Thesis (D. Min.)--McCormick Theological Seminary, 1997. / Includes bibliographical references.

The object of this thesis is to discuss an experimental composite conservation process and its significance for the future of artifact conservation. Composite artifacts are artifacts comprised of multiple materials such as wood, iron, and brass. The experiment was designed around five Civil War Enfield rifles from the wreck of the Civil War blockade runner Modern Greece. The main conservation difficulty for both metal and wood from a saltwater site is the presence of chlorides. If not removed, the chlorides will cause the metals to further corrode. If the chlorides are left within the wood, once the wood dries the chlorides will crystallize and burst remaining cellular structure. The second major problem for wood is the cellular structure itself. Degraded waterlogged wood loses most of its cellular structure while submerged and this must be reinforced prior to drying or partial to total collapse of the wood will occur. Composite artifacts pose one more serious problem, their composite nature. In most instances treatments for one material type are damaging to the other materials present. Disassembly of an artifact often has detrimental effects on the whole artifact whether through initial damage or the inability to reassemble the artifact after stabilization. In 1979, four Enfield rifles from Modern Greece were compositely conserved using either tetraethyl orthosilicate, sucrose, or isopropyl rosin. All three treatments focused on the conservation of the wood, resulting in the current poor condition of the iron elements. The research of this thesis uses the combined treatments of silicone oil (to treat the wood) and electrolytic reduction [ER] (to stabilize the metals), with minimal disassembly. It was discovered that prolonged exposure of the wood elements during ER had deleterious effects, post the silicone oil treatment. This prompted a re-evaluation of the research strategy. It was determined to do a re-treatment of the wood components of four of the rifles with silicone oil after the ER process. It was apparent during the ER process that iron components had loosened and could be removed allowing the wood to be extracted from the ER process earlier than the iron. Even though the experiment did not go as planned and the initial results were undesirable, valuable information was ascertained for treatment strategies and positive results are expected for the final four rifles. The retreatment of the wood with silicone oil should allow the wood to retain its shape, making reassembly possible.

The object of this thesis is to discuss an experimental composite conservation process and its significance for the future of artifact conservation. Composite artifacts are artifacts comprised of multiple materials such as wood, iron, and brass. The experiment was designed around five Civil War Enfield rifles from the wreck of the Civil War blockade runner Modern Greece. The main conservation difficulty for both metal and wood from a saltwater site is the presence of chlorides. If not removed, the chlorides will cause the metals to further corrode. If the chlorides are left within the wood, once the wood dries the chlorides will crystallize and burst remaining cellular structure. The second major problem for wood is the cellular structure itself. Degraded waterlogged wood loses most of its cellular structure while submerged and this must be reinforced prior to drying or partial to total collapse of the wood will occur. Composite artifacts pose one more serious problem, their composite nature. In most instances treatments for one material type are damaging to the other materials present. Disassembly of an artifact often has detrimental effects on the whole artifact whether through initial damage or the inability to reassemble the artifact after stabilization. In 1979, four Enfield rifles from Modern Greece were compositely conserved using either tetraethyl orthosilicate, sucrose, or isopropyl rosin. All three treatments focused on the conservation of the wood, resulting in the current poor condition of the iron elements. The research of this thesis uses the combined treatments of silicone oil (to treat the wood) and electrolytic reduction [ER] (to stabilize the metals), with minimal disassembly. It was discovered that prolonged exposure of the wood elements during ER had deleterious effects, post the silicone oil treatment. This prompted a re-evaluation of the research strategy. It was determined to do a re-treatment of the wood components of four of the rifles with silicone oil after the ER process. It was apparent during the ER process that iron components had loosened and could be removed allowing the wood to be extracted from the ER process earlier than the iron. Even though the experiment did not go as planned and the initial results were undesirable, valuable information was ascertained for treatment strategies and positive results are expected for the final four rifles. The retreatment of the wood with silicone oil should allow the wood to retain its shape, making reassembly possible.

Thesis (M.A.)--Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, 1990. / Vita. Abstract. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 85-90). Also available via the Internet.

With the advent of the rifled musket onto Civil War battlefields, the ability of a soldier on the defense to kill his attacking enemy rose dramatically. The former standard weapon had been the smoothbore musket. Such smoothbores had a maximum effective range of seventy-five meters. The new standard weapon, the rifled musket, had an effective range of 300 meters. Defenders, armed with this new weapon, could put attacking enemy soldiers under killing fire at a far greater range that ever before possible. Using the rifled muskets, defenders exacted punishing tolls before attackers closed within bayonet range for the close combat that furnished the cornerstone of contemporary tactical planning. As they made their tactical plans, commanders in the American Civil War seemed to ignore this deadly technological innovation, and Lee, Bragg, Burnside, Hood, Pope, and Jackson make a list of the worst offenders. They continued frontal assaults, assaults that brought their men directly under fire from the rifled musket. Bloody Civil War battles offer a litany of failed assaults: Manassas, Shiloh, Malvern Hill, Antietam, Fredericksburg, Gettysburg, and Cold Harbor. Where frontal assaults succeeded, the costs in soldiers’ lives were staggering. As casualties mounted astronomically, Civil War commanders must have realized that something was wrong on the battlefield. Yet, these commanders, with one important exception, rarely varied their battlefield tactics. Only one commander gave evidence of understanding the deadly message of the rifled musket, and the failure of Civil War tactics to silence or mute that message, Maj. Gen. William T. Sherman. This thesis examines that understanding and provides Sherman’s rationale for changing contemporary battlefield maneuvers. Sherman came to the conclusion that the tactics of the day could not defeat a defense armed with rifled muskets, so he changed the battlefield rules. In doing so, he defeated a determined and aggressive foe, inflicted more casualties on his enemy than his forces sustained, split the Deep South asunder, and hastened the end of the Civil War. / Master of Arts