I am not sure if this is of any help at all but in late August of 1862 the Philadelphia City Guard was mobilized and sent out to Northern Maryland as Lee moved North in his first attempt to invade Pennsylvania. They were armed with Suhl muskets, .71 caliber smooth bores, percussion, until recently in the hands of the German federal navy. I do not know if this unit, or any of its men, were mobilized to repel Lee ten months later.
I'm not sure the monument really depicts an individual in civilian clothes, it would appear that the artist wanted to capture the extreme youth of the unit, which were largely made up of school boys and thus depicts him without a sack coat. The "soldier", is fully accoutered.I just found another bit of information on Pennsylvania Emergency Militia arms. A friend has a book about the 26th Penn. Emergency Militia at Gettysburg, Private Cook and the College Company at Gettysburg by M. Patrick McCrary. The book is based on the diary and letters of Pvt. Herman Sidney Cook of Co. A, 26th Pennsylvania Militia. Cook's diary entry for June 23, 1863 states "Received Springfield Rifle Muskets, accoutrements, and forty rounds of cartridges."
The monument of the 26th Emergency Militia on Chambersburg Street in Gettysburg shows a young man in civilian clothes, wearing a kepi, and holding an Enfield. I would guess that the monument was meant to be a bit dramatic since the regiment was issued uniforms and didn't wear civilian clothes. I read somewhere that the only reason the 26th got a monument at Gettysburg was because one of the militiamen, Samuel Pennypacker, was later governor of Pennsylvania.
Yes, the 12th NJ was still using .69 smoothbores but they seemed to like them and liked to known as a "buck 'n ball" regiment. On their monument at Gettysburg the 12th NJ has a large buck and ball ornament on it. On that Phila. City Guard outfit I mentioned above, the one with the Suhl German federal navy muskets, it did not see action at Antietam and may not have been activated for Gettysburg. I guess somebody could recognize suicide when they saw it looming.Thanks Package4,
I would think that with the M1863 Springfields, the 26th Emergency Militia was better armed than some regiments in the Army of the Potomac.
Somehow my reply got in the quote. I must need more coffee.Yes, the 12th NJ was still using .69 smoothbores but they seemed to like them and liked to known as a "buck 'n ball" regiment. On their monument at Gettysburg the 12th NJ has a large buck and ball ornament on it. On that Phila. City Guard outfit I mentioned above, the one with the Suhl German federal navy muskets, it did not see action at Antietam and may not have been activated for Gettysburg. I guess somebody could recognize suicide when they saw it looming.[/QUOTE,
I don't believe that any regiments of the Pennsylvania Militia of 1862 saw any action. At the insistence of Pennsylvania Governor Curtain, General John Reynolds was placed in command of the state's militia during the Maryland Campaign and Reynolds had some regiments of the militia in the area of Hagerstown, MD, but that was as close as they got.
Two Philadelphia militia regiments, The Blue Reserves and the Gray Reserves. were activated in 1863 as Pennsylvania Emergency Militia but I would have to look up what regiments they were. At least one of the Philadelphia militia regiments was with the troops commanded by "Baldy" Smith in the pursuit of Lee's army after Gettysburg. In the report of Brigadier General Judson Kilpatrick for the his Third Division of the Cavalry Corps of the actions following Gettysburg, he stated "On the 13th, the enemy made a slight attack on my position, but were repulsed. Five hundred militia (Philadelphia Blues) assisted in this repulse."
That's certainly true for Pennsylvania where there were several arsenals cranking out rifled Springfields.As was recently mentioned, many units of Grant's army at this time were equipped with inferior weapons and rearmed themselves from captured Confederate stocks at Vicksburg. Other front-line troops were probably in the same situation, especially those at the far end of the logistic pipeline.
In terms of logistics, it might actually be easier to provide modern weapons to units in their home states, close to factories, arsenals, ports, and railroads.
By that I mean military arms were issued to troops (even in the same regiment) at different intervals, not every man all at one time. The following quote illustrates that point:
"Some of our boys got Austrian rifles, some Enfield, and others Springfield. I got the Enfield, and Bob got the finest arm of the whole lot, a fine United States Springfield rifle. Training in the use of these weapons was startlingly belated and haphazard." - Pvt. Orrin W. Cook, Company B. 22nd Regt. Massachusetts Volunteers.
Orrin W. Cook was a lumberman when drafted to Co B, Mass 22nd Infantry Regiment on July 17, 1863. He mustered out on October 21, 1864, so the quote is from the same basic time period in question. On top of that, the various state militia did not usually warrant first dibs in the procurement process. One might expect the most likely answer is that the Penn Emergency Militia received a mixture of arms based on whatever was available at the time.