Civil war style cleaning kits and ammunition bags?

[Deamon]

Hi, long time read, first time poster. I usually just burn up the search button but today I had a real question. One of those questions even after searching online for half the work your still left with a "Huh?" So here are the questions.

Was there a cleaning kit issued for any rifles during the civil war?
How did soldiers during the civil war go about cleaning their rifles, not to mention cannons. I'm assuming that after firing a while the cannons would need to be washed the same as the rifles to preventing rusting.
Of course not on brass cannons but surely on iron cannon. Can brass rust from black powder? Am i right in saying all ammunition was carried in cartridge boxes? ie Leather pouch with a wooden block inside drill with holes for the individual paper cartridges?

Well I guess that's about it. I thought I had another but it escapes me, maybe I'll remmerb it later and post it but for now this is it. Thanks if you know anything about this.

 

[Cap n Ball]

Cannon are cleaned after firing with water and sponge sometimes a wire bristle scrubber is used if the build up is thick. Same with muskets except often hot water was used if available also some soldiers would urinate down the barrel as ammonia is a pretty good solvent. Cartridge boxes were often used either slung over the shoulder or fastened to a belt. Items that were issued varied from time to time. Some rifles and muskets came with a cleaning jag that could be threaded into the ramrod. Attached is a picture of a shot pouch I have that dates to 1862 or 63. Its made of thin but very tough leather. It has holes for attaching it to the belt and a drawstring channel on the top to allow for dispensing one ball at a time. It was made by the soldier who carried it or he purchased from a sutler. Its approximately 10 inches long by 3 inches wide. I estimate that it would hold 50 or so balls and was most likely for backup purposes since in photographs I have of the man who owned it he has a cartridge box on his belt. His name is Orvis Parker Smith and he was a sgt with the 141st New York Volunteers. I came into a whole box full of his relics and photographs along with over 300 letters he wrote to his future wife. I will also attach a scan of what his sewing kit or 'housewife' looks like. The funny looking little tool is a canvas or leather repair kit it has spare blades and curved needles all in a little form fitted box. I've never seen anything quite like it before. I have assembled his letters unaltered into book form. Fascinating and very personal observations by an eyewitness to Shermans March to the Sea. It will be coming out this winter or spring.

 

[Tommygunn]

I have assembled his letters unaltered into book form. Fascinating and very personal observations by an eyewitness to Shermans March to the Sea. It will be coming out this winter or spring.

Hey, be sure to tell us here when the book is out, it sounds interesting and I'd like to get a copy!!!!

 

[4v50 Gary]

Cap n Ball - let me know when your book comes out. I'll buy an autographed copy from you directly.

Cartridge boxes had metal tin inserts which stored the paper cartridges. Whether the tin was one piece (silver soldered) or two depended on the box and there is an excellent study entitled Civil War Cartridge Boxes of the Union Infantryman by Paul D. Johnson. Confederate boxes were generally the same and they also imported a lot of Enfield boxes (as did the Union) from Europe. Wood blocks were done away with many years earlier.

 

[Deamon]

Wow thanks for the information, this helped out a lot. And I remembered my other question, but it doesn't pertain to blackpowder weaponry so I'd probably be better asking on a reenactors forum or a historian forum, but I'll throw it out there anyway.

First aid kits? Bandages and the like, were they just strips of any old cloth or were some actually manufactured? I suppose this could be a blackpowder question. Lets just say hypothetically one were to shoot themselves with a blackpowder weapon and wanted to use a civil war type bandage. Porbably not the best idea, but just curious.

Cap n Ball thanks for the information. Where and when could one find your book?

 

[Cap n Ball]

No aniseptics, no real knowledge of what caused infection, filthy, over crowded conditions. Twice as many casualties from disease than combat. Amputation was the only alternative with arms and legs sometimes stacked four or five feet high. At the old Anderson house on the battlefield at Lexington Missouri there is a room upstairs where you can see the door layed on sawhorses where 'surgery' was performed. The floor is still stained where limbs were tossed. My Great Grandfather had dysentry from the war which shortened his life. Soldiers that went thru the war and didn't suffer disease, frostbite or sunstroke were the exception rather than the rule. Black powder burns and wounds are terrible. Low velocity, heavy weight and softness of shot ment that rather than passing through flesh the bullet would smash into muscle kind of like a slow moving freight train. Often the ball would break up after smashing bone thus the only thing that could be done was to amputate and pray for no infection to set in. Bandages were often boiled strips of rag. Little cotton or gauze was available. Cloroform was used to render a soldier unconscious during surgery but it was rarely available so most surgery was performed with the soldier wide awake. I wouldn't advise you to shoot yourself with a BP gun just to see what it was like.

The book is titled 'Remember Me' and it will be out sometime in the next couple of months. It will be available in most bookstores and visitor centers at Civil War battle sites. Publishing is a whole new thing for me so I'm just feeling my way along with my publisher Cypress House. I never thought I'd write anything other than cheques.