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**Mark Choate** · 10-29-2011, 06:14 PM

Re: Cavalry Ordnance issues from the CSR of Lt. J.T. Buck (A lot to see here)

Will,

Some interesting info in these posts. Gives a great idea as to what they had coming in during various eras of the war. Were these items ordered from the Memphis Depot as with your earlier post?

regards,
Mark

**Mississippian** · 10-29-2011, 06:28 PM

Re: Cavalry Ordnance issues from the CSR of Lt. J.T. Buck (A lot to see here)

No, Since Memphis had fallen to the Federal two year before all this stuff was issued. There was a QM and Ordnance Depot at Columbus Mississippi, but I'm sure a lot of this stuff came from places like Alabama and Georgia.

Will MacDonald

**Mississippian** · 10-29-2011, 06:34 PM

Re: Cavalry Ordnance issues from the CSR of Lt. J.T. Buck (A lot to see here)

For those interested, here is the OOB of the Chalmers's Division around Feb. 1864

1st Cavalry Brigade - Colonel W. F. Slemons

2nd Arkansas Cavalry Regiment --- Colonel W. F. Slemons
3rd Mississippi Cavalry Regiment--- Colonel John McGuirk
5th Mississippi Cavalry Regiment --- Colonel James Z. George
7th Tennessee Cavalry Regiment --- Colonel William L. Duckworth
Mississippi Battery --- Captain J. M. McLendon

2nd Cavalry Brigade - Colonel Robert McCulloch

1st Mississippi Partisan Ranger Regiment --- Lieutenant Colonel L. B. Hovis
18th Mississippi Cavalry Battalion --- Lieutenant Colonel Alexander H. Chalmers
19th Mississippi Cavalry Battalion --- Lieutenant colonel William L. Duff
2nd Missouri Cavalry Regiment --- Colonel Robert McCulloch
Buckner (Mississippi) Battery --- Lieutenant H. C. Holt

Will MacDonald

**Mark Choate** · 10-29-2011, 07:24 PM

Re: Cavalry Ordnance issues from the CSR of Lt. J.T. Buck (A lot to see here)

My bad, Will. I was still thinking this was from '62 as with your earlier post.

Long day................ :confused_

Mark

**rbruno** · 10-30-2011, 11:38 AM

Re: Cavalry Ordnance issues from the CSR of Lt. J.T. Buck (A lot to see here)

Ok,
What is a gun boot. I have an idea, but not sure. If it is what I think it is, I was always under the understanding they were post war. I have not seen that in an Eastern theater reports.

**Mississippian** · 10-30-2011, 04:59 PM

Re: Cavalry Ordnance issues from the CSR of Lt. J.T. Buck (A lot to see here)

Some things I didn't post but will in the future included condemned items that were turned over to the ordnance officers to be sent for repair, you see a lot of different arms, Enfields, Springfield Rifle Muskets, Smoothbore muskets, Smoothbore Musketoons, Sharps, Hall's, and even a few sabers.

Will MacDonald

**Ken Knopp** · 10-30-2011, 05:38 PM

Re: Cavalry Ordnance issues from the CSR of Lt. J.T. Buck (A lot to see here)

Mark, your intuition is correct. Gun boots are the same as carbine boots. Wish I could find a CS description or bonafide artifact of that item although they too probably varied widely. Ken

**rbruno** · 10-30-2011, 05:59 PM

Re: Cavalry Ordnance issues from the CSR of Lt. J.T. Buck (A lot to see here)

Ok, so if they were getting a gun boot and a gun sling, how were they used. Was it like the Mex. War when the carbine/rifle was on a sling till the trooper was mounted? Was a gun boot used with a muzzle loader or any particular type of long arm? Have to say I curious about this mainly because I always thought it was a post war thing.

**Mississippian** · 10-30-2011, 05:59 PM

Re: Cavalry Ordnance issues from the CSR of Lt. J.T. Buck (A lot to see here)

Ken,

Some of the early Memphis Arsenal ordnance forms list them as "Carbine Boots" and I just found a ordnance inventory for the Columbus MS Arsenal listing both "Carbine Boots" and "Boots, Double-Barrelled shot-gun", so they made variations to suit the weapon.

Will MacDonald

**Ken Knopp** · 10-30-2011, 08:24 PM

Re: Cavalry Ordnance issues from the CSR of Lt. J.T. Buck (A lot to see here)

Will, Now that's cool!! I had never seen a reference to "Boots, Double-Barrelled shot-gun". I can only speculate their difference from the other carbine boots is that they were made wider for accepting the double barrel?
Another interesting piece of the pie: Columbus is where the Memphis arsenal under Col Hunt relocated temporarily after Memphis fell. Alot of shotguns were refurbished and issued out of Memphis. Forrest outfitted his original regiment (the 3rd Tenn.) in Memphis and requisitioned them shotguns. A friend has some documentation on this as well as a collection of what he believes are Memphis issued shotguns- some with bayonet lugs too. Too bad we do not know what the boots looked like.

I believe LT John Buck became Chalmer's Ordnance Officer at some point (1863 I think). Years ago I went through alot of these ordnance officers files (Buck, Kerr under Wheeler, Robbins and a several others) but did not retain all of the information....wish now that I had. Sometimes one can find some real gold mines of information (I have often found fairly complete Ord reports in these files) or at least, info that can be crossed referenced later such as we are doing now.

Great stuff!

Ken R KNopp

**Mississippian** · 10-30-2011, 08:43 PM

Re: Cavalry Ordnance issues from the CSR of Lt. J.T. Buck (A lot to see here)

Ken,

At the time of the report (Aug, 3rd 1862) Columbus (aka the Briarfield Arsenal) had like 97 Shotgun boots on hand and 0 Carbine boots.

Columbus was where the Memphis Arsenal and QM Depot was relocated, they both stayed there until at least mid 1864 from what I can tell. The State of Mississippi also had an arsenal there where they were working on arms for State Troops.

I really think we have only just scratched the surface of what info there is in the CSR's. So often I find really good reports in the files of random company grade officers with no regular association to the QM or Ordnance department because there were so many temporary appointments made to brigade and division staffs.

Will MacDonald

**Ken Knopp** · 10-30-2011, 09:58 PM

Re: Cavalry Ordnance issues from the CSR of Lt. J.T. Buck (A lot to see here)

Will, your right about how its strange things show up in obscure files. I once read a potential reason for this. In the 1880's and 90's the Federal Gov't assigned clerks to organize the Confederate records as a means to prevent Southerners (those that had dealing with the Confederacy) from filing damage claims against the Gov't and, as a means to compile information for publication of the Official Records. Obviously, in the days before copy machines and other methods of cross referencing, some papers or correspondence were placed into files based upon "who" wrote it, to whom the correspondecne was "from" or "to" or....if they were sufficient details in the body of the record or correspondence to require placement elsewhere perhaps another person's files. Anyway, with multiple clerks undertaking this task over many years one can only imagine the haphazard inconsistency. Anyway, I dont know if this is entirely true but when one researches these records and files this inconsistency becomes readily apparent and this explanation makes some sense.
The Columbus (Briarfield) MS. Arsenal and Armory is an obscure entity. Nothing remains of it today. I have a fairly generalized biography on it in my second book, which I enclose here for general dissemination. I wrote this about eight or nine years ago so it may not be entirely "up to date".

Ken R KNopp

THE COLUMBUS (�BRIARFIELD�) ARSENAL Columbus, Miss.
With the fall of Ft. Donelson and the evacuation of Corinth Mississippi in the Spring of 1862, Confederate authorities decided to establish a new arsenal in Columbus, Mississippi to serve the many troops stationed in that area. On May 2, 1862 the city deeded two blocks of land to the Confederate Government for $6,000 in which to erect its necessary buildings. Shortly thereafter, the city of Memphis fell, forcing its important Ordnance Depot along with commander Maj. William R. Hunt to remove to Columbus.
An arsenal of significant size was apparently quickly erected on the site by men working day and night, and on Sunday to complete it. Among other contracting firms and warehouses relocated here were the Leech & Rigdon �Novelty Works�, the �C.S. Sword Factory�, the arsenal and barracks. These production facilities were located in town on the north and south sides of the Mobile & Ohio Railroad at the foot of 7th St. South and 8th St. South. As of June, Major Hunt reported that his new arsenal, now known as �The Briarfield Armory and Arsenal�, was in operation with its armory repairing arms and its laboratory preparing itself to make cartridges, fuses and percussion caps.
Though production numbers are almost nonexistent, as many as a thousand artisans were said to be engaged in the manufacture and altering of small arms, making cartridges, fuses and caps. By April 21st, there were some 300 guns ready for issue and the arsenal was reportedly making �good cannon�. In late June, the Chief of Ordnance for the Army of Tennessee reported that the armory shop employed 32 gunsmiths, 16 stockers and 8 machinists for boring barrels and making and repairing tools. At the laboratory 70 hands could turn out 20,000 cartridges and 500 rounds of fixed ammunition per day. Though at the time the percussion cap machinery was being repaired it would have been satisfactory if more nitric acid could be secured. Later that November, General Pemberton in Vicksburg sent 50 gunsmiths to work on some 5,000 muskets needing repairs at Briarsfield.
With one notable exception, very little arms manufacturing appears to have been done in Columbus. The Memphis firm of Leech & Rigdon who had reestablished their sword making operation in Columbus also began making revolvers. From a contract for 1,500 revolvers they are believed to have turned out some 350 imitation colt pistols in Columbus before being removed to Greensboro, Ga.
Columbus appears to have been a main supplier to the forces in Vicksburg, various local cavalry commands and the Confederate Armies of the west under Generals Van Dorn and Price in the late summer and early autumn of 1862 . However, after the Confederacy's defeat at the battles of Iuka and Corinth in October, northeast Mississippi became increasingly untenable. In November 1862, it was suggested by General Pemberton that Briarfield be moved to the interior for safety. By January 1st 1863, the arsenal and armory with all of its machinery, ordnance stores and its current commander, Lt. Col. James L. White, were once again transferred, this time to another new arsenal being established in Selma, Alabama.
As with all arsenals, the Briarfield Arsenal is thought to have manufactured "in-house" or contracted with commercial manufacturers for the production of horse equipment and other needs. At the time, northeast Mississippi had little manufacturing of its own to sustain production, but many contractors had moved from Memphis to continue production in Columbus. Surviving records indicate several Memphis saddlery firms including L.S. Burr and the J. O Ford & Company, delivered to Columbus on its Memphis Ordnance Depot contracts after their removal there. (See L.S. Burr and J. O. Ford & Company) However, little more is known about the contracts or production of this kind at the Columbus (Briarfield) Arsenal and Armory.

**Mississippian** · 10-31-2011, 07:15 AM

Re: Cavalry Ordnance issues from the CSR of Lt. J.T. Buck (A lot to see here)

Ken,

Interesting info!

There still seems to have been some kind of Ordnance facility at Columbus as late as 1864, as a number of exchanged Mississippi regiments from the Vicksburg garrison were sent there to be armed and reequipped. It seems the large QM Depot there was never moved, here is a interesting tidbit of info about it:

MOBILE REGISTER AND ADVERTISER, May 17, 1864, p. 2, c. 2
[From an Occasional Correspondent.]
Columbus, Miss., May 14, 1864
. . . Since I wrote you have received the statement which I promised you from the indefatigable Quartermaster here, Major W. J. Anderson, formerly of your city.
During the past seventeen months he has furnished the army with 51,000 jackets, 50,000 pairs pants, 7,191 coats, 1,859 overcoats, 27,440 shirts, 15,278 pairs drawers, 20,415 hats and caps, 51,277 pairs boots and shoes, 23,220 pounds cooking utensils, 3,000 tents, 3,700 blankets; and within this period he was frequently out of material, and on several occasions operations were necessarily stopped for one to three weeks.
A large portion of the material for jackets, pants and coats was furnished by the Choctaw factory, from which he is now receiving monthly about 18,000 yards of jeans and linsey. Most of the shirting goods was woven by ladies in the country for Sherman & Ramsay of this place, who were under contract to furnish the goods. The hats and caps were manufactured in this place by Hale & Sykes, and the skillets and ovens by Hale & Murdock, and Major Anderson will be able to supply all of these latter articles that may be required in the Department of Alabama and Mississippi and East Louisiana. Messrs. Sherman & Ramsay have until very recently supplied about 6,000 yards shirtings monthly and more than two-thirds of the shoes were manufactured in Lowndes, Oktibbeha, and Choctaw counties, of which from 2,500 to 3,000 pairs are received monthly.
Cooped up as he is, away off here in Northwest Mississippi, Major Anderson has accomplished wonders, and it shows what an energetic business man can and may accomplish, as well as what our country (and even a limited portion of it) can supply. The foregoing figures will no doubt astonish you and your readers, and I give them in order that other parts of the Confederacy and the army may be encouraged and that other officers may be incited to deserve the mead as Major Anderson does, of "well done good and faithful servant." More anon. Rip Van Winkle."

Will MacDonald

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Cavalry Ordnance issues from the CSR of Lt. J.T. Buck (A lot to see here)

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