American Civil War Game Club (ACWGC)

I am looking at a club rule change to get repeating rifles banned from our games - they are un gentlemanly and an abomination

_________________
General Cam McOmish

Brigade Commander
Alabama State Volunteers
Cleburne's Division
Hardee's Corps
(1/1/1)
Army of Tennessee
Confederate States of America

I've got to say it seems very unlikely that any unit was fully equipped with a modern repeating rifle as early as April 1862, at least not as far as Regimental establishment is concerned.
For a start, I don't think any of the accounts I've read mention such a unit being present and it would surely be a noteworthy point that the various historians and authors would have dug-out from the archives.

What was the scale of the game you mentioned? If that game oob did get it's fact correct then it makes all the others wrong kinda thing ...so it makes me think that SPI "Bloody April" got it wrong.

Great reading here: http://www.rarewinchesters.com/index.shtml

History of the Henry repeaters: http://www.rarewinchesters.com/articles ... n_00.shtml

...and their use in the ACW: http://www.rarewinchesters.com/articles ... n_02.shtml

...distribution & usage: http://www.rarewinchesters.com/articles ... n_07.shtml

Frustratingly, the list of ACW battles where Henry repeaters were used is qualified by a question mark in the case of Shiloh. If there was such a unit present at Shiloh ...it's a well kept secret.

_________________
Brigadier-General Jim Wilkes.
2nd Brigade, Cavalry Division, XX Corps.
AoC. U.S.A.

Wait from another thread I have found evidence of repeaters being used:

http://www.paradoxplaza.com/games/gettysburg-armored-warfare

D**m them Yankee's and their new fangled inventions.

_________________
General Kennon Whitehead
Chatham Grays
AoT II/1/3 (CSA)

Andrew Bresnan, see http://44henryrifle.webs.com/civilwarusage.htm , purports that his blog is "The most complete documentation of the usage of the Henry Repeating Rifle in the Civil War.”
Yet he doesn't even mention Shiloh. It seems use of the Henry increased in 1863 though.

_________________
Gen. Drex Ringbloom,
AotS ,Commanding

Here is yet another link that doesn't answer the question.

http://able2know.org/topic/128487-1

It might explain, though, why a unit in a Shiloh game was armed with repeating rifles.

Some more interesting info on repeating rifles.

http://www.floridareenactorsonline.com/carbinesetc.htm

_________________
MG Mike Mihalik
Forrest's Cavalry Corps
AoWest/CSA

The article on Henry Rifles I got this from doesn't give the date they were armed with them but does state:

_________________
General Kennon Whitehead
Chatham Grays
AoT II/1/3 (CSA)

Here are some other units early in the war, again from the Bresnan article:
For those that used the Henry Repeating Rifle it was in fact a matter of choice for most since the US government did not issue the Henry rifle to soldiers with the exception of the 1st D. C. Cavalry. The men of the 7th Illinois Veteran Volunteer Infantry, the 66th WSS and many others that purchased their own Henry Rifles did indeed make a conscience choice of putting up $35 to $50 of their own money for a weapon that they felt would give them an advantage and improve their chances of survival in the war. There were also others who tried to get Henry Rifles but were unable due to a number of reasons, this even included Wilder’s Brigade as the

_________________
Gen. Drex Ringbloom,
AotS ,Commanding