Mucket Evidence??

[annmaddox]

My husband & I are purchasing new cookware for our family.
However, he is now wondering about his mucket. He loves that thing for all his campaigning (W/out wife & daughters). Now he's afraid it might not be correct as we can't recall seeing any orginals...
I'm sure there are plenty of fellas here to help.
THanks!!

Ann Maddox
Palmetto Soldiers' Relief Society

[Jimmayo]

Re: Mucket Evidence??

This appears to me to be a mucket top. Any0ne else got an ID I am open for suggestions. I dug it in a 9th corps camp in Petersburg.

[Bob 125th NYSVI]

Re: Mucket Evidence??

While I don't know the credentials of the writer the current CCG has an article on muckets.

The author claims that they did exist (and Jim's photo certainly seems to support the claim) but it is probably over represented in reenactor ranks.

So it would be correct for him to have one but not everyone in the unit should and then you get into the who many should we have and who should be allowed to carry them.

The author contends that the 'can-on-a-wire' was probably more widely used served the same purpose and was more easily replaceable in the field or while on campaign.

[Craig L Barry]

Re: Mucket Evidence??

Bob:
I believe I am the guilty party that wrote the article in the recent Camp Chase Gazette called "A Good Tin Cup" recommending the tin can boiler from Otter Creek Tinware in lieu of a "mucket". In fact I used my tin can boiler yesterday at a "Save the Battlefield" Living History at Carnton Plantation in Franklin, TN. My credentials include: Asst Editor of the Watchdog Quarterly (an AC approved vendor) which specializes in mid 19th century material culture, and author of about 50 articles or so published in various magazines including, The Watchdog, Camp Chase and Civil War Historian. Author of the recent book, The Civil War Musket: A Handbook for Historical Accuracy, Lock Stock & Barrel. And co-editor along with William O. Adams of the upcoming Confederate research compendium, Wearing The Gray. In other words, I would classify myself as a student of 1860s material culture like the rest of us, but I am by no means a professional researcher. However I am probably capable of doing the sort of research that is sufficient for Civil War subject matter-niche book publication and Civil War hobbyist magazine articles.

As far as what we call a "mucket", the research on it suggested that a scarcity of surviving examples or dug artifacts support they were relatively rare in Civil War camps compared to "tin can boilers", which were quite common and widely noted in period accounts. There are footnotes in the article that will back this up. However, tin muckets were not unknown as Jim Mayo's photo of what appears to be a "mucket lid" supports. John Tobey reaches more or less the same conclusion in the recent publication Columbia Rifles Research Compendium Second Edition. Also IIRC, the period term "mucket" referred to a larger cooking pot (with a lid) bigger than a tin cup.

[Charles Heath]

Re: Mucket Evidence??

The author contends that the 'can-on-a-wire' was probably more widely used served the same purpose and was more easily replaceable in the field or while on campaign.

Bob,

And that piece of advice, probably shamelessly plagiarized from some other publication, as seems to be the trend at CCG these days, is at least 10-12 years behind the times. Why folks pop up to ask if a plethora of covered dippers are okay (every four months on average) is beyond comprehension.

With the exception of Jim Mayo's post, this thread isn't worth a pitcherful of warm spit.