CAS CITY - COWBOY & WESTERN ACTION SHOOTING WORLDWIDE

Two Flints

Location:

* * Maine *
* United States of America *

Age:

Homepage:

Real life Occupation:

Retired High School US History Teacher

Clubs:

Organizations:

NRA, GOAL, NMLRA, WSA, SASS

Recent News About Me:

My Chosen Alias (The story behind and how I picked it):

With the many varieties of revolvers and long arms currently on the market today, why did I settle on the Spencer and S&W Schofield as my weapons of choice for hunting, target shooting, and especially Cowboy Action hooting? Initially, I had given some thought to ‘extending’ my present persona, as a mountain man of the Fur Trade Era, (circa) 1820-1845, to a later time period in American history. But, if such a change in my persona was to take place, then a corresponding change in the type and style of firearm I carried also had to occur. So to this end, I began looking at the choices of firearms available to me. I’m not really sure when or why it happened, but the Spencer and S&W Schofield soon captured my attention and interest. Simply stated, I became quite enamored with the way they both looked, and how each felt and performed in my hands. But, I believe, in retrospect, it may have been the tremendous amount of history associated with these firearms that finally convinced me to choose them over other firearms historically correct for the time period between 1860 and 1885.

My persona is presented here for the purpose of bringing together my ownership of a Spencer Carbine and Smith and Wesson Schofields.

“I was born on January 4, 1825, in a small town, Watertown, a few miles from Boston, Massachusetts. When I was twelve, my family moved to St. Louis, Missouri, where my father hoped to go into business for himself as a ‘shoemaker’ or ‘leather man’. While my two older brothers were destined to work with my father in what was to become a profitable family business, I was pulled in another direction. Some eight years later, and against my family’s wishes, I packed what few belongings I had accumulated and traveled west towards the Rocky Mountains, and unknown adventure. Initially, I had planned to become a “free trapper”, but soon discovered the folly of my decision. I quickly discovered that the profitable days of a “free trapper” had come to an end many years earlier. And, even though fur trapping in the Rocky Mountains became, for me, a daily lesson in survival, the opportunity to experience personal freedom first-hand continued to pull me back into the wilderness I both loved and feared.

The knowledge I gained for the next dozen years or so working as a trapper left me in good stead. Survival became second nature to me, and I soon grew to know the wilderness as well as any white man or Indian living in the territory. Eventually, I found employment with the United States Army as a civilian scout. My obligation to the military was such that I was able to hold onto that personal freedom I had come to enjoy for so long. I was able to come and go as I pleased, and only had to make myself available to the army when my scouting services were actually required. As an army scout, I continued to use the same weapons and personal equipment from my days as a trapper. A 50 caliber flintlock rifle remained my weapon of choice, while a 45 caliber flintlock pistol served as my backup weapon, in addition to several knives and other cutting tools. The Indians of the region took to calling me “Two Flints”, most likely because of the two rather large flint blade, and bone handled knives I usually carried on my person. The nickname stayed with me.

As an army civilian scout, I was not expected, nor obliged, to serve and fight in the War Between the States. My sense of purpose and duty lay in trying to help the military restore a semblance of law and order to the American frontier. To this end, I took part in a number of military actions that were a reaction to either Indian attacks or crimes committed by local civilians. By the mid-1870's, my flintlock rifle and pistol had been retired out of necessity, and replaced by an army issue Spencer carbine, and brace of Smith and Wesson Schofields. These guns gave me the extra firepower I sometimes needed, and were a lot easier to carry and reload in the field. As an army civilian scout I was given a “rank of authority” - sergeant - over other scouts, who did the same kind of work as me, but who had done it over a shorter period of time.

I joined up with the 4th Cavalry Regiment soon after it arrived at Fort Sam Houston, Texas in November of 1865. I was with the 4th when it crossed over the Rio Grande from Fort Clark, Texas, into Mexico in April, 1873, in order to stop cross-border raids by Apache and Kickapoo Indians from their village about 55 miles south of the border. Colonel Ranald Slidell Mackenzie was the commanding officer at that time and and he remained in charge of the 4th until his reassignment some 12 years later.

By the following year (August 1874), the Texas-Mexican border was brought under army control and the Apache raids stopped. Just about a month later, the 4th began another military campaign this time against the Comanche Indians in northern Texas. The Comanches were defeated in a major battle in the Paladuro Canyon of the Red River and forced to surrender.

My current guns & gear:

Spencer Carbine
Spencer 12 Gauge Shotgun
Smith & Wesson Schofields
Old West Reproduction Slim Jim Holsters with Money cartridge Belt

Other information I would like to share:

Moderator, Spencer Shooting Society
Member of BOSS
Member of GAF
Member of NCOWS

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