Benjamin Austin can give you a tune up and a Civil War lesson

History Revealed

He may own Tune Up car repair shop, but when you talk history with Benjamin Austin, you would think you were conversing with a professor or a history expert. Austin did become a history expert, particularly in the subject of The Battle of Selma during the Civil War.

“There was a reason Federalists troops came to Selma. The city was the second most weapon-producing place in the war. It was also hard to reach deep in the Confederacy and on the Alabama River, close to coal and iron fields in the upper Cahaba Valley,” Austin said.

During the Civil War, Selma produced bullets, muzzle-loading guns, leather goods, bayonets, canteens, hand-grenades, and canons manufactured at the Selma Gun Foundry. The most used was the seven-inch canon, like the one in front of the Selma City Hall today.

“Selma also produced a submarine, the C.S.S. St. Patrick. The vessel was hand-cranked and constantly attacked federal ships,” Austin said. “Selma was on the federal map. They needed to stop their weapon production.”

The actual Battle of Selma took place on the evening of April 2, 1865. Gen. Wilson sent his troops consisting of 9,000 soldiers and attacked Selma. Gen. Forest had to defend the city with 2,500 -4,000 troops, only 1,500 of which were reliable.

“Selma was defended by line of earthworks, a line of trenches around the city about three miles away on the Northern side. The earthworks could fit 20,000 men, but only 4,000 men were at hand, so they did the best they could. When General Wilson attacked the earthworks, he lost lots of men, but they were able to defeat the Confederates, who fell back toward Selma,” Austin said.

History books describe how General Wilson attacked again, and how the Confederates withdrew and fled the city. General Wilson came into the city and fires began to burn.

A soldier wrote, “They set fire to a large cotton store house near the arsenal, and an immense quantity of cotton was burned. Fire raging all night, soldiers, many of them drunk and plundering the city. Women and children screaming, soldiers yelling and screaming. This is the most like the horrors of war I used to read off, a sacked city, burning at night, shrieking women, helpless children, a demoralized retreating army.”

I asked Austin why he is interested in the Battle of Selma, and in Civil War history.

“I’m a Selma resident, something caught my interest when I was growing up. I’ve served as President of the Museum of History and Archives and have spent so much time researching this subject. It’s a shame Selma is not marketed as a Civil War history site,” Austin said.

Perhaps Selma should be.