Bilby, Joseph G. 1943–

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Bilby, Joseph G. 1943–

PERSONAL:

Born 1943, in Newark, NJ; married; children: three. Education: Seton Hall University, B.A., M.A.

ADDRESSES:

Home—NJ.

CAREER:

Writer, historical consultant, and military museum curator. New Jersey Department of Labor Central Investigation Office, supervising investigator, retired 2003; New Jersey National Guard Militia Museum, Sea Girt, NJ, currently part-time assistant curator. Has taught military history on the community college level and lectured widely on the Civil War. Served as a consultant for several television programs on the Civil War. Military service: U.S. Army, a lieutenant with the First Infantry Division in Vietnam.

MEMBER:

Irish Brigade Association, North-South Skirmish Association, Writers Association of America.

AWARDS, HONORS:

William Donovan Award for Excellence in Military Literature, 1997, for Remember Fontenoy!; Award of Excellence, Louisiana State University Civil War Center, for Civil War Firearms.

WRITINGS:

Forgotten Warriors: New Jersey's African American Soldiers in the Civil War, Longstreet House (Hightstown, NJ), 1993.

Three Rousing Cheers: A History of the Fifteenth New Jersey from Flemington to Appomattox, Longstreet House (Hightstown, NJ), 1993, revised edition, 2001.

Remember Fontenoy! The 69th New York and the Irish Brigade in the Civil War, Longstreet House (Hightstown, NJ), 1995.

Civil War Firearms: Their Historical Background and Tactical Use and Modern Collecting and Shooting, Combined Books (Conshohocken, PA), 1996.

(Editor, with Stephan D. O'Neill) My Sons Were Faithful and They Fought: The Irish Brigade at Antietam: an Anthology, Longstreet House (Hightstown, NJ), 1997.

(With William C. Goble) Remember You Are Jerseymen! A Military History of New Jersey's Troops in the Civil War, Longstreet House (Hightstown, NJ), 1998.

A Revolution in Arms: A History of the First Repeating Rifles, Westholme Publishing (Yardley, PA), 2005.

Small Arms at Gettysburg: Infantry and Cavalry Weapons in America's Greatest Battle, Westholme Publishing (Yardley, PA), 2007.

Sea Girt, New Jersey: A Brief History, History Press (Charleston, SC), 2008.

Author of more than 200 articles on history and outdoor subjects; columnist for Civil War News; contributing editor for Military Images magazine; historical firearms editor for Black Powder Times; wrote the liner notes for the CD album The Irish Volunteer.

SIDELIGHTS:

Joseph G. Bilby, who worked as a supervising investigator for the New Jersey Department of Labor Central Investigation Office, is a freelance writer and historian who has taught military history on the community college level, lectured widely on the Civil War, and written numerous articles on New Jersey and military history. He is the author or editor of several books focusing on these topics. For example, Bilby's Forgotten Warriors: New Jersey's African American Soldiers in the Civil War is the first monograph on black soldiers from a single state. Published with the aid of a grant from the New Jersey Historical Commission, Remember Fontenoy! The 69th New York and the Irish Brigade in the Civil War is the first annotated history of this famous unit in 130 years. The 1998 book Remember You Are Jerseymen! A Military History of New Jersey's Troops in the Civil War, written by Bilby and William C. Goble, features chapters on every regiment and battery and also covers the draft. In addition, it includes biographies of general officers and quarterly ordnance reports on weapons carried by all units.

A Revolution in Arms: A History of the First Repeating Rifles was called "eminently readable and instructive" by North Carolina Historical Review contributor Joseph C. Porter. Writing in the Journal of Military History, Mark Barloon commented: "Because of his intimate knowledge of black powder weaponry, military history, and the American Civil War, Bilby is one of a select group of writers with the requisite background to author such a study. His multidisciplinary approach gives A Revolution in Arms broad appeal."

Historians have often written about the American Civil War as the first modern war because the armies used such new technologies of the time as observation balloons, the telegraph, trains, ironclad ships, and other innovations. The author tells the story of how two New England inventors, Benjamin Tyler Henry and Christopher Spencer, combined numerous generations of cartridge and rifle technology to develop reliable repeating rifles. In his book, the author provides a comprehensive history of not only the development of the repeating rifle technology but also how the advancement was ultimately used during the Civil War.

The author begins by providing a brief history of human beings search for better weapons, from slings to throw stones through the development of spears, bow and arrow, and ultimately gunpowder and rifles. The author goes on to write of Samuel Colt and his development of the repeating pistol. However, a better cartridge was needed for a repeating rifle. "The mechanics of the matchlock, flintlock and percussion systems are explained in order to set the background for the desire to create a firearm that would fire faster and could be loaded from the breech," wrote Dale E. Biever on the Civil War News Web site. Bilby examines how such a cartridge was developed and how the Henry and Spencer brands of repeating rifles finally were incorporated into the war. After comparing their use in a wide range of battles, from Louisville to Gettysburg, the author closes with an examination of the use of repeating rifles at the end of the war and the fate of military repeaters in the postwar army. The book includes maps, photos, and illustrations.

"A Revolution in Arms is well-written and researched," wrote Dale E. Biever on the Civil War News Web site. "There are extensive notes and an excellent bibliography." Steven E. Sodergren, writing in Military Review, noted that the author's "comprehensive depiction of repeating rifles from their initial conception … through their first use (and misuse) on the battlefield reveals the mixed record that the American military has had with technological innovation."

Bilby told CA: "My teachers at St. Rose of Lima Grammar School in Newark, New Jersey, and Our Lady of the Valley High School in Orange, New Jersey, first got me interested in writing. I was also influenced by reading the work of New Jersey historian John C. Cunningham, as well as by my deep interest in the New York/New Jersey region, where I have deep personal as well as historical roots.

"With regard to my writing process, first I read a lot of basic works and primary sources on the subject and think a lot about it. I then write a rough draft, which actually begins as I am doing the research, and then go back and forth over it to polish, add details, and change things as my thoughts evolve, until I see what I think is a finished project—but always subject to revision in light of new information.

"The most surprising thing I have learned as a writer is that I was one.

"Usually my latest book is my favorite one, because as a writer, researcher, and historian, you are constantly growing—or you should be."