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495 results for “sdarlington”
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"A Tudor Christmas"
[1. Pastime with good company Henry VIII (1491-1547)
2. Coventry carol 16th century
Soloists: Tom King, Brian Chapman, William Gaunt
3. Rorate coeli William Byrd (c.1540-1623)
Soloists: Nicholas Haigh, John Cotton, Adrian Lowe
4. Consort Henry VIII
5. Christe Jesu, pastor bone John Taverner (c.1490-1545)
6. Consort Henry VIII
7. This is the record of John Orlando Gibbons (1583-1625)
Soloist: Tom King
8. Ave Maria Robert Parsons (c.1530-1570)
9. Remember O thou man Thomas Ravenscroft (c.1590-c.1633)
Soloists: Nicolas Haigh, Alexander Thompson, William Gaunt
10. Consort Henry VIII
11. While shepherds watched Christopher Tye (c.1505-1573)
12. From virgin’s womb William Byrd
Soloists: John Cotton
13. Consort Henry VIII
14. Laudate nomen Christopher Tye
15. O nata lux Thomas Tallis (c.1505-1585)
16. Magnificat from 1st Service John Sheppard (c.1520-c.1560)
17. Sweet was the song 16th century
Soloist: Alexander Thompson
18. Quid petis, o fili Richard Pygott (c.1485-1552)
Soloists: John Cotton, Tim Dallosso, Tom King, Brian Chapman,
Gabriel Vick, William Gaunt, Timothy Whiteley, Angus Wilson
19. Consort Henry VIII
20. Hosanna to the Son of David Thomas Weelkes (1575-1623)]
Choir of Christ Church, Oxford/Stephen Darlington
(The Gift of Music 2004)
https://songwhip.com/stephen-darlington/a-tudor-christmas#NowListening #ClassicalMusic #music #ChoralMusic #ChristmasMusic
#ChristmasCarols #TudorChristmas
#StephenDarlington
#ChoirOfChristChurchOxford -
"A Tudor Christmas"
[1. Pastime with good company Henry VIII (1491-1547)
2. Coventry carol 16th century
Soloists: Tom King, Brian Chapman, William Gaunt
3. Rorate coeli William Byrd (c.1540-1623)
Soloists: Nicholas Haigh, John Cotton, Adrian Lowe
4. Consort Henry VIII
5. Christe Jesu, pastor bone John Taverner (c.1490-1545)
6. Consort Henry VIII
7. This is the record of John Orlando Gibbons (1583-1625)
Soloist: Tom King
8. Ave Maria Robert Parsons (c.1530-1570)
9. Remember O thou man Thomas Ravenscroft (c.1590-c.1633)
Soloists: Nicolas Haigh, Alexander Thompson, William Gaunt
10. Consort Henry VIII
11. While shepherds watched Christopher Tye (c.1505-1573)
12. From virgin’s womb William Byrd
Soloists: John Cotton
13. Consort Henry VIII
14. Laudate nomen Christopher Tye
15. O nata lux Thomas Tallis (c.1505-1585)
16. Magnificat from 1st Service John Sheppard (c.1520-c.1560)
17. Sweet was the song 16th century
Soloist: Alexander Thompson
18. Quid petis, o fili Richard Pygott (c.1485-1552)
Soloists: John Cotton, Tim Dallosso, Tom King, Brian Chapman,
Gabriel Vick, William Gaunt, Timothy Whiteley, Angus Wilson
19. Consort Henry VIII
20. Hosanna to the Son of David Thomas Weelkes (1575-1623)]
Choir of Christ Church, Oxford/Stephen Darlington
(The Gift of Music 2004)
https://songwhip.com/stephen-darlington/a-tudor-christmas#NowListening #ClassicalMusic #music #ChoralMusic #ChristmasMusic
#ChristmasCarols #TudorChristmas
#StephenDarlington
#ChoirOfChristChurchOxford -
"A Tudor Christmas"
[1. Pastime with good company Henry VIII (1491-1547)
2. Coventry carol 16th century
Soloists: Tom King, Brian Chapman, William Gaunt
3. Rorate coeli William Byrd (c.1540-1623)
Soloists: Nicholas Haigh, John Cotton, Adrian Lowe
4. Consort Henry VIII
5. Christe Jesu, pastor bone John Taverner (c.1490-1545)
6. Consort Henry VIII
7. This is the record of John Orlando Gibbons (1583-1625)
Soloist: Tom King
8. Ave Maria Robert Parsons (c.1530-1570)
9. Remember O thou man Thomas Ravenscroft (c.1590-c.1633)
Soloists: Nicolas Haigh, Alexander Thompson, William Gaunt
10. Consort Henry VIII
11. While shepherds watched Christopher Tye (c.1505-1573)
12. From virgin’s womb William Byrd
Soloists: John Cotton
13. Consort Henry VIII
14. Laudate nomen Christopher Tye
15. O nata lux Thomas Tallis (c.1505-1585)
16. Magnificat from 1st Service John Sheppard (c.1520-c.1560)
17. Sweet was the song 16th century
Soloist: Alexander Thompson
18. Quid petis, o fili Richard Pygott (c.1485-1552)
Soloists: John Cotton, Tim Dallosso, Tom King, Brian Chapman,
Gabriel Vick, William Gaunt, Timothy Whiteley, Angus Wilson
19. Consort Henry VIII
20. Hosanna to the Son of David Thomas Weelkes (1575-1623)]
Choir of Christ Church, Oxford/Stephen Darlington
(The Gift of Music 2004)
https://songwhip.com/stephen-darlington/a-tudor-christmas#NowListening #ClassicalMusic #music #ChoralMusic #ChristmasMusic
#ChristmasCarols #TudorChristmas
#StephenDarlington
#ChoirOfChristChurchOxford -
"A Tudor Christmas"
[1. Pastime with good company Henry VIII (1491-1547)
2. Coventry carol 16th century
Soloists: Tom King, Brian Chapman, William Gaunt
3. Rorate coeli William Byrd (c.1540-1623)
Soloists: Nicholas Haigh, John Cotton, Adrian Lowe
4. Consort Henry VIII
5. Christe Jesu, pastor bone John Taverner (c.1490-1545)
6. Consort Henry VIII
7. This is the record of John Orlando Gibbons (1583-1625)
Soloist: Tom King
8. Ave Maria Robert Parsons (c.1530-1570)
9. Remember O thou man Thomas Ravenscroft (c.1590-c.1633)
Soloists: Nicolas Haigh, Alexander Thompson, William Gaunt
10. Consort Henry VIII
11. While shepherds watched Christopher Tye (c.1505-1573)
12. From virgin’s womb William Byrd
Soloists: John Cotton
13. Consort Henry VIII
14. Laudate nomen Christopher Tye
15. O nata lux Thomas Tallis (c.1505-1585)
16. Magnificat from 1st Service John Sheppard (c.1520-c.1560)
17. Sweet was the song 16th century
Soloist: Alexander Thompson
18. Quid petis, o fili Richard Pygott (c.1485-1552)
Soloists: John Cotton, Tim Dallosso, Tom King, Brian Chapman,
Gabriel Vick, William Gaunt, Timothy Whiteley, Angus Wilson
19. Consort Henry VIII
20. Hosanna to the Son of David Thomas Weelkes (1575-1623)]
Choir of Christ Church, Oxford/Stephen Darlington
(The Gift of Music 2004)
https://songwhip.com/stephen-darlington/a-tudor-christmas#NowListening #ClassicalMusic #music #ChoralMusic #ChristmasMusic
#ChristmasCarols #TudorChristmas
#StephenDarlington
#ChoirOfChristChurchOxford -
"A Tudor Christmas"
[1. Pastime with good company Henry VIII (1491-1547)
2. Coventry carol 16th century
Soloists: Tom King, Brian Chapman, William Gaunt
3. Rorate coeli William Byrd (c.1540-1623)
Soloists: Nicholas Haigh, John Cotton, Adrian Lowe
4. Consort Henry VIII
5. Christe Jesu, pastor bone John Taverner (c.1490-1545)
6. Consort Henry VIII
7. This is the record of John Orlando Gibbons (1583-1625)
Soloist: Tom King
8. Ave Maria Robert Parsons (c.1530-1570)
9. Remember O thou man Thomas Ravenscroft (c.1590-c.1633)
Soloists: Nicolas Haigh, Alexander Thompson, William Gaunt
10. Consort Henry VIII
11. While shepherds watched Christopher Tye (c.1505-1573)
12. From virgin’s womb William Byrd
Soloists: John Cotton
13. Consort Henry VIII
14. Laudate nomen Christopher Tye
15. O nata lux Thomas Tallis (c.1505-1585)
16. Magnificat from 1st Service John Sheppard (c.1520-c.1560)
17. Sweet was the song 16th century
Soloist: Alexander Thompson
18. Quid petis, o fili Richard Pygott (c.1485-1552)
Soloists: John Cotton, Tim Dallosso, Tom King, Brian Chapman,
Gabriel Vick, William Gaunt, Timothy Whiteley, Angus Wilson
19. Consort Henry VIII
20. Hosanna to the Son of David Thomas Weelkes (1575-1623)]
Choir of Christ Church, Oxford/Stephen Darlington
(The Gift of Music 2004)
https://songwhip.com/stephen-darlington/a-tudor-christmas#NowListening #ClassicalMusic #music #ChoralMusic #ChristmasMusic
#ChristmasCarols #TudorChristmas
#StephenDarlington
#ChoirOfChristChurchOxford -
The thread about the “Galloping Sausage”; promising a lot but delivering a little
On this day (July 31st) in 1930, the curious LNER (London & North Eastern Railway) locomotive No. 10000 left Waverley station in Edinburgh at the head of the up Flying Scotsman. Hush Hush, as it was known, was an experimental prototype, fitted with a high-pressure water tube boiler: technology that ultimately proved more trouble than it was worth.
LNER locomotive no. 10000, leaving Waverley station at the head of the Flying Scotsman on the morning of July 31st 1930.This engine known as “Hush Hush” on account of the great secrecy that surrounded its design and construction; it was kept covered in sheeting whenever prying eyes were around to try and conceal what secrets lay beneath. Its internal company class name was the more mundane W1. The LNER and its designer hoped that its efficiency would make it the next great thing.From some angles it looked undeniably cool: sleek and furutistic.
No. 10000 from The Wonder Book of Engineering Wonders by Harry GoldingFrom other angles it looked like the mutant offspring of a wide-mouthed frog and a white pudding (it was painted light grey, initially). A great, wallowing, temperamental, steam-powered sausage.
No. 10000 at Darlington, June 1930The great technological secrete beneath its sausage-like exterior, and the reason for its curious appearance, was the custom-built water-tube boiler. These sorts of boilers were usually for high-end marine applications, so its construction was contracted out to the Yarrow & Co. shipyard in Glasgow. Without turning this story into a lecture about boiler design, in simple terms a traditional steam locomotive boiler is of the fire-tube type; hot combustion gasses go along tubes through a pressurised tank of water to hear it. By by its nature this structure has many built-in weaknesses where the tubes penetrate the boiler. In a water-tube boiler, it is the small tubes that contain the water, under pressure, heated by combustion gases from the outside. This allowed operated at 450psi vs. the usual 180-200psi of a typical railway fire-tube boiler of its time.
No. 10000’s boiler under construction at Yarrows, from “Gresley and Stanier” by F. J. BellwoodBecause it works at a higher pressure, the steam is hotter within a water-tube boiler, therefore its potential do do work is greater. In theory, compared to a lower-pressure boiler, it can produce more power from the same amount of fuel (or the same amount of power for less fuel) and therefore will be more efficient. The theory was all well and good, but at the business end the engineers did not understand how to exploit the high pressure steam in a “compound” system (that is, one where steam is used first at a high pressure to drive one set of pistons and then at lower pressure to drive another, to extract as much of the work from it as possible.)
10000 on the Forth Bridge, 1930No. 10000 was the brainchild of the LNER’s Chief Mechanical Engineer, Nigel Gresley; not usually a man associated with making engineering mistakes. Gresley, coincidentally and relevantly for this sites main themes, was an accidental son of Edinburgh: his family were from Derbyshire, but he entered this world early on a visit by his expectant mother to see a gynaecologist in the New Town.
Plaque dedicated to the memory of Nigel Gresley at Waverley Station, CC-by-2.0, Rod Smith via FlickrA cross-sectional illustration of “a Unique New Engine” with “a War-Ship Boiler” was printed in the Illustrated London News in January 1930. It shows just how tight a squeeze things were on the inside. One of the only design efficiencies that No. 10000 ended up having was a 14% smaller fire grate than a comparable locomotive.
Cross-section illustration of No. 10000, from Illustrated London News – Saturday 11 January 1930A water-tube boiler has no steam dome, so that familiar feature of a steam locomotive was missing. To accommodate the unusual size and profile of the water-tube boiler, the engine’s outer casing was carried all the way to the maximum permissible height, with the safety valves and whistles were recessed into the side. The odd-looking front end was designed to scoop air into the casing, to pre-heat it before entering the firebox, and to throw exhaust smoke clear of the cab
No. 10000 during construction at Darlington Works. From Illustrated London News – Saturday 11 January 1930With no visible chimney or dome and that big, silvery, pudding of an outer casing, No. 10000 looked odd enough. But as the boiler had to hang further back than usual it needed an extra pair of wheels for support, on a double-articulated rear truck, giving a highly unusual 4-6-2-2 configuration (4 leading wheels on a bogie, 6 driving wheels, 2 trailing wheels on a Cartazzi axle and then a futher 2 wheels trailing on a separate Bissel truck). No. 10000 was never officially named – name plates to christen it “British Enterprise” were optimistically cast – but these were never fitted, and it was probably a good thing on account of the technical headache and operational embarrassment that it turned out to be. As well as “Hush Hush”, the less than flattering nickname of “Galloping Sausage” was unofficially applied.
No. 10000, from “The steam locomotive : its form and function” by William Alfred TuplinNo. 10000 was tested on the mainline for quite few years, with various tweaks and changes being made to try and improve its performance. In some aspects it showed promise, but these were offset by its heavy coal consumption, high build and running costs, lower power and poor reliability. Its fundamental problem however, was that it was a totally unique design, when every other locomotive on the LNER had a fire-tube boiler; there was reduced commonality and no economy of scale. It was quietly rebuilt with a fire-tube boiler and new outer casing into an approximation of a standard A4 Pacific in 1937 (also designed by Nigel Gresley). In this guise it served the railway for longer than its original form, all the way into British Railways days as No. 60700.
No. 10000 on the right, with a line-up of standard A4 Pacifics. You had to look very closely for the extra pair of trailing wheels (not shown in this image) to tell it apart from the others. From “Foreword” by E. Royston Pike (1938) Our Generation, London: Waverley Book CompanyThe only major blot on the otherwise unremarkable and reliable service of its second life was an ignominious slow-speed derailment at Peterborough in September 1955 which saw No. 60700 end up sprawled on its side. There were no serious injuries, and the three men on the footplate were thrown clear and unhurt. The damage was not significant and the locomotive was righted, repaired, and put back in service for a further decade before being withdrawn for scrap. Its tender survived into preservation with the A4 Pacific No. 60009 “Union of South Africa“
The aftermath of the Peterborough derailment, Peterborough Advertiser – 2nd September 1955Note to readers: unfortunately in April 2026, a third-party plug-in more than exceeded its authority and broke many of the image links on this site. No images were lost but I will have to restore them page-by-page, which may take some time. In the meantime please bear with me while I go about rectifying this issue.
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#Lochend #Logan #Restalrig #StMargaret -
Quote of the day, 25 December: St. Edith Stein
We know not, and we should not ask before the time, where our earthly way will lead us. We know only this, that to those that love the Lord all things will work together to the good, and, further, that the ways by which the Saviour leads us point beyond this earth.
It is truly a marvellous exchange: the Creator of mankind, taking a body, gives us His Godhead. The Redeemer has come into the world to do this wonderful work. God became man, so that men might become children of God. One of us had broken the bond that made us God’s children; one of us had to tie it again and pay the ransom. This could not be done by one who came from the old, wild and diseased trunk; a new branch, healthy and noble, had to be grafted into it.
He became one of us, more than this, He became one with us. For this is the marvellous thing about the human race, that we are all one. If it were otherwise, if we were all autonomous individuals, living beside each other quite free and independent, the fall of the one could not have resulted in the fall of all. In that case, on the other hand, the ransom might have been paid for and imputed to us, but His justice could not have passed on to the sinners; no justification would have been possible.
But He came to be one mysterious Body with us: He our Head, we His members. If we place our hands into the hands of the divine Child, if we say our Yes to His Follow Me, then we are His, and the way is free for His divine Life to flow into us.
This is the beginning of eternal life in us. It is not yet the beatific vision in the light of glory; it is still the darkness of faith; but it is no longer of this world, it means living in the kingdom of God. This kingdom began on earth when the blessed Virgin spoke her “Be it unto me”, and she was its first handmaid.
And all those who have confessed the Child by word and deed before and after His birth, St. Joseph, St. Elizabeth with her son, and all those surrounding the crib, have entered the kingdom of God. The reign of the divine King showed itself to be different from what people had expected it to be when they read the Psalms and the Prophets. The Romans remained masters in the land; high priests and scribes continued to oppress the poor.
Those who belonged to the Lord bore their kingdom of heaven invisibly within them. Their earthly burden was not taken away from them; on the contrary, many another was added to it; but within them there was a winged power that made the yoke sweet and the burden light.
The same happens today with every child of God. The divine life that is kindled in the soul is the light that has come into the darkness, the miracle of the Holy Night. If we have it in us, we understand what is meant when men speak about it. For the others, everything that can be said of it is an incomprehensible stammering. The whole Gospel of St. John is such a stammering about the eternal light that is love and life.
God in us and we in Him, this is our share in God’s kingdom, which is founded on the Incarnation.
Saint Edith Stein
The Mystery of Christmas (1931 lecture), “Union With God”
Stein, E 1931, The mystery of Christmas: incarnation and humanity, translated from the German by Rucker, J, Darlington Carmel, Darlington UK.
Featured image: The Nativity With Saints, Ridolfo Ghirlandaio (Italian, 1483–1561), oil on wood panel painting ca. 1514. Image credit: Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York (Public domain).
#Christmas #divineChild #incarnation #kingdomOfHeaven #StEdithStein
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Penn State Sets Partnership with Westinghouse to Build an eVinci Microreactor for Research and Power
- Penn State Partners with Westinghouse to Build an eVinci Microreactor
- Thorcon Indonesia Submits Nuclear License Application for 500MW MSR
- Canadian Government Announces Multiple Investments in Nuclear Reactors
- CEZ Takes 20% Equity Stake in Rolls-Royce 470 MW PWR
- UKAEA And Italy’s Eni To Build Tritium Fuel Facility
- Kashiwazaki Kariwa 6 & 7 Startup Face New Major Delays
Penn State Partners with Westinghouse to Build an eVinci Microreactor
Penn State and Westinghouse Electric Co. are partnering to unlock the potential of the industry-leading eVinci microreactor by engaging with the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) to develop a new nuclear research facility at the University Park campus.
Penn State submitted a letter of intent to the NRC on 02/28/25 which is the first step in the application process to install an eVinci microreactor at the new research facility.
The eVinci microreactor, a microreactor product of Westinghouse that uses heat pipe technology, is expected to offer a reliable and safe solution for powering the University’s research facilities and buildings across campus.
Conceptual image of an eVinci Microreactor. Image: WestinghouseWith its passive heat transfer system and its non-pressurized design, it operates like a nuclear battery, providing consistent power for more than eight years without refueling. This innovative approach reduces maintenance and enhances safety. The university has not yet selected a site for the eVinci reactor. Once is does the NRC’s regulatory requirements for site environmental assessment will come into play.
Regulatory Uncertainties Ahead
However, before any of this takes place, Westinghouse will need to submit license application to the NRC for its advanced design. While Westinghouse has been submitting pre-licensing topical reports, the NRC website, updated for the microreactor as of February 2025, does not list a calendar of proposed licensing actions or milestones including a submission date for a license application.
The agency is in the midst of developing its Part53 regulation for advanced reactors which is composed of 1,300 pages of detailed, prescriptive requirements for getting through the licensing process. A final version of the proposed rule is expected to be released by September 2026
NRC Chair Christopher Hanson said in a statement on 03/04/25 that a final rule could be issued within 12 to 18 months after the proposed rule’s publication, taking into account a public comment period. That means the first license application from any advanced reactor developer is unlikely to come in the door at the NRC’s HQ before then.
The alternative for Westinghouse is to use the current procedures under either Part50, which requires a construction license and an operating license or Part52 which combines the license application process for construction and operations. Westinghouse will have to assess which of these alternatives paths gives it the fastest time to market, and for Penn State, a schedule it can rely on to break ground and build the reactor.
HALEU Fuel Supply Schedules
The eVinci microreactor is designed to operate on TRISO fuel at 19.5% U235. While the Department of Energy has begun issuing procurements for enrichment services of HALEU fuels, the schedules for delivery remain a work in progress. The delays in ramping up the supply of HALEU have forced TerraPower to push back the start date for its 345 MWe sodium cooled advanced reactor from 2028 to 2030.
The good news for the Penn State project is that in October 2024 Westinghouse Government Services LLC was one of six firms selected by the Department of Energy’s Office of Nuclear Energy for an Indefinite Delivery/Indefinite Quantity contract to provide deconversion services for the production of enriched High-Assay Low-Enriched Uranium (HALEU) from new domestic capacity.
The six firms will get at least $2M each for their production of HALEU. The total value of all contract awards over the 10-year period of the program is $800M. In return DOE expects the combined production of all six firms will be about 300 metric tonnes of HALEU in the form of UF6. Fuel fabrication services are not included in the contract.
Westinghouse, which has fuel fabrication plants in the US, UK, and Sweden, inked a deal with Urenco and TRISO-X in 2022 to develop TRISO fuel fabrication production at its Springfields plant in the UK. The objective is to develop a secure and reliable supply of advanced TRi-structural ISOtropic (TRISO) fuels for use in HTGRs and other advanced reactor designs.
Officials Confident of Success
Despite the uncertainties of HALEU fuel supplies and the complexities of the licensing process, which include taking an entirely new reactor design through a new regulatory gauntlet, Penn State officials and Westinghouse executives are bullish on their prospects for success.
“Today, the University announced its intent to make Westinghouse’s eVinci microreactor a research priority,” said Andrew Read, senior vice president for research at Penn State. “We believe this technology has the potential to change how we think of and use nuclear energy.
Jon Ball, president of eVinci Technologies at Westinghouse, said, “We look forward to bringing our advanced eVinci technology to the FRONTIER program to find new ways of harnessing nuclear energy, while providing students and researchers with unprecedented opportunities.”
Of interest here, according to his official biography, is that Jon Ball earned his Ph.D., in Analytical and Computational Chemistry, at Penn State in 1993. This project bring him full circle in a kind of technological homecoming.
Tonya L. Peeples, Harold and Inge Marcus Dean of Engineering at Penn State added, “We intend to advance and develop the skilled workforce needed in all areas, including engineering, construction, AI, operations, project management, licensing, safety, security, supply chain and many more.”
Westinghouse Factory to Build the eVinci Reactors
In October 2023 Westinghouse Electric Company announced it is building a design and manufacturing facility near central Pittsburgh to accelerate commercialization of its eVinci microreactor. The eVinci hub in the borough of Etna, PA, will be home to engineering and licensing operations, testing, prototype trials, business development and sales.
It will also include manufacturing space for producing the innovative heat pipes that are central to the eVinci technology, as well as other components. The reactor core, which will run on TRISO fuel, is designed to run for eight or more full-power years before refueling. The eVinci design is for power outputs between 200 kWe to 5 MWe.
Westinghouse said the Etna location was chosen in part due to its proximity to Carnegie Mellon University, Penn State – New Kensington, and the University of Pittsburgh. These universities are partnering with Westinghouse on the eVinci technology.
About the eVinci Reactor
The eVinci microreactor is a compact nuclear reactor that is designed to be safe, portable, and efficient for producing electricity, especially in places where traditional power sources aren’t practical. It works like a nuclear battery that can produce energy for eight years without needing to be refueled. The eVinci microreactor is designed to produce up to 5 MWe and 15 MWt when operating at 350F (150C). This operating temperature is considerably lower than HTGRs which run at about 700C and conventional light water PWRs which run at 350-400C.
The eVinci microreactor will use 19.75% enriched tri-structural isotropic particle (TRISO) fuel. The uranium inside each TRISO particle is surrounded by three layers of inert materials that protect it and prevent the release of any radioactive fission products. TRISO fuel is characterized by its high thermal stability and resistance to corrosion and oxidation.
Full scale commercial deployment of the eVinci microreactor could begin as early as 2029 depending on obtaining an NRC license and HALEU fuel supplies. The reactor is to be fully assembled in a factory before being transported to the site, reducing construction costs and installation time. Westinghouse will soon begin to assemble a scaled down eVinci test reactor for deployment at Idaho National Laboratory.
In September 2024 Westinghouse announced it has submitted its eVinci Microreactor Preliminary Safety Design Report (PSDR) to the Department of Energy’s (DOE) National Reactor Innovation Center (NRIC). Westinghouse is the first reactor developer to reach this milestone in support of siting its test reactor at NRIC’s Demonstration of Microreactor Experiments (DOME) test bed at Idaho National Laboratory (INL).
The eVinci microreactor weighs in at 100 metric tons and boasts a compact design measuring only 10 feet in diameter and less than 40 feet in length. Additionally, the entire eVinci microreactor site footprint is less than three acres of land which includes the safety perimeter.
Westinghouse has developed a safe process for managing spent fuel that requires no on-site handling/storage. The reactor is cooled and moved from the site to a licensed facility where spent fuel is removed and put into cask storage at a licensed location. The reactor is then transferred to a factory to be refueled for redeployment.
& & &
Thorcon Indonesia Submits Nuclear License Application for 500MW MSR
PT Thorcon Power Indonesia (PT TPI) in February reached a major milestone in its journey toward establishing Indonesia’s first Nuclear Power Plant (NPP) with the official submission of its Site Evaluation Program (PET) and Site Evaluation Management System (SMET) documents to Indonesia’s Nuclear Energy Regulatory Agency (BAPETEN).
The submission, made in collaboration with PT Wiratman, was presented by Thorcon’s Chief Nuclear Officer, Kun Chen, to BAPETEN’s Deputy Chairman, Haendra Subekti, in an executive meeting held on 02/13/25 at BAPETEN’s Jakarta office.
This marks a key step forward in the regulatory process for PT TPI’s proposed Thorcon power plant, which will use the company’s advanced molten salt reactor (MSR) technology to provide low-cost, sustainable nuclear electricity for Indonesia’s future. With this submission, PT TPI officially becomes the first NPP license applicant in Indonesia’s history, positioning the country for a new era of nuclear energy innovation and development.
The PET and SMET documents, submitted through BAPETEN’s Balis application process, follow almost two years of pre-licensing consultations, which focused on safety, security, and safeguards to ensure that the plant meets Indonesia’s stringent regulatory standards.
PT TPI’s proposed plant will feature the Thorcon 500, a 500 MWe molten salt reactor power plant, comprised of two 250 MWe reactor modules. Designed for modular manufacturing, the Thorcon 500 will be installed on a floating tethered barge with shoreline grid connections.
According to the Thorcon website, PT TPI’s proposed plant is based on molten salt technology developed by the Oak Ridge National Laboratory in the 1960s. It will include two low-enriched-uranium-fueled 250 MWe reactors in two replaceable, sealed ‘Cans’.
At any one time, just one of the Cans of each power module is producing thermal power. After eight years of operation, the nuclear module is disconnected, replaced with a new one, and the old one is towed to a maintenance center for Can replacement.
Thorcon has ambitions, but not a fixed timeline, to develop thorium-based fuel for the reactors. Much of the interest today in reviving the MSR concept relates to using thorium (to breed fissile uranium-233), where an initial source of fissile material such as enriched uranium is needed to kick start the reactor.
The nuclear plant’s construction will benefit from the development of a local manufacturing assembly line for Thorcon reactors, fostering the growth of a new industrial sector in Indonesia. The barge is expected to be manufactured in a South Korean shipyard.
A preliminary site survey conducted on Kelasa Island, located in Central Bangka, has identified the site as a strong candidate for the NPP. The survey focused on safety, ecological, and site suitability factors, with initial results showing promise for further studies.
BAPETEN Deputy Chairman, Haendra Subekti, expressed appreciation for PT TPI’s proactive approach to safety and security, noting that the consultations and the submission of the PET and SMET documents reflect a thorough commitment to addressing all aspects of safety, security, and safeguards.
“We recognize and appreciate the efforts of PT Thorcon Power Indonesia for their proactive consultations within the 3S (Safety, Security, Safeguards) framework,” Subekti said.
“This approach ensures that all safety and security aspects are addressed and will help minimize technical and administrative obstacles as the licensing process continues.”
According to the World Nuclear Association, the government is targeting 8 GWe of installed capacity to come from nuclear power plants in 2035, increasing to 54 GWe in 2060.
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Canadian Government Announces Multiple Investments in Nuclear Reactors
(WNN) The Government of Canada is to lend AtkinsRéalis up to CAD304 million (USD212 million) over four years to support the development of next-generation Candu reactor technology, and has also announced millions of dollars in new funding commitments and support for nuclear projects in Saskatchewan, Alberta and Ontario.
Minister of Energy and Natural Resources Jonathan Wilkinson announced that the government had entered into a preliminary agreement with AtkinsRéalis to finance up to half of the design costs of a “new, large-scale, natural uranium-fuelled Canadium deuterium nuclear reactor (e.g. Monark)” to a maximum of CAD304 million, through a loan over four years.
This funding is to be matched by AtkinsRéalis. Atomic Energy of Canada Ltd (AECL), plant operators and the broader Canadian supply chain will also be included in the work to modernize the Candu design.
Wilkinson announced the Canadian government’s latest investment in CANDU technology during a visit to BWXT Tecnhologies Inc’s facility in Cambridge, Ontario
The CANDU pressurized heavy water reactor (PHWR)design was developed from the 1950s onwards by federal Crown corporation AECL. It sold its reactor division to SNC-Lavalin’s Candu Energy subsidiary in 2011 – along with an intellectual property licensing agreement – but it still owns intellectual property rights for the technology. AtkinsRéalis is the original equipment manufacturer of CANDU technology (SNC-Lavalin Group Inc rebranded to AtkinsRéalis in 2023).
AtkinsRéalis unveiled its plans in November 2023 for the 1000 MW Candu Monark, a Generation III+ reactor with the highest output of any CANDU technology. It completed the conceptual design phase in September 2024, and is in the planning stage of a vendor design review with the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission. Previous Canadian CANDU designs came in at 700 MW.
Globally, India is building a fleet of 10 CANDU type reactors at 700M each. Romania recently committed to completing two 700 MW PHWR type reactors at its Cernavoda site. There are over two dozen CANDU reactors currently operating in seven countries.
Wilkinson noted that, with their “almost entirely Canadian-made, Canadian-designed supply chain”, they provide “good-paying, long-lasting, and sustainable jobs in manufacturing for Canadians” as well as being fueled by uranium mined in Saskatchewan.
SMR collaborations
Wilkinson also announced further funding for nuclear projects under Environment and Climate Change Canada’s Future Electricity Fund, on behalf of Minister of Environment and Climate Change Steven Guilbeault, plus a total of CAD52.4 million for various projects supporting the development and deployment of SMRs and Candu reactors and decarbonization efforts in Saskatchewan, Alberta and Ontario under two Natural Resources Canada programs.The Future Electricity Fund mainly consists of proceeds collected from electricity-generating facilities which are being returned through funding agreements with provincial or territorial governments for which the federal carbon pollution pricing system for industry currently applies, or has applied in the past, to support clean electricity initiatives.
CAD55 million from the fund has been awarded to Ontario Power Generation (OPG) to support pre-development work for the Darlington New Nuclear Project, where the company plans to build up to four GE Hitachi BWRX-300 SMRs. Specifically, these funds are to be used for planning, site preparation, various procurements and regulatory approvals for units 2, 3 and 4 at the site. OPG signed a commercial contract for the first of the four SMR units in January 2023.
He also announced an increase to Future Electricity Fund program funding to the Saskatchewan Government’s Crown Investments Corporation by CAD54 million to CAD80 million, to support of SMR pre-development work by SaskPower. The funding will support pre-engineering work and technical studies, environmental assessments, regulatory studies and community and Indigenous engagement. SaskPower has identified several potential sites for SMRs.
Three projects will receive a total of CAD11.4 million under Natural Resources Canada’s Enabling SMRs program:
The University of Western Ontario is to receive nearly CAD5 million to conduct a detailed study of TRISO-based used fuel properties and characteristics.
Canadian Nuclear Laboratories will receive just over CAD3.5 million for a project on developing guidelines, strategies and standards for SMR deployment to support the Canadian nuclear industry.
The Saskatchewan Industrial and Mining Suppliers Association will receive CAD2.8 million for a project to evaluate the capabilities of the existing supply chain in Saskatchewan to support SMRs.
Under Natural Resources Canada’s Electricity Predevelopment Program, four projects in Alberta will receive funding totaling CAD41 million, including CAD13 million to develop an assessment of the potential suitability of three locations in Alberta as potential host locations for SMR deployment and increase public and Indigenous community understanding and awareness of SMRs and nuclear power generation.
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CEZ Takes 20% Equity Stake in Rolls-Royce 470 MW PWR
CEZ Group, the Czech Republic’s state-owed nuclear utility, has become a significant shareholder of Rolls-Royce SMR, acquiring a stake of approximately one-fifth of the company. This strategic partnership aims to advance the development of small modular nuclear reactors.
The first Rolls-Royce 470 MW PWR reactor in the Czech Republic is planned for the Temelín nuclear power plant in the early 2030s. This collaboration, initiated last October, involves CEZ in both development of the 1st and future reactors and global production for export, going beyond mere procurement.
The Rolls-Royce SMR design is a pressurized water reactor incorporating both active and passive safety systems, with an electrical output of 470 MW and an expected operational lifespan of at least 60 years.
CEZ aims to build small modular reactors totaling about 3 GWe (six RR PWRs) by 2050, primarily for electrical power and process heat supply (steam for domestic heat) at various locations. These modular reactors can be mass-produced and assembled on-site. CEZ also plans to use the production facilities to be built in the Czech Republic to drive opportunities for exports of the Rolls-Royce PWR to global markets.
UK Falling Behind in Europe’s Race to Build SMRs
Separately, Rolls-Royce has raised concerns with the current UK government about the slow pace of decision making relate to the GBN SMR Competition. Rolls-Royce pointedly warned Whitehall that it risks seeing the first SMRs built in the EU.
Industry angst over bureaucratic dithering extends to other firms in the mix. X-Energy has threatened to remove itself not only from the competition but also entirely from the UK market if funding decisions now slated for 2029 are not significantly moved up.
In both cases the UK could lose substantial opportunities for new jobs and related economic development as other countries strike while the iron is hot.
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UKAEA And Italy’s Eni To Build Tritium Fuel Facility
- Plant in central England vital to deployment of future nuclear plants
(NucNet) The United Kingdom Atomic Energy Authority (UKAEA) and Italy-based energy company Eni have signed an agreement to jointly conduct research and development in fusion energy, starting with the construction of the world’s largest and most advanced tritium fuel cycle facility. Once built it will produce a fuel for future fusion power stations. UKAEA said the new “world-class” facility is designed to provide industry and academia the opportunity to study how to process, store and recycle tritium.
Tritium is a radioactive isotope of hydrogen that occurs naturally in the atmosphere and is also a byproduct of nuclear reactors. It is a potential fuel for future fusion power plants.
UKAEA, the UK’s national organization responsible for the research and delivery of fusion energy, said the UKAEA-Eni H3AT (pronounced “heat”) tritium loop facility will be bult at its Culham Campus in Oxfordshire, central England, and will be complete in 2028.
UKAEA chief executive officer Sir Ian Chapman said the H3AT demonstration plant will set a new benchmark as the largest and most advanced tritium fuel cycle facility in the world.
UKAEA said tritium recovery and re-use will play a fundamental role in the supply and generation of the fuel in future fusion power plants and will be crucial in making the technology increasingly efficient.
UKAEA and Eni will collaborate to develop advanced technological solutions in fusion energy and related technologies, including skills transfer initiatives. Eni will contribute to the H3AT project with its expertise in managing and developing large-scale projects.
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First Light Announces Shift In Strategy To Capitalize On Growing Market For Inertial Fusion
- UK company no longer plans to build its own nuclear power plant
(NucNet) UK-based nuclear fusion company First Light Fusion is shifting its strategy to capitalize on what it says are huge opportunities in the market for inertial fusion energy. First Light said in a statement that with a renewed strategy and business model, it will provide its unique amplifier technology to the fast-growing global inertial fusion energy industry. The company, whose headquarters are in Oxford, central England, said the move will enable it to generate earlier revenues and lower its long-term funding requirement.
Under the new strategy, First Light plans to enter into commercial partnerships with other inertial fusion energy companies and schemes where its amplifier technology can form a critical and complementary part of a commercial fusion power plant. This replaces previous plans to build its own power plant based on a projectile fusion approach.
First Light Fusion’s amplifier technology increases the efficacy of the fusion reaction by both boosting and converging the pressure of the projectile that is used to impact the fuel. This approach means that instead of using complex and expensive lasers or magnets to generate or maintain the conditions for fusion, a fuel “target” is compressed using a projectile travelling at tremendous speed.
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Kashiwazaki Kariwa 6 & 7 Startup Face New Major Delays
According to a report by the Japan Industrial Forum on 02/27/25 the Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO) announced a significant revision to the construction schedule for emergency response buildings at Units 6 and 7 of the Kashiwazaki Kariwa Nuclear Power Plants, located in Niigata Prefecture. The buildings are permanent backup facilities to be used in the event of an intentional aircraft strike or terrorist attack and referred to as “specified safety facilities.
Under the revised schedule, the facilities for Unit 6 will be completed five years later than originally scheduled—in September 2031 rather than in September 2026 while those for Unit 7 will be completed around four and half years later than originally planned, in September 2029 rather than in March 2025.
TEPCO did not indicate a schedule for restart of units 1-5 or whether it ever intends to restart these BWRs which are older than units 6 & 7. TEPCO has not submitted them to the Japanese government’s independent Nuclear Regulatory Authority (NRA) for restart safety evaluations.
In terms of the total Japanese nuclear fleet, 14 reactors have restarted, 3 more have completed the NRA review, and 10 more are under review and expected to be approved. By the end of this decade, Japan could have 27 operating reactors. Prior to the Fukushima accident in 2011, Japan had 54 operating reactors.
At a press conference held on the same day, Takeyuki Inagaki, the site director of Kashiwazaki Kariwa NPPs, explained that it was difficult to predict the completion timeline for the facilities as it was an unprecedented and highly large-scale construction project.
He also pointed out such challenges as the volume of construction work and labor shortages, while emphasizing that the work would continue, with safety as the top priority, ensuring steady progress step by step.
The emergency response buildings are a regulatory requirement under Japan’s new nuclear safety standards. They will serve as backup systems to prevent reactor containment vessel damage in case of large-scale destruction caused by an intentional aircraft collision or similar attacks, rendering a wide range of equipment unusable.
Inagaki stated that Unit 7 is technically ready for operation since it has met the new regulatory standards for severe accident response facilities and passed the review by the Nuclear Regulation Authority (NRA). However, he also stressed the importance of thorough functional testing and safety verification during the upcoming trial operation.
Inagaki further emphasized the critical role of nuclear power in ensuring a stable electricity supply for the country, stating, “Japan’s balance of electricity supply and demand—which remains tight throughout the year— is particularly severe during the period of summer peak demand. That is especially true in eastern Japan, where most nuclear power plants (NPPs) remain offline, with only a limited number in operation.”
Regarding the restart of the Kashiwazaki Kariwa NPPs, he reaffirmed TEPCO’s commitment to engaging with the local community, stating, “Restarting operations will only be possible with the understanding of local residents. We will continue to make every effort to provide thorough explanations to gain their support.”
Currently, the decision of the governor of Niigata Prefecture regarding the restart of Kashiwazaki Kariwa NPPs remains a key issue. The prefectural technical committee has submitted a report to the governor, stating that there are no major concerns regarding most of the 22 verification points related to disaster prevention measures following the TEPCO’s Fukushima Daiichi nuclear accident of March 2011. A hearing with relevant administrative bodies by the Niigata Prefectural Assembly is expected to take place in March.
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Quote of the day, 13 January: St. Edith Stein
“By this I know that you love me, if you keep my commandments” [cf. Jn 14:15].
If we are children of God we shall be led by His hand, doing His will, not our own. We shall place every care and hope in Him and be no longer troubled about ourselves and our future. This is the reason why God’s children are free and happy.
But how few even of the truly pious, even of those ready for heroic sacrifices, possess this freedom. They all walk as if they were bent down by the heavy burden of their cares and duties. They all know the parable of the birds of the air and the lilies of the field. But if they meet someone without capital or pension or insurance, and who yet lives without worrying about future, they shake their heads as if that were something extraordinary.
Indeed, if we expect from the Father in heaven that He will always provide for the income and station in life which we ourselves consider desirable, we may be very much mistaken. Only then can our trust in God remain unshaken, if it includes being prepared to accept absolutely everything from the hand of the Father, for He alone knows what is good for us.
And if one day want and the lack of even the necessities of life should be better for us than a comfortably secure income, or if we should need failure and humiliation rather than honour and reputation, we must be prepared also for this. If we do this, we can live for the present without being burdened by the future.
The words “Thy will be done” must be the rule of the Christian’s life in all their fullness. They must be the principle that regulates his day from morning to night, the course of the year, and his whole life. It then becomes the Christian’s only concern. For all other cares, the Lord will make Himself responsible; this alone will remain with us as long as we live.
From the objective point of view, it is not absolutely certain that we shall always remain in the ways of God. Just as the first man and woman became estranged from God though they had been His children, so every one of us is always balancing, as it were, on the edge of the knife between nothingness and the fullness of the divine life. Sooner or later we shall be feeling this also subjectively.
In the infancy of the spiritual life, when we have just begun to surrender ourselves to the guidance of God, we feel His guiding hand very strongly; it is clear as daylight what we have to do and what to avoid.
But it will not remain like this. If we belong to Christ, we have to live the whole Christ-life. We must mature into His Manhood, we must one day begin the Way of the Cross to Gethsemani and to Golgotha. And all sufferings that come from without are as nothing compared with the dark night of the soul, when the divine light no longer shines, and the voice of the Lord no longer speaks.
God is there, but He is hidden and silent. Why is this so?
We are speaking of the mysteries of God, and these cannot be completely penetrated. But we may well look a little into them. God became Man in order once more to give us a share in His life. This is the beginning, and this is the last end.
But between these, there is something else. Christ is God and Man, and if we would share His life, we must share both in the divine and the human life. The human nature which He took enabled Him to suffer and to die. The divine nature which He possessed from eternity gave His suffering and death infinite value and redemptive power.
Christ’s suffering and death are continued in His mystical Body and in each of His members. Every man must suffer and die. But if he is a living member of the Body of Christ, his suffering and death will receive redemptive power from the divinity of the Head.
This is the objective reason why all the saints have desired to suffer. This is not a pathological pleasure in suffering. It is true, to natural reason it appears as a perversion. But in the light of the mystery of salvation, it shows itself to be highly reasonable.
And thus, the man who is united to Christ will remain unmoved even in the dark night of feeling estranged from and abandoned by God. Perhaps divine providence is using his agony to deliver another, who is truly a prisoner cut off from God. Therefore we will say: “Thy will be done” even, and particularly so, in the darkest night.
Saint Edith Stein
The Mystery of Christmas, V. (“Thy Will Be Done”)
13 January 1931, Ludwigshafen, GermanyStein, E 1931, The mystery of Christmas: incarnation and humanity, translated from the German by Rucker, J, Darlington Carmel, Darlington UK.
Featured image: Photographer Ian Chen captures this image of a person gazing at the Milky Way on a clear night amid the tufa spires of the Trona Pinnacles National Natural Landmark in the California Desert Conservation Area near Searles Lake, California. Image credit: ianchen0 / Unsplash (Stock photo)
#freedom #happiness #HeavenlyFather #Jesus #mystery #StEdithStein #suffering #trust #unionWithGod #willOfGod
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- DOE Its Opens Checkbook to Four Firms for HALEU Contracts
- Urenco Signs Enrichment Contract With French HTGR Developer Jimmy
- Tokamak Energy Gives Details of Its Pilot Fusion Energy Plant Design
- U Michigan Opens $35M Center for Nuclear Powered Space Propulsion
DOE Opens Its Checkbook to Four Firms for HALEU Contracts
- DOE Awards $2.7 billion to Four Firms for HALEU Production Contracts
- Selected companies can compete for work to provide enrichment services to produce fuel for advanced reactors
Four companies have been awarded contracts funded by the President’s Inflation Reduction Act, creating strong competition and allowing DOE to select the firms that are the best fit for future work.
All contracts will last for up to 10 years and each firm winning a contract under the program will receive a minimum of $2 million. A total of $2.7 billion is available for these services, subject to congressional appropriations.
Selected companies include:
- Louisiana Energy Services (Urenco USA)
- Orano Federal Services
- General Matter
- American Centrifuge Operating (Centrus)
Asides from the usual business related press statements expected from an award of this magnitude, the four firms has little to say, for obvious competitive reasons, about how they will ramp up their operations to compete for pieces of DOE’s$2.7 billion pie.
The HALEU that DOE acquires through these contracts, in the form of UF6, will be used to support reactors like those under development through DOE’s Advanced Reactor Demonstration Program—TerraPower’s Natrium reactor and X-energy’s Xe-100.
How Much HALEU is Needed and How Much Will These Contracts Produce?
Under these four contracts, selected companies will bid on future work to produce and store HALEU in the form of uranium hexafluoride gas to eventually be made into fuel for advanced reactors. Under separate contracts to some of these same firms DOE will issue production orders for deconversion and fuel fabrication into uranium oxide or uranium metal fuels.
According to the HALEU Availability Program DOE projects that more than 40 metric tons of HALEU will be needed by 2030 with additional as yet unspecified amounts which will required each year thereafter to deploy a new fleet of advanced reactors in a timeframe that supports the Administration’s 2050 net-zero emissions target.
Additional demand numbers will be gathered through the surveys required by the Energy Act of 2020 and interactions with the members of the HALEU Consortium. Its members, which include TerraPower, X-Energy, BWXT, and other developers of advanced reactors, are all targeting electrical generation power levels near or below 300MWe either as single units or in multiples of units of smaller capacity.
Demand for HALEU will depend on the success of advanced reactor developers to license their designs at the NRC and to convince customers to place orders for multiple units in “fleet mode” in order to realize the economies of scale of factory production of nuclear reactors. which fit the IAEA definition of small modular reactors.
DOE says it is track to demonstrate domestic production at the Centrus enrichment facility in Piketon, OH. The demonstration is expected to produce a 900 kilogram/year production rate starting in 2024 to address near-term HALEU needs for fuel qualification testing and DOE-supported advanced reactor demonstration projects.
This number means that to meet DOE’s target of delivering 40 metric tonnes of HALEU by 2030, the four contracts will have to produce 39 metric tonnes over the next five years or, on average, eight metric tonnes/year, and, on average, leaving aside the actual production capacity of each contractor, two metric tonnes of HALEU per contractor per year which is twice the amount Centrus is tasked by DOE to product this year.
About DOE’s HALEU Programs
HALEU is uranium enriched between 5% and 19.5% U235, which increases the amount of fissile material to make the fuel more efficient relative to lower-enriched forms of uranium. Many advanced reactors will use HALEU to achieve smaller designs, longer operating cycles, and increased efficiencies over current technologies.
Advanced nuclear reactors are key to our nation’s clean energy future and meeting our nation’s ambitious clean energy and climate goals. The United States currently lacks commercial HALEU enrichment capabilities to support the deployment of advanced reactors.
These contracts support the buildout of a robust HALEU supply chain in the United States and complement last week’s announcement of contracts to support HALEU deconversion services. The HALEU enrichment/acquisition RFP is focused on mining/milling, conversion, enrichment, and storage activities. Whereas the second RFP is for HALEU deconversion from uranium hexafluoride gas to metal or oxide forms, as well as transport to deconversion site(s), if needed, and storage.
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Urenco Signs Enrichment Contract With French HTGR Developer Jimmy
- French company’s microreactor design will use TRISO fuel
(NucNet) Anglo-German-Dutch uranium enrichment company Urenco has signed a contract with France-based nuclear technology developer Jimmy to supply low-enriched uranium plus (LEU+) for its high-temperature gas-cooled (HTGR) micro reactor development project.
Urenco said in a statement that a first delivery is to be made in 2026 from Urenco’s US plant site in Eunice, New Mexico.
Jimmy says it designs reactors that provide industrial heat as an alternative to fossil fuels in support of decarbonization efforts. Jimmy’s proposed 20-MWt microreactor design will use tristructural-isotropic (TRISO) fuel.
According to Urenco, Jimmy’s design will initially use LEU+ with plans to move to high-assay, low-enriched uranium (HALEU) fuel once it is available.
“This announcement marks the second advanced fuels contract for Urenco, showing the market is starting to gather momentum,” said Magnus Mori, head of market development and technical sales at Urenco.
In November 2023, Canada’s Ontario Power Generation chose Urenco to provide uranium enrichment services required to fuel up to four first-of-a-kind GE Hitachi BWRX-300 small modular reactor plants at the Darlington site in Ontario.
Urenco has been investing in the expansion of its enrichment capacity, with projects announced in the US, the UK, and the Netherlands.
LEU+ refers to uranium enriched between 5% and 10% U-235, while Haleu has a higher enrichment level of 10% to 20%, with both fuel types being crucial for next-generation nuclear technologies.
Urenco expects to be able to supply HALEU to its advanced reactor customers in the early 2030s. In May 2024, the UK government announced it will provide funding to Urenco to build a dedicated HALEU facility at its Capenhurst site in northern England.
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Tokamak Energy Gives Details of Its Pilot Fusion Energy Plant Design
(WNN) Tokamak Energy, a UK-based company, gave first details of a high-field spherical tokamak plant “capable of generating 800 MW of fusion power and 85 MW of net electricity” as part of the USA’s Bold Decadal Vision for Commercial Fusion Energy program.
Tokamak Energy says that the aim is for the pilot fusion energy plant to be operational by the mid-2030s and gave details of the emerging design at the annual meeting of the American Physical Society Division of Plasma Physics in held Atlanta, Georgia earlier this month.
The company says “initial designs are for the tokamak to have an aspect ratio of 2.0, plasma major radius of 4.25 meters and a magnetic field of 4.25 Tesla, as well as a liquid lithium tritium breeding blanket”. It will include a new generation set of high temperature superconducting magnets “to confine and control the deuterium and tritium hydrogen fuel in a plasma many times hotter than the center of the sun”.
Tokamak Energy was spun out of the UK’s Atomic Energy Authority (UKAEA) in 2009. It announced in February last year it was to build a prototype spherical tokamak, the ST80-HTS, at the UKAEA’s Culham Campus, near Oxford, England, by 2026.
The objectives of the projects are;
- to demonstrate the full potential of high temperature superconducting magnets”
- to inform the design of its fusion pilot plant, to demonstrate the capability to deliver electricity into the grid in the 2030s,
- support the aim of producing globally deployable 500-megawatt commercial plants.
The US Department of Energy (DOE) Bold Decadal Vision aims to use public-private partnerships to accelerate fusion energy research and development to “enable commercially relevant fusion pilot plants” and demonstrate an operating fusion pilot plant, led by the private sector, in the 2030s.
Tokamak Energy, which became the first private firm to reach a plasma temperature of 100 million degrees Celsius, already has links with US national laboratories and universities and has had seven previous awards through the US Innovation Network for Fusion Energy (INFUSE) program. Last June it signed the agreement, as one of eight firms taking part in the DOE’s $46 million milestone-based fusion development program.
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U Michigan Opens $35M Center for Nuclear Powered Space Propulsion
To develop spacecraft that can “maneuver without regret,” the U.S. Space Force is providing $35 million to a national research team led by the University of Michigan. It will be the first to bring fast chemical rockets together with efficient electric propulsion powered by a nuclear microreactor.
Ultra Safe Nuclear Corp. will design a new lightweight microreactor while engineers at U-M will build a heat source that can mimic its output to test the other components of the power and space nuclear propulsion system.
The newly formed Space Power and Propulsion for Agility, Responsiveness and Resilience Institute involves eight universities and 14 industry partners and advisers in one of the nation’s largest efforts to advance space power and propulsion, a critical need for national defense and space exploration.
Right now, most spacecraft propulsion comes in one of two forms: chemical rockets, which provide a lot of thrust but burn through fuel quickly, or electric propulsion powered by solar panels, which is slow and cumbersome but fuel-efficient. Chemical propulsion comes with the highest risk of regret, as fuel is limited. But in some situations, such as when a collision is imminent, speed may be necessary.
Meanwhile, electric propulsion could be much faster, such as a 100-kilowatt Hall thruster built at U-M. The problem is finding the power to run these thrusters.
“The space station generates about 100 kilowatts of power, but the solar arrays are the size of a couple of football fields, and this is too large for some of the power-hungry applications that are of interest to the Space Force,” said Benjamin Jorns, U-M associate professor of aerospace engineering and institute director.
To power faster, efficient electric propulsion, one sub-team is developing a concept for a nuclear microreactor, exploring the early feasibility of a new path for safe, reliable and sustainable nuclear power for space. Others will build technologies to turn the heat from a microreactor into usable electricity, and electric engines to turn the electricity into thrust. The propulsion system design includes a chemical rocket for quick maneuvers.
While chemical rockets need fuel to burn, electric propulsion needs propellant to accelerate. Both generate thrust by shooting out material opposite the direction of travel. Electric thrusters strip electrons off the propellant atoms—turning them into ions—and use electric fields to accelerate them to extremely high speeds. To simplify refueling, the team is trying to demonstrate fuels that can be used to drive the chemical rocket, and which are also effective propellant for electric propulsion.
Two teams will explore how to extract the thermal energy as electricity. U-M and Spark Thermionics will investigate thermionic emission cells, which take advantage of the difference between the heat of the reactor and the cold of space to help drive an electrical current. Another U-M team will pair with Antora Energy to implement thermal photovoltaics, like solar cells that turn heat into electricity.
Cornell University, Advanced Cooling Technologies and Ultramet will design lightweight panels that can extract waste heat and radiate it out into space, as the reactor will produce more energy than either conversion approach can realistically use. The University of Wisconsin, U-M and Cislunar Industries will design a power processing module that will convert the electricity extracted from the microreactor so that it can meet the high power demands of the electric engine.
Subteams will explore three different styles of electric propulsion:
- the Hall thruster (Jorns’ team at U-M),
- the applied-field magnetoplasmadynamic thruster (Princeton University and Champaign Urbana Aerospace) and
- the electron cyclotron resonance thruster (University of Washington and NuWaves Inc.).
Any of these thrusters will rely on a module that turns the propellant into a gas, developed by Western Michigan University and Champaign Urbana Aerospace, and a cathode to prevent the spacecraft from accumulating an electric charge by neutralizing the propellant, developed by Colorado State University.
A new concept for a chemical rocket will be developed by U-M and Pennsylvania State University. Benchmark Space Systems will provide an already developed commercial system for a proof-of-concept test.
The project will be supported with computer modeling and experimental diagnostics developed by U-M, Cornell, Colorado State and the University of Colorado. Analytical Mechanics Associates will assess the full system.
Northrop Grumman, Lockheed Martin, Westinghouse and Aerospace Corp. form the advisory board.
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https://neutronbytes.com/2024/10/19/doe-opens-its-checkbook-to-four-firms-for-haleu-contracts/
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By David Tuller, DrPH
Tuesday, September 17th, was World Patient Safety Day. (I didn’t know that either.) In the UK, more than 200 physicians, nurses and other health care providers and professionals marked the occasion by issuing an appeal—in the form of a letter to Wes Streeting, Secretary of State for Health and Social Care since–about the dire state of care for ME patients within the National Health Service. The letter highlighted in particular the plight of patients with severe ME.
The inquest this summer into the death of Maeve Boothby O’Neill, who died in Exeter three years ago at the age of 27, drew widespread attention to the abysmal situation for such patients at NHS hospitals. The presiding coroner, Deborah Archer, ruled that no individuals were responsible for causing or contributing to Maeve’s death, although she acknowledged that some of the decisions made were concerning. On Friday, September 27th, she will hold a hearing to consider whether to issue a report with recommendations to prevent future deaths.
As a Times article about this week’s letter to Secretary Streeting noted:
“A lack of NHS specialist services was highlighted at the inquest of Maeve Boothby O’Neill, who died in 2021 aged 27. An inquest last month concluded that she died from malnutrition caused by severe ME, with the government acknowledging that Boothby O’Neill ‘fell through the cracks’ and was “repeatedly misunderstood and dismissed” by the NHS.”
Dr Binita Kane, a respiratory physician in Manchester, co-organized the letter with #ThereForME, a campaign launched by carers for patients with severe ME associated with Long Covid. Dr Kane posted a thread about the letter on X (the former Twitter). The first listed demand is “acknowledgement from the very top of government…that gaps in NHS services for ME are resulting in serious patient safety concerns” and a commitment “to taking action.”
I have posted the full letter below, along with all the signatories. (I haven’t counted them, but the article in The Times says there are 202.)
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Dear Secretary of State,
We write to you on World Patient Safety Day to express our concerns about the safety of patients with Myalgic Encephalomyelitis (ME) within the NHS.
In August over 2,600 patients and carers affected by ME and Long Covid wrote to you, sharing recommendations from the #ThereForME campaign. The Department of Health and Social Care has thus far declined to meet with the campaign. On World Patient Safety Day, we – as healthcare workers – call on you to listen to their voices and take immediate action.
The theme for this year’s World Patient Safety Day is ‘Improving diagnosis for patient safety’, using the slogan ‘Get it right, make it safe’. Devastatingly, for patients with ME this simply is not true. There is little access to truly specialist ME care or treatment within the NHS and paradoxically, the sicker a patient is, the less care they receive.
The number of people affected by ME has grown vastly since the start of the pandemic. Although the data is difficult to disentangle, by some estimates as many as half of patients with Long Covid could meet the diagnostic criteria for ME and face the same gaps in NHS care. Even if doctors and healthcare professionals are knowledgeable and willing to treat patients, the infrastructure to provide safe and appropriate care does not exist.
Like all patients, people with ME deserve safe care within the NHS.
Patients at the severe end of the disease spectrum are bedridden, sometimes tube-fed and confined to quiet, darkened rooms due to extreme light and sound sensitivity. Hospital appointments or admissions often become impossible or make the condition worse. In the most extreme cases, patients languish behind closed doors with little or no support. Some – including high-profile cases in the media – have even starved to death.
This is a state of affairs barely conceivable in the UK in 2024.
The new cross-government delivery plan is a welcome opportunity to put patient safety at the heart of NHS care – but it will be months before the plan is published and perhaps years before it is implemented. Urgent action is needed today.
On World Patient Safety Day we call on you to:
- Acknowledge, from the very top of government, that gaps in NHS services for ME are resulting in serious patient safety concerns, and commit to taking action.
- Work with us to immediately convene an ME Clinical Taskforce to provide emergency specialist guidance in cases where patients are hospitalised, and drive forwards improvements in NHS treatment and care (including managing risks of malnutrition).
- Commit that this government will hold NHS Trusts and Integrated Care Boards accountable for implementing guidance from NICE on diagnosing and managing ME (NG206), recognising that a failure to do so risks unsafe care.
Doing nothing is not safe. We urge you to take action now.
Your sincerely,
Dr Binita Kane – Consultant Respiratory Physician, special interest in ME/ Long COVID, Manchester
Professor Carolyn Chew-Graham OBE – GP Principal and Professor of General Practice Research, Manchester
Dr Anna Porter – NHS GP, North Central London
Dr David Shakespeare – Consultant in Neurological Rehabilitation Medicine, Lancashire, Royal Preston Hospital
Dr Deepak Ravindran – Consultant NHS Pain Medicine, specialist interest in Long COVID, Berkshire
Dr Hollie Francis – GP Partner, Greater Manchester
Professor Amitava Banerjee – Consultant Cardiologist and Professor of Clinical Data Science, London
Dr Michelle Moore – GP Partner, Greater Manchester
Dr Cilla Rosen – GP with extended role in Long Covid, Hampshire
Professor Melvin Lobo – Cardiovascular Physician, Specialist in hypertension and PoTs, London, London Bridge Hospital
Dr Melissa Sargaison – Specialist Physician, Clinical Lead ME/CFS & Fibromyalgia Service, London, Royal London Hospital for Integrated Medicine
Dr Sarah Mason-Whitfield- GP, special interest in Emergency Medicine, London
Dr Helen Miles – GP, Oxfordshire
Professor Sarah Tyson – Physiotherapist and Honorary Professor of Rehabilitation, Manchester
Dr Asad Khan – Consultant Respiratory Physician, Manchester
Dr Ben Marsh – Consultant Neurodisability Paediatrician (retired), Exeter
Dr Abbas Khushnood – Consultant Paediatric Cardiologist, special interest in Long COVID, Newcastle
Dr Rebecca Goody – Consultant Clinical Oncologist, Leeds
Robin McNelis – Clinical Physiotherapist, special interest in Long COVID, Epping Forest
Dr Ben Sinclair – GP and Long Covid Doctor, London
Dr Clare Rayner – Consultant Physician in Occupational Medicine, Society of Occupational Medicine Long Term Illnesses Taskforce, Greater Manchester
Dr William Weir – Consultant in Infectious Disease, special interest in ME, London
Dr Claire Taylor – GP, special interest in Long Covid/ME, Perth, Scotland
Dr Rebekah Holmes – GP, Manchester, Northenden Group Practice
Dr Helen Salisbury – GP, Oxford
Sheryl Randhawa – Registered Nurse. Community Mental Health Nurse, London, Mother/Carer of Hannah who died of severe ME in 2022
Michael Lauchlan – Emergency Care Assistant, East Midlands
Amy Urry – Family and Systemic Psychotherapist, Exeter
Dr Rebecca Williams – GP Registrar with specialist interest in Paediatrics, training on hold due to ill health, West Yorkshire
Dr Rebecca Hall – GP, special interest in ME/Long Covid, Somerset
Dr Linn Järte – Specialist Registrar in anaesthetics, Wales
Julie Taylor – Nurse, special interest in Long Covid, Hull
Angela Tillen – Clinical Phlebotomist, supporting care of community patients with ME, Derby
Edd Tillen – Clinical Phlebotomist, supporting care of community patients with ME, Derby
Dr Clarke Gostelow – Junior Doctor
Dr Nicola Clague-Baker – Physiotherapist and Lecturer with special interest in ME, Liverpool, University of Liverpool, Physios For ME
Dr Michelle Bull – Physiotherapist, special interest in ME, Surrey, Physios For ME
Karen Leslie – Physiotherapist, special interest in ME, Merseyside, Physios For ME
Dr Charles Shepherd – Honorary Medical Advisor to ME Association
Dr Yasmin Levene – Histopathologist, London
Claire Appleton – Paramedic, Harrogate
Dr Eleanor Balmer – Consultant Paediatrician, Manchester
Carla Golding – Registered Nurse and Clinical Governance Advisor, Staffordshire
Aileen Mulligan – Registered Nurse, Belfast
Rachel Potter – Staff Nurse
Mandy Jones – Midwife, East Cheshire
Lorraine Horobin – Registered Nurse, Corporate Clinical Governance Facilitator, Staffordshire
Dr Nigel Speight – Paediatrician, special interest in ME, Durham
Dr Mark Fabrowski – NHS GP, Sussex, Medical Advisor to Long Covid Foundation
Dr Robin Kerr – GP, Scotland, Action For ME
Dr Katherine Wildon – GP, North West
Dr Joanne Murray – Consultant Clinical Psychologist, Manchester
Sarah Benjamins – Nutritionist, Manchester
Claire Sehinson – Functional Medicine Practitioner, Surrey
Amanda Dench – Paediatric Diabetes Nurse Specialist, East England, East of England Trust
Dr Stephanie de Giorgio – GP, East Kent
Mihai Mihai – Registered Nurse, Exetter
Dr Rageshri Dhairyawan – Consultant in Sexual Health, London
Dr Moira Phillips – Consultant Clinical Psychologist, Glasgow
Matthew Strang – Orthopaedic Surgeon, Bristol
Dr Kate Christie – GP, Surrey
Dr Emma Rivers – GP, Wetherby
Dr Azima Hussain – GP West Yorkshire
Dr Sakander Mahmud – Functional Disability Assessor (DWP), former GP registrar, West Yorkshire
Dr Alexis Gilber – Consultant in Health Protection, Leeds, UKHSA
Dr Sherena Nair – Consultant Elderly Medicine, Leeds, Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust
Dr Laura Graystone – GP Registrar, North Yorkshire
Dr Pia-Sophie Wool – GP, special interest in Paediatrics, Worcestershire
Dr Rachel Duncan – GP, special interest in Dementia, Sussex
Dr Johanna Theron – Clinical Lead Long Covid, Kent, Kent and Medway ICB
Kerry Davies – Registered Nurse, Cumbria
Dr Susie Harris – Emergency Care Registrar, Wirral
Dr Paul Smith – Consultant Physician, Lancaster
Dr Fayyaz Chaudhri – Community Dermatologist, North Cumbria
Dr Clare McNulty – Consultant Anaesthetist, Scotland
Sharon Garton – Registered Nurse, Derby, University Hospitals of Derby and Burton NHS Foundation Trust
Angela Marsden – Advanced Nurse Practitioner, East Sussex, Supporting Healthcare Heroes
Dr Alison Twycross – Nursing Professor and Deputy Dean (retired), Honorary Associate, Professor, Aylesbury, Supporting Healthcare Heroes, University of Birmingham
Dr Vikki McKeever – GP, special interest in ME/CFS, Leeds and York
Dr Elke Hausmann – GP, Derby
Amy Warbuton – Advanced Clinical Practitioner for Diabetes and Endocrinology, Lancaster, Royal Lancaster Infirmary
Dr Badia Ahmed – Histopathology Speciality Trainee Doctor, London
Dr Sheena Rakhra – GP, London
Gill Armstrong – Nurse Manager (retired), London
Professor Lesley Kavi – GP (retired), Visiting Professor, Warwickshire, Trustee and Chairperson of PoTs UK
Dr Rachel Reaveley – Rehabilitation Consultant, North East
Dr Anam Ahmed – GP and LTFT Obs and Gyne speciality training registrar, South Yorkshire
Dr Clare Rollason – GP, Urgent Care, Lancaster
Dr Andrew Blease – GP, East Kent
Sophie Lewthwaite – Registered Nurse, Cumbria
Deborah Singleton – Nurse specialist Long Covid, Cumbria
Dr Yasmin Razak -NHS GP & Educator, London, Golborne Medical Centre
Dr Hannah Georgious – GP, Cheshire
Dr Paulette Ah-Chung – GP (Retired), Essex
Dr Gemma Banham – Consultant Renal Medicine and General Internal Medicine, West Midlands
Dr Nina Muirhead – Consultant Dermatologist, London
Dr Sarah Glynne – GP and Menopause Specialist, London, The Portland Hospital
Dr Paul Glynne – Consultant Physician, special interest in Long COVID, London, ULCH
Dr Ian Barros D’Sa – Consultant Radiologist, Birmingham
Dr Shaun Qureshi – Palliative Medicine Physician, Oxford
Dr Helen Smith – GP, Bedfordshire
Patricia Temple – Staff Nurse NHS
Dr Gareth Price – GP Partner, West Yorkshire
Dr Adelaide Lippold – GP, North Yorkshire
Clare Westwood – Advanced Nurse Practitioner, West Yorkshire, Huddersfield Royal Infirmary
Katie Wade – Advanced Clinical Practitioner, Paediatrics, West Yorkshire, Calderdale Royal Hospital
Leanne Spender – Midwife, North Yorkshire, Harrogate Royal Hospital
Dr Natalie Winfield – GP, Leeds
Ellen Dedus – Children’s Community Nurse, West Suffolk, West Suffolk Foundation Trust
Kate MacDougall – Physiotherapist, Bedford
Sally Jennings – Palliative Care Physiotherapist (Retired), Leicester
Dr Timothy Jennings – GP (Retired), Leicestershire
Dr Julia Ward – GP, Dundee
Dr Eleanor Drager – Consultant in Genitourinary Medicine, London
Dr Cara Strachan – GP Locum, East Lothian
Dr Salina Jain-Parmar – GP, North Leeds
Dr Julie McDonald – Consultant Anaesthetist, Aberdeen, Aberdeen Royal Infirmary
Dr Calum McDonald – Consultant Anaesthetist, Aberdeen, Aberdeen Royal Infirmary
Dr Chia Liang – Consultant Geriatrician, London
Dr Rachel Ali – GP, Plymouth
Dr Sara Thompson – GP, Hertfordshire
Dr Amy Small – GP, Sheffield
Dr Catherine Steven – GP Partner, North London
Dr Lakhveer Manku – Consultant Physician, Manchester, Northern Care Alliance
Dr Mary-Ann Bentham – Consultant Paediatric Anaesthetist (Locum), Manchester, Manchester Children’s Hospital
Dr Susannah Thompson – GP, North East
Dr Kul Bushan – Consultant Psychiatrist, London
Dr Anna Wylie – GP, Cambridgeshire
Dr Avril Washington – Consultant Paediatrician, London
Alice Martin – Midwife, Suffolk
Dr Angela Stevens-King – GP Partner, Cambridgeshire
Dr Aisha Sarwar – GP, Manchester
Karen Donaldson – Respiratory ACP, Lancashire
Anna Gregorowki – Consultant Nurse and BACME Chair, London, University College London Hospital
Dr Richard Tozer – Consultant Paediatrician and Local lead for ME/CFS, Devon
Dr Kelly Fearnley – Foundation Doctor, Bradford, Bradford Royal Infirmary
Maria Esslinger-Raven – Midwife, Lancashire
Dr Brian Holloway – Consultant Radiologist, London
Dr Wolfgang Water – GP, Bristol
Dr Sarah Jenkins – Consultant Neuroradiologist, Glasgow, NHS Greater Glasgow & Clyde
Dr Mary Zadik – GP, Greater Manchester
Dr Sarah Pocknell – GP (medically retired), London
Jonathon Dunn – Family and Systemic Psychotherapist, West Devon
Debora Tudge – Specialist Public Health Practitioner, Derbyshire
Emma Brown – Specialist Nurse, Cumbria, Dismissed from NHS on grounds of ill health, due to Long Covid
Professor Louise Cummings – Professor of Clinical Linguistics, York, St Johns University, UK
Rachel Jessey – Long Covid Nutritionist, Hampshire
Jessica Wainman-Lefley – Clinical Psychologist, Glasgow
Marina Townend – Specialist Occupational Therapist, Team Lead on ME/CFS and Post-Covid Syndrome services, Malvern Community Hospital
Dr Jonathan Fluxman – GP (retired), London
Dr Rachael Fear – SPT4 Obstetrics and Gynaecology
Sue Luscombe – Registered Dietician, Bedfordshire, Honorary Dietary Adviser ME Association
May Nisbet – Midwife (retired), Scotland, Aryshire and Arran NHS Trust
Dr Sarah Gawthorpe – GP with Special Interest in Dermatology, Southampton
David Martin – Clinical Psychologist, Suffolk
Dr Helen Day – Consultant GP, Yeovil, Ryalls Park Medical Centre
Dr Joanna Kirkcaldy – GP, Devon
Dr Chantal Meystre – NHS Emeritus Palliative Medicine, West Midlands
Dr Sophie Carpinteiro – GP and Genito-urinary Medicine Speciality Doctor, Brighton
Dr Sarah Jordan – Consultant in Acute Medicine and Gastroenterology, Darlington
Dr Alice Poskett – Obstetrics and Gynaecology, West Midlands
Mrs Amy Pearson – Consultant ENT Surgeon, Hull
Dr Sarah Loveridge – Surgical registrar (retired), Essex
Dr Jennifer Gibb – FY2 Doctor, Severn Deanery
Dr Christopher Gibb – GP, North Devon
Dr Rebecca Steed – GP, Nottingham
Dr Francesca Farmer – GP, London
Dr Sammy Syed – GP, Manchester
Dr Sharon Taylor – Psychiatrist, London
Dr Kerry Smith – GP, Chichester
Dr Lindsay Wakeford – GP, Rugby
Dr Angela Wilkinson – Consultant Geriatrician, Fife
Dr Rachel Jones – NHS Consultant, London
Dr Davina Darmamin – Community Paediatrician, Cardiff, Cardiff & Vale University Health Board
Dr Julia Bodle – Consultant in Obstetrics and Gynaecology, Sheffield
Louise Lumb – Healthcare Assistant, Huddersfield, Huddersfield Royal Infirmary
Dr Clare Bolt – Former Consultant Psychiatrist, Hereford
Dr Laura Hobbs – GP, Hampshire
Dr Kaveri Jalundhwala – GP Registrar, Thames Valley
Dr Nathalie MacDermott – Consultant Paediatric Infectious Diseases, Cambridgeshire
Dr James Gill – GP, Assistant Professor Warwick Medical School, Warwickshire
Dr Terry Segal – Consultant adolescent paediatrician, Adolescent Specialties Lead, University College London Hospitals, London
Fiona Mckechnie – Occupational Therapist, ME/CFS Advanced Clinical Practitioner, Bristol
Dr Ella Billson – ST4 anaesthetics, West Yorkshire Deanery, West Yorkshire
Dr Esther Mitchell – GP, Shetland
Dr Alice Leaney – GP, Somerset
Dr Leanne Royle – Consultant Paediatric Radiologist, Sheffield Children’s Hospital, Sheffield,
Dr Angela Rowntree – GP and Occupational Health Practitioner, Oxfordshire
Dr Sophia Williams – CAMHS Psychiatrist (ST6), London
Dr Rosemary Shilling – Consultant Anaesthetist, Midlands
Dr Ian M Frayling – Consultant in Genetic Pathology (retired), Honorary Senior Clinical Research Fellow, Cardiff University, Wales
Lesley Pickering – Specialist Occupational Therapist, North West Fatigue Clinic and Yorkshire ME/CFS Service, Lancashire
Dr Holly Vickers – Consultant Urogynaecologist, Mid Yorkshire Teaching Trust, Yorkshire
Dr Gregory Gibson – Resident Doctor, London
Sue Mangan – Practice Nurse, Primary Care, Greater Manchester
Dr Charlotte Morris – GP, Greater Manchester
Rebecca Matthews – Delivery Suite Coordinator, Harrogate and District Foundation Trust, Harrogate
Dr Leila Hummerstone – GP, Pickering Medical Practice, North Yorkshire
Dr Heather Reid – Paediatric Registrar, Royal London Hospital, London
Dr Tessa Dessain – Anaesthetic Registrar, Bristol
Hannah Ashcroft – Advanced Clinical Lead Practitioner, Leeds Teaching Hospitals, Leeds
Dr Alice Reid – Foundation Year 1 Doctor, Royal Devon and Exeter Hospital, Devon
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Major-General Ormsby MacKnight Mitchel, Commanding Officer, U.S. Department of the South and Tenth Corps, U.S. Army, circa 1862 (public domain).
On the heels of his army’s successful capture of Saint John’s Bluff, Florida and related events in early October 1862, Union Major-General Ormsby MacKnight Mitchel, commanding officer of the United States Army’s Department of the South, directed his senior staff and leadership of the U.S. Army’s Tenth Corps (X Corps) to intensify actions against the Confederate States Army and Navy in an effort to further disrupt the enemy’s ability to move troops and supplies throughout Florida, Georgia and South Carolina. As part of this directive, he engaged his senior officers in planning a new expedition — this time to Pocotaligo, South Carolina. According to Mitchel, preparations for that event began in earnest in mid-October, with an eye to the following objectives:
First, to make a complete reconnaissance of the Broad River and its three tributaries, Coosawhatchie, Tulifiny [sic], and Pocotaligo; second, to test practically the rapidity and safety with which a landing could be effected; third to learn the strength of the enemy on the main-land, now guarding the Charleston and Savannah Railroad; and fourth, to accomplish the destruction of so much of the road as could be effected in one day….
This 1856 map of the Charleston & Savannah Railroad shows the island of Hilton Head, South Carolina in relation to the town of Pocotaligo (U.S. Library of Congress, public domain; click to enlarge).
Mitchel then worked with his subordinate officers to determine how much of the U.S. Army’s Tenth Corps would take part in the expedition, assess the potential weak spots in his strategy and revise planning details to improve his soldiers’ likelihood of success:
The troops composing the expedition were the following: Forty-seventh Pennsylvania, 600 men; Fifty-fifth Pennsylvania, 400 men; Fourth New Hampshire, 600 men; Seventh Connecticut, 500 men; Third New Hampshire: 480 men; Sixth Connecticut, 500 men; Third Rhode Island, 300 men; Seventy-sixth Pennsylvania, 430 men; New York Mechanics and Engineers, 250 men; Forty-eighth New York, 300 men; one section of Hamilton’s battery and 40 men; one section of the First Regiment Artillery, Company M, battery and 40 men, and the First Massachusetts Cavalry, 100 men. Making an entire force of 4,500 men.
Every pains [sic] had been taken to secure as far as possible success for the expedition. Scouts and spies had been sent to the main-land to all the most important points between the Savannah River railroad bridge and the bridge across the Salkehatchie. A small party was sent out to cut, if possible, the telegraph wires. Scouts had been sent in boats up the tributaries of the Broad River. All the landings had been examined, and the depth of water in the several rivers ascertained as far as practicable. Two of our light-draught transports have been converted into formidable gunboats and are now heavily armed, to wit, The Planter and the George Washington. By my orders the New York Mechanics and Engineers, Colonel Serrell, had constructed two very large flat-boats, or scows, each capable of transporting half a battery of artillery, exclusive of the caissons, with the horses. They were provided with hinged aprons, to facilitate the landing not only of artillery but of troops from the transports.
Owing to an accident which occurred to the transport Cosmopolitan during the expedition to the Saint John’s River I found myself deficient in transportation, and applied to the commanding officer, Commodore Godon, of the South Atlantic Blockading Squadron, who promptly placed under my orders a number of light-draught gunboats for the double purpose of transportation and military protection.
The after cabin inside of the U.S. Steamer Ben Deford, c. 1860s (U.S. Library of Congress, public domain).
As planning progressed, details were firmed up regarding the Union Navy’s anticipated support. According to Mitchel:
On the evening of the 21st, under the command of Captain Steedman, U.S. Navy, the gunboats and transports were arranged in the following order for sailing: The Paul Jones, Captain Steedman, without troops; the Ben De Ford, Conemaugh, Wissahickon, Boston, Patroon, Darlington, steam-tug Relief, with schooner in tow; Marblehead, Vixen, Flora, Water Witch, George Washington, and Planter. The flat-boats, with artillery, were towed by the Ben De Ford and Boston. The best negro pilots which could be found were placed on the principal vessels, as well as signal officers, for the purpose of intercommunication. The night proved to be smoky and hazy, which produced some confusion in the sailing of the vessels, as signal lights could not be seen by those most remote from the leading ship. The larger vessels, however, got under way about 12 o’clock at night.
Union Army map, Pocotaligo-Coosawhatchie Expedition, 21-23 October 1862 (public domain; click to enlarge).
Mitchel and his leadership team also worked out the details of the expedition’s landing and debarkation plans, decided upon the weaponry they would need to disrupt and permanently disable the railroad tracks and the bridge at Pocotaligo and identified other possible actions to be undertaken by the expeditionary force:
After a careful examination of the map I ordered a landing to be effected at the mouth of the Pocotaligo River, at a place known as Mackay’s Point. This is really a narrow neck of land made by the Broad River and the Pocotaligo, in both of which rivers gunboats could lie and furnish a perfect protection for the debarkation and embarkation of the troops. There is a good country road leading from the Point to the old town of Pocotaligo, then entering a turnpike, which leads from the town of Coosawhatchie to the principal ferry on the Salkehatchie River. The distance to the railroad was only about 7 or 8 miles, thus rendering it possible to effect a landing, cut the railroad and telegraph wires, and return to the boats in the same day. I saw that it would be impossible for the troops to be attacked by the enemy either in flank or rear, as the two flanks were protected by the Pocotaligo River on the one hand and by the Broad and by the Tulifiny [sic, Tulifinny], its tributary, on the other. Presuming that the enemy would make his principal defense at or near Pocotaligo, I directed that a detachment of the Forty-eighth New York, under command of Colonel Barton, with the armed transport Planter, accompanied by one or two light-draught gunboats, should ascend the Coosawhatchie River, for the purpose of making a diversion, and in case no considerable force of the enemy was met, to destroy the railroad at and near the town of Coosawhatchie.
In addition to our land forces we were furnished by the Navy with several transports, armed with howitzers, three of which were landed with the artillery, and thus gave us a battery of seven pieces. All the troops were furnished with 100 rounds of ammunition. Two light ambulances and one wagon, with its team, accompanied the expedition.
The Integral Role of the 47th Pennsylvania
Design of the U.S. Army’s insignia for the Tenth (X) Army Corps, which would have been sewn onto uniforms of the 47th Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry and displayed on a flag carried by the regiment during the Battle of Pocotaligo, South Carolina on 22 October 1862 (public domain).
The Union Army regiments selected for participation in the Pocotaligo expedition were part of the U.S. Army’s Tenth Corps (X Corps), which was part of the U.S. Army’s larger Department of the South, which was headquartered at Hilton Head, South Carolina and oversaw Union military operations in Florida, Georgia and South Carolina during this time. Established on 13 September 1862, the Tenth Corps served under the command of Union Major-General Ormsby MacKnight Mitchel from the time of its founding until his death from yellow fever on 30 October of that same year. It was then placed under the command of Brigadier-General John Milton Brannan, who had also assumed command of the U.S. Army’s Department of the South, a position he held until 21 January 1863.
Among the regiments attached to the U.S. Army’s Tenth Corps in the U.S. Department of the South during fall of 1862 was the 47th Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry, which would later make history as the only regiment from Pennsylvania to participate in the Union’s 1864 Red River Campaign across Louisiana. The 47th Pennsylvania, which had been founded on 5 August 1861 by Colonel Tilghman H. Good, remained under Colonel Good’s command. Regimental operations were also overseen by Good’s second-in-command, Lieutenant-Colonel George Warren Alexander.
As preparations continued to be refined, Brigadier-General Brannan determined, in his new role as commanding officer of the expedition, that he would need one of his subordinate officers to take his place on the field as the expedition began. He chose Colonel Good of the 47th Pennsylvania Volunteers, who would go on to become a three-time mayor of Allentown, Pennsylvania after the war. Good then placed Lieutenant-Colonel Alexander in direct command of the 47th Pennsylvania. A New Hampshire native, Alexander had served as captain of the Reading Artillerists in Berks County, Pennsylvania prior to the war; post-war, he founded G. W. Alexander & Sons, a renowned hat manufacturing company that was based in West Reading.
What all of those Union Army infantrymen did not know at the time they boarded their respective transport ships on 21 October 1862 was that they would soon been engaged in combat so intense that the day would come to be described in history books more than a century later as the Second Battle of Pocotaligo (or the Battle of Yemassee, due to its proximity to the town of Yemassee, South Carolina).
This encounter between the Union and Confederate armies would unfold on 22 October 1862 between Savannah, Georgia and Charleston, South Carolina on the banks of the Pocotaligo River in northern Beaufort County, South Carolina.
Next: The Second Battle of Pocotaligo
Sources:
- “General Orders, Hdqrs., Department of the South, Numbers 40, Hilton Head, Port Royal, S. C., September 17, 1862” (announcement by Major-General Ormsby M. Mitchel that he has assumed command of the newly formed Department of the South), in The War of the Rebellion: A Compilation of the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies. Prepared Under the Direction of the Secretary of War, By Lieut. Col. Robert N. Scott, Third U.S. Artillery, and Published Pursuant to Act of Congress Approved June 16, 1880, Series I, Vol. XIV, Serial 20, p. 382. Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office, 1885.
- “Report of Maj. Gen. Ormsby M. Mitchel, U.S. Army, commanding Department of the South and Return of Casualties in the Union forces in the skirmish at Coosawhatchie and engagements at the Caston and Frampton Plantations, near Pocotaligo, S.C., October 22, 1862,” in The War of the Rebellion: A Compilation of the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies. Prepared Under the Direction of the Secretary of War, By Lieut. Col. Robert N. Scott, Third U.S. Artillery, and Published Pursuant to Act of Congress Approved June 16, 1880, Series I, Vol. XIV. Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office, 1885.
#47thPennsylvaniaInfantry #47thPennsylvaniaVolunteers #Allentown #America #AmericanHistory #Army #BerksCounty #CivilWar #History #Infantry #JohnMiltonBrannan #LehighCounty #Military #OrmsbyMacKnightMitchel #Pennsylvania #PennsylvaniaHistory #Pocotaligo #Reading #SouthCarolina #TilghmanHGood #Union
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Major-General Ormsby MacKnight Mitchel, Commanding Officer, U.S. Department of the South and Tenth Corps, U.S. Army, circa 1862 (public domain).
On the heels of his army’s successful capture of Saint John’s Bluff, Florida and related events in early October 1862, Union Major-General Ormsby MacKnight Mitchel, commanding officer of the United States Army’s Department of the South, directed his senior staff and leadership of the U.S. Army’s Tenth Corps (X Corps) to intensify actions against the Confederate States Army and Navy in an effort to further disrupt the enemy’s ability to move troops and supplies throughout Florida, Georgia and South Carolina. As part of this directive, he engaged his senior officers in planning a new expedition — this time to Pocotaligo, South Carolina. According to Mitchel, preparations for that event began in earnest in mid-October, with an eye to the following objectives:
First, to make a complete reconnaissance of the Broad River and its three tributaries, Coosawhatchie, Tulifiny [sic], and Pocotaligo; second, to test practically the rapidity and safety with which a landing could be effected; third to learn the strength of the enemy on the main-land, now guarding the Charleston and Savannah Railroad; and fourth, to accomplish the destruction of so much of the road as could be effected in one day….
This 1856 map of the Charleston & Savannah Railroad shows the island of Hilton Head, South Carolina in relation to the town of Pocotaligo (U.S. Library of Congress, public domain; click to enlarge).
Mitchel then worked with his subordinate officers to determine how much of the U.S. Army’s Tenth Corps would take part in the expedition, assess the potential weak spots in his strategy and revise planning details to improve his soldiers’ likelihood of success:
The troops composing the expedition were the following: Forty-seventh Pennsylvania, 600 men; Fifty-fifth Pennsylvania, 400 men; Fourth New Hampshire, 600 men; Seventh Connecticut, 500 men; Third New Hampshire: 480 men; Sixth Connecticut, 500 men; Third Rhode Island, 300 men; Seventy-sixth Pennsylvania, 430 men; New York Mechanics and Engineers, 250 men; Forty-eighth New York, 300 men; one section of Hamilton’s battery and 40 men; one section of the First Regiment Artillery, Company M, battery and 40 men, and the First Massachusetts Cavalry, 100 men. Making an entire force of 4,500 men.
Every pains [sic] had been taken to secure as far as possible success for the expedition. Scouts and spies had been sent to the main-land to all the most important points between the Savannah River railroad bridge and the bridge across the Salkehatchie. A small party was sent out to cut, if possible, the telegraph wires. Scouts had been sent in boats up the tributaries of the Broad River. All the landings had been examined, and the depth of water in the several rivers ascertained as far as practicable. Two of our light-draught transports have been converted into formidable gunboats and are now heavily armed, to wit, The Planter and the George Washington. By my orders the New York Mechanics and Engineers, Colonel Serrell, had constructed two very large flat-boats, or scows, each capable of transporting half a battery of artillery, exclusive of the caissons, with the horses. They were provided with hinged aprons, to facilitate the landing not only of artillery but of troops from the transports.
Owing to an accident which occurred to the transport Cosmopolitan during the expedition to the Saint John’s River I found myself deficient in transportation, and applied to the commanding officer, Commodore Godon, of the South Atlantic Blockading Squadron, who promptly placed under my orders a number of light-draught gunboats for the double purpose of transportation and military protection.
The after cabin inside of the U.S. Steamer Ben Deford, c. 1860s (U.S. Library of Congress, public domain).
As planning progressed, details were firmed up regarding the Union Navy’s anticipated support. According to Mitchel:
On the evening of the 21st, under the command of Captain Steedman, U.S. Navy, the gunboats and transports were arranged in the following order for sailing: The Paul Jones, Captain Steedman, without troops; the Ben De Ford, Conemaugh, Wissahickon, Boston, Patroon, Darlington, steam-tug Relief, with schooner in tow; Marblehead, Vixen, Flora, Water Witch, George Washington, and Planter. The flat-boats, with artillery, were towed by the Ben De Ford and Boston. The best negro pilots which could be found were placed on the principal vessels, as well as signal officers, for the purpose of intercommunication. The night proved to be smoky and hazy, which produced some confusion in the sailing of the vessels, as signal lights could not be seen by those most remote from the leading ship. The larger vessels, however, got under way about 12 o’clock at night.
Union Army map, Pocotaligo-Coosawhatchie Expedition, 21-23 October 1862 (public domain; click to enlarge).
Mitchel and his leadership team also worked out the details of the expedition’s landing and debarkation plans, decided upon the weaponry they would need to disrupt and permanently disable the railroad tracks and the bridge at Pocotaligo and identified other possible actions to be undertaken by the expeditionary force:
After a careful examination of the map I ordered a landing to be effected at the mouth of the Pocotaligo River, at a place known as Mackay’s Point. This is really a narrow neck of land made by the Broad River and the Pocotaligo, in both of which rivers gunboats could lie and furnish a perfect protection for the debarkation and embarkation of the troops. There is a good country road leading from the Point to the old town of Pocotaligo, then entering a turnpike, which leads from the town of Coosawhatchie to the principal ferry on the Salkehatchie River. The distance to the railroad was only about 7 or 8 miles, thus rendering it possible to effect a landing, cut the railroad and telegraph wires, and return to the boats in the same day. I saw that it would be impossible for the troops to be attacked by the enemy either in flank or rear, as the two flanks were protected by the Pocotaligo River on the one hand and by the Broad and by the Tulifiny [sic, Tulifinny], its tributary, on the other. Presuming that the enemy would make his principal defense at or near Pocotaligo, I directed that a detachment of the Forty-eighth New York, under command of Colonel Barton, with the armed transport Planter, accompanied by one or two light-draught gunboats, should ascend the Coosawhatchie River, for the purpose of making a diversion, and in case no considerable force of the enemy was met, to destroy the railroad at and near the town of Coosawhatchie.
In addition to our land forces we were furnished by the Navy with several transports, armed with howitzers, three of which were landed with the artillery, and thus gave us a battery of seven pieces. All the troops were furnished with 100 rounds of ammunition. Two light ambulances and one wagon, with its team, accompanied the expedition.
The Integral Role of the 47th Pennsylvania
Design of the U.S. Army’s insignia for the Tenth (X) Army Corps, which would have been sewn onto uniforms of the 47th Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry and displayed on a flag carried by the regiment during the Battle of Pocotaligo, South Carolina on 22 October 1862 (public domain).
The Union Army regiments selected for participation in the Pocotaligo expedition were part of the U.S. Army’s Tenth Corps (X Corps), which was part of the U.S. Army’s larger Department of the South, which was headquartered at Hilton Head, South Carolina and oversaw Union military operations in Florida, Georgia and South Carolina during this time. Established on 13 September 1862, the Tenth Corps served under the command of Union Major-General Ormsby MacKnight Mitchel from the time of its founding until his death from yellow fever on 30 October of that same year. It was then placed under the command of Brigadier-General John Milton Brannan, who had also assumed command of the U.S. Army’s Department of the South, a position he held until 21 January 1863.
Among the regiments attached to the U.S. Army’s Tenth Corps in the U.S. Department of the South during fall of 1862 was the 47th Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry, which would later make history as the only regiment from Pennsylvania to participate in the Union’s 1864 Red River Campaign across Louisiana. The 47th Pennsylvania, which had been founded on 5 August 1861 by Colonel Tilghman H. Good, remained under Colonel Good’s command. Regimental operations were also overseen by Good’s second-in-command, Lieutenant-Colonel George Warren Alexander.
As preparations continued to be refined, Brigadier-General Brannan determined, in his new role as commanding officer of the expedition, that he would need one of his subordinate officers to take his place on the field as the expedition began. He chose Colonel Good of the 47th Pennsylvania Volunteers, who would go on to become a three-time mayor of Allentown, Pennsylvania after the war. Good then placed Lieutenant-Colonel Alexander in direct command of the 47th Pennsylvania. A New Hampshire native, Alexander had served as captain of the Reading Artillerists in Berks County, Pennsylvania prior to the war; post-war, he founded G. W. Alexander & Sons, a renowned hat manufacturing company that was based in West Reading.
What all of those Union Army infantrymen did not know at the time they boarded their respective transport ships on 21 October 1862 was that they would soon been engaged in combat so intense that the day would come to be described in history books more than a century later as the Second Battle of Pocotaligo (or the Battle of Yemassee, due to its proximity to the town of Yemassee, South Carolina).
This encounter between the Union and Confederate armies would unfold on 22 October 1862 between Savannah, Georgia and Charleston, South Carolina on the banks of the Pocotaligo River in northern Beaufort County, South Carolina.
Next: The Second Battle of Pocotaligo
Sources:
- “General Orders, Hdqrs., Department of the South, Numbers 40, Hilton Head, Port Royal, S. C., September 17, 1862” (announcement by Major-General Ormsby M. Mitchel that he has assumed command of the newly formed Department of the South), in The War of the Rebellion: A Compilation of the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies. Prepared Under the Direction of the Secretary of War, By Lieut. Col. Robert N. Scott, Third U.S. Artillery, and Published Pursuant to Act of Congress Approved June 16, 1880, Series I, Vol. XIV, Serial 20, p. 382. Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office, 1885.
- “Report of Maj. Gen. Ormsby M. Mitchel, U.S. Army, commanding Department of the South and Return of Casualties in the Union forces in the skirmish at Coosawhatchie and engagements at the Caston and Frampton Plantations, near Pocotaligo, S.C., October 22, 1862,” in The War of the Rebellion: A Compilation of the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies. Prepared Under the Direction of the Secretary of War, By Lieut. Col. Robert N. Scott, Third U.S. Artillery, and Published Pursuant to Act of Congress Approved June 16, 1880, Series I, Vol. XIV. Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office, 1885.
#47thPennsylvaniaInfantry #47thPennsylvaniaVolunteers #Allentown #America #AmericanHistory #Army #BerksCounty #CivilWar #CommonwealthOfPennsylvania #History #Infantry #JohnMiltonBrannan #LehighCounty #OrmsbyMacKnightMitchel #PennsylvaniaHistory #PennsylvaniaInTheCivilWar #Pocotaligo #Reading #SouthCarolina #TheUnionArmy #TilghmanHGood #USMilitaryAndTheUnionArmy
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Major-General Ormsby MacKnight Mitchel, Commanding Officer, U.S. Department of the South and Tenth Corps, U.S. Army, circa 1862 (public domain).
On the heels of his army’s successful capture of Saint John’s Bluff, Florida and related events in early October 1862, Union Major-General Ormsby MacKnight Mitchel, commanding officer of the United States Army’s Department of the South, directed his senior staff and leadership of the U.S. Army’s Tenth Corps (X Corps) to intensify actions against the Confederate States Army and Navy in an effort to further disrupt the enemy’s ability to move troops and supplies throughout Florida, Georgia and South Carolina. As part of this directive, he engaged his senior officers in planning a new expedition — this time to Pocotaligo, South Carolina. According to Mitchel, preparations for that event began in earnest in mid-October, with an eye to the following objectives:
First, to make a complete reconnaissance of the Broad River and its three tributaries, Coosawhatchie, Tulifiny [sic], and Pocotaligo; second, to test practically the rapidity and safety with which a landing could be effected; third to learn the strength of the enemy on the main-land, now guarding the Charleston and Savannah Railroad; and fourth, to accomplish the destruction of so much of the road as could be effected in one day….
This 1856 map of the Charleston & Savannah Railroad shows the island of Hilton Head, South Carolina in relation to the town of Pocotaligo (U.S. Library of Congress, public domain; click to enlarge).
Mitchel then worked with his subordinate officers to determine how much of the U.S. Army’s Tenth Corps would take part in the expedition, assess the potential weak spots in his strategy and revise planning details to improve his soldiers’ likelihood of success:
The troops composing the expedition were the following: Forty-seventh Pennsylvania, 600 men; Fifty-fifth Pennsylvania, 400 men; Fourth New Hampshire, 600 men; Seventh Connecticut, 500 men; Third New Hampshire: 480 men; Sixth Connecticut, 500 men; Third Rhode Island, 300 men; Seventy-sixth Pennsylvania, 430 men; New York Mechanics and Engineers, 250 men; Forty-eighth New York, 300 men; one section of Hamilton’s battery and 40 men; one section of the First Regiment Artillery, Company M, battery and 40 men, and the First Massachusetts Cavalry, 100 men. Making an entire force of 4,500 men.
Every pains [sic] had been taken to secure as far as possible success for the expedition. Scouts and spies had been sent to the main-land to all the most important points between the Savannah River railroad bridge and the bridge across the Salkehatchie. A small party was sent out to cut, if possible, the telegraph wires. Scouts had been sent in boats up the tributaries of the Broad River. All the landings had been examined, and the depth of water in the several rivers ascertained as far as practicable. Two of our light-draught transports have been converted into formidable gunboats and are now heavily armed, to wit, The Planter and the George Washington. By my orders the New York Mechanics and Engineers, Colonel Serrell, had constructed two very large flat-boats, or scows, each capable of transporting half a battery of artillery, exclusive of the caissons, with the horses. They were provided with hinged aprons, to facilitate the landing not only of artillery but of troops from the transports.
Owing to an accident which occurred to the transport Cosmopolitan during the expedition to the Saint John’s River I found myself deficient in transportation, and applied to the commanding officer, Commodore Godon, of the South Atlantic Blockading Squadron, who promptly placed under my orders a number of light-draught gunboats for the double purpose of transportation and military protection.
The after cabin inside of the U.S. Steamer Ben Deford, c. 1860s (U.S. Library of Congress, public domain).
As planning progressed, details were firmed up regarding the Union Navy’s anticipated support. According to Mitchel:
On the evening of the 21st, under the command of Captain Steedman, U.S. Navy, the gunboats and transports were arranged in the following order for sailing: The Paul Jones, Captain Steedman, without troops; the Ben De Ford, Conemaugh, Wissahickon, Boston, Patroon, Darlington, steam-tug Relief, with schooner in tow; Marblehead, Vixen, Flora, Water Witch, George Washington, and Planter. The flat-boats, with artillery, were towed by the Ben De Ford and Boston. The best negro pilots which could be found were placed on the principal vessels, as well as signal officers, for the purpose of intercommunication. The night proved to be smoky and hazy, which produced some confusion in the sailing of the vessels, as signal lights could not be seen by those most remote from the leading ship. The larger vessels, however, got under way about 12 o’clock at night.
Union Army map, Pocotaligo-Coosawhatchie Expedition, 21-23 October 1862 (public domain; click to enlarge).
Mitchel and his leadership team also worked out the details of the expedition’s landing and debarkation plans, decided upon the weaponry they would need to disrupt and permanently disable the railroad tracks and the bridge at Pocotaligo and identified other possible actions to be undertaken by the expeditionary force:
After a careful examination of the map I ordered a landing to be effected at the mouth of the Pocotaligo River, at a place known as Mackay’s Point. This is really a narrow neck of land made by the Broad River and the Pocotaligo, in both of which rivers gunboats could lie and furnish a perfect protection for the debarkation and embarkation of the troops. There is a good country road leading from the Point to the old town of Pocotaligo, then entering a turnpike, which leads from the town of Coosawhatchie to the principal ferry on the Salkehatchie River. The distance to the railroad was only about 7 or 8 miles, thus rendering it possible to effect a landing, cut the railroad and telegraph wires, and return to the boats in the same day. I saw that it would be impossible for the troops to be attacked by the enemy either in flank or rear, as the two flanks were protected by the Pocotaligo River on the one hand and by the Broad and by the Tulifiny [sic, Tulifinny], its tributary, on the other. Presuming that the enemy would make his principal defense at or near Pocotaligo, I directed that a detachment of the Forty-eighth New York, under command of Colonel Barton, with the armed transport Planter, accompanied by one or two light-draught gunboats, should ascend the Coosawhatchie River, for the purpose of making a diversion, and in case no considerable force of the enemy was met, to destroy the railroad at and near the town of Coosawhatchie.
In addition to our land forces we were furnished by the Navy with several transports, armed with howitzers, three of which were landed with the artillery, and thus gave us a battery of seven pieces. All the troops were furnished with 100 rounds of ammunition. Two light ambulances and one wagon, with its team, accompanied the expedition.
The Integral Role of the 47th Pennsylvania
Design of the U.S. Army’s insignia for the Tenth (X) Army Corps, which would have been sewn onto uniforms of the 47th Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry and displayed on a flag carried by the regiment during the Battle of Pocotaligo, South Carolina on 22 October 1862 (public domain).
The Union Army regiments selected for participation in the Pocotaligo expedition were part of the U.S. Army’s Tenth Corps (X Corps), which was part of the U.S. Army’s larger Department of the South, which was headquartered at Hilton Head, South Carolina and oversaw Union military operations in Florida, Georgia and South Carolina during this time. Established on 13 September 1862, the Tenth Corps served under the command of Union Major-General Ormsby MacKnight Mitchel from the time of its founding until his death from yellow fever on 30 October of that same year. It was then placed under the command of Brigadier-General John Milton Brannan, who had also assumed command of the U.S. Army’s Department of the South, a position he held until 21 January 1863.
Among the regiments attached to the U.S. Army’s Tenth Corps in the U.S. Department of the South during fall of 1862 was the 47th Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry, which would later make history as the only regiment from Pennsylvania to participate in the Union’s 1864 Red River Campaign across Louisiana. The 47th Pennsylvania, which had been founded on 5 August 1861 by Colonel Tilghman H. Good, remained under Colonel Good’s command. Regimental operations were also overseen by Good’s second-in-command, Lieutenant-Colonel George Warren Alexander.
As preparations continued to be refined, Brigadier-General Brannan determined, in his new role as commanding officer of the expedition, that he would need one of his subordinate officers to take his place on the field as the expedition began. He chose Colonel Good of the 47th Pennsylvania Volunteers, who would go on to become a three-time mayor of Allentown, Pennsylvania after the war. Good then placed Lieutenant-Colonel Alexander in direct command of the 47th Pennsylvania. A New Hampshire native, Alexander had served as captain of the Reading Artillerists in Berks County, Pennsylvania prior to the war; post-war, he founded G. W. Alexander & Sons, a renowned hat manufacturing company that was based in West Reading.
What all of those Union Army infantrymen did not know at the time they boarded their respective transport ships on 21 October 1862 was that they would soon been engaged in combat so intense that the day would come to be described in history books more than a century later as the Second Battle of Pocotaligo (or the Battle of Yemassee, due to its proximity to the town of Yemassee, South Carolina).
This encounter between the Union and Confederate armies would unfold on 22 October 1862 between Savannah, Georgia and Charleston, South Carolina on the banks of the Pocotaligo River in northern Beaufort County, South Carolina.
Next: The Second Battle of Pocotaligo
Sources:
- “General Orders, Hdqrs., Department of the South, Numbers 40, Hilton Head, Port Royal, S. C., September 17, 1862” (announcement by Major-General Ormsby M. Mitchel that he has assumed command of the newly formed Department of the South), in The War of the Rebellion: A Compilation of the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies. Prepared Under the Direction of the Secretary of War, By Lieut. Col. Robert N. Scott, Third U.S. Artillery, and Published Pursuant to Act of Congress Approved June 16, 1880, Series I, Vol. XIV, Serial 20, p. 382. Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office, 1885.
- “Report of Maj. Gen. Ormsby M. Mitchel, U.S. Army, commanding Department of the South and Return of Casualties in the Union forces in the skirmish at Coosawhatchie and engagements at the Caston and Frampton Plantations, near Pocotaligo, S.C., October 22, 1862,” in The War of the Rebellion: A Compilation of the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies. Prepared Under the Direction of the Secretary of War, By Lieut. Col. Robert N. Scott, Third U.S. Artillery, and Published Pursuant to Act of Congress Approved June 16, 1880, Series I, Vol. XIV. Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office, 1885.
#47thPennsylvaniaInfantry #47thPennsylvaniaVolunteers #Allentown #America #AmericanHistory #Army #BerksCounty #CivilWar #History #Infantry #JohnMiltonBrannan #LehighCounty #Military #OrmsbyMacKnightMitchel #Pennsylvania #PennsylvaniaHistory #Pocotaligo #Reading #SouthCarolina #TilghmanHGood #Union
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Major-General Ormsby MacKnight Mitchel, Commanding Officer, U.S. Department of the South and Tenth Corps, U.S. Army, circa 1862 (public domain).
On the heels of his army’s successful capture of Saint John’s Bluff, Florida and related events in early October 1862, Union Major-General Ormsby MacKnight Mitchel, commanding officer of the United States Army’s Department of the South, directed his senior staff and leadership of the U.S. Army’s Tenth Corps (X Corps) to intensify actions against the Confederate States Army and Navy in an effort to further disrupt the enemy’s ability to move troops and supplies throughout Florida, Georgia and South Carolina. As part of this directive, he engaged his senior officers in planning a new expedition — this time to Pocotaligo, South Carolina. According to Mitchel, preparations for that event began in earnest in mid-October, with an eye to the following objectives:
First, to make a complete reconnaissance of the Broad River and its three tributaries, Coosawhatchie, Tulifiny [sic], and Pocotaligo; second, to test practically the rapidity and safety with which a landing could be effected; third to learn the strength of the enemy on the main-land, now guarding the Charleston and Savannah Railroad; and fourth, to accomplish the destruction of so much of the road as could be effected in one day….
This 1856 map of the Charleston & Savannah Railroad shows the island of Hilton Head, South Carolina in relation to the town of Pocotaligo (U.S. Library of Congress, public domain; click to enlarge).
Mitchel then worked with his subordinate officers to determine how much of the U.S. Army’s Tenth Corps would take part in the expedition, assess the potential weak spots in his strategy and revise planning details to improve his soldiers’ likelihood of success:
The troops composing the expedition were the following: Forty-seventh Pennsylvania, 600 men; Fifty-fifth Pennsylvania, 400 men; Fourth New Hampshire, 600 men; Seventh Connecticut, 500 men; Third New Hampshire: 480 men; Sixth Connecticut, 500 men; Third Rhode Island, 300 men; Seventy-sixth Pennsylvania, 430 men; New York Mechanics and Engineers, 250 men; Forty-eighth New York, 300 men; one section of Hamilton’s battery and 40 men; one section of the First Regiment Artillery, Company M, battery and 40 men, and the First Massachusetts Cavalry, 100 men. Making an entire force of 4,500 men.
Every pains [sic] had been taken to secure as far as possible success for the expedition. Scouts and spies had been sent to the main-land to all the most important points between the Savannah River railroad bridge and the bridge across the Salkehatchie. A small party was sent out to cut, if possible, the telegraph wires. Scouts had been sent in boats up the tributaries of the Broad River. All the landings had been examined, and the depth of water in the several rivers ascertained as far as practicable. Two of our light-draught transports have been converted into formidable gunboats and are now heavily armed, to wit, The Planter and the George Washington. By my orders the New York Mechanics and Engineers, Colonel Serrell, had constructed two very large flat-boats, or scows, each capable of transporting half a battery of artillery, exclusive of the caissons, with the horses. They were provided with hinged aprons, to facilitate the landing not only of artillery but of troops from the transports.
Owing to an accident which occurred to the transport Cosmopolitan during the expedition to the Saint John’s River I found myself deficient in transportation, and applied to the commanding officer, Commodore Godon, of the South Atlantic Blockading Squadron, who promptly placed under my orders a number of light-draught gunboats for the double purpose of transportation and military protection.
The after cabin inside of the U.S. Steamer Ben Deford, c. 1860s (U.S. Library of Congress, public domain).
As planning progressed, details were firmed up regarding the Union Navy’s anticipated support. According to Mitchel:
On the evening of the 21st, under the command of Captain Steedman, U.S. Navy, the gunboats and transports were arranged in the following order for sailing: The Paul Jones, Captain Steedman, without troops; the Ben De Ford, Conemaugh, Wissahickon, Boston, Patroon, Darlington, steam-tug Relief, with schooner in tow; Marblehead, Vixen, Flora, Water Witch, George Washington, and Planter. The flat-boats, with artillery, were towed by the Ben De Ford and Boston. The best negro pilots which could be found were placed on the principal vessels, as well as signal officers, for the purpose of intercommunication. The night proved to be smoky and hazy, which produced some confusion in the sailing of the vessels, as signal lights could not be seen by those most remote from the leading ship. The larger vessels, however, got under way about 12 o’clock at night.
Union Army map, Pocotaligo-Coosawhatchie Expedition, 21-23 October 1862 (public domain; click to enlarge).
Mitchel and his leadership team also worked out the details of the expedition’s landing and debarkation plans, decided upon the weaponry they would need to disrupt and permanently disable the railroad tracks and the bridge at Pocotaligo and identified other possible actions to be undertaken by the expeditionary force:
After a careful examination of the map I ordered a landing to be effected at the mouth of the Pocotaligo River, at a place known as Mackay’s Point. This is really a narrow neck of land made by the Broad River and the Pocotaligo, in both of which rivers gunboats could lie and furnish a perfect protection for the debarkation and embarkation of the troops. There is a good country road leading from the Point to the old town of Pocotaligo, then entering a turnpike, which leads from the town of Coosawhatchie to the principal ferry on the Salkehatchie River. The distance to the railroad was only about 7 or 8 miles, thus rendering it possible to effect a landing, cut the railroad and telegraph wires, and return to the boats in the same day. I saw that it would be impossible for the troops to be attacked by the enemy either in flank or rear, as the two flanks were protected by the Pocotaligo River on the one hand and by the Broad and by the Tulifiny [sic, Tulifinny], its tributary, on the other. Presuming that the enemy would make his principal defense at or near Pocotaligo, I directed that a detachment of the Forty-eighth New York, under command of Colonel Barton, with the armed transport Planter, accompanied by one or two light-draught gunboats, should ascend the Coosawhatchie River, for the purpose of making a diversion, and in case no considerable force of the enemy was met, to destroy the railroad at and near the town of Coosawhatchie.
In addition to our land forces we were furnished by the Navy with several transports, armed with howitzers, three of which were landed with the artillery, and thus gave us a battery of seven pieces. All the troops were furnished with 100 rounds of ammunition. Two light ambulances and one wagon, with its team, accompanied the expedition.
The Integral Role of the 47th Pennsylvania
Design of the U.S. Army’s insignia for the Tenth (X) Army Corps, which would have been sewn onto uniforms of the 47th Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry and displayed on a flag carried by the regiment during the Battle of Pocotaligo, South Carolina on 22 October 1862 (public domain).
The Union Army regiments selected for participation in the Pocotaligo expedition were part of the U.S. Army’s Tenth Corps (X Corps), which was part of the U.S. Army’s larger Department of the South, which was headquartered at Hilton Head, South Carolina and oversaw Union military operations in Florida, Georgia and South Carolina during this time. Established on 13 September 1862, the Tenth Corps served under the command of Union Major-General Ormsby MacKnight Mitchel from the time of its founding until his death from yellow fever on 30 October of that same year. It was then placed under the command of Brigadier-General John Milton Brannan, who had also assumed command of the U.S. Army’s Department of the South, a position he held until 21 January 1863.
Among the regiments attached to the U.S. Army’s Tenth Corps in the U.S. Department of the South during fall of 1862 was the 47th Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry, which would later make history as the only regiment from Pennsylvania to participate in the Union’s 1864 Red River Campaign across Louisiana. The 47th Pennsylvania, which had been founded on 5 August 1861 by Colonel Tilghman H. Good, remained under Colonel Good’s command. Regimental operations were also overseen by Good’s second-in-command, Lieutenant-Colonel George Warren Alexander.
As preparations continued to be refined, Brigadier-General Brannan determined, in his new role as commanding officer of the expedition, that he would need one of his subordinate officers to take his place on the field as the expedition began. He chose Colonel Good of the 47th Pennsylvania Volunteers, who would go on to become a three-time mayor of Allentown, Pennsylvania after the war. Good then placed Lieutenant-Colonel Alexander in direct command of the 47th Pennsylvania. A New Hampshire native, Alexander had served as captain of the Reading Artillerists in Berks County, Pennsylvania prior to the war; post-war, he founded G. W. Alexander & Sons, a renowned hat manufacturing company that was based in West Reading.
What all of those Union Army infantrymen did not know at the time they boarded their respective transport ships on 21 October 1862 was that they would soon been engaged in combat so intense that the day would come to be described in history books more than a century later as the Second Battle of Pocotaligo (or the Battle of Yemassee, due to its proximity to the town of Yemassee, South Carolina).
This encounter between the Union and Confederate armies would unfold on 22 October 1862 between Savannah, Georgia and Charleston, South Carolina on the banks of the Pocotaligo River in northern Beaufort County, South Carolina.
Next: The Second Battle of Pocotaligo
Sources:
- “General Orders, Hdqrs., Department of the South, Numbers 40, Hilton Head, Port Royal, S. C., September 17, 1862” (announcement by Major-General Ormsby M. Mitchel that he has assumed command of the newly formed Department of the South), in The War of the Rebellion: A Compilation of the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies. Prepared Under the Direction of the Secretary of War, By Lieut. Col. Robert N. Scott, Third U.S. Artillery, and Published Pursuant to Act of Congress Approved June 16, 1880, Series I, Vol. XIV, Serial 20, p. 382. Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office, 1885.
- “Report of Maj. Gen. Ormsby M. Mitchel, U.S. Army, commanding Department of the South and Return of Casualties in the Union forces in the skirmish at Coosawhatchie and engagements at the Caston and Frampton Plantations, near Pocotaligo, S.C., October 22, 1862,” in The War of the Rebellion: A Compilation of the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies. Prepared Under the Direction of the Secretary of War, By Lieut. Col. Robert N. Scott, Third U.S. Artillery, and Published Pursuant to Act of Congress Approved June 16, 1880, Series I, Vol. XIV. Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office, 1885.
#47thPennsylvaniaInfantry #47thPennsylvaniaVolunteers #Allentown #America #AmericanHistory #Army #BerksCounty #CivilWar #History #Infantry #JohnMiltonBrannan #LehighCounty #Military #OrmsbyMacKnightMitchel #Pennsylvania #PennsylvaniaHistory #Pocotaligo #Reading #SouthCarolina #TilghmanHGood #Union
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Major-General Ormsby MacKnight Mitchel, Commanding Officer, U.S. Department of the South and Tenth Corps, U.S. Army, circa 1862 (public domain).
On the heels of his army’s successful capture of Saint John’s Bluff, Florida and related events in early October 1862, Union Major-General Ormsby MacKnight Mitchel, commanding officer of the United States Army’s Department of the South, directed his senior staff and leadership of the U.S. Army’s Tenth Corps (X Corps) to intensify actions against the Confederate States Army and Navy in an effort to further disrupt the enemy’s ability to move troops and supplies throughout Florida, Georgia and South Carolina. As part of this directive, he engaged his senior officers in planning a new expedition—this time to Pocotaligo, South Carolina. According to Mitchel, preparations for that event began in earnest in mid-October, with and eye to the following objectives:
First, to make a complete reconnaissance of the Broad River and its three tributaries, Coosawhatchie, Tulifiny [sic], and Pocotaligo; second, to test practically the rapidity and safety with which a landing could be effected; third to learn the strength of the enemy on the main-land, now guarding the Charleston and Savannah Railroad; and fourth, to accomplish the destruction of so much of the road as could be effected in one day….
This 1856 map of the Charleston & Savannah Railroad shows the island of Hilton Head, South Carolina in relation to the town of Pocotaligo (U.S. Library of Congress, public domain; click to enlarge).
Mitchel then worked with his subordinate officers to determine how much of the U.S. Army’s Tenth Corps would take part in the expedition, assess the potential weak spots in his strategy and revise planning details to improve his soldiers’ likelihood of success:
The troops composing the expedition were the following: Forty-seventh Pennsylvania, 600 men; Fifty-fifth Pennsylvania, 400 men; Fourth New Hampshire, 600 men; Seventh Connecticut, 500 men; Third New Hampshire: 480 men; Sixth Connecticut, 500 men; Third Rhode Island, 300 men; Seventy-sixth Pennsylvania, 430 men; New York Mechanics and Engineers, 250 men; Forty-eighth New York, 300 men; one section of Hamilton’s battery and 40 men; one section of the First Regiment Artillery, Company M, battery and 40 men, and the First Massachusetts Cavalry, 100 men. Making an entire force of 4,500 men.
Every pains [sic] had been taken to secure as far as possible success for the expedition. Scouts and spies had been sent to the main-land to all the most important points between the Savannah River railroad bridge and the bridge across the Salkehatchie. A small party was sent out to cut, if possible, the telegraph wires. Scouts had been sent in boats up the tributaries of the Broad River. All the landings had been examined, and the depth of water in the several rivers ascertained as far as practicable. Two of our light-draught transports have been converted into formidable gunboats and are now heavily armed, to wit, The Planter and the George Washington. By my orders the New York Mechanics and Engineers, Colonel Serrell, had constructed two very large flat-boats, or scows, each capable of transporting half a battery of artillery, exclusive of the caissons, with the horses. They were provided with hinged aprons, to facilitate the landing not only of artillery but of troops from the transports.
Owing to an accident which occurred to the transport Cosmopolitan during the expedition to the Saint John’s River I found myself deficient in transportation, and applied to the commanding officer, Commodore Godon, of the South Atlantic Blockading Squadron, who promptly placed under my orders a number of light-draught gunboats for the double purpose of transportation and military protection.
The after cabin inside of the U.S. Steamer Ben Deford, c. 1860s (U.S. Library of Congress, public domain).
As planning progressed, details were firmed up regarding the Union Navy’s anticipated support. According to Mitchel:
On the evening of the 21st, under the command of Captain Steedman, U.S. Navy, the gunboats and transports were arranged in the following order for sailing: The Paul Jones, Captain Steedman, without troops; the Ben De Ford, Conemaugh, Wissahickon, Boston, Patroon, Darlington, steam-tug Relief, with schooner in tow; Marblehead, Vixen, Flora, Water Witch, George Washington, and Planter. The flat-boats, with artillery, were towed by the Ben De Ford and Boston. The best negro pilots which could be found were placed on the principal vessels, as well as signal officers, for the purpose of intercommunication. The night proved to be smoky and hazy, which produced some confusion in the sailing of the vessels, as signal lights could not be seen by those most remote from the leading ship. The larger vessels, however, got under way about 12 o’clock at night.
Union Army map, Pocotaligo-Coosawhatchie Expedition, 21-23 October 1862 (public domain; click to enlarge).
Mitchel and his leadership team also worked out the details of the expedition’s landing and debarkation plans, decided upon the weaponry they would need to disrupt and permanently disable the railroad tracks and the bridge at Pocotaligo and identified other possible actions to be undertaken by the expeditionary force:
After a careful examination of the map I ordered a landing to be effected at the mouth of the Pocotaligo River, at a place known as Mackay’s Point. This is really a narrow neck of land made by the Broad River and the Pocotaligo, in both of which rivers gunboats could lie and furnish a perfect protection for the debarkation and embarkation of the troops. There is a good country road leading from the Point to the old town of Pocotaligo, then entering a turnpike, which leads from the town of Coosawhatchie to the principal ferry on the Salkehatchie River. The distance to the railroad was only about 7 or 8 miles, thus rendering it possible to effect a landing, cut the railroad and telegraph wires, and return to the boats in the same day. I saw that it would be impossible for the troops to be attacked by the enemy either in flank or rear, as the two flanks were protected by the Pocotaligo River on the one hand and by the Broad and by the Tulifiny [sic], its tributary, on the other. Presuming that the enemy would make his principal defense at or near Pocotaligo, I directed that a detachment of the Forty-eighth New York, under command of Colonel Barton, with the armed transport Planter, accompanied by one or two light-draught gunboats, should ascend the Coosawhatchie River, for the purpose of making a diversion, and in case no considerable force of the enemy was met, to destroy the railroad at and near the town of Coosawhatchie.
In addition to our land forces we were furnished by the Navy with several transports, armed with howitzers, three of which were landed with the artillery, and thus gave us a battery of seven pieces. All the troops were furnished with 100 rounds of ammunition. Two light ambulances and one wagon, with its team, accompanied the expedition.
The Integral Role of the 47th Pennsylvania
Design of the U.S. Army’s insignia for the Tenth (X) Army Corps, which would have been sewn onto uniforms of the 47th Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry and displayed on a flag carried by the regiment during the Battle of Pocotaligo, South Carolina on 22 October 1862 (public domain).
The Union Army regiments selected for participation in the Pocotaligo expedition were part of the U.S. Army’s Tenth Corps (X Corps), which was part of the U.S. Army’s larger Department of the South, which was headquartered at Hilton Head, South Carolina and oversaw Union military operations in Florida, Georgia and South Carolina during this time. Established on 13 September 1862, the Tenth Corps served under the command of Union Major-General Ormsby MacKnight Mitchel from the time of its founding until his death from yellow fever on 30 October of that same year. It was then placed under the command of Brigadier-General John Milton Brannan, who had also assumed command of the U.S. Army’s Department of the South, a position he held until 21 January 1863.
Among the regiments attached to the U.S. Army’s Tenth Corps in the U.S. Department of the South during fall of 1862 was the 47th Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry, which would later make history as the only regiment from Pennsylvania to participate in the Union’s 1864 Red River Campaign across Louisiana. The 47th Pennsylvania, which had been founded on 5 August 1861 by Colonel Tilghman H. Good, remained under Colonel Good’s command. Regimental operations were also overseen by Good’s second-in-command, Lieutenant-Colonel George Warren Alexander.
As preparations continued to be refined, Brigadier-General Brannan determined, in his new role as commanding officer of the expedition, that he would need one of his subordinate officers to take his place on the field as the expedition began. He chose Colonel Good of the 47th Pennsylvania Volunteers, who would go on to become a three-time mayor of Allentown, Pennsylvania after the war. Good then placed Lieutenant-Colonel Alexander in direct command of the 47th Pennsylvania. A New Hampshire native, Alexander had served as captain of the Reading Artillerists in Berks County, Pennsylvania prior to the war; post-war, he founded G. W. Alexander & Sons, a renowned hat manufacturing company that was based in West Reading.
What all of those Union Army infantrymen did not know at the time they boarded their respective transport ships on 21 October 1862 was that they would soon been engaged in combat so intense that the day would come to be described in history books more than a century later as the Second Battle of Pocotaligo (or the Battle of Yemassee, due to its proximity to the town of Yemassee, South Carolina.
This encounter between the Union and Confederate armies would unfold on 22 October 1862 between Savannah, Georgia and Charleston, South Carolina on the banks of the Pocotaligo River in northern Beaufort County, South Carolina.
Next: The Second Battle of Pocotaligo
Sources:
- “General Orders, Hdqrs., Department of the South, Numbers 40, Hilton Head, Port Royal, S. C., September 17, 1862” (announcement by Major-General Ormsby M. Mitchel that he has assumed command of the newly formed Department of the South), in The War of the Rebellion: A Compilation of the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies. Prepared Under the Direction of the Secretary of War, By Lieut. Col. Robert N. Scott, Third U.S. Artillery, and Published Pursuant to Act of Congress Approved June 16, 1880, Series I, Vol. XIV, Serial 20, p. 382. Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office, 1885.
- “Report of Maj. Gen. Ormsby M. Mitchel, U.S. Army, commanding Department of the South and Return of Casualties in the Union forces in the skirmish at Coosawhatchie and engagements at the Caston and Frampton Plantations, near Pocotaligo, S.C., October 22, 1862,” in The War of the Rebellion: A Compilation of the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies. Prepared Under the Direction of the Secretary of War, By Lieut. Col. Robert N. Scott, Third U.S. Artillery, and Published Pursuant to Act of Congress Approved June 16, 1880, Series I, Vol. XIV. Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office, 1885.
#47thPennsylvaniaInfantry #47thPennsylvaniaVolunteers #Allentown #America #AmericanHistory #Army #BerksCounty #CivilWar #History #Infantry #JohnMiltonBrannan #LehighCounty #Military #NewHampshire #OrmsbyMacKnightMitchel #Pennsylvania #PennsylvaniaHistory #Pocotaligo #Reading #SouthCarolina #TilghmanHGood #Union
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Lady Dynamos: the thread about Edinburgh’s trailblazing women’s football team denied a sporting chance by the authorities
In April 1948, when the Edinburgh Lady Dynamos football team requested permission to play a charitable football match against an English select side at the New Meadowbank sports ground, they were denied permission by the City Corporation’s “General Purposes Committee”. When they had been allowed to play there in 1946, 17,000 spectators had turned out to watch a 2-2 draw.
Edinburgh Lady Dynamos football team, late 1940s. CC-by-SA-NC 0084-003, via Edinburgh Collected.
Back row L-R is ex-Councillor Esta Henry (Club President), Kitty Russell, Betty Rae, Agnes Whitelaw, Theresa Mulvie, goalkeeper Jessie Baillie, Nan Laurie, Babs McWhinney and Walter Caesar.
Front row L-R is Eleanor Wilson, Betty Davidson (?), Linda Clements, Mary Leslie, Bet Adamson.Councillor for Pilton, Magnus Williamson, gave a lukewarm approval “I am not an advocate of women’s football. I don’t like it, but women apparently want to play football and we have a responsibility to see women get a share of the available facilities“. He told the committee he had consulted a doctor on the matter to see “if football does women any harm.” He was “assured it does not, if indulged in moderately“. Councillor Bruce Turnbull, Morningside, simply dismissed the very idea of women playing football as “pure entertainment“; I mean imagine football being entertaining! In 1939, as chair of the Corporation’s Parks Sub-Committee, the same Councillor Turnbull moved approval of a motion to remove a subsidised rate for women to play tennis (a rate to encourage them into the game and that acknowledged their lesser financial position) saying they “required no encouragement at all” to play and were “rather proud of themselves” when they did. The only woman on the committee, Cllr. Mrs Ross, protested for the record that if “women have to pay the same as men, I would like to see them treated as equals” and excluded herself. The rest of the committee – the men – carried it 5-2, with only Labour Councillors Jack Kane and John Welch against.)
Back at the vote in 1948 Deputy Superintendent of Parks, Mr A. T. Harrison, explained that Mr George Graham, Scottish Football Association Secretary, had told them “all grounds that allowed women’s football would be banned” from hosting men’s football. The committee voted 8-4 against the Dynamos lest they lose the men’s game from Meadowbank – which Leith Athletic called home – and the income its lease brought in. Instead the women’s side were relegated to the decrepit Woods Park in Portobello, not a ground that could host the tends of thousands of fans they had proved capable of attracting. Esta Henry, the club president, addressed the crowd at Wood’s Park and alleged “there were no sportsmen in Edinburgh Town Council“, that “only three or four members of the Corporation knew anything about sport” and thought it was very unfair that women could not use a ground provided for by the ratepayers.
The Dynamos were formed in late 1945 by Mary Leslie and Lynda Clements of Leith, who decided to resuscitate a pre-war team, the Edinburgh City Girls, who had been runaway Scottish Champions (winning 19/21 games in 1937) and had toured England in the late 1930s. The City Girls had played to crowds of 30,000 and regularly thumped their opposition 7, 8 or 9 nil. Here they are, in hoops, mixed with their opposition Lothian Girls at Ettrick Park, Selkirk. Unfortunately the names are not recorded, but Leslie and Clements were in the squad.
Edinburgh City Girls, in the hooped kit, and Lothian Girls at Ettrick Park, Selkirk before a game. Perhaps there was some jersey swapping, as Mary Leslie appears to be in the middle row, 5th from the left, holding the ball in a dark top. Southern Reporter – Thursday 11 May 1939On June 17th 1939, at St. Bernard’s Park in Edinburgh, the City Girls won 5-2 infront of a crowd of 10,000 in an “International” charity match against Preston Ladies; Linda Clements scored 2 goals that day. They lost a follow-up return leg 3-0, to tie the account. The following month, the City Girls briefly became “international champions” after a mini-tournament of the 8 other womens League teams in Britain, thrashing Glasgow Ladies 7-0 at Carmuirs in Falkirk on July 6th – Linda Clements scoring a hat trick.
Mary Leslie, right, shaking hands with the Preston Ladies captain Margaret Thornborough before a friendly Scotland vs. England “international game” at Cleveland Park in Middlesborough in July 1939. This was held as a charitable game to raise funds for the North Riding Infirmary and the North Ormesby Hospital.
Daily Gazette for Middlesbrough – 12th July 1939Leslie and Clements had been inspired by the visit of Dynamo Moscow to the UK in late 1945, where the Russian team played Cardiff (thumping them 1-10), Chelsea (drew 3-3), Rangers (drew 2-2) and Arsenal (won 2-3) and took the name of the visiting side for their own. For their club president they attracted the formidable figure of Esta Henry, a well-known face in the Old Town, an eccentric and determined antiques dealer who had served as Parish and Town Councillor and had an insatiable appetite for getting involved in anything involving women, youth and organised events. Esta put her money where her mouth was too, she probably paid for the club kit and she provided the Esta Henry Trophy for the women’s competition. The Lady Dynamos had much success in the Scottish scene. When a national squad was put together for an international with England in 1948, they contributed 6 of the starting 11. That game, played at a rugby ground, was abandoned in a thunderstorm when Scotland were 5-0 down.
Edinburgh Lady Dynamos, 1946 at New Meadowbank for the first edition of the “Esta Henry Trophy” against Bolton before a 6-2 defeat. Thank you to Stuart Gibbs for assistance with this caption.
L-R, Betty Rae, N. Wilson, Eleanor Wilson, Kitty Russell, Jenny Nimmo, Babs McWhinney, Nan Nimmo, Agnes Whitelaw, Betty Davidson (Adamson), Mary Leslie, Linda Clements.
CC-by-SA-NC 0084-003, via Edinburgh Collected.In 1946, the Dynamos played Bolton Ladies at New Meadowbank for the Esta Henry Trophy, slumping to a 6-2 defeat at “home”, although they were able to hold the opposition to a 2-2 draw on the return leg in July 1947 at Bromwich. It was the 1948 return by Bolton to Edinburgh that caused controversy when they hoped to play it again at New Meadowbank. Dynamos manager Peter Farrell told the Dalkeith Advertiser he was determined they would be a match for Bolton Ladies – the best side in England – and if the latter were Arsenal then they would be Rangers. In a warm-up for the banned game with Bolton, the Dynamos played Newtongrange Bluebell – a men’s junior side – in front of a crowd of 1,500 at Victoria Park in Nitten. The rain-soaked match ended 3-3 after goals by Mary Leslie, Eleanor Wilson and a late equalising penalty by Linda Clements. When Wilson was in a position to score, her team mate yelled “Right, Eleanor! In wi’ it, hen!“, which she obligingly did.
The Dynamos in November 1946, photographed at Salford Rugby Club where they were to play Bolton Women in a charitable match to raise funds for the Salford floor relief.
Back Row L-R is Esta Henry (President), Betty Rae, Kitty Russell, Nan Nimmo, Babs McWhinney, N. Wilson, Peter Farrell (manager).
Front Row L-R is Jenny Nimmo, Agnes Whitelaw, Lynda Clements (captain), Betty Davidson, Mary Leslie, Eleanor Wilson.“Dynamo are hardy lasses and they love the game as much as most men” declared the Advertiser’s Albert McKay in a frequently patronising and sexist review of the match – which he opened with”for years I have waited to see a girl who could get her hair wet without complaint“. But McKay at least gives us some details of the squad. There was “no brighter star than centre forward Mary Leslie”. 13 year old schoolgirl Betty Davidson “a sturdy little girl with a shock of red hair” was compared with Scotland and Arsenal legend Alec James. Grace Livingston, 16, from Tranent was in goal for Dynamo. Other players included sheet metal workers Nan Wilson from Gorgie and Babs McWhinnie from Prestonpans; Kay Dunoon, a clerk from Granton; Typists Betty Rae and Effy Gray; Factory workers Linda Clements and Mary Leslie. The team was completed by schoolgirl Eleanor Wilson, 14, and Agnes Whitelaw from Dalkeith who worked for the Dobbies nursery. The side were coached by Etta Moffat and her brother Jock.
Dynamo in a kit which matches a photo taken of them in 1946.
Back row L-R, Mary Leslie, unknown, Nan Laurie, Kitty Russell, Betty Rae, unknown, unknown, Walter Caesar.
Front row L-R, Eleanor Wilson, unknown, Linda Clements, Bet Adamson, unknown
CC-by-SA-NC 0084-003, via Edinburgh Collected.The banned match was eventually played in the run-down Woods Park outside Portobello, a game which Bolton won 2-1. The Dynamos played on into the early 1950s but couldn’t persist against the official refusal to recognise them (an official “ban” which lasted in Scotland until 1974), the dwindling lack of interest shown to them and their game, and the ability to access proper facilities, match officials etc.
The driving force behind and within the Dynamos was the pair of Mary Leslie and Linda Clements. Clements has been described as one half of “two of the best Scottish players of the inter-war period” (Nancy Thomson was the other). Before the Dynamos and WW2, she played alongside Leslie for Edinburgh City Girls. Lydia, as she was Christened, was born in Rutherglen in 1918 to a coal mining family. By age 12 she was playing with a girl’s team in her native Rutherglen (often against men’s teams). Aged just 19, she left behind her family, her boyfriend and job as a curtainmaker to play professionally for the Darlington Quaker Girls, the team of Lillie Galloway. As such she is unique to be the only Scottish women’s player to transfer to England (and back again) pre-war. Clements was in a Quaker Girls team that thumped Edinburgh City Girls before Clements joined the latter.
Lydia – as she was then known – Clements, aged 19, on signing for Darlington Quaker Girls in 1937Her move was short-lived however as in April 1938 the Quaker Girls folded when too many of the team left to get married. Returning to Scotland and starting with the City Girls, Clements instantly improved that team’s fortunes. It was only after her spells with that team, the intervention of the War, and then the re-formed Lady Dynamos that Linda let marriage get in the way of football, marrying in 1968 aged 50. She passed away in Edinburgh in 1996, aged 78. Mary Leslie (neé Millan) was born in 1912 in North Leith, married in Leith in 1934 and passed away in Edinburgh in 1992 aged 80. If you know anything further about either woman, please do contact me.
The team name was revived in the late 1960s and they were a founder member of the Women’s SFA in 1970. They won the Scottish Women’s Cup in 1972 and again in ’74, ’75, ’78 and the League in ’77. In 1975 the Dynamos earned themselves a place in the Guinness Book of Records by notching up an incredible 42-0 victory of poor Lochend Thistle. This record has never been beaten in Scottish football (men’s or women’s) or in the non-junior English game. Dynamo‘s central defender, Sheila Begbie, would captain the Scottish Women’s national team in its first international against England. She earned 25 international caps, scored against Italy in the San Siro stadium and would spend 14 years with the SFA in management positions, becoming its head of women’s football, before making a switch to the oval ball and becoming head of SRU’s women’s rugby in 2014, later director of rugby development, before retiring in 2021.
Thank you to Stuart Gibbs for his assistance in correcting the caption on some of the photos and on identifying which game was played at which date, for which purposes!
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