CivilWarTalk Throwback Thursday, 6-13-2019

James N.

Colonel
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Asst. Regtl. Quartermaster Antietam 2021
Joined
Feb 23, 2013
Location
East Texas
Kaufman Reenactment crop.jpg


This week Throwback Thursday goes back about fifteen years to a Kaufman, Texas, event I attended with my friends seen here, Doug Garnett @1863surgeon at left and Ed Owens showing off his Welsh heritage, center. I'm cradling one of my sword favorites, an original 1864-dated Ames Mfg. Co. light artillery saber.

Anyone else having (preferably) old Civil War-related photos, mementoes, or memorabilia from reenactments, living history events, movies, vacations or other travel, etc., etc. is welcome and encouraged to share them with us in this weekly thread!
 
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This week Throwback Thursday goes back about fifteen years to a Kaufman, Texas, event I attended with my friends seen here, Doug Garnett @1863surgeon at left and Ed Owens showing off his Welsh heritage, center. I'm cradling one of my sword favorites, an original 1864-dated Ames Mfg. Co. light artillery saber.

Anyone else having (preferably) old Civil War-related photos, mementoes, or memorabilia from reenactments, living history events, movies, vacations or other travel, etc., etc. is welcome and encouraged to share them with us in this weekly thread!
Typical Welsh, claiming that the 24th was a Welsh regiment, why do I comment I hear you ask, it’s simple, the 24th were the heroes of the famous Rorke’s Drift (Zulu Movie) the Welsh have always tried to claim that Rorke’s Drift was a primarily Welsh regiment, they weren’t, the defenders of Rorke’s Drift were the 2nd Warwickshire regiment who eventually were renamed the 24th of Foot when they were relocated to South Wales, the 24th then became the South Wales Borderers. It’s a little known fact that the defenders of Rorke’s Drift were mostly English. The myth of the 24th being a Welsh regiment was started by the actor Stanley Baker who coincidentally was Welsh and nobody at Rorke’s Drift sang the Welsh song ‘Men of Harlech’...
As you can tell, we English take great exception to the Welsh rewriting history, the chap from the Welsh heritage centre probably knows that wearing the uniform of the 24th is likely to be a tad controversial. Best let him know that he’s been rumbled.:smoke:
 
A flag with 34 stars? I am unfamiliar with this one.
Lubliner.
There were no fewer than FOUR official U. S. flags during the war: When Sumter was fired on, it was flying the then-current 33 star colors, but with secession the Senate was then free in 1861 to vote on the immediate admission of Kansas as the 34th state. (A popular song around that time was The Flag With Thirty-four Stars.) As is currently being discussed in a separate thread, West Virginia was officially separated from Virginia in 1863 becoming number 35. Lastly, Nevada, whose population had swelled drastically due to the Virginia City silver boom, became the 36th state in 1864. At the time there was NO "official" pattern to the arrangement of the stars within the canton and many variations exist, though patterns like the one shown were usually found on Union regimental colors.

This turned out to be an appropriate choice of subject for Flag Day!
 
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Typical Welsh, claiming that the 24th was a Welsh regiment, why do I comment I hear you ask, it’s simple, the 24th were the heroes of the famous Rorke’s Drift (Zulu Movie) the Welsh have always tried to claim that Rorke’s Drift was a primarily Welsh regiment, they weren’t, the defenders of Rorke’s Drift were the 2nd Warwickshire regiment who eventually were renamed the 24th of Foot when they were relocated to South Wales, the 24th then became the South Wales Borderers. It’s a little known fact that the defenders of Rorke’s Drift were mostly English. The myth of the 24th being a Welsh regiment was started by the actor Stanley Baker who coincidentally was Welsh and nobody at Rorke’s Drift sang the Welsh song ‘Men of Harlech’...
As you can tell, we English take great exception to the Welsh rewriting history, the chap from the Welsh heritage centre probably knows that wearing the uniform of the 24th is likely to be a tad controversial. Best let him know that he’s been rumbled.:smoke:
I sincerely wish you could tell that to Ed in person - his obsession can be tiresome, at best. My principal objection is to him wearing it to Civil War reenactments!
 
Typical Welsh, claiming that the 24th was a Welsh regiment, why do I comment I hear you ask, it’s simple, the 24th were the heroes of the famous Rorke’s Drift (Zulu Movie) the Welsh have always tried to claim that Rorke’s Drift was a primarily Welsh regiment, they weren’t, the defenders of Rorke’s Drift were the 2nd Warwickshire regiment who eventually were renamed the 24th of Foot when they were relocated to South Wales, the 24th then became the South Wales Borderers. It’s a little known fact that the defenders of Rorke’s Drift were mostly English. The myth of the 24th being a Welsh regiment was started by the actor Stanley Baker who coincidentally was Welsh and nobody at Rorke’s Drift sang the Welsh song ‘Men of Harlech’...
As you can tell, we English take great exception to the Welsh rewriting history, the chap from the Welsh heritage centre probably knows that wearing the uniform of the 24th is likely to be a tad controversial. Best let him know that he’s been rumbled.:smoke:
While it was certainly not a Welsh regiment, a substantial number of the 2nd Battalion of the 24th were, in fact, Welsh. "Of the 122 soldiers of the 24th Regiment present at the Battle of Rorke's Drift, 49 are known to have been of English nationality, 32 were Welsh, 16 were Irish, one was a Scot, and three were born overseas. The nationalities of the remaining 21 are unknown." (Wikipedia, citing The Noble 24th, by Norman Holme, 1999)
 
While it was certainly not a Welsh regiment, a substantial number of the 2nd Battalion of the 24th were, in fact, Welsh. "Of the 122 soldiers of the 24th Regiment present at the Battle of Rorke's Drift, 49 are known to have been of English nationality, 32 were Welsh, 16 were Irish, one was a Scot, and three were born overseas. The nationalities of the remaining 21 are unknown." (Wikipedia, citing The Noble 24th, by Norman Holme, 1999)
So, we’re agreed, it wasn’t a Welsh regiment as portrayed by Stanley Baker..
 
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