devastating results. For example, James shot and shells were used in the successful Union bombardment of Fort Pulaski on April 10-11, 1862. Larger caliber James rifled cannon were equally and effectively used along with artillery designed by Robert P. Parrott.
Nonetheless, the durability and value of the James lighter rifled cannons remained a problem. Because these bronze cannons fired an iron round, their barrels wore out after only a few hundred rounds, leading to their replacement by more durable weapons shortly after the Fort Pulaski siege. The James guns wound up being used for training purposes by Federal forces.
Among the Federalized units equipped with the early models of James cannon and projectiles was the 1st Rhode Island Light Artillery. Their batteries were among the first to be called into active service shortly after hostilities broke out in 1861. They were issued James six pounders in the Battles of Bull Run, Bolivar Heights, and Ball’s Bluff. On all occasions, the James rifled cannon proved to be a disappointment, lacking in accuracy. (According to one account, a number of rounds fired at Bull Run landed unexploded some three miles from their intended target.) Batteries of the 1st Rhode Island served throughout the war and in almost every area of the country. Along the way, they were equipped with steadily improved weaponry. Among the most popular and effective was the 12-pounder Napoleon. Based on a French design, it was capable of hurling a projectile up to 1,300 yards.
The Varnum Armory collection includes a very rare and good example of a James 6-pounder cannon. The Model 1860 rifled re-bore done by the Ames Company. We also have a companion smoothbore Model 1841 cannon.
Both cannon tubes were acquired from the State of Rhode Island. The rifled cannon is mounted on a genuine Civil War era single trail carriage, acquired in 1943 with a companion limber. The smooth bore sits on a much older, double trail carriage possibly dating to the Revolutionary War Era.
By Varnum Trustee & Member Brian Wallin
In a quiet corner of North Kingstown’s Elm Grove Cemetery is the Baker family plot. Among those buried under a simple, moss-encrusted marker is Charles Cahoon Baker, who is said to be the first North Kingstown resident to die in battle during the Civil War. Charley was killed in the Battle of New Bern(e), North Carolina as a member of Company H, 4th Rhode Island Infantry Regiment on the cold, damp morning of March 14, 1862. While he was not the first Rhode Islander to die in the war, his story is eminently representative of the horror of battle and the sadness of its aftermath.
Charley Baker was born in Wickford in 1845, the third of nine children of David Sherman Baker and Mary Cahoon Waite Baker. He grew up in the family homestead at 50 Pleasant Street (the house, still standing, was built in 1785 by Benjamin Lawton Packer and sold to Charley’s grandfather in the 1830’s). When Charley’s mother and father started growing their large family, the house quickly was expanded and took on its present appearance around the time of the Civil War). The Bakers were prominent local residents and active members of the First Baptist Church. A family of strong and patriotic principles, no one was surprised when Charley, who had just turned 17, was among those young men who rushed to Providence to volunteer as a private in the Grand Army of the Republic in September of 1861. Charley and his fellow volunteers left Rhode Island for Washington, DC on October 2. After training, they were attached to the Army of the Potomac and in early January of 1862, under the command of General Ambrose Burnside, they were sent to North Carolina, seeing service at the Battle of Roanoke Island before being sent on to New Bern.
Let’s go back to that cold dark morning on the last day of young Charley’s life. He woke from a likely fitful sleep after having landed with his comrades and marching through rain and mud to a campsite outside the Confederate held Fort Thompson outside the city of New Bern. Shortly after dawn, gunfire broke out. Colonel Isaac Rodman, another well-known Rhode Island name, ordered his 4th Regiment, including Charley’s Company H, into a breech in the Rebel lines.
Corporal George Allen, in a privately published 1887 book “Forty-six Months with the Fourth Rhode Island Volunteers”, recounts the action that took young Charley’s life on the morning of March 14. Union troops had launched an unsuccessful assault on Fort Thompson. Colonel Rodman, seeing the troops fall back, took it on himself to rally the 4th Rhode Island to charge again. Allen describes the action:
Our colonel immediately decided to advance the regiment without orders, taking the responsibility of the movement on his own shoulders; and dispatching an aide to General Parke to inform him of what he was about to do, gave the order, ‘Fourth Rhode Island fall in’. The boys were ready for the work. Moving by the right flank for a short distance to a slight rise of ground, and then right by files into line, they advanced at a quick step on the rebel line. Shot and shell, grape and minie-balls greeted their approach, and the men began to drop before the murderous fire; yet never swerving from their onward course, they steadily advanced, loading and firing as fast as possible, till within a hundred yards of the works, when with a cheer, they charged home, and planting their colors on the ramparts, swarmed over the breast-works. A short, fierce struggle, and the first was ours.
Sadly, Charley Baker was not among those who made it to the fort. As he ran through the breech in the line, his last experience was likely a blinding flash and his war was over. There, Charley became the first of many Rhode Islanders to die in the battle. Union losses were 90 killed, 380 wounded and 1 missing. Confederate losses: 64 killed, 101 wounded, 413 captured or missing.
Charley’s body was brought back to Rhode Island six weeks after the battle and on April 26th, many in the town of Wickford gathered at the First Baptist Church to mourn with the Baker family and also the Church family. Another North Kingstown man, Sgt. George H. Church, had died during the Battle of New Berne and his body was returned for burial along with that of Private Baker. The funeral service for the two men was described as the largest of its kind in the town’s memory. The procession from the church to the cemetery was nearly a mile in length. The caskets were carried on carriages from the Narragansett Engine Company, of which both men had been volunteer members. The two were laid to rest in their respective family burial sites.
In her book, “Wickford Memories”, author Anita S. Hinkley writes:
Charles Baker was one of my father’s older brothers and he was the first casualty of the Civil War from Rhode Island. Every Decoration Day we go to the (Elm Grove) Cemetery and put flowers on his grave. My grandmother never went. She and her only daughter, Abby, sat at home and look at Charlie’s few possessions and grieved as only women can who have lost their best.
One hundred and fifty two years ago in March of 1863, a young man, one of so many from our state to die in the Civil War, gave his life in a brief and violent moment in the honorable service of his country. The motto of the Varnum Continentals, “To Preserve Patriotism”, stands in his memory and for all who have gallantly served out nation through the years.
By Varnum Trustee & Member Brian Wallin
In addition to a comprehensive military museum of smaller items, the Varnum Memorial Armory features numerous historic canons from both the Revolutionary War and Civil War. The following gallery provides a sample of our artillery exhibits.
The Varnum Armory is available for tours by appointment only. To book a tour, call 401-885-4110, send an email, or fill out this online booking form!
