1st Regiment Illinois Light Artillery

De Gress’ Battery

February 2008

 

No Official Meeting in February

Lincoln Birthday Party Celebration

Whitehall Court, Buffalo Grove, Ill

 

All work and no play makes Old Abe a boring President. If you have not received your official invite it is in the mail or you can consider this it. This year the party will be held at the home of Bob Brown. The same place we have our meetings. The date is the 16th of February starting at 6:00PM. Like normally, this party is a “Bring a dish to pass” party. PLEASE RSVP to Bob. His email is BSACAF@aol.com. Or call him if you have his number. He requests that you call him after 12 noon for he likes to sleep in. This party is open to members and their guests. Their guests can be family members or spouses or pet rocks. As usually occurs at these parties, be prepare for a surprise quiz or entertainment. Just for those that have been there, there will be no bathrobes this year. So if you want to try out a new recipe, this might be a good opportunity. The Commander hopes to see you there.  

 

At the last meeting it was decided that the below will be the officers for the 2008 year. We thank those who have held offices in the past and continue to do so now.

 

Commander                            John Matuszek

Secretary                                 Bob Brown

Range Safety Officer              John Thatcher

Asst. RSO                               Matthew Koch

Paymaster                                Richard Koch

Quarter Master                        John Thatcher

Historian                                 John Matuszek

Board Members                      Frank Matuszek

                                                Richard Schimdt

Web Master                             Stan Jezior

 

Western Region Meeting.

The Western Region held its first meeting of 2008 on January 20th at the Wheaton VFW hall. John Thatcher represented the Battery and being no one ran opposed for the offices of Region Secretary and Regional Treasurer they are the same members as before. They hammered out a 2008 schedule which looks promising.

 

            April 26-27 at the Sandy Ford Range – 46th Illinois

            June 21-22 at the Sandy Ford Range – Battery H and 2nd U.S. Sharpshooters

            August 16-17 at the Lefthanders Range – 114th Illinois

            September 20-21 at the Bristol Range – 1st U.S. Sharpshooters

 

Becky Baird of the 1st U.S. SS noted that her proposal for the September shoot at Bristol was for a skirmish to be held in conjunction with an ACWSA skirmish.  Steve Sherry would act as Skirmish Director for N-SSA teams and all N-SSA rules would apply to N-SSA units competing in accordance with directives laid down by the N-SSA Board of Directors.  There was discussion to the effect that this would work only if enough N-SSA units participated as N-SSA rather and ACWSA units.

 

As reported at the meeting

 

Sandy Ford Recruitment Skirmish - Dan Davis made a presentation about the June skirmish at Sandy Ford.  This will again be held in conjunction with a sort of “heritage days” celebration sponsored by LaSalle County, and the skirmish will be part of a larger public program that will also include a reenactment and other history programs in the Streator area.  John Matuszek will be the N-SSA skirmish director while Dan Davis will concentrate on managing events aimed at the public at large.  The public will again be encouraged to visit the skirmish and will be given an opportunity to try out skirmish arms on the Sandy Ford pistol range under supervision of 2nd U.S. Sharpshooter personnel.

 

A dinner for all involved (including skirmishers) is planned in Streator on Saturday night, as well as a dedication of a Civil War monument and a free evening swim at the Knights of Columbus.

 

As in 2006, Dan is looking for help from all N-SSA units to make the public part of this program a success.  Specifically, he is asking for assistance from all units to make up some .575” caliber musket rounds to be used by visitors on the pistol range.  Dan will provide tubes and asks that the rounds be loaded with 50 grains of 3fg for full-size minies or 40 grains 3fg for reduced weight target minies.  He is also asking for assistance in providing safeties on this range on Saturday morning..

 

A Gatling Gun demonstration is planned and Gatling Guns are being actively sought.  Dan also asked if any units might be willing to sponsor a breakfast at the clubhouse on Saturday?

 

 

            114th Illinois “Spring Practice”-  The 114th Illinois announced that it has reserved the Lefthanders Gun Club near Springfield for a skirmish practice weekend March 8-9.  All skirmishers are invited to attend as guests of the Lefthanders Gun Club and the 114th Illinois.  The format will be similar to the event held in 2007, with target shooting opportunities at 50, 100, and 200 yards Saturday morning and practice skirmishes Saturday afternoon for musket and carbine.  Teams will be formed on an impromptu basis, depending on the number of participants.  Chilli will be served in the clubhouse Saturday night and participants are welcome to stay at the club all weekend, either camping or rolling our bedrolls in the clubhouse.  Skirmishers may bring along guests that they want to introduce to the skirmish sport, as recruitment and fellowship are major objectives of the weekend.

 

On Sunday morning, members of the Lefthanders Gun Club will be invited to try their hand with skirmish arms as a recruitment incentive and skirmishers are invited to stay and shoot or help introduce club members to Civil War firearms.  It was duly noted for the record that this is not an official N-SSA event and participants will shoot as guests of the Lefthanders.  However, the 114th will run shooting lines in accordance with N-SSA procedures.  The 114th will send out invitations on this event.

 

            Skirmish Scheduling – Kevin Herrick noted that for years the 46th Illinois has advocated a fixed annual schedule of Western Region skirmishes and early adoption of a skirmish schedule.  Kevin then introduced the following motion:

 

“On or before October 31 of each year the Western Regional Commander shall post or cause to be posted, on its N-SSA web page, the upcoming year Western Regional skirmish schedule.  Said posting shall consist of a minimum of four (4) regional skirmishes.”

 

The motion was seconded by Bill Weedman and then discussed, with Jim Leinicke noting that at least three of the 2008 skirmishes easily qualified as being “fixed” in place, as they have been held on the same weekends and places now for several years, and that the September skirmish was heading in that direction.  Others commented that the motion was reasonable and constituted good practice that would benefit the membership.  The motion was carried by unanimous vote.  Commander Shedd indicated that he would post the adopted schedule on the Western Region web page.

 

 

Matuszek Memorial Skirmish

As reported the Battery will be the primary host of  the 5th Matuszek Memorial Skirmish. They are doing this with the help of the 2nd US Sharpshooters. The Battery is taking care of the targeting and most of the other skirmish logistics.

 

Items that will be needed, so start saving

2 liter bottles for the Gatling gun demonstrations.

10 to 12 ounce water bottles – bottles must be of same shape. We can mix and match as long as each team has the same.

 

Recruitment

In 2007 several of the Battery members took time and helped answer questions at several Kane County Sportsman Shows. The cost of these tables were donated to the Battery in hopes of recruiting new members for the Battery. Again in the early months of 2008 the same will be attempted. There are shows on the following dates: Feb 10th, Mar 16th and May 11th. A minimum of two people are needed to run a table. Three is preferred; four makes it a little crowded. The benefits are you get into the show for free and get to do some shopping. You get to talk to individuals about our sport and maybe help bring a new member into the organization. There are two volunteers for the Feb 10th sohow. One more would be nice. Also looking for an extra member for the March 16th show. If you are interested in helping, please contact the commander.  

 

 

Sanitation Crew

Our commander has been elected as the 118th National Sanitation Officer. This means that we will be in charge of preparing the privies at the Fort Shenandoah. We will then keep them clean and tidy during the skirmish. Each team takes its turn in helping run a National and our number came up. Actually the rumor has it that because we did such a great job last time that we were requested to fill this position again. As some of you know there are many jobs that need to be done. Sanitation Crew is one of the more desirable tasks. It allows for a more flexible schedule and can be made into a more enjoyable task. Other wise you can find yourself standing on the line from 8 to 5, or locked in a room scoring targets. The sanitation crew goes out and cleans and then can go back to camp for a few hours and rest. Then they head out again.

 

Because of the involvement running the 118th National, no battery member will be allowed to compete in any of the events. So if you have a shooting need to fill on a national level you may want to attend the 117th Nation being held May 14 – 18. 

 

FOID Cards

Please check your Illinois Firearms Identification Card. It has been reported that the Illinois State Police are behind in notifying card holders of the need to renew their cards. It would be a shame to get into hot water because of someone else’s error. So check your cards expiration date.