Woodlawn Cemetery

     I recently had occasion to visit Woodlawn Cemetery in the Bronx, a place of great historic interest and the site of the graves of many noteworthy people.  Among others, I found:

General Sigel

Admiral Farragut, surrounded by members of his family.

     Remarkable also is that Mansfield Lovell, Confederate commander of New Orleans, is buried in the same cemetery as his victorious adversary Farragut.

Melville

     There are many other noteworthy burials here, including Albert Ellis, whose grave I searched for for quite some time before learning it is unmarked, and the extended Borden family, whose patriarch Gail invented powdered milk.

Used Many Cartridges Here

     I've finished a few bases of U.S. Sharpshooters for Second Bull Run.  Though these seem to be rather over-represented in a lot of tabletop Union armies, both Sharpshooter regiments saw action during the battle, and by using only six miniatures on "skirmish bases" I have kept them visually balanced with the rest of the force. 

     The 1st Sharpshooters were sent out in advance of Porter's assault on the 30th.  Even at the edge of the Groveton Woods they were hit by a ferocious fire from the Confederate lines, and after emerging into the fields they raced for the shelter of the Schoolhouse Branch watercourse.  From the mostly dry streambed they attempted to keep rebel heads down.  There were so many targets that almost every sharpshooter fired all of his forty rounds within a half hour. Years later, a former sharpshooter touring the battlefield erected a post of cedar wood at Schoolhouse Branch bearing a sign that read simply, "used many cartridges here."

     The 2nd Sharpshooters were also present at the battle but played a less conspicuous role.  Their first taste of real combat was during the confused and violent evening action along the Warrenton Turnpike, where part of Hatch's division, sent forward after a supposedly retreating foe, collided with Hood's division, which was conducting a forceful probe of the Union lines.  The engagement was thoroughly bungled by Hatch and Butterfield and is perhaps best remembered for a spectacularly ill-conceived and bloody cavalry charge ordered by Judson "Killcavalry" Kilpatrick.  By happy coincidence (for me), the two brigades that arrived to stabilize the line were Patrick's and Stahel's, so there is an unintentional link between the two main brigades I'm working on.

     I didn't enjoy painting these figures - they're great sculpts, but they were badly affected by the flash and moldline problems that sometimes trouble Perry miniatures.  The bases however were enjoyable to work on.  There is a lot of misinformation about the uniforms, in particular regarding the tone of the green, which is frequently shown as much yellower than it really was.