Regimental Armorer Tools

[Johan Steele]

My impression is that of a 3rd Sgt w/ the additional duty of the Regimental Armorer. I have aquired a nice, and I feel, appropriate selection of period tools. With one exception all in the photograph are original. At this point I'm just looking for a period brace, easier said than done as all I've managed to find are 40 odd years too young and obviously so. But that is the one tool I know I still need.

I was suprised to discover mention of a "wood teez," it took me a little research to find out what that meant. Turns out the reference was for a wooden tweezer. Apparently this was used to handle certain screws to avoid damaging the threads.

My current tool box holds a small selection of files, a variety of original musket tools, sight wrench, some calipers, several different sized period screwdrivers, brass pick, small smithy hammer and a small portable vice (I'm told it is a tinner vice circa 1850-1880 but am not certain), tin funnel and several bottles of oil, linseed oil, homeade wooden tweezer, and one of good alcohol. I carry a good folding knife in my pocket for cutting cleaning patches.

The tool box is simply a recycled .58 crate. With a small & simple homeade folding table & a simple wood slab w/ 4 peg legs for a work space. I'm currently polishing my ability to make the stool from scratch at every event.

What I'm looking for are any constructive suggestions to improve my tool kit. A suggestion of a source for an affordable period brace would be appreciated.

[briangauthier]

John,

I'm trying to do a similar impression, but don't know where to start at all. Would it be asking too much to ask you to send me a list of all the pieces you have? I have next to nothing but would like to get a hold of a laundry list to start up my own company armorer impression.

Sincerely,

[Johan Steele]

I have a selection of original musket tools: Original Enfield Sgt tool (repros that I've seen are crap), Lorenz tool, M1861 tool (the repros are garbage), a US Pin Punch & reproduction mainspring vice are all what I would consider the bare minimum. I can't talk strongly how poor quality the repop musket tools are and originals are available consistantly for about $50 +/- at antique tool shows and I've seen them for considerably less.

I had a hard time acquiring the period screw drivers, I was about to follow a suggestion on a set of Grace Screw drivers and just sand off the names but I came across those shown for a song. Proper screwdrivers are important, the proper sized blade is vital IMO and I lucked out. The flat handle models you see are of a period style but the Grace Gunsmith tools avail through Dixie or Track o the Wolf are as well. All metal loop handle ones are as well.

The calipers are of three different sizes for stock work, bands & such and probably really not needed. The hammer I stumbled across at an estate sale for $6 and snapped it up. No kit is ever complete w/out a good hammer, it's hand forged. I was suprised how often I've run across hand forged hammers since I stopped looking for them. Usually in the $25-50 range at antique shops. I had acquired a pair of what I thought were period pliers/tongs but discovered they were handmade 1880 at the earliest. I intend to pick up some period tongs, hoping my source comes through. But they can be had, apparently though the indicator that they aren't period is the claws in the jaw. If the teeth are cut in w/ a hand saw it's apparently of the period and prior, sometimes they were made from old files as well which can be another indicator of a period tool.

The tinners vice was a bit of luck and an accidental find, probably paid too much for it but a hand forged vice is a rare find and IMO worth any reasonable price. I cut up an old set of streamer brogans for leather pads for the vice. A leather smiths glove can do as well.

Good nipple picks are a must, I have three different sizes plus a brass rod that I turned in a lathe into a point. The brass rod is quite useful for getting stubborn fouling out from the outside of the bolster as well as a good backing for a polishing cloth. Mr Watts uses a square nail in addition to a pick which works well but I opted for the rod as the public keeps walking off w/ my square nails.

I have a salvaged piece from a broken chair leg that I use as a wooden tapping mallet for loosening stubborn bands.

The plus side to all of this is that w/ the exception of the tinners vice I don't think I paid more than $50 for any one tool. Total cost was probably less than $150 for all the other tools you see in the pic. What you don't see is the ball puller or the worm. I have a homeade brass range rod and a leather strap for pulling stuck ramrods. A good sharp pocketknife or patch knife is useful for making your own patches. A couple three small glass bottles w/ corks for oils is useful. I use tin match safes to store my extra screws.

I have a tin w/ several mainsprings and nipples as they are the most common breakage. The modern tools I carry are a set of small files which I've filed off the modern markings & a modern thread guage because some repops use metric and using the wrong screw is a mistake.

I'm still looking for a period brace and fear that will cost me more than I want to spend. But I want to do this right.

IMO a Company Armorer would only carry the tools he could stash in a bad in his knapsack. Probably little more than a good musket tool and maybe a few other small items. My own idea is these tools are to be tossed in w/ the ammo or commisary wagon.

Over the years I've stumbled across several passing references to regimental Armorers in the field, never an Ordnance Sgt, both occasions where I remember an Ordnance Sgt it was a regular Sgt w/ the additional duty of an armorer. I've never found a list of tools in an "Armorer's tool set" as mentioned in the muanals. I've found the list of tools provided an armorer in an armory, but don't feel them appropriate for the armorer in the field. Luckily my father was an armorer in his stint in the army so I've been able to run ideas by him; knowing full well there was a century between his service and the armorer of the ACW. but something my father said rang so true that I keep it in mind for my impression. "Soldier first, armorer second." You have to be able to carry the tools and any excess weight is a hinderance.

Good Luck

[briangauthier]

I seem to remember seeing it in Hardtack and Coffee, but I could be mistaken.

[Todd Watts]

The position of Regimental Armorer was there but there is precious little known about them. I have been studying the role for almost a decade now and am as stumped now as when I started. I have seen references to them on both sides, sometimes referring to them as artificers, gunsmiths, and company armorers. One such mention was of a Corporal in the 3rd Ark. Inf. listing his occupation on a muster roll as "gunsmith." I found another mention of a man who'd been a gunsmith before enlisting into a NY reg't being removed from the lines and made a Regimental armorer along with the Ord Sgt. There seems to have been some sort of position but no sort of uniform standards regarding any kits or tools and no ensignia I can find. I went so far as to write to West Point a few years ago asking if they were aware of any histories of the Army armorers, but never got a reply. I copied some things down over the years as I learned them, but who-knows today where I have put those notes.

What I have done is collect period-tools where practical and put them into a wooden box I simply bought from a modern shooting catalog that looks fairly period-correct. I replaced its phillips screws with straight slotted screws and stocked it with items to use or let spectators see. In the large bottom area neatly wrapped in cloth to hide it from casual view is my "working" tools to let me do repairs in camp. Being a gunsmith, I commonly get guns even from other units over to me with broken springs, lost screws, rammer tips broken off, missing sights etc. I am able to repair most things in camp even up to soldering but would not want to try that without my modern solder and butane pencil torch. I am more interested in actually getting things done regarding our guns than in period-correct proceedures so I do what needs to be done to get a gun back into shooting condition. When spectators are near and if possible, I hide the modern tools and use or display the period-tools.

In the field, I keep a few tools in my haversack so I can fix things in the field. I found myself once at the 140th Battle of Franklin lying on the ground behind our hotly-engaged line rapidly doing simple fixes to guys' guns to get them back into the fight. I spent perhaps 15 mins there and repaired 4-5 guns, which were mainly just heavily fouled, but 1 had a mainspring so tight against the inlet that I think heat from the barrel had swelled the wood to bind the spring thus halting hammer rotation. I discovered that after backing the lock screw out a tad and it started working again. That was 1 HOT gun! It was that day that got me interested in the armorer and after reading I started realizing that this sort of on-the-field weapon repair was probably common.

If you pay attention to accounts of battle, there are mentions of men streaming back from the lines with weapons out of commission. I have noticed mentions of guys cleaning guns close to the fights. I do not think an actual armorer would be on the field during action, but just as today, there would be someone capable of doing simple field repairs close by. It is my belief that there was some man in most companies, just like in our re-enacting units, that was the "go-to" guy that could rip muskets down and reassemble them in no time and able to fix things quickly. Just as I have found myself behind the line fixing 1 guy's gun only to have 2 more show up as I finish the 1st, these guys back then had to have had the same thing happen to them. It is just something that was never discussed in enough detail to answer the questions we have today.

I WELCOME and BEG FOR anyone's research regarding this virtually lost military position. It existed, but that is about all we know for sure.

OH! I nearly forgot. When I was in college a history professor of mine told me about his and a friend's discovery of one of these armorer's camps along an old rock wall in west Nashville. They were relic hunting along the wall and found a grove of large old trees atop a slight rise where the wall ran. There was a stream there and they decided it looked liek a great place for soldiers to have relaxed or camped so they started detecting and found a lot of broken gun parts. He showed me a couple of broken musket hammers, a bent rammer, some various screws and nails, bullets, and other generic junk. He told me that it appeared that someone had been there repairing a lot of guns and tossing worthless parts on the ground. From what it sounded like then and now to me was a regiment's armorer/artificer had a wagon there and was busy repairing guns on that pleasant place. Likely, it was a US armorer being in the Nashville area since that area was essentially in US control the entire war, but that area is far enough from town that it is possible that a CS armorer either in early '62 or during Hood's "seige" of Nashville could have been there.

[Johan Steele]

Mr Watts, again a thank you for the assistance you have provided.

[David Fox]

A most interesting impression and concurrently useful, especially at events where there are no gunsmith-sutlers. A thought: in 'most any engagement of consequence as casualties are incurred, spare firearms are regrettably available; repairing weapons rendered out-of-order would be redundant. One also recollects on Culp's Hill at Gettysburg General Greene, the oldest (and one of the wisest) of Union general officers rotated regiments on the firing line so men could take a breather, refill cartridge boxes, and clean and otherwise put their muskets back in order. As an aside, there has always been the right way and the Army way. When I was undergoing advanced training at Fort Sill, in my unit was a practicing gunsmith. The Army was training him to aim field artillery.

[Todd Watts]

http://pabucktail.com/Reference/coates.htm
http://www.civilwarhome.com/sharps.htm
http://www.100thpenn.com/georgewthompsonbio.htm
http://www.usregulars.com/Customs%20...ice/COS03.html
444. A strict account of the arms, therefore, is necessary, and tends to keep them in good order; for if the soldiers find that they are to pay every loss or deficiency, they will take care of them as if they were their own personal property. The arms should bear the letter of the company and be numbered, and each soldier should have his corresponding number issued to him. If the arms cannot be so lettered and numbered from the arsenal, it can be done by the regimental armorer.
http://books.google.com/books?id=0ib...age&q=&f=false
P168 Cyrus Longyear appointed artificer and reg’t armorer.

Attached are some quick links I located mentioning the position discussed. I have noticed that the units with Sharps guns were actually authorized to hire a gunsmith/armorer to maintain the guns. Whether these guys were "in the rear with the gear" or actually on active campaign with their regiments is hard to say. My personal guess is they were along with the regiment's supply train where a travelling forge and assorted wagons would be, but had to be within fairly easy walking access by the men once in park so men could get guns to the armorer. Just my hypothesis for whatever it is worth.

[Johan Steele]

IMO a Regimental Armoroer would have been even more important to a Regiment of Infantry in the early part of the War, say pre mid 63, where Regiments might have 5-6 differnt kinds of weapons. And unless a US made arm of Hall pattern or M1841 & later it was not likely interchangeable. So filing and fitting was required, and filing and fitting by someone who knew the difference between a hammer and a mainspring. Dealing w/ Austrian, French, German, English etc arms required some work to put them back in order, and a weapon was not going to be condemned for a broken mainspring or broken cone.

With the volunteer Regiments especially the gunsmith in the ranks is going to be known and he already knows how to do a good portion of the job so training or retraining will be minimal. Unlike today the Regulars & volunteer officers had a little more control in assigning troops to specific duties.

The kit available to an Ordnance Sgt included enough spare parts to keep 1000 arms in working order for a year, it is interesting to look at that parts list. It gives an idea of what was expected to be needed. By and far nipples and mainsprings head the list w/ various screws right behind. As any smithy will tell you the right screw is a necessity, unnecesarily retapping is right out.

As for culling the field of excess arms... you have to carry the field to do that. Which IMO would make a CS armorer in the western armies even more vital. Not so much for the eastern boys who were better supplied and more consistantly equipped as well as closer to their bases of operation. The Arms returns for Forrests command, while certainly not neccesarily an indicator for all CS Cav units, would show a lot of work for an armorer of any kind.

The instances I have found of Regt Armorers are of men doing it as an additional duty and all as NCO's.

One particular ord return, Aug of 63 IIRC, has always interested me as it showed one company w/ M1841, M1842 (both rifled & smooth), M1861, and P53. W/ the exception of the M1842 all at least in .58. The Regiment as a whole showed .54, .58, .69, .71. Minimal consistant parts commanality, not the work of the average private to fit any pieces together that might need some work. Frankly, not the job of the QM who has plenty of work to do already just feeding and clothing the men. The job of the Regt Armorer is defined, IIRC, in the 61 Ord Manual & 64 the Instructions for making Quarterly returns.

Exerpted from Instructions for Making Quarterly Returns of Ordnance and Ordnance Stores 1 May 1864. Para 65. Regimental Armorers.-Commanding oficers of all regiments armed with any muskets, rifles or carbines, other than the Springfield rifled musket, 1855-'61-'63, are authorized to detail from their regiments a competent and skillful mechanic to act
as an armorer to repair the arms of the regiment. Requisitions for a set of armorers' tools, and such spare parts as are required, stating particularly the kind and calibre of the arm, will be made by commanders of regiments entitled to armorers under this order; which requisitions, after being duly approved at the department or army headquarters, will be forwarded to the Chief of Ordnance, at Washington, for final action. Genl Orders, No 189, A.G.O., Washington, November 18,1862

Para 66. Payment of Armorers- Regimental armorers are no longer entitled to extra pay."

As is evident in 1864 extra pay for the regimental armorer was eliminated suggesting that there had been prior, how much? For some reason the sum of $2 a month comes to mind but I can't recall where the memory comes from. Also Para 65 pretty much spells it out that such a thing as a Regt Armorer existed at least in the US and even goes so far as to spell out that he was authorized a set of tools. What I've never found is a list of those tools but extrapalated one from the tools listed for an armorer in the Ordnance Manual. IMO a Regt armorer in the CS would be every bit if not more important.

[Pvt Schnapps]

The General Order authorizing regimental armorers:

War Dep't, Adjutant General's Office,

No. 189. Washington, November 18,1862.

I.—Commanding officers of all regiments armed with any muskets, rifles, or carbines, other than the Springfield Rifled Musket, model of 1855-'61, are authorized to detail from their regiments each a competent and skillful mechanic to act as an armorer to repair the arms of the regiment.

Suitable tools and the necessary spare parts will be provided by the Ordnance Department.

Accounts for the extra-duty pay allowed by paragraph 902, General Regulations for the Army, for such services, will be made, in duplicate, on Form No. 13, Ordnance Regulations, special blanks for which must be obtained from the Ordnance Bureau, City of Washington. These accounts, duly certified by the Regimental Commander, and accompanied by a certified copy of the Regimental Order placing the armorer on extra duty, will be forwarded to the Chief of Ordnance, Washington, D. C., or to the Chief Ordnance officer at the headquarters of the Department, or Army, for their approval; and, when so approved, will be paid at the nearest Arsenal, or by any Disbursing Officer of Ordnance in the field.

Requisitions for one set of armorer's tools, and such spare parts as are required, stating particularly the kind and calibre of the arm, will be made by Commanders of Regiments entitled to armorers under this order, which requisitions, after being duly approved at the Department, or Army, headquarters, will be forwarded to the Chief of Ordnance, at Washington, for final action.

II.—To meet the provisions of the above order, paragraph 905, General Regulations, is amended by inserting after the word " Companies," in the third line, the following: " and armorers for repairing arms of regiments serving as Infantry, or Cavalry."

III.—The fourth line of paragraph 1023, General Regulations is modified to read as follows: "may require—the tale of ordnance and ordnance stores excepted," &c.

By Order Of The Secretary Of War:

E. D. TOWNSEND, Assistant Adjutant General

Armorer's tools are listed on pp. 138-139 of the 1863 "Instructions for Making Quarterly Returns of Ordnance and Ordnance Stores" aka "Ordnance Memoranda No. 1." There are a lot of them, so you'll have to find the reference yourself. A number of sutlers have copies.

Kautz notes in Customs of Service for Noncommissioned Officers and Soldiers that the Regimental Armorer reports to the commanding officer (para. 282) and that notwithstanding the act of March 3 1863, extra-duty pay remained payable according to a decision of the Third Auditor pending revision of the Regulations. For clerks and other special detailees at division level and above, including military personnel in the departments in Washington, extra-duty pay remained payable to the end of the war. I think.

The Regulations provided, for soldiers east of the Rockies, per diem of twenty-five cents for unskilled and forty cents for skilled laborers (such as clerks and mechanics -- see para. 902). An armorer could then expect $12 extra a month -- quite a nice graft.

Even after the suspension of extra-duty pay at regimental level, he could at least stay on daily duty or detached service, which still beats getting shot at.