Albany,
Pretty good! I thought I'd asked for some pretty obscure facts.
"Thomas' Legion of Indians and Highlanders." The infantry element was sometimes called the 69th North Carolina, although among themselves "Love's Battalion" (Infantry), "Walker's Battalion" (Cavalry), and the "Cherokee Battalion" were the common terms used.
The hexegonal Whitworth slug was often called a "bolt." The 4X Davies scope was side mounted for elevation adjustments. This caused some parallax issues but the sharpshooters learned to compensate.
"Old Thous'n Yards" was a member of the 15th Arkansas at Port Hudson. Here's the account of a Union soldier from Massachusetts who encounterd him during a cease fire:
"'Here comes Old Thous'n Yards!' said they, as a broad, tall Arkansian, with a beard heavy as Spanish moss on an oak, and a quick dark eye, came swinging down from the parapet. They all made way for him with some deference. He was 'Old Thous'n Yards' with every one, and turned out to be the great sharp-shooter of that part of the works. I inquired about him, and found he was a famous backwoodsman and hunter, who, with a proper rifle, was really sure of a bear or buffalo at the distance of a thousand yards. He came forward rather bashfully. On both sides, the rifles were left behind; and 'Old Thousand Yards' seemed to be as much troubled to dispose of his hands as a college freshman at his first party. His left arm would half bend into a hollow as if to receive the rifle barrel, and the right fingers work as if they wanted to feel the touch of the lock. I borrowed a chew of tobacco, and won the perennial friendship of 'Old Thousand Yards' by bestowing it upon him. Then I bought his cedar canteen to preserve as a souvenir... I fear more than one of our poor fellows has felt his skill; but, for all that, he was a good-natured fellow, with a fine frame and noble countenance, - a physique to whose vigor and masculine beauty, prairies and mountainpaths and wild chases had contributed."
That Massachusetts feller's description kind of sounds a little homoerotic, don't it?
