In the Missouri Artillery

Benjamin Von Phul was born on May 21st 1840, in St. Louis, Missouri, the son of Henry Von Phul, a successful St Louis business man and steam boat owner, whose ships included the Henry Von Phul, mentioned by Mark Twain. He was also nephew of the painter Anna Maria Von Phul.

In May 1861 Missouri was deeply divided between Union and Confederate supporters, and this was especially so in the city of St Louis. St Louis also had another complication, over half of the population was composed of recent immigrants, mainly Germans who had fled the unsuccessful revolts of 1848, and who were therefore both often politically inclined and non-English speaking. Relations between the German immigrants and the Missourians were not always good, and this was to have an effect on what happened next.  It must presumably have had an effect on the Von Phuls, despite Henry being born in the US in 1784, in Philadelphia, the son of an immigrant from Westhofen.

Henry Von Phul

The state government had voted to stay in the Union, or rather to be neutral in any civil war, but the Governor, Claiborne Jackson, favoured the Confederacy, and he assembled the State Militia, including Benjamin Von Phul, in a camp near St Louis, Camp Jackson with the aim of seizing the arsenal in St Louis, which had the largest collection of arms and ammunition in the state. Unfortunately for them, the local Union commander, Nathanial Lyon, had heard about this and surprised them in their camp with a joint force of Union troops and pro-Union militia, containing a majority of German soldiers. The would-be Confederates were captured and marched into St Louis where a crowd assembled and started haranguing the Union militia, and somehow this led to shooting, with 28 of the crowd being cut down. This in turn led to several days of rioting, and rumours that the Germans planned to massacre the Missourian population of St Louis, rumours that were taken so seriously that many wealthy St Louis fled to Illinois, or the interior of St Louis, depending whether they were pro- or anti-Union. The rioting only died down when Union troops arrived from out of state.

The Camp Jackson Massacre

Ben Von Phul had been captured at Camp Jackson with the rest, but was exchanged and joined Guibor’s Missouri Battery of the State Guard. Guibor's Battery officially entered Confederate, as opposed to Missouri, service in early 1862 and was combined with Montgomery Brown's Louisiana Battery on June 30, 1862. Benjamin rose to the rank of First Lieutenant.

Flag of the Guibor Battery, presented in January 1863

Artillery at the time was in a state of transition, with quite a few types and sizes, with size generally being defined by the weight of the ammunition, such as 10 pdr, 20 pdr etc. One of the commonest types was the Parrott rifled cannon, invented by an American, Captain Robert Parker Parrott. Despite only being patented in 1861 it was used extensively by both sides in the Civil War. Although Parrotts were still loaded down the muzzle like previous cannons, they were rifled inside and made of a mixture of cast and wrought iron, making them much more accurate, if more fragile.

 Parrott gun at Vicksburg

In February 1863 the now Captain Von Phul was placed in charge of a battery assembled using men from Brigadier General David Frost’s Brigade, at Little Rock, Arkansas, as part of the defence scheme for Little Rock. The battery was attached to Frost’s Brigade and initially consisted with one bronze 24 pdr, and two 6pdr Parrotts, but by the end of that month the battery had six guns and 70 men at Fort Pleasant, guarding the river approach to Little Rock.

In June, a section of the battery together with two other batteries accompanied a small mixed force under Col. Clark, a fellow Missourian and veteran of the siege of Carthage and battle of Pea Ridge. Their mission was to attack Union shipping on the Mississippi. On June 22^nd Von Phul’s battery and the two others attacked a convoy of the Union Gunboat Little Rebel (!) and three transports. The forward battery of the Little Rebel was knocked out and one of the transports, the Prima Donna (who named these ships?) was severely damaged. Clark's command then moved south and attacked another convoy, damaging several transports. They then returned to Fort Pleasant, and then joined the defences of Little Rock on Aug 17^th. But by mid September the Confederates had to abandon Little Rock following defeats at Helena and Bayou Fouche, and fall back to Washington, Arkansas.

In November Von Phuls Battery was at Camp Bragg, Arkansas, before being formerly disbanded in December. By this stage it included two 12 pdr Howitzers and two 10pdr Parrotts. Raids on shipping on the Mississippi were still going on, and Benjamin’s father’s ship, the Henry Von Phul, was severely damaged by Texan troops in December.

The Henry Von Phul

In April 1864 Von Phul was wounded south of Little Rock in the pyrrhic Confederate counterattack through the mud at Jenkins ferry. 

And in April 1865 Confederate forces surrendered. Life went on. Still only 27, Benjamin married Martha Lape from Mississippi, who was 22, on 3^rd September 1867 in Jefferson Missouri.  In 1880, Benjamin and Martha Von Phul and their three children, Genevieve, Henry and Ben Jr. were in St Louis, where Benjamin was working as a real estate agent.

Benjamin died on December 18^th 1909, in St Louis, Missouri.

To war for Missouri

Mathias Buss was born in Pennsylvania in about 1834, destined to be one of the Northern states in the American Civil War. But by 1860, according to the Federal census, he was living in Carthage, Missouri, working as a brick mason. Carthage was a new town, only founded in 1842, but by 1860 it had over 500 residents. Importantly for future events, Carthage is in the deep south of Missouri.

One year after that census Missouri was at war. Missouri’s position in the Civil War was complicated. Unlike say, Georgia, the Missouri State Government actually voted to stay in the Union. But many of the population supported the Confederacy, especially after heavy handed intervention and the massacre of civilians by a Union force under General Nathanial Lyon. The pro-Confederates, including the Governor, withdrew to the south of the state in 1861, where a successful general of the US Mexican war, Sterling Price, was appointed commander of Missourian forces. Meanwhile, the Union started recruiting troops from the north of the state. Thus, Missouri contributed troops to both sides in the Civil War. 

The initial clashes took place between Union troops and Missouri State Guard units, supported increasingly by troops from other states. Mathias is recorded as being at the following;

Cole Camp – June 19^th 1861. 350 Missouri State Guard attacked and routed about 500 Union militia in their camp and routed them. The Missouri State Guard were poorly equipped, at least at the beginning. Many reportedly used a white flannel arm band as uniform, whilst one major effect of the battle at Cole Camp was to equip them with another 350 muskets.

Note that there was in fact a battle at Carthage in July 5th 1861, where the Missouri State Guard beat a (smaller) Union force, but Mathias is not recorded as being there. This was the first proper Missourian victory, and gave a great boost to morale, increasing pro-Confederate recruitment. 

Wilson Creek – August 10^th 1861, near Springfield Missouri. Twelve thousand Missouri State Guard and Confederate troops, mainly from Arkansas under Price beat 5,400 Union troops under Lyon, including some Union Missouri regiments.

 The Battle of Wilson Creek

Lexington – September 12^th to 20^th 1861. 15,000 Missouri State Guard under Price defeated 3,500 Union troops garrisoning Lexington.

 The Battle of Lexington

Elk Horn/ Pea ridge – March 7-8^th 1862. Near Leetown, Arkansas. Despite their successes the previous year the Missouri forces, still technically independent of the Confederate army, were pushed back into Arkansas. In March the 15,000 pro-Confederate forces, consisting of the Missouri State Guard, Confederate forces mainly from Arkansas and Texas, and an Indian Brigade of Cherokees and Choctaws, counter attacked 12,000 Union troops. Despite some early successes including a massed cavalry charge, the Confederate forces were driven off, ending any chance of a return to Missouri. Missourian forces spent the rest of the war fighting outside their state, and Missouri itself degenerated into civil war.

There was then a pause allowing Price to organise the Missouri State Guard into official units of the Confederate army. By April 1862, Mathias was in the 4^th Missouri Regiment of the Confederate army, First Sergeant of F company. The 4th carried the Van Dorn battle flag.

Siege of Corinth  - April to May 1862. This was by far the largest battle Mathias had been involved in. One hundred twenty thousand Union forces attacked the strategically important town of Corinth, Mississippi, on the Mississippi river. The garrison of 65,000 Confederate troops was forced to retreat after a month long siege, but most managed to withdraw safely.

Battle of Iuka - Sept 9th 1862. A mixed force of about 3,000 Missouri, Mississippi, Texas, Arkansas, Alabama and Louisiana troops was defeated by 4,500 Union and withdrew south.

On Nov 7th 1862, the 1st and 4th Missouri were combined, presumably due to heavy casualties, with Mathias now  First Lieutenant in Company B. Later he was to become captain of company B.

Mathias ‘s next, and last, battle took place in May next year. The 1^st/4^th Missourians were now in Mississippi, part of the Confederate forces attempting to hold the Union before the fortress city of Vicksburg. On May 17^th they were part of a force of 5,000 troops ordered to hold the bank of the Big Black (!) River, or rather a bayou in front of the river, behind rough defences of logs and cotton bales. Unfortunately, the Union troops out flanked them, charging into an inexperienced brigade from Tennessee and breaking them. The Confederates broke and fled back to the Big Black River, some got back across the bridge there, but many drowned in the river or were captured.

And that was it for Mathias, the last battle he is recorded as fighting in. He certainly survived, but possibly he was one of the 1,700 taken prisoner. The 1^st/4^th Missourians fought on without him. They fought in the Atlanta Campaign, were part of Hood's operations in Tennessee, and became part of the forces defending Mobile. Only a remnant surrendered in May, 1865. 

But Mathias survived. In the 1870 census he is living with a young wife, Lucy, a Virginia girl 10 years his junior, and with two young children, Elizabeth (2) and James (1). Working again as a brick mason. And life went on. In 1881 he gave away his daughter to be married, to a Charles Jones in Bates, Missouri. And in 1900 he passed away, and was buried in the Confederate cemetery in Higginsville, Missouri, a long way from where he was born, but in the state he had lived most of his life, and had fought for.

The Neapolitan Navy in the Nineteenth century

In the 1850s, Italy wasn't the unified state we see today, but a patchwork of smaller countries, with the northern regions still controlled by the Austro-Hungarian empire. The largest of these statelets, comprising the south of the peninsula, and the island of Sicily, was the the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies, with it's capital in Naples (why two Sicilies when there is only one?, but there you are). The KTS was ruled by the Bourbon family, although Sicily had repeatedly rebelled and in 1848 had actually been independent for 16 months.

The Navy (Real Marina del Regno delle Due Sicilie)

The flag of the Real Marina del Regno delle Due Sicilie

A look at the map shows that the sea was essential to the Kingdom's trade, especially considering the poor nature of the roads inland and almost complete lack of railways. In fact the KTS possessed the largest merchant fleet in the Mediterranean, and 80% of all merchant tonnage. The first steamship built in the Mediterranean had been built near Naples, a rare technological achievement.

Protecting this huge merchant fleet, and the ties to Sicily, obviously demanded a Navy, which in 1859 stood at...

Sail ships (all built in Castellammare di Stabia)

The Vesuvio

Two ships of the line, of 86 and 80 guns.
The Monarca of 86 guns, later converted to also have steam power
The Vesuvio (80)
4 frigates of around 50 guns each, the Amalia, Regina Isabella, Partenope and Regina
1 corvettes (22) Cristina
1 mortar vessel
5 brigantines of 18 guns

Steamers

1 frigate of 54 guns, the Borbone
11 steam frigates all of 10 guns, except the Fulminante which had 12  These mainly dated from an upgrading of the Navy during the 1840s and were a mixture of locally built ships from Castellammare and others made in England including the Fulminate (Blackwall) and Guiscardo, Roberto, Ruggiero and Tancredi (Gravesend) and the Veloce (Cowes). Several of these English built ships were actually converted merchant ships, originally purchased by the Scilian rebels.
13 smaller corvettes and gunboats of 4-8 guns including the paddle corvettes Ferdinando II (1833), and Gaeta
and numerous smaller vessels

There were also two battalions of Marines, each of 6 companies, and 14 companies of Marine Artillery.

 The Marines

The Navy was supported by the Arsenal in Naples, which in 1860 employed 1,800 men, whilst ships were produced at the dockyards at Castellammare, with boilers from the foundry at Pietrarsa, at the time the largest industrial complex in Italy.

Initially, the Navy seems to have been quite well regarded, and during the 1820s and 30s various actions were undertaken against the North African states to deter piracy. In 1848, the Navy contributed significantly to the Neapolitan victory. The big test however came during the wars of Italian Unification, and here it failed, miserably.

Part of the problem was discontent amongst the officers and men. In 1856 a magazine exploded in the Monarca, causing many casualties, and in 1857 the steam corvette Carlo III exploded - in both cases sabotage was suspected. In 1860, the Veloce, a ten-gun paddle steamer, deserted and gave fire support to Garibaldi's forces at the Battle of Milazzo. Shortly afterwards the garrison at Messina in Sicily was abandoned after the Navy refused to support the shipment of troops from Naples, many Naval officers only agreeing to an Oath of Allegiance if it did not include fighting against other Italians.

Crucially, the navy did not stop Garibaldi crossing over to the mainland, and this was the beginning of the end for the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies. After this the time for intervention was past, although the huge Neapolitan fortress at Gaeta could maybe have been saved when under siege in 1861, if the weaker Piedmontese Navy had been driven off, but it was not to be.

After the war some of the best ships were incorporated into the new Italian Navy, but the ships, yards, and manufacturing were increasingly transferred to Piedmont. Economically the Unification was in many ways a disaster for the South, and well as for the Veneto in the north, leading to poverty, and massive migration to the Americas.

Selected ships

Vesuvio

Built in Castellammare di Stabia' in 1824. She has quite an eventful career, in 1825 being sent to Tangiers and Tripoli to deter pirates, and in 1843 she was the flag ship of the squadron that carried the Princess Maria Teresa to Rio, to marry the Brazilian Emperor, Dom Pedro II. She had been involved in the war of 1848, shelling Palermo, but despite a refit 1852 in the new dry dock at Castellammare, she was too poor condition to be involved in the events of 1860-61.

Monarca

Part of the 1840s modernisation program, when launched in 1850 the Monarca was the most powerful warship ever built in Italy, even though she was, anachronistically, entirely powered by sail. In 1858 this was resolved when she returned to the shipyards at Castellammare and four steam boilers were added, though at the expense of reducing her armament to 64 muzzle loaders.

In August 1860, a rather daring plan was hatched by the rebels  to board the Monarca in Castellammare harbour. The Tukery (see above, and below) was to sail from Palermo with, in addition to her crew, two companies of the 2nd battalion of the Sardinan Bersaglieri, who were to board the Monarca at night. Meanwhile, a sympathiser in the harbour, Captain Giovanni Vacca, removed the iron chains holding the ship and positioned her facing out to sea. Unfortunately, it all went horribly wrong. Firstly, the port was on high alert after a false alarm a few days before, and secondly, Vacca should have left well alone, the Monarca was much taller then the Tukery and instead of boarding from the pier the revolutionaries would now have to tie alongside and climb up.

 The assault of the Tukery on the Monarca

Anyway, the leader of the expedition, Poila, tried to bluff his way through, asking permission to tie alongside and at the same time dropping three boats, each of 24 men, on his far side which rowed round towards the Monarca. At this point, the Bourbon crew realised what was afoot, and under the orders of Commander Guglielmo Acton*  opened fire. The three boarding parties pressed home their attack, but the crew of the Monarca had the advantage of the high ground, and were soon joined by soldiers on the pier. The deck of the Tukery was swept by fire and Piola ordered a retreat, but as the Tukery backed away one of the boarding boats was sucked under her paddle wheels and destroyed, the other two having no choice but to surrender.

A bizarre gun fight now developed in the harbour, with the Tukery taking on the Monarca, shore artillery and rifleman on the quayside, but both sides desperate not to hit British and French vessels also in the harbour. The engine of the Tukery was hit and for 20 minutes she was immobilised, though when she drifted towards the foreign vessels the Neapolitans ceased fire. Eventually she managed to get under way and escape.
* Guglielmo Acton was a descendant of an Anglo-Neapolitan family long associated with the Neapolitan navy. He was awarded the Croce di Cavaliere dell’Ordine di San Ferdinando e del Merito for his part in the action. He later joined the Italian Navy and commanded a frigate at the Battle of Lissa.

In September 1860 when Francis II fled to the fortress of Gaeta, the Monarca, now under a new captain,  refused to follow him, and changed sides, in fact taking part in the bombardment of Gaeta. After the Neapolitan surrender she entered the Italian navy, as the largest ship in the fleet.

Veloce / Tukery

As we have seen the Tukery played a major role in the affairs of 1860/61, so it's a little surprising that she was never meant to be a warship at all. She had been ordered in 1848 by the SS Peninsular & Oriental Navigation Company from Thomas & Robert White of Cowes, Isle of Wight, as an ocean going passenger steamer. Howver, she was purchased during construction by the revolutionary government in Sicily. Pressure from Naples led the French to arrest her in Marseilles and turn her over to the Bourbon authorities.

Finding themselves with an unexpected bonus, the Neapolitans armed the newly named Veloce with eight 200 mm guns, changed in 1851 to two smoothbore pieces of 60 pounds, 4 gun-howitzers, and two 12-pounders.

Bewteen 1857 and 1860 the Veloce was busy transporting troops to Sicily, but in July 1860 the captain, Amilcare Anguissola, sailed into Palermo harbour and declared for Garibaldi. His crew were offered posts in the new navy, but 130 men out of 179 elected to return to Naples.

Under her new colours the Veloce was renamed the Tukery (in honour of the Garibaldist Lajos Tüköry) and was even more busy, as we have seen taking part in the battle of Milazzo and transporting men and material. In August she was damaged in a fight with the steamer Borbone, and had to return to Syracuse for repairs, but later that month she was again in action in the raid on the Monarca. This was to be the last action of the Tukery and she was later transferred to the new Italian navy.

Archimede

The Archimede in Naples harbour

A more typical ship of the fleet was the Archimede, constructed in Castellammare between 1842 and 1845 as a steam powered paddle steamer, with two masts as backup. She was armed with a smoothbore 112 pounder, a 60 pounder, 4 Paixham howitzers and 6x 30 pounders.

Like most of the Neapolitan fleet she was involved in the Sicilian rising in 1848/49, blockading the island and bombarding Taormina, Messina and Catania in April 1849. Together with the Roberto and Carlos III she forced the surrender of Schisò and Taormina later that month.

Her career for the next few years consisted of cruising in the Mediterranean, though in 1860 she rescued the US brig Golden Rule, earning her captain the Congressional Gold order of Merit.

During 1860 the Archimede and the rest of the Neapolitan fleet were involved again in blockading Sicily, in August attacking and capturing 15 boats from the Garibaldian fleet. By September however it was clear which way the wind was blowing, and when Francis II fled to Gaeta the Archimede refused to follow, instead declaring for the Sardinian fleet. In January 1861, she actually transported Sardinian troops to the siege at Gaeta. In March the Archimede was officially transferred to the Italian Navy.

Further reading

A very thorough and well illustrated guide (in Italian) can be found at 
http://filmatidimare.altervista.org/armata-di-mare-di-sua-maesta-il-re-del-regno-delle-due-sicilie-n-2/