July-Aug 2007

Next Meeting

September 7th 2007

7:30 PM

Whitehall Court, Buffalo Grove, Ill

Due to the busy schedule both membership and personal the Battery did not have a July Meeting. Thus the next meeting will be in September. Please mark your calendars and attend.

Fourth of July Parades

The Battery participated in two Independence Day Parades this July 4^th. The first being the Arlington Heights parade and the second being the Mount Prospect parade. The Arlington Heights parade, also known as the Frontier Days Festival was first. It will be remembered as the first Battery function that Jack Hubbell participated in since his illness. The Battery has Jack’s wonderful daughters to thank this for happening. They brought him and he road on the trailer while they walked along. All agreed it was nice to see Jack again and hope to see him at future events.

The Mount Prospect Parade was the second parade of the day. The commander was hoping that the cooler overcast weather would prevail but by time the Battery stepped out onto the parade route, the sun had come out and the temperatures rose. The Mount Prospect parade is know for its lack of shady spots and those that did exist the commander tried to take advantage of.

To say the least by the end of the two parades everyone was beyond warm and tired. Again a special thanks to all those who showed up to participate. Remember this is the main source of income in which the battery uses for upkeep of the club owned equipment and some of the registration fees. Without the efforts of those who attend parades and making the it possible for the Battery to earn this money, the costs of up-keep of the cannon and mortars would fall on the individual members of the Battery or worse, we would not be able to afford them at all.

Long Range Match

The 17^th Long Range Match was held July 28 and 29^th at range number 35 of the National Guard Range in Grayling Michigan. The Battery competed with the mortars at 250 yards. They later competed with the cannon at 1000 yards. Though the official results have not been made public as of this date it was reported that our cannon crew hit the target 3 times. This is an improvement from the last time, and possibly ties the Battery’s best performance at this shoot. The mortars gave a valiant effort but believe we did not bring home the gold, silver or bronze. Keep your eyes open for the final results in future News letters.

This was truly a team event, on and off the field. The cannon needed a tune up and projectiles made. The mortars had to be sighted in for the 250 yard distance. Work parties were held and practicing took place. Not everyone could help with the preparations and some were limited due to personal events. Yet what they offered was appreciated. And the work and time that past members have put into the cannon in the past should not be forgotten. The cannon is almost 30 years old and many man hours have been put in over those years to allow the Battery to be were it is now. Thanks to all.

Fall Nationals

The Battery received the invite for the 116^th National at Fort Shenandoah and the commander made a request for those who were interested in shooting individuals to contact him. If you did not contact him it is too late. If you did, you will be getting a bill for the events that you signed up for. The cost is $2 per event. Please bring your checkbooks to the meeting or send payment to the Paymaster. Besides the individual matches, the Battery signed up one revolver team, one smoothbore team, and two mortars for Friday: one carbine team for Saturday, and one musket team for Sunday.

The Saturday of the Nationals the commander will be serving a pork loin dinner after he gets done helping run the children’s BB-gun matches. If you are free, any and all help running the bb-match will be welcome. Joining the Battery will be the 2^nd US Sharpshooters. This is a way to say thank you to them for all their valuable help they provided the Battery at the Sandyford shoot in June. They will be bring the pies.

5^th Matuszek Memorial Skirmish

The Western Region commander, Tom Shedd is asking for dates for the 2008 Skirmish Schedule. The Battery has normally sponsored the second shoot at Sandyford. Last June attendance was weak and the final finical report is still in the works. Dan Davis, commander of the 2^nd US Sharpshooters, has presented an offer for the 5^th Matuszek Memorial Skirmish. The town of Streator has contacted him in hopes of running a Civil War Days like he did in April of 2005. This would include both units working together. The details are not worked out but some of the benefits would include the town of Streator possibly paying the range fee, as well for the extra toilets. Battery H would again run the skirmish as normal with some slight changes in the events that may include a Gattling Gun demonstration on Sunday. The members of the 2^nd USSS would also be available to help set up the ranges and help with the running and clean up of the range afterwards. Some of the set backs would be the loss of the revolver range on Saturday, and a shorter individual shooting period. There are more details to be worked out but the commander would like your thoughts on this subject. He will also have more information available at the next meeting. So please bring your questions and opinions to the September meeting.

Rumors Confirmed

It was last reported that there were rumors that the Battery will be asked to help run the 118th National Skirmish in the year 2008. This rumor has been confirmed. Dan Gibson is the Skirmish Director and was made aware of the good job we did on the Latrine duty. The Battery got many great compliments on the job we did. For those of us that did it last time know that this job is considered the most requested job out of all the jobs. So rumors have it that we were requested to again clean the latrines The Battery’s commander offered his services as Latrine Officer and it was reported that is what he got. There will be more information to follow on this subject.

Bristol Skirmish

The 6^th Wisconsin has invited the battery to participate in the final Western Regional. This will take place Sept 15 and 16^th at the Kenosha Conservation Club in Bristol Wis. This will be the first Skirmish held by the 6^th Wisconsin in the Western Region. The 6^th Wisconsin is a unit that has been around longer than Battery H. The Wisconsin contingency recently transferred from the NWT to the WR. Presently the details or time schedule of events are not known but would not be surprised that they are closely similar to all the other skirmishes. Please mark your calendars and try to attend.

Relic Show

The Battery was also invited the same weekend of the 6^th Wisconsin’s skirmish to attend the Civil War Collectors Show sponsored by Zurko Midwest Promotions. This is the same deal that the Battery does in April. We normally put on a display for free and in turn get free admission to the show and a chance to recruit new members. Due the conflict the Battery had to decline their invite.

2007 Events

Sept 7 General membership meeting

Sept 15-16 Bristol 6^th Wisconsin

Oct 4 - 7 Fall Nationals

Oct 14^th Kane County gun show

Dec 9^th Kane County gun show

Springfield Skirmish

The 114^th invited the Battery to participate in their annual skirmish which they hold just south of Springfield near Loami at the Lefthanders Sportsman club. Only two members of the Battery were willing and able to attend. Last year this shoot was made famous or infamous for the amount of chigger bites all the participants received. (Note: Chiggers are a type of mite that normally lives in tall grasses and crawls on mammals looking for a blood meal and then drop off leaving red itching marks around areas that had tight fitting clothing.) This year was a totally different story. The weather started off overcast and cooler. It was humid but the cooler temperatures made it very toleratable. There were no 100 year events. Wayne entered in class 1 individuals and came home with two medals, one was a 2^nd place 50 yard smoothbore. John M entered in class 2 and came home with 7 medals, one was a 2^nd place in 25 yard smoothbore. The two continued representing the Battery very well by helping take a 2^nd place medal in Carbine team event and then 2^nd place in Smoothbore team.

Saturday evening was also the open steak invite. Every one was invited to bring their favorite cut of meat and throw it on the grill. You were also asked to bring a side dish to share. There also was a 250 yard match. All forms of period weapons could be used. It seemed the sharps rifles were the preferred weapon of choice. After the shooting and the eating of meat, frozen cocktails were offered and historic sea faring music was listened to and sang along. It was a very relaxing evening with very few insects to spoil it.

On Sunday the 2^nd place situation continued, but in the rain. It had started to rain early in the morning which brought the humidity up very high. The rain stopped after the second event and the wind died down so any smoke that was produced hung in the air making the targets even harder to see. Most of the shooters wore the Muddy shoulder badge of Skirmishing by the end of the shoot. All of the Sunday’s events were over by 10:30 allowing the participants to visit the State Fair, Historic sites in the area, or get a early start for home. Thanks to Wayne and John for representing the Battery at this event.