Caleb Huse
Encyclopedia
Caleb Huse was a Major in the Confederate States Army
, acting primarily as an arms procurement agent and purchasing specialist during the American Civil War
. He is most well known for his successful acquisition of weapons contracts with various European nations including the United Kingdom, Austria, and to a lesser extent, France, Prussia, and Bohemia. A majority of the weapons imported to the Confederacy from foreign powers during the war were negotiated for and purchased by Huse.
. Though a Northerner by birth, he was personally commissioned by Jefferson Davis
to serve the Confederacy upon the outbreak of hostilities in 1861.
Huse enrolled at the United States Military Academy
at the age of 16 and graduated seventh in his class in 1851. Thereafter he spent many years as an instructor of Chemistry, Mineralogy, and Geology at West Point.
At this time, Huse was then actively serving as a First Lieutenant of Artillery for the U.S. Army; and, as such, was on the rolls of the garrison of Fort Sumter
. This same fort would later be fired upon by the Confederacy in the first military engagement of the Civil War.
In September 1860 while on extended leave of absence from the U.S. Army, Huse was selected by the University of Alabama
to oversee the adoption of the military system of West Point into their own curriculum. Huse accepted the offer and remained at the university until the outbreak of war, officially resigning his commission from the U.S. Army in February 1861, just months prior to the attack on Fort Sumter. Thereafter he continued his position as Superintendent, Professor of Chemistry, and Commandant of Cadets, which he had begun the previous year while he was still on leave.
Huse's appointment as Commandant caused some consternation for many of the students at the University, not only due to his strict disciplinary techniques (for which he had been hired), but also because of his origins in Massachusetts and the general Southern sentiments of the time. Despite this, Huse was able to convince the Alabama Legislature to provide funding for the university's military program, saving it from certain termination due to lack of money.
In April 1861, Huse received a telegram from the Confederate States Secretary of the Navy
, Stephen Mallory
, requesting him to meet with then Confederate States Secretary of War
LeRoy Pope Walker
and take a commission on behalf of Jefferson Davis for active service. Davis had designated Huse to go to Europe for the purchase of arms and military supplies for use in the South's war effort. Though he had made his decision to accept the offer ten days earlier, Huse officially accepted his commission as Major in the Confederate Army on April 12, 1861, the same day Fort Sumter was fired upon.
In order to reach Europe, Huse left immediately first for New York, where he acquired financing for his trip from James Welsman of Trenholm Brothers Co., and then proceeded on to Portland, Maine
for departure to Europe. He needed to traverse the Northern States at the risk of being captured, tried for treason, and consequently executed, should his mission be discovered.
Huse arrived safely in Liverpool
, England
on May 10, 1861. His first mandate was to purchase 12,000 rifles and a battery of field artillery, and to procure one or two guns of larger caliber as models. Huse's first contract was with the London Armoury Company
, where he identified, outbid, and outmaneuvered Union arms agents such as George Schuyler and Marcellus Hartley to secure the bid. Unlike many of his Union counterparts, Huse possessed a military background and more importantly, he had the ability to make financial decisions without government consent. This would allow him to eventually secure for the Confederacy all of the weapons from London Armoury for the entire length of the war. The Confederacy was now the London Armoury Company's principal client and it manufactured and shipped more than 70,000 rifles and about 7,000 revolvers (out of a total production run of about 10,000) to the South. However these weapons had to pass through the Union blockade and the number that actually reached the Confederate army is unknown. Confederates acclaimed the Armoury's guns as the best weapons made in Britain. As a result of the contract, London Armoury Company became almost completely dependent on sales to the Confederacy. The company would dissolve in the Spring of 1866, only a year after the end of the war.
While living in Europe, Huse worked closely with a network of Confederate agents and representatives, including William L. Yancey, Walker Fearn, Pierre Adolphe Rost
, Ambrose Dudley Mann
, L. Q. C. Lamar, Edward C. Anderson, and James D. Bulloch, with money funneled to them from the Confederacy through Fraser, Trenholm & Co., of Liverpool and its American counterparts. Most of this money was acquired by the sale or direct transfer of cotton which had successfully breached the Union Naval Blockade. During the first years of the Civil War the money for arms purchase was readily available and Huse had little trouble securing large contracts, seldom needing to rely on the traditional use of government credit, which the CSA, as a belligerent nation, did not possess.
The purchase of weapons without the use of credit only made European manufactures more eager to do business with the Confederacy, and the leaky Union blockade served as only a minor problem until the final year of the war. Huse served no superiors in Europe and reported directly only to the Secretary of War of the CSA and its senior levels within the Confederate government. He was effectively given carte blanche to make whatever transaction he chose as long as it fell within his regularly changing budget.
Because of his military experience, Huse primarily sought quality rifles, avoiding the smooth bore muskets that had since become outdated. In particular he sought English-made Pattern 1853 Enfield
rifles, and avoided the Prussian and French weapons which were considered inferior at the time. There were relatively few quality arms for sale in Europe, as the various nations were still upgrading their arsenals to the more sophisticated weapons of the age. However, one of Huse's larger contracts was with Austria, from whom he purchased 100,000 quality rifles of the latest Austrian pattern, and ten six-piece batteries of field artillery, harnessed and ready for service with accompanying ammunition. Austria had decided to switch to gun-cotton, thus making the gunpowder rifles undesirable, and thereby allowing Huse to purchase modernized weapons in mass quantities, something which the South desperately needed. Austria would later overturn its decision to use gun-cotton, but they had since already sold their arsenal to the CSA. This opened one of the greatest arsenals of Europe to the South.
During his time in Europe, Huse was constantly under surveillance by agents and detectives employed by the U.S. Government as well as volunteer spies working against the Confederacy. He assisted on many occasions with the transfer of clandestine communications between officials in Europe and those in the Confederacy, including the necessary planning and organization required by blockade runners for breaking the Union lines, as well as the purchasing of vessels to make the runs.
The Union was also seeking arms from Europe, leading to a heated procurement race, each side trying to buy all the available inventory as quickly as possible and thereby keep the weapons out of the hands of the enemy. In most cases Huse successfully outmaneuvered his counterparts, forcing the Union to manufacture most of their weapons domestically.
Huse would go on to establish the Highland Falls Academy, also known as "The Rocks", a military preparatory school designed for young men who planned to attend West Point. General John J. Pershing
would attend this school before entering West Point, and then later command the American Expeditionary Force in World War I.
Huse died in his home on March 12, 1905 in Highland Falls, New York
from complications related to surgery.
, and moved in high social circles throughout the South. Before the war he received a commission as Colonel by the governor of Alabama, though he was a First Lieutenant in the U.S. Army and only 30 years old. His wife was Southern and this may also have influenced his decision. Instead of accepting a transfer to Washington, D.C. in early 1861, he resigned his U.S. Army commission to remain a professor at the University of Alabama. He adopted the state as his new family home.
Confederate States Army
The Confederate States Army was the army of the Confederate States of America while the Confederacy existed during the American Civil War. On February 8, 1861, delegates from the seven Deep South states which had already declared their secession from the United States of America adopted the...
, acting primarily as an arms procurement agent and purchasing specialist during the American Civil War
American Civil War
The American Civil War was a civil war fought in the United States of America. In response to the election of Abraham Lincoln as President of the United States, 11 southern slave states declared their secession from the United States and formed the Confederate States of America ; the other 25...
. He is most well known for his successful acquisition of weapons contracts with various European nations including the United Kingdom, Austria, and to a lesser extent, France, Prussia, and Bohemia. A majority of the weapons imported to the Confederacy from foreign powers during the war were negotiated for and purchased by Huse.
Early life
Huse was born in Newburyport, MassachusettsNewburyport, Massachusetts
Newburyport is a small coastal city in Essex County, Massachusetts, United States, 35 miles northeast of Boston. The population was 21,189 at the 2000 census. A historic seaport with a vibrant tourism industry, Newburyport includes part of Plum Island...
. Though a Northerner by birth, he was personally commissioned by Jefferson Davis
Jefferson Davis
Jefferson Finis Davis , also known as Jeff Davis, was an American statesman and leader of the Confederacy during the American Civil War, serving as President for its entire history. He was born in Kentucky to Samuel and Jane Davis...
to serve the Confederacy upon the outbreak of hostilities in 1861.
Huse enrolled at the United States Military Academy
United States Military Academy
The United States Military Academy at West Point is a four-year coeducational federal service academy located at West Point, New York. The academy sits on scenic high ground overlooking the Hudson River, north of New York City...
at the age of 16 and graduated seventh in his class in 1851. Thereafter he spent many years as an instructor of Chemistry, Mineralogy, and Geology at West Point.
At this time, Huse was then actively serving as a First Lieutenant of Artillery for the U.S. Army; and, as such, was on the rolls of the garrison of Fort Sumter
Fort Sumter
Fort Sumter is a Third System masonry coastal fortification located in Charleston Harbor, South Carolina. The fort is best known as the site upon which the shots initiating the American Civil War were fired, at the Battle of Fort Sumter.- Construction :...
. This same fort would later be fired upon by the Confederacy in the first military engagement of the Civil War.
In September 1860 while on extended leave of absence from the U.S. Army, Huse was selected by the University of Alabama
University of Alabama
The University of Alabama is a public coeducational university located in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, United States....
to oversee the adoption of the military system of West Point into their own curriculum. Huse accepted the offer and remained at the university until the outbreak of war, officially resigning his commission from the U.S. Army in February 1861, just months prior to the attack on Fort Sumter. Thereafter he continued his position as Superintendent, Professor of Chemistry, and Commandant of Cadets, which he had begun the previous year while he was still on leave.
Huse's appointment as Commandant caused some consternation for many of the students at the University, not only due to his strict disciplinary techniques (for which he had been hired), but also because of his origins in Massachusetts and the general Southern sentiments of the time. Despite this, Huse was able to convince the Alabama Legislature to provide funding for the university's military program, saving it from certain termination due to lack of money.
Civil War years
During the American Civil War, the South lacked sufficient ability to produce weapons in large quantities, due largely to a previous reliance on Northern manufacture. As a result, the South required assistance from foreign powers for building and replenishment of its arsenal.In April 1861, Huse received a telegram from the Confederate States Secretary of the Navy
Confederate States Navy
The Confederate States Navy was the naval branch of the Confederate States armed forces established by an act of the Confederate Congress on February 21, 1861. It was responsible for Confederate naval operations during the American Civil War...
, Stephen Mallory
Stephen Mallory
Stephen Russell Mallory served in the United States Senate as, Senator from Florida from 1850 to the secession of his home state and the outbreak of the American Civil War. For much of that period, he was chairman of the Committee on Naval Affairs...
, requesting him to meet with then Confederate States Secretary of War
Confederate States Secretary of War
The Confederate States Secretary of War was a member of the Confederate States President's Cabinet during the Civil War. The Secretary of War led the Confederate States Department of War. The position ended in May 1865 when the Confederacy crumbled during John C. Breckinridge's tenure of the...
LeRoy Pope Walker
LeRoy Pope Walker
LeRoy Pope Walker was the first Confederate States Secretary of War.-Early life and career:Walker was born near Huntsville, Alabama in 1817, the son of John Williams Walker and Matilda Pope, and a grandson of LeRoy Pope. He was educated by private tutors, then attended universities in Alabama and...
and take a commission on behalf of Jefferson Davis for active service. Davis had designated Huse to go to Europe for the purchase of arms and military supplies for use in the South's war effort. Though he had made his decision to accept the offer ten days earlier, Huse officially accepted his commission as Major in the Confederate Army on April 12, 1861, the same day Fort Sumter was fired upon.
In order to reach Europe, Huse left immediately first for New York, where he acquired financing for his trip from James Welsman of Trenholm Brothers Co., and then proceeded on to Portland, Maine
Portland, Maine
Portland is the largest city in Maine and is the county seat of Cumberland County. The 2010 city population was 66,194, growing 3 percent since the census of 2000...
for departure to Europe. He needed to traverse the Northern States at the risk of being captured, tried for treason, and consequently executed, should his mission be discovered.
Huse arrived safely in Liverpool
Liverpool
Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough of Merseyside, England, along the eastern side of the Mersey Estuary. It was founded as a borough in 1207 and was granted city status in 1880...
, England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
on May 10, 1861. His first mandate was to purchase 12,000 rifles and a battery of field artillery, and to procure one or two guns of larger caliber as models. Huse's first contract was with the London Armoury Company
London Armoury Company
The London Armoury Company was a London arms manufactory that existed from 1856 until 1866. It was the major arms supplier to the Confederacy during the U.S. Civil War....
, where he identified, outbid, and outmaneuvered Union arms agents such as George Schuyler and Marcellus Hartley to secure the bid. Unlike many of his Union counterparts, Huse possessed a military background and more importantly, he had the ability to make financial decisions without government consent. This would allow him to eventually secure for the Confederacy all of the weapons from London Armoury for the entire length of the war. The Confederacy was now the London Armoury Company's principal client and it manufactured and shipped more than 70,000 rifles and about 7,000 revolvers (out of a total production run of about 10,000) to the South. However these weapons had to pass through the Union blockade and the number that actually reached the Confederate army is unknown. Confederates acclaimed the Armoury's guns as the best weapons made in Britain. As a result of the contract, London Armoury Company became almost completely dependent on sales to the Confederacy. The company would dissolve in the Spring of 1866, only a year after the end of the war.
While living in Europe, Huse worked closely with a network of Confederate agents and representatives, including William L. Yancey, Walker Fearn, Pierre Adolphe Rost
Pierre Adolphe Rost
Pierre Adolphe Rost was a Louisiana politician, diplomat, lawyer, judge, and plantation owner.- Early Life and Emigration to the United States :...
, Ambrose Dudley Mann
Ambrose Dudley Mann
Ambrose Dudley Mann was the first United States Assistant Secretary of State and a commissioner for the Confederate States....
, L. Q. C. Lamar, Edward C. Anderson, and James D. Bulloch, with money funneled to them from the Confederacy through Fraser, Trenholm & Co., of Liverpool and its American counterparts. Most of this money was acquired by the sale or direct transfer of cotton which had successfully breached the Union Naval Blockade. During the first years of the Civil War the money for arms purchase was readily available and Huse had little trouble securing large contracts, seldom needing to rely on the traditional use of government credit, which the CSA, as a belligerent nation, did not possess.
The purchase of weapons without the use of credit only made European manufactures more eager to do business with the Confederacy, and the leaky Union blockade served as only a minor problem until the final year of the war. Huse served no superiors in Europe and reported directly only to the Secretary of War of the CSA and its senior levels within the Confederate government. He was effectively given carte blanche to make whatever transaction he chose as long as it fell within his regularly changing budget.
Because of his military experience, Huse primarily sought quality rifles, avoiding the smooth bore muskets that had since become outdated. In particular he sought English-made Pattern 1853 Enfield
Pattern 1853 Enfield
The Enfield Pattern 1853 Rifle-Musket was a .577 calibre Minié-type muzzle-loading rifle-musket, used by the British Empire from 1853 to 1867, after which many Enfield 1853 Rifle-Muskets were converted to the cartridge-loaded Snider-Enfield rifle.-History &...
rifles, and avoided the Prussian and French weapons which were considered inferior at the time. There were relatively few quality arms for sale in Europe, as the various nations were still upgrading their arsenals to the more sophisticated weapons of the age. However, one of Huse's larger contracts was with Austria, from whom he purchased 100,000 quality rifles of the latest Austrian pattern, and ten six-piece batteries of field artillery, harnessed and ready for service with accompanying ammunition. Austria had decided to switch to gun-cotton, thus making the gunpowder rifles undesirable, and thereby allowing Huse to purchase modernized weapons in mass quantities, something which the South desperately needed. Austria would later overturn its decision to use gun-cotton, but they had since already sold their arsenal to the CSA. This opened one of the greatest arsenals of Europe to the South.
During his time in Europe, Huse was constantly under surveillance by agents and detectives employed by the U.S. Government as well as volunteer spies working against the Confederacy. He assisted on many occasions with the transfer of clandestine communications between officials in Europe and those in the Confederacy, including the necessary planning and organization required by blockade runners for breaking the Union lines, as well as the purchasing of vessels to make the runs.
The Union was also seeking arms from Europe, leading to a heated procurement race, each side trying to buy all the available inventory as quickly as possible and thereby keep the weapons out of the hands of the enemy. In most cases Huse successfully outmaneuvered his counterparts, forcing the Union to manufacture most of their weapons domestically.
After the war
Although the exact figures are not known, it is believed that by the end of the war Huse had procured munitions for the Confederacy whose value exceeded $10 million. After the collapse of the Confederacy, he was left nearly penniless and returned to the United States in 1868.Huse would go on to establish the Highland Falls Academy, also known as "The Rocks", a military preparatory school designed for young men who planned to attend West Point. General John J. Pershing
John J. Pershing
John Joseph "Black Jack" Pershing, GCB , was a general officer in the United States Army who led the American Expeditionary Forces in World War I...
would attend this school before entering West Point, and then later command the American Expeditionary Force in World War I.
Huse died in his home on March 12, 1905 in Highland Falls, New York
Highland Falls, New York
Highland Falls, formerly named Buttermilk Falls, is a village in Orange County, New York, United States. The population was 3,678 at the 2000 census. The village was founded in 1906...
from complications related to surgery.
Reasons for joining the Confederacy
Huse had close associations with many Southerners prior to the war. While at West Point he served under Robert E. LeeRobert E. Lee
Robert Edward Lee was a career military officer who is best known for having commanded the Confederate Army of Northern Virginia in the American Civil War....
, and moved in high social circles throughout the South. Before the war he received a commission as Colonel by the governor of Alabama, though he was a First Lieutenant in the U.S. Army and only 30 years old. His wife was Southern and this may also have influenced his decision. Instead of accepting a transfer to Washington, D.C. in early 1861, he resigned his U.S. Army commission to remain a professor at the University of Alabama. He adopted the state as his new family home.
Weapons collecting
Many, but not all, of the weapons purchased by Caleb Huse were inspected by him and his contracted buyers. As a result, these weapons often still carry inspection marks that are valuable identifiers for historians and weapons collectors. Huse's marking is usually seen as a small circle containing the letters "CH", and often located on the comb of the stock near the top tang of the buttplate. It is valuable to collectors because it provides proof of Confederate purchase.Further reading
- Secret Missions of the Civil War by Philip Van Doren Stern
- Major Caleb Huse C.S.A. & S Isaac Campbell & Co: The Arms, Clothing and Equipment Supplied to the Confederate States of America 1861-64 by David Burt
- Supplies for the Confederate Army, by Caleb Huse at Project Gutenburg
- Lifeline of the Confederacy by Stephen R. Wise