Cartridge Box contents question

[yanksaintgood]

I have grown so used to going to events and filling the cleaning pouch portion of my cartridge box with different odds and ends to clean with. In thinking of federal impressions and how uniformity was enforced I wondered if anyone has found general orders requiring what contents to be put in the cleaning pouch, any documentations by soldiers of what they chose to carry, or even any documentation showing which cleaning tools were most commonly issued? Any information would be very interesting to know.

Thank you,

Patrick Abbey

[Fenianboy]

Re: Cartridge Box contents question

Patrick, Not exactly regs but over the years I've owned a fair amount of original leather.I've found a nipple pick in the enevelope of a 69 Caliber box.I also had a pistol box back in the 1960's that had an odd "bulge" in the lower right area.I was able to extract a pistol nipple from between the two layers in the front.

[Curt Schmidt]

Re: Cartridge Box contents question

Hallo!

Herr Patrick...
An easy question but with an involved and complicated answer that a short post can not do justice to.

In brief and to over-generalize...

IMHO, your research should start with what was issued, and then look for company ordnance returns and loss reports that tally what was listed as being "on hand" or "lost." then going to possible Period accounts, letters, and diaries that speak to individual soldier practice.

There were some older postings here that had some company reports listing appendages, but I believe they may have been "Pre Crash Era." But I will look around.

At the "ideal" end of your research, there is the U.S. Ordnance Manual that lists the formal appendages:

wiper,
ball-screw
screw-driver
spring-vice (sic)
band-spring and tumbler punch
tompion

The regulations were not keen on soldiers taking their guns apart, so not everybody received all of the tools, some, tools were restricted to say sergeants, and some tools were issued as "ratios" of say 1:10 guns or so.
Such as the Manual(s) saying: "Each soldier should have a screw-driver and a wiper, and each squad of ten a band-spring and tumbler punch, and a spring vise. No other implements should be used in taking arms apart or in setting them up."

And when looking at say gun contracts, they typically speak to such things as "stands of arms" or the guns with "appendages."

Next... you can trace the development of appendages and implements, and the "fashion" of where they "should" ideally be carried.
For example, the M1841 and M1855 Rifles were issued with a spare cone (nipple) stored in a hole drilled in the "patch box." Along with the "combination tool" (screw driver, cone wrench), wiper, and ball screw. But when the "patch box" generally fell from fashion after 1861, the cartridge box "implement pouch" took over as well as a pocket, knapsack, or saddle bag (cavalry) .

Basically, for a private, NUG/PEC, there is a spare cone, a wiper, ball screw, tompion, and a combination tool with either tow or cloth patches.

As with many things, IMHO, the problem here is that soldiers were not always keen on
itemizing and detailing the minutiae of their routines and chores. But, what he was issued, and how it was intended to be used starts the research- but how individuals followed or departed from that does not end the Neverending Search for the Detailed Minutiae of Everyday Life.... :)

Again, being too brief and over-generalized here...

Curt
Who carries his letters in his cartridge box's "implement pouch." ;)

[Jimmayo]

Re: Cartridge Box contents question

I have seen two complete cartridge boxes dug from the 1864 Cold Harbor Union lines. None had any implements with them. I dug one CS cartridge box at Petersburg and there were nothing but bullets and a pewter tin in the hole. I know this is a very small sample but it's a start.

On the other hand, in the rifle pits and swamp bottoms behind the 2nd Corps main trench lines near the Adams house we dug various wrenches, a few tumbler punches, worms, a couple of complete locks, lock parts, barrel bands and a few mainspring vices. Not too many of these items were found in the trenches, just behind them where the land slopes down. Evidently during the days the Feds were occupying the trenches they were also repairing arms behind the lines.

[lthull3rdla]

Re: Cartridge Box contents question

I have found probably two dozen gun tools over the years, those being mostly the open end wrench style with the wiper blades. In various places but mainly at Vicksburg in the federal camps. So the gun tools, at least, I think, would have been an item most soldiers would have had.

kudo's on the research as listed previous

just my .02

Ronnie - Shreveport

[Pvt.Tyler]

Re: Cartridge Box contents question

I have seen an original Federal Cartridge box with a musket tool in the cleaning pouch.
Tyler McHone

[Hard Case62]

Re: Cartridge Box contents question

To my understanding from the reading and research I have done, tools such as a combination tool, worm and c which would have been carried in said pouch. Would not have "commonly" been carried by the private soldier, but more commonly a corporal, or even Sargent. Which was then distributed and shared among the soldiers as they cleaned their weapons as a unit.

Matt Sternad

[yanksaintgood]

Re: Cartridge Box contents question

Thank you all for you contributions I really appreciate the information. I was wondering now if there are any reproduction tools or if originals are the best way to go, and if originals are best were can I find reasonably priced original tools?

Thanks again,

Patrick Abbey

[Curt Schmidt]

Re: Cartridge Box contents question

Hallo!

Just an aside...

It is a rarer thing that the appendages/implements can be found in cartridges boxes where they were actually left there by the soldier and not tossed out, lost, or sold off after the War by the veteran or descendants- OR some added back by future collectors and dealers to increase the selling price of the "set."

"I was wondering now if there are any reproduction tools or if originals are the best way to go, and if originals are best were can I find reasonably priced original tools?"

That depends upon one's Mental Picture.

In brief and to over-generalize...

IMHO, minty originals are a better choice. However, they have "inched up" in value and cost over the years to the point where the discussion of preserving originals comes up versus the historical and financial risk of losing them in the field.
The Civil War Community generally encourages the use of reproductions, even though they generally are of poorer quality. One does not mind risking the loss of a say a $12 M1855 or M1863 combination tool versus say a $75 plus original. Or a $40 Enfield combo tool versus a $400 original.
Plus, there are hidden benefits such as Italian repro wipers are threaded "metric" for the Italian reproduction guns' ramrods.
;) :)

Others' mileage will vary...

Curt