N-SSA 150th National Competition

By Bruce W. Miller · Originally published January-February 2025 · pp. 51

Special Events Highlight N-SSA 150th National Competition

T By Bruce W. Miller he North-South Skirmish Association held its 150th National Competition October 4-6, 2024, with its usual exciting small arms and artillery team matches. However, a number of unique events made this national extra special. Not all N-SSA competitions involve shooting. The Costume Committee holds workshops, demonstrations and competitions where veteran and novice members exhibit their skills and learn about sewing and creating authentic Civil War era civilian and military clothing. As a special event for the 150th National, they created the “Civilian Task Force” that organized a massive History Fair that highlighted civilian lives and roles in the Civil War. The History Fair included over a dozen interesting demonstrations and exhibits that included sanitary fairs, clothing depots, photography, medical care, arsenal production of cartridges, and much more. One of the most highly anticipated special events for the 150th Nationals was the live-fire night artillery demonstration, held on Saturday evening. As darkness fell on the Shenandoah twilight, 13 cannon and howitzer teams set up and began firing. Cannon crews each fired at four 12inch by 12-inch sheet rock tiles hanging from target frames 100 yards from the firing line. The targets were illuminated by road flares, which were wired together for 50 minutes of burn time and placed at each target frame in welded steel holders. To aid the gunner in nighttime aiming, each gun crew had two flashlights, held by the cannoneers at the muzzle and at the breech, to illuminate the front and rear sights. It was a fantastic fireworks show N-SSA style!

Let’s get back to the history, competition and camaraderie of the N-SSA where member units competed in live-fire matches with original or authentic reproduction Civil War period muskets, carbines, breech-loading rifles, revolvers, mortars, and cannon. It is the largest Civil War event of its kind in the country and attracts not only spectators, but Civil War enthusiasts and shooting sports media coverage. All N-SSA small arms matches are shot by classification, determined by averaging the company’s finish positions relative to other companies in its division for the highest three of the last four national skirmishes in which that company has participated. For example, companies are assigned the following classifications: A-1 comprises the top 25% of companies; A-2 is the next 25% of companies; A-3 is the remaining 50% of A companies. B-1 is the top 50% of B companies; B-2 is the remaining 50% of B companies; C are all C, D, E companies, etc. For the purposes of this article, we will report on only the “best of the best,” the A-1 classified winners. The 110th Ohio Volunteer Infantry won the musket team match with a time of 501.2 seconds for the five-event program. It would be the first of three team matches that this vaunted unit would win. One hundred fifty teams participated in this N-SSA signature competition. The 110th also won the carbine team match, edging out the 149th Pennsylvania Infantry by a scant 1.5 seconds. The Nansemond Guards went on to a smashing victory in the smoothbore musket team match, defeating 124 other four-member teams. The Nansemond Guards won again, besting 60 other teams to win the four-event revolver team match and added a third gold medal with a win in the single-shot pistol match. The 110th OVI scored their third gold medal in the single-shot rifle match and the 2nd Maryland, Baltimore Light Artillery (CSA) won the breech loading rifle match. The 1st Maryland Cavalry won the Spencer team match. Forty field artillery pieces competed for the top place in each of the four classes of cannon. Each crew fired 12 solid projectiles at paper targets mounted on drywall backers, placed on wooden target frames at a range of 200 yards for rifled and smoothbore guns and 100 The authentically-uniformed Hardaway’s Alabama Battery fires yards for howitzers. Rifled cannon Jeffrey Baldwin’s Tredegar 12-pounder field howitzer. As flame and smoothbore gun crews fired their erupts from the vent and muzzle, the lanyard used to pull the friction primer and fire the howitzer is still in mid-air, only a few inches from Continued on page 66 the gun’s vent. (Ericka Curley)