Heavily Armed Confederates

[C.G. Williams]

I saw this pic on E-bay and I had to post it. It's very interesting to me how they are "decked" out. I have seen hundreds of pics of men, but none like this before. The amount of weaponry and accoutraments blows my mind, even the dog sleeping, he is sleeping, right? These guys can't even be called men, the oldest can't be more than 18. Please post comments, curious as to what everyone thinks.


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http://images.heritagecoin.com/images/hrcg/75/0082121088e.jpg

[RyanBWeddle]

Who can say if they are soldiers for sure?! Looks more like a "gag" photo -

Very neat though, I like the dog. Looks like the "Little Rascals" are off to war!

Ryan, second warning. Please adjust your avatar to follow the rules of the forum - Mike Chapman

[Vuhginyuh]

I think it is one of the best images of a hunting party I have ever seen. And Canadian as well.
If they are muskets they are British. I can't see the barrel well enough to tell if they are fowlers or martial arms.
The musket does make a great affordable fowlers as well as having the abilty to easely hit a bear with a ball from a range of ten yards. If they are fowling pieces, they have strong English attributes.

They are however the stuff the rank and file of an American army of the time is made of.

edit...
I just saw the bayonet, all studio props...not a hunting party, and they are British firelocks.

[C.G. Williams]

Exactely, who knows if they are soldiers or not, but the guy selling it insists that they are Confederate Soldiers, so that can mean anything to anybody trying to make a buck. The guy or kid I should say, to the far left seems to be wearing pantaloons, and they all have some sort or rope around their wastes for their "weapons". It's a great pic if it's authentic. And Ryan I think I saw that episode of the Little Rasicals. :) I knew they looked familiar!

[paulcalloway]

Have to move this post temporarily because of the size of the photos, it's knocking the whole front page out of whack.

[C.G. Williams]

I'm very sorry about that, I hope all is well, didn't mean to cause a problem....will the post be able to come back?

[fahtz]

Very cool image! I love looking at photos like this one. I see alot of this heavily armed stuff in the photos of themilitia and the civilians of the plains. While doing research for our Missouri State Guard impression and my civilian impressions It is amazing the amount of weaponary that was out and about back then. I would side on either the militia or even just taking a picture with props. I am siding more with the militia, that is a ton of equipment for just fooling. Hell I think I will get the mess together at bleeding kansas and try to recreate this picture with Bob Szabo! Bob what say ye?

[C.G. Williams]

Anyone else have any input on the rare looking photo?

[LWhite64]

I dont know that these are Confederates either. They could be Filibusters, Border Ruffians, or even Gold Prospectors.

Lee

[Hank Trent]

From what I posted elsewhere about the photo:

My guess is they're exactly what they look like--teenagers acting tough. Hence the pipes and the bottle. Hence the costume-like appearance of the ropes instead of belts and the impractically dangling water bottle and accoutrements. They might be hunters, but they also might be something paramilitary--part of the young boys and old men in a local homeguard, their own little group that's going to save the neighborhood, or some situation where they can play at war while feeling like it's real.

I'm just not seeing body language or expressions that indicate they've been suffering under such shortages in the regular army that they can't even get issued canteens or waistbelts; they look like they're having too much fun.

The fact that they included the little pet dog is adorable, though they'd kill me for saying so.

But that's just speculation. Who knows?

Hank Trent
hanktrent@voyager.net

[MICHAEL HICKEY]

Looks my my son going off the deer hunt.

Tallyho

Michael Hickey

[KentuckyReb]

They remind me of the guys who always seem to magically materialize whenever there's a local TV crew around at some events. 'Yep, these are real guns. Is that camera on?' :D

[hireddutchcutthroat]

I think it is a bunch of teenagers going on a hunting trip. Maybe the deer they (or got to drunk to) shot at were "Yankees/Rebs" in their minds. At any rate these kids are not soldiers.

[Cracker Line]

Well the one kid on the left is carrying a bayonet......however, I'm still undecided as to what I think they are.

Cheers,
Adam Cripps

[Brent Brumagin]

Thank you for posting this pic....

Brent Brumagin