Mr. "Murder By Temporary Insanity" Dan Sickles-- Part 2

"Still, Sickles' lawyers felt they needed more and argued that he was so upset that 'his mind had become diseased.'  When the judge instructed the jury before deliberations, he validated the defense's novel argument by telling them they could consider the question of insanity at the moment the crime was committed.

"The jury acquitted Sickles in just 70 minutes."

Was he temporarily insane at Gettysburg?

The Devil Made Me Do It!!  --Old InsaneSesh

Dan Sickles and 'Murder Temporary Insanity'-- Part 1: Killed the Son of Francis Scott Key

From the July 1, 2018, Chicago Tribune  "10 things you might not know about EXCUSES" by Mark Jacobson and Stephan Benzkofer.

What with Roseanne Barr's excuse for the tweet, let's go back to the Civil War and our favorite political general, Dan Sickles, who used it before the Civil War started.

"It may come as no surprise that the first person in the U.S. to successfully plead not guilty to murder because of temporary insanity was a U.S. congressman.

"In 1858, Dan Sickles, who would go on to play a notorious role for the North at Gettysburg, discovered his wife was having an affair with Philip Barton Key, the Washington, D.C., district attorney and son of Francis Scott Key.

"Purportedly in an unthinkable rage, Sickles went looking the next day for Key, found him in Lafayette Square across the street from the White House and killed him in broad daylight.  Public sentiment was strong for Sickles, seeing that the murder of a wife's lover as being justified, so his chances at acquittal looked good."

And What Did He Plead?  --Old Secsane

The Fayetteville Arsenal-- Part 7: 10,000 Rifles and 900,000 Rounds of Ammunition

From Waymarking.  From a Civil War Trails marker.

The U.S. Arsenal at Fayetteville, N.C. was constructed between 1838 and 1853, but the facility lacked equipment until 1857.  Before it could be used, the Civil War began and it was seized by state militia.  In June 1861, the state turned it over to the Confederacy.

Workers converted 36,000 flintlock muskets to percussion cap weapons and installed machinery captured at Harpers Ferry, in present-day West Virginia.  The arsenal produced about 10,000 rifles and assembled a few pistol carbines.

But its greatest contribution to the Confederacy was the more than 900,000 rounds of small arms ammunition, signal rockets and friction primers assembled by women workers.

--Old Secesh

The Fayetteville Arsenal-- Part 6: Not Much Remains

From Wikipedia.

Besides the leveling of the Fayetteville Arsenal near the end of the Civil War, even more of the site was destroyed by the construction of a road that went in in 1988.

One  partial frame outbuilding remains and a historical marker..  Remnants of the U.S. Arsenal can be seen at the Museum of the Cape Fear Complex.

The foundations of buildings located along the back wall of the arsenal as well as two towers can be seen in a park located behind the museum.

The Fayetteville Arsenal was listed on the NRHP in 1983.

The site  is going to be turned into the North Carolina Civil War and Reconstruction Museum.

--Old Secesh

Col. Frederick L. Childs, Cmdr. of the Fayetteville Arsenal

According to Civil War Net, he was a West Point graduate who later served in the Confederate Army.

The Class of 1855 West Point site:  Frederick L. Childs:  #1685.  Born Missouri, appointed at large.  He was #9 in the Class of 1855 which had 38 members.  Captain of Artillery March 11, 1861.

Served under Confederate Gen. Whiting preparing the defenses of the North Carolina coast in the Civil War.  Commanded the Charleston Arsenal July 1861.

Appointed Major Artillery November 1862.  Then at the Augusta Arsenal Feb. 1863.  In charge of the Fayetteville Arsenal from November 19, 1863, to capture of it by Sherman's Army.  Lt. Col.

--Old Secesh

The Fayetteville Arsenal-- Part 5: Rifle Production

From th Civil War North Carolina site by Wade Sokolosky.

FAYETTEVILLE ARSENAL

Aftr seizure of the Fayetteville Arsenal in 1861, North Carolina used it for the manufacture of infantry ammunition and accoutrements.  When the captured machinery from the Harpers Ferry Arsenal was moved to Fayetteville, it began the manufacture of rifles.

Throughout the war, the capacity of the Fayetteville Arsenal increased and by 1865 it consisted of several foundries, machine shops and other facilities for the Confederate war effort.

By January 1865, the arsenal was at full capacity, but war time shortages of raw materials and  isolation from the state's main rail lines limited its production.

When Sherman's army arrived in March 1865, Union troops totally destroyed it and today, only portions of the foundations of its walls remain.

--Old Secesh

The Fayetteville Arsenal-- Part 4: Destruction of the Arsenal

Col. Childs' force resisted for a short time but were overwhelmed by Sherman's numbers.  Sherman entered Fayetteville March 11, 1865.  He took over the arsenal which had been stripped of its arms, munitions and useful machinery before the Confederates retreated.

The Harpers Ferry rifle manufacturing machinery was said to have been hidden in the Egypt Coal Mine, near Sanford, North Carolina.

Continuing with his scorched earth policy and because the arsenal had been supplying the enemy with weapons, Sherman ordered the arsenal razed to the ground.  His soldiers used railroad rails as battering rams to knock the buildings down and then set the remains on fire.

As the fire raged, some remaining artillery shells exploded and completed the destruction.

--Old Secesh

The Fayetteville Arsenal-- Part 3: Defending It From Sherman

The principal weapon produced was known as the Fayetteville Rifle.  At its peak, the armory produced 500 rifles a month and various numbers of larger ordnance, cartridges, swords and bayonets.  Over one hundred workmen from the Harpers Ferry Arsenal relocated to Fayetteville with their families.

In the middle war years, young ladies from the area were employed in the making of cartridges and as clerks.

In 1865, as Union General William Sherman began his Carolinas Campaign, it became apparent to the Confederate commander Col. Frederick L. Childs, that Fayetteville was going to be a major target.  When Sherman reached Columbia, S.C., Col. Childs ordered the construction of earthworks for the defense of the Fayetteville area.

Remnants of these earthworks can be seen on the grounds of the Veterans Administration Hospital on Ramsey Street in Fayetteville,.

--Old Secesh

The Fayetteville Arsenal-- Part 2: N.C. Takes Over, Center for Confederate Small Arms

When North Carolina seceded from the Union, Governor Ellis instructed Warren Winslow to bring about, peacefull if possible, the surrender of the arsenal.  General Walker Droughon, in command of N.C. militia mobilized the Fayetteville Independent Light Infantry (FILI) under the command of Major Wright Huske, and the LaFayette Light Infantry commanded by Lt. Joseph B. Starr.

These and other troops set the Confederates at around 500 troops.on April 22, 1861.  Lt. DeLagnel of the Union forces came out, took a look at the size of the Confederate force and decided it would be fruitless to resist and surrendered.  His troops vacated the arsenal on April 22.

Rifle-making machinery from the arsenal at Harpers Ferry were transferred to the Fayetteville Arsenal in October 1861 and this arsenal became a major supplier of small arms to Confederate troops.

--Old Secesh

The Fayetteville Arsenal-- Part 1: Built in 1838

From Wikipedia.

The Fayetteville Arsenal, in North Carolina, was built in 1838 because during the War of 1812, the U.S. government realized that the existing system of distributing of weapons and ammunition was not adequate for the defense of the entire country.

A program was developed so that no part of the country would be too far away from weapons and supplies of war in case there was a threat.

Bladen County U.S. Representative James McKay introduced House Bill #374 to have an arsenal built at Fayetteville, North Carolina.

The cornerstone was laid on April 9, 1838,  It was constructed of brick and stone and at each corner of its massive walls was an octagonal tower.  Entry to the arsenal was through massive iron gates.  Workshops, quarters and other buildings in the arsenal were constructed of brick and wood.

The Wikipedia article has a nice drawing of the Fayetteville Arsenal at the time Sherman arrived in 1865,

--Old Secesh

Digging Up the Fayetteville Arsenal Site

From the July 28, 2019, Fayetteville (NC) Observer "Archaeology  unearth Fayetteville history at Arsenal Park" by Paul Woolverton.

And the public can watch it as it happens.  Some of the items recovered from the site of the old Fayettevillesenal are a smoking pipe, melted glass, various nails, screws, lots of brick, mortar and sandstone.

The Arsenal Park is now part of the Museum of Cape Fear History complex and eventually the North Carolina Civil War and Reconstruction History center will be built on the site which is why the archaeologists are excavating.

The Fayetteville Arsenal was built in the mid-1800s by the U.S. government to make weapons.  Confederates took control in 1861 and constantly expanded the works and made rifles and other weapons of war.  When William Sherman's army marched through in 1865, he had everything at the site knocked down and then set the ruins on fire.

--Old Secesh

August Civil War Trust Calendar: Fort Donelson

FORT DONELSON, Tennessee, 355 acres saved.

One of Tennessee's most storied Civil War sites, the Trust has preserved 355 acres at this key battlefield, including 45 acres whose acquisition was made possible by the state's pioneering Civil War or War Between the States Site Preservation Fund.

Tennessee's program is the first in the nation to guarantee dedicated annual funding for battlefield preservation.

--Old Secesh

Some More on That Torn Down Kinston Home-- Part 2

The Battle of Wyse Fork is on the NRHP, but the Robert Vause House was privately-owned. by the heirs of Felix Harvey and they had the right to do as they pleased with it.  For years, people in Kinston had wanted to do something about the house, but nothing was done and it continued to fall into greater disrepair.

About ten years ago, Felix Harvey had offered to sell the house for $10,000 for anyone willing to move it off his land, but there were no takers.

In 2017, it was considered for NRHP on its own but due to the new siding on the house, deterioration and  the roof caving in, it didn't meet requirements.

The House Certainly Had History, Though.  --Old Secesh

Some More On the Historic Home Torn Down In Kinston-- Part 1

From the July 22, 2018, Fayetteville (N.C.) Observer  "Historic Civil War home in Kinston succumbs to time" Eddie Fitzgerald.

It was old, and once stately, and the home of a lieutenant in the Confederate Army who was killed, the headquarters of a Confederate general and on a battlefield, but it is now gone.

Monday, the Robert Bond Vause House was in a pile of rubble.  It sat in the middle of the Wyse Fork Battlefield off Bill Smith Road.

Before and during the early part of the Civil War, the home was owned by Lt. Robert Bond Vause before he was killed at the Battle of Fort Anderson in 1862.  This Union fort guarded occupied New Bern, N.C..  It was also the headquarters of Confederate General Robert Ranson Jr. during the battles of Gum Swamp and Dover.

Ransom was dismissed from duty the year before the Battle of Wyse Fork because of illness.

It then stood in the middle of the Battle of Wyse Fork,  March 7-10, 1865, also known as the Battle of Kinston or Second Battle of Kinston.

A House With A Lot of History.  --Old Secesh

Historic Confederate Home Torn Down in North Carolina

From the July 24, 2018, WDBJ Channel 7, CBS, news.

The home of Lt. Robert Bond Vause, killed at the battle of Fort Anderson in 1862, has been torn down.  It was also the headquarters of Confederate General Robert Ranson, Jr..

It was seriously in disrepair and would have cost too much to repair.

It was in the Wyse Fork Battlefield in Kinston and once a candidate for the NRHP but no longer met the requirements.

--Old Secesh