The Unfinished Fight

Florence Fleming

By Craig L. Barry · Originally published March 2019 · p. 10

Florence Fleming An interesting topic came up on one of the Civil War internet forums about whether a particular musket followed the soldier to whom it was issued should he transfer to another unit. It reminds me of the often quoted passage (by me) about whether P53 Enfields were ever polished or kept blued from John Mead Gould’s History of the 1st, 10th, and 29th Maine. The 90 day recruits of the 10th Maine were reforming and it was noted they had to give up their U.S. M1855 rifle muskets. They had been promised U.S. M1861s if they reupped. They were griping about being issued P53 Enfields instead which they felt were inferior to the U.S. M1855s which they turned in.

Sam Watkins The point here is that when infantry soldiers mustered out, or their infantry unit(s) reformed, they were reissued other equipment including their longarms. They did not keep whatever they had before even if they had a preference to do so; clearly, this was involuntary with respect to the Maine troops and they were not happy about it. For what it is worth, they also got new blue uniforms that they remembered as “a good outfit in every way” and continued with “…but look at these Enfield muskets with their blued barrels and wood no man can name.” It is the same passage where the men were later ordered to polish the barrels of their P53 Enfields bright “and kept them so ever after.”

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There is a pretty good reason for the policy of longarms remaining with the original unit, and this continued into the modern era with the U.S. Army. Consider that the accoutrements (bayonet & sheath, cartridge box) need to compatible with the new unit. Additionally, the ammunition might be incompatible and the Ordnance Department was reluctant to complicate logistics by keeping track of different types of ammunition needed by one specific soldier within a regiment. This was particularly challenging for the Confederate armies due to the variety of different European imports that were in use. The arms did not belong to the soldier but to the government and, by extension, to the unit. A soldier was issued a weapon and was responsible for its care and maintenance. Normally if he was transferred to another unit due to consolidation (as in the case of the 10th Maine in 1861) or the unit being dissolved due to lack of re-enlistments, arms and equipment were turned in and new ones issued. Also, if you drill it down philosophically, the army views the soldier as the mechanism needed to fire the musket. It sounds callous phrased that way, but it is the fact of the matter. The musket (or rifle) in the firing line pointed at the opposing force is what the army was after. The soldier’s thoughts on the matter were a secondary priority, if considered at all. If the soldier left or was injured, the weapon was simply reissued to another soldier in the company by the Ordnance officer. Now was this always the case in both armies? We can’t really know definitively; it is the paradox of proving something didn’t happen. You can only go by what period accounts say about the matter when it came up. There is one notable exception that springs immediately to mind. There is a passage in the memoirs of Sam Watkins, 1st Tenn. Maury Grays (CS). In Co Aytch he talks about a fallen comrade presenting him with his prized weapon named Florence Fleming. “Every soldier had to have his gun rubbed up as bright as a new silver dollar. W.A. Hughes had the brightest gun in the whole army and always called it Florence Fleming.” Watkins noted that during hand-to-hand combat at the battle of Kennesaw Mountain, “…a Yankee rushed upon me … and said, ‘You have killed my two brothers and now I’ve got you.’ … I heard the roar, and felt the flash of fire and, saw my more than friend, William A. Hughes, grab the muzzle of the gun, receiving the whole contents in his hand and arm, mortally wounding him… he died for me…When the infirmary corps carried him off, all mutilated and bleeding he told them to give me ‘Florence Fleming’ (that was the name of his gun which he had put on it in silver letters), and to give me his blanket and clothing… It was the last time I saw him.” Hughes died from his injuries and I believe Sam Watkins was permitted to carry Florence Fleming going forward, or that is how he recalls it in his memoirs. If so, does that contradict what we concluded previously? Wouldn’t the rifle ‘Florence Fleming’ be reissued by the company to another soldier at the discretion of the Ordnance officer, not given away by the soldier who was previous owner? While he continually reminds the reader that his memoirs “are not a history,” that is what Sam Watkins says about the matter. Sam Watkins never addressed what became of ‘Florence Fleming,’ which had the name on the stock “in silver letters.” Anecdotally, a well-known collector who wishes to remain anonymous states that he saw Florence Fleming one time many years ago in a private collection

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CivilWarNews.com of Civil War arms. Most of us had always believed that it was a P53 Enfield polished bright, as this was what was issued to most of the 1st Tennessee Maury Grays. For example, Watkins says earlier in his memoirs, “…look out boys, the United States is sending iron over into the Southern Confederacy; let’s send a little lead back to the United States and we would blaze away with our Enfield guns.” The collector recalls though that it was not a burnished P53 Enfield but rather a U.S. M1861 or the C.S. variant made at Richmond (he could not recall which) and further that the name ‘Florence Fleming’ was placed on the stock with tacks.

Craig L Barry was born in Charlottesville, Va. He holds his BA and Masters degrees from the University of North Carolina (Charlotte). Craig served The Watchdog Civil War Quarterly as Associate Editor and Editor from 2003–2017. The Watchdog published books and columns on 19th-century material and donated all funds from publications to battlefield preservation. He is the author of several books including The Civil War Musket: A Handbook for Historical Accuracy (2006, 2011), The Unfinished Fight: Essays on Confederate Material Culture Vol. I and II (2012, 2013) and three books (soon to be four) in the Suppliers to the Confederacy series on English Arms & Accoutrements, Quartermaster stores and other European imports.