How did they carry their ammunition?

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Yes, long before it was called the "New York Reload" the preferred way of carrying "spare" ammo was in additional revolvers.

Lots of folks here on the BP area like the "Avenging Angel" cut down C&B revolvers. Rockwell and his comrades were well known for carrying multiple revolvers, both the Avenging Angels in coat pockets and belt guns as well as guns on a saddle. Likely did not take long after the invention of firearms for folks to realize that the best way to keep a reload was in a second, third, or whatever gun.

I believe that most non uniformed folks that carried a hand gun back then, AS IS SO TODAY AWAY FROM THE INTERNET, carried only what was in the gun with the rest in storage some place dry and secure.

-kBob
Yes, that was my findings in researching for Civil War re-enacting.
 
The trouble with packing a long gun on a horse is that there aren't many good ways to do it. Having a rifle on your horse when doing range work would be a pain in the butt as best, and if that rifle was a muzzleloader, it might not be worth the single shot it held. If there's anything a rope can snag on, like the butt of a longarm, rest assured the rope will find it. I can see the wisdom of leaving the rifle at the ranch and carrying a revolver instead.
 
And you would have had to file and hand fit each cylinder so that they would work in your gun.

I'm not sure, especially in the Remington 1858, that every cylinder of the same make and model had to be hand fit to every revolver. IF the rest of the parts were standardized so that one didn't need a smith to do the other repairs, no reason the same was not true for the cylinders. The 1858's main selling point was the interchangeable cylinders..., and they may have been purchased with them, in addition to them dropping in. Can you provide a reference for example of Colt 1860 army or Remington 1858's needing to have any Colt or Remington cylinders fitted anytime they were purchased for the revolvers after the initial purchase?

LD
 
Ranchers weren't the only ones who while working in more remote areas carried a Colt's revolver,

Visscher, William Lightfoot. Pony Express, A Thrilling and Truthful History. Vistabooks, 1980.An authentic narrative with photographs of the Pony Express and the Old West. "states that the arms of the Pony Express rider were limited to revolver and knife to keep the weight at a minimum."

Chapman, Arthur. The Pony Express: The Record of a Romantic Adventure in Business. G.P. Putnam's Sons, New York, New York, 1932. Illustrated with contemporary prints & photos Pony Express. Contains interviews with Pony Express riders.
"states that at first the riders were armed with carbines, as well as two revolvers per man. The carbines were soon discarded, as were the extra revolvers. The usual armament was one “navy” revolver. Occasionally a rider carried an extra, loaded cylinder for his revolver, in case of a fight with several opponents at close quarters. Even this extra weight was begrudged"

"Uncle Nick" Wilson who rode between Schell Creek and Deep Creek, remembers that if the riders did not have a revolver, they had to get one from the company and would be charged forty dollars out of their wages for it.


"The revolvers of the express rider traditionally have been identified as Navy Colts, which would have been of the 1851 model, then in popular use. The Colt "Navy" pistols were so named more for the naval scene engraved on their cylinder than for their use by that branch of the service. This huge pistol was a six-shot, percussion fired, .36-caliber weapon, with an octagonal-shaped barrel."

"While riders of the Pony Express preferred the Model 1851 Colt Navy pistol, a .36 caliber six-shooter, a few carried the big .44 Dragoon Colt, 106 having been furnished by the army and 25 by citizens of Sacramento. The army supplied 60 of the .54 caliber Model 1841 "Mississippi" rifles for use at the Pony Express relay stations."

More here, :)
http://www.xphomestation.com/weapons.html

That's also why I love the Colts!!!!!!:D:p
 
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FWIW it would depend on if it was military or civilian
Civilian was free to carry extra ammunition anyway they wanted
in the box in a pocket or in a cartridge pouch on the belt, in a saddle bag etc.
or bullet in a pouch and powder in a flask
Also depends on the time period.

If Military it would depend on the time period did they have pre-rolled cartridges or not
if not they would carry as per regulation A cap pouch,a bullet pouch powder flask
all on a uniform belt or a ammunition belt

Later on when pre-rolled cartridges were prevalent and hostile action was expected , the platoon / company either had a pack horse / mule that carried all supplies (food, water, blankets, ponchos,
extra ammunition etc) And they also had wagons, mostly just big wooden boxes on wheels.
in some cases (later 1860 and newer)
they started using shelter haives. each soldier carried half of tent ( this is still being done today.

For the most part only officers and senior non comms carried pistols enlisted troops carried rifkes
 
For the most part only officers and senior non coms carried pistols enlisted troops carried rifles
In the infantry. In the cavalry, all the troopers carried pistols.

The Civil War cavalry trooper had an extremely heavy loadout. On his belt, he carried a holstered pistol, a saber, a carbine cartridge box, a pistol cartridge box, and a cap pouch. (Normally, the carbine cartridge box contained a wooden block with holes for the cartridges, but the pistol cartridge box was designed to carry 1 or 2 packages of paper cartridges in the original packaging.) In addition, the trooper carried a carbine on a shoulder sling.

Many Civil War cavalrymen developed chronic back problems from carrying all this weight. Unlike the infantrymen, the cavalrymen had the weight concentrated around the waist rather than distributed over the shoulders.
 
I have one similar to this in my collection.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/ORIGINAL-CIVIL-WAR-44-Cal-PISTOL-CARTRIDGE-BOX-/172795703229
Mine has a thin piece of leather that divides the interior into a front and a back section with possibly room for as many as six packets.
Mine may be for .36.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Original-Civil-War-36-Cal-PISTOL-CARTRIDGE-BOX-/311874703072
Three packets short end up in back and three like wise in back?
Inside, mine is about 3" high, 6" wide and 1" deep with a much larger cover flap to keep out the elements.
After the Civil War, I am sure a number of these were "lost" by cavalry troopers who mustered out.
I wonder what percentage of the cowboys were former cavalry troopers from both sides?
 
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Some very disappointing reading concerning these topics in the various journals and diaries and letters home from these first trailblazers and homesteaders. From cleaning their weapons to carrying additional ammunition that information is pretty sparse and left to our conjecture.
 
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https://www.pinterest.com/pin/511440101409932923/
Attack In Both Directions! saved to Union Civil War Soldier Images.
"A sixth plate tintype of a Federal cavalryman. Wonderful view of this trooper cradling his sword. Dressed in his shell jacket with brass shoulder scales and sporting a super pair of gauntlets. Light glistens from the rain cover he has worn over his cap. He's got his pistol tucked into his M1851 eagle waist belt with the hammer cocked back and wears two cap boxes. A pencil inscription behind the image lists the name "Frank Pepperman" but no such individual is found serving anywhere. However, that name may be who this image was supposed to be delivered to based on the inscription. There are a handful of Pepperman's listed all of which either served in the Pennsylvania cavalry regiments."
 
A note on these early photographs: the images were reversed. One quick way to tell is by looking at the buttons. Then, as now, the buttons on men's garments were on the right side, from the wearer's point of view. In most of the period photographs, the buttons are on the left side.

To make up for this, studio photographers would rearrange equipment to make it appear as though it was on the "correct" side. This can be seen clearly on the next-to-last photograph, above. The photographer put the soldier's cartridge box on his left side, so that in the finished photograph it would appear to be on the correct right side. Further, he substituted a rifle sling for the proper cartridge box sling, probably because the reversed eagle breast plate, on the cartridge box sling, would have been too obvious. As it was, the "U.S." on the belt plate came out backwards. To top it all off, the photographer simply hand-wrote the soldier's regimental number and company letter on his cap, on the finished photograph.

Photographers were known for supplying weapons for their subjects, to make the pictures appear more "martial." This explains the plethora of things like pistols and bowie knives, thrust haphazardly through the soldiers' belts. These were not items of issue.

This sort of fakery extended even to photographs on the battlefields. Photographers would place muskets near corpses, rearrange corpses for dramatic effect, and even, in some cases, have live soldiers play the role of "corpses."

We have to be detectives when viewing period Civil War photographs. William Frassanito pioneered the genre of debunking the original photographic "evidence," in books such as his seminal Gettysburg, A Journey in Time.
 
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Couple more:

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"John Jarrette Member of William Clarke Quantrill’s Guerrillas He Rode with Quantrill during the raid on Lawrence, Kansas in 1863, and with Bloody Bill Anderson during the massacre at Centralia, Missouri 1864. After the war, Jarrette joined the Jesse James gang, and was a suspect in the robbery of the bank in Kentucky in 1868. In the photo he wears a captured Union waistbelt plate in the photo." via http://thecivilwarparlor.tumblr.com
https://www.pinterest.co.uk/pin/774124910057651/

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"John S. "Rip" Ford, 1850's Texas Ranger. Commanded the Confederate forces in the last engagement of the American Civil War."
https://www.pinterest.co.uk/pin/465348573975802306/

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"Confederate Gen Richard Gano ... did not tolerate drunkenness or the use of foul language in his command. After a successful raid in Kentucky, a trooper became drunk, and whiskey was found in his canteen. Gano ordered all of his men to fall into line and for his officers to go down the line, smelling each man's canteen. Those found to have whiskey in their canteens were immediately ordered to pour it out. Later, many of the men recalled that a lot of Kentucky whiskey was wasted that day."

d5d3a0388b45cdc45099bcbd502f2c42.jpg
"Olive Oatman's family were Mormons that followed James Brewster... at 13 she and a sister survived the murder of the rest of their family and were captured and traded to the Mohave Indians... they were tatooed on the chin and arms as part of the tribe's puberty ritual... the character Eva on AMC's Hell on Wheels is loosely based on Olive."

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"Charles Earl Bowles (b. 1829; d.after 1888), better known as Black Bart, was an English-born American Old West outlaw noted for the poetic messages he left behind after two of his robberies. Called Charley by his friends, he was also known as Charles Bolton, C.E. Bolton and Black Bart the Poet. Considered a gentleman bandit, he was one of the most notorious stagecoach robbers to operate in and around Northern California and southern Oregon during the 1870s and 1880s."

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"This astonishing photo is of legendary Texas Ranger Bigfoot Wallace. Per his Wiki, Wallace fought at the battles of Salado Creek, Battle of Hondo River, and Mier. Some of his most graphic memories were of his experiences in Perote Prison after having survived the Black Bean Incident. Wallace later participated in the Mexican-American War Battle of Monterrey and the Comanche Wars."
 
I have often wondered, how many re-loads the officers were carrying at Little around Tops ,The hornet's Nest, Bloody Angle or the Sunken Road? Probably paper cartridges, but how many? Where would they hold them all? Those fights wet on for Hours! Do any of you gentlemen have any info on that?
 
https://newrepublic.com/article/86592/fort-sumter-civil-war-soldiers-march-weight

http://www.okhistory.org/historycenter/forms/trunks/civilwartrunk.pdf

Below is from:
https://americancivilwar.com/kids_zone/union_soldier_civil_war.html

Every infantryman wore a belt set that included a cartridge box and sling, cap box, and bayonet scabbard. The belt was made of thick, black leather and closed at the waist with a large brass buckle with a "US" on the front. There was a similar brass plate with "US" stamped on it placed on the cartridge box that hung on the soldier's right hip. This leather box held forty cartridges, a paper tube filled with a minie ball and black powder. Cartridges were issued in small packages, each containing ten rounds. The cartridge box was the safest way to carry the explosive cartridges, kept in order in the box by means of removable liners made of tin. Each cartridge box also had a small pouch that held musket tools and cleaning patches. Union soldiers were usually given sixty to eighty rounds of ammunition to carry when they were on a campaign. What could not be fit into the cartridge box was often carried in the soldier's pockets or knapsack. The cap box, a small leather pouch worn on the front of the belt, was for the percussion caps. These were also very explosive and great care had to be taken when handling them. The scabbard for the bayonet hung on the soldier's left hip. Also made of black leather, the scabbard had a loop at the top that fit over the belt. The end of the leather tube had a brass tip.


Union cavalrymen also wore a belt set designed to accommodate equipment used by the mounted soldier. The cavalry belt included a cartridge box for carbine cartridges, a cap box, pistol holster, and had special straps and hooks that clipped onto the cavalry saber. Artillerymen usually did not wear belt sets of equipment except for special ceremonies or if they were in special units called heavy artillery regiments. Many heavy artillery regiments served as infantrymen in the latter part of the war.


Union soldiers carried their personal belongings in a knapsack. This was made of heavy canvas, painted black to repel water, with leather shoulder straps to buckle it closed. It was called the "soldier's trunk" and was large enough to hold a soldier's extra clothing, personal items, a gum blanket and shelter half (or "dog tent"). Straps on the top of the knapsack were used to tie on a rolled-up blanket or overcoat. Union soldiers were also issued a haversack, made of painted canvas that was to be used to carry rations. Inside the haversack was a detachable cotton bag that could be removed and washed. Haversacks were worn over the shoulder and became a handy device to carry not only pork, hardtack, and coffee, but personal items and extra packages of ammunition as well. As one can imagine, these became foul-smelling and saturated with grease after several weeks of carrying salt pork and other food stuffs, but it could be easily washed and cleaned or replaced. It was superior to haversacks made in the South and Confederates prized them if they could capture one.


The Union soldier's canteen was also superior to most Confederate-made canteens. The body of the canteen was made of two pieces of tin with a pewter spout and cork. The body of the canteen was covered with a cotton and wool cloth which, when wet, would help keep the water cool. The first canteens proved to be easily dented, so improvements were made to strengthen the canteen sides so that it could not be easily crushed or dented. Along with the canteen and haversack, soldiers would also carry a strong tin cup or boiler for their coffee, a metal plate, knife, fork, and spoon. Some carried small frying pans for cooking their rations of salt pork and hardtack.


As you an imagine, all of this equipment weighed quite a lot with a full cartridge box, three days worth of rations, rifle, and extra clothing packed on the soldier's back- somewhere between forty-five and fifty pounds. New soldiers quickly learned what was necessary for them to carry and what was less important. Campaigns in the early spring always began with full knapsacks, but the roads were soon littered with overcoats, blankets, extra clothing, and shelter tents that had been tossed aside to lighten the load. Wagons from the Quartermaster Department always followed the line of march and scooped up the discarded items, which would be cleaned and re-issued when needed. Often troops were ordered to move in "light marching order" like the soldier at right, which meant that knapsacks were left behind in wagons. The men would wrap their blankets and gum blankets into a roll, tied at one end and slung over the shoulder. Inside each "horse collar" was a collection of the man's personal items such as writing paper and pen, toothbrush, tooth powder, comb, soap, and perhaps a small mirror.


Even though the War Department ordered that all Union soldiers be dressed alike after Bull Run, there were some exceptions. Some Union volunteer regiments were raised as zouave regiments and wore a colorful uniform based on a style of uniform worn by French troops in North Africa and the Mediterranean. They were very different from the regular Union uniforms and often featured red trousers and red fez caps with a large yellow tassel. One would think that these uniforms would be gladly discarded by most regiments, but there were zouave regiments dressed in this attire throughout the war such as the 114th Pennsylvania Infantry. This was a zouave regiment that retained the distinctive uniform throughout their service. There were even some regiments in the Army of the Potomac than began their service in the regular Union uniform, but then switched to zouave uniforms in 1864.
 
Some very disappointing reading concerning these topics in the various journals and diaries and letters home from these first trailblazers and homesteaders. From cleaning their weapons to carrying additional ammunition that information is pretty sparse and left to our conjecture.

Even today, we rarely write of the normal, the mundane. We write about the unusual things - an animal not normally seen, a particularly ferocious storm.
Perhaps in those days, the method of cleaning weapons, or the amount of ammunition and 'possibles' carried, was so commonplace that the writers considered it too boring to waste ink and paper upon.

Consider; does todays diarist (if such a person yet exists) comment on which pocket they carry the ubiquitous cell phone ? Or, if not in a pocket, how it is transported at all ? Or how often it needs charging ?
 
daboyleroy, were you a history teacher in your other life. Some interesting research there..........................................:)

Come to think of, quite a number of historians in this thread.;)
A history lesson with morning coffee.
 
daboyleroy, were you a history teacher in your other life. Some interesting research there..........................................:)

Come to think of, quite a number of historians in this thread.;)
A history lesson with morning coffee.

No to the history teacher......Engineering was my profession
History is a passion.....along with family, country,guns........
Traveled a lot and always reading something on the plane
 
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12-12-03 - Scarce 1855 Rifleman’s Cap Box: This has the two-piece cover that uses a full outer flap and separately attached latch tab secured by a single line of stitching. These are generally recognized as the early-war and pre-war versions of the percussion cap box. What sets this box well apart of standard cap boxes is the height of the belt loops. These loops are extra tall for the purpose of allowing use with the ultra wide 1855 rifleman’s belts. The 1855 rifleman’s waistbelt was 2.2 to 2.4 inches wide and the loops on this cap box are intended for that belt. Both loops and latch tab have lightly incised border lines. The latch tab has three small stitches in it repairing a small tear, otherwise very solid and even has some of the wool lining still present. No markings visible, which is correct for an early arsenal produced piece. The 9th and 10th US Infantry were rifle-armed regiments and saw service in the west in the 1850s. This would be the type of cap box required for their belts. You will look long and hard to find another ... $350.00 SOLD





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16-03-33 ... MINT 1864 CARTRIDGE BOX ... A superb 1864 pattern cartridge box designed to hold the infantryman's "40 rounds." About as nice as you can hope to find. Complete with all buckles and belt loops, latch tab and interior tins. These boxes utilized an embossed US on the front rather than a separate US box plate, but kept with the earlier design of a separate inner flap, implement pouch on the front of the box, and two tins, each holding a packet of ten cartridges in a bottom compartment, and ten cartridges out of their packs in open trays on top. Very sharp Metzger maker stamp on the left of the inner flap and a U.S. Ordnance sub-inspector stamp on the right side. Front flap is "new shoes mint". Minor alligatoring to the finish on the reverse bottom of the box. A little mold present on the stitching which is easily wiped away. This is the best example of cartridge box I have owned in years. Just like the old days ... noco ... $495.00 - SOLD
Ran across this today while looking for something else
The above from:
http://www.angelfire.com/oh3/civilwarantiques/1603webcat02.html
 
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View attachment 764344
12-12-03 - Scarce 1855 Rifleman’s Cap Box: This has the two-piece cover that uses a full outer flap and separately attached latch tab secured by a single line of stitching. These are generally recognized as the early-war and pre-war versions of the percussion cap box. What sets this box well apart of standard cap boxes is the height of the belt loops. These loops are extra tall for the purpose of allowing use with the ultra wide 1855 rifleman’s belts. The 1855 rifleman’s waistbelt was 2.2 to 2.4 inches wide and the loops on this cap box are intended for that belt. Both loops and latch tab have lightly incised border lines. The latch tab has three small stitches in it repairing a small tear, otherwise very solid and even has some of the wool lining still present. No markings visible, which is correct for an early arsenal produced piece. The 9th and 10th US Infantry were rifle-armed regiments and saw service in the west in the 1850s. This would be the type of cap box required for their belts. You will look long and hard to find another ... $350.00 SOLD





View attachment 764343
16-03-33 ... MINT 1864 CARTRIDGE BOX ... A superb 1864 pattern cartridge box designed to hold the infantryman's "40 rounds." About as nice as you can hope to find. Complete with all buckles and belt loops, latch tab and interior tins. These boxes utilized an embossed US on the front rather than a separate US box plate, but kept with the earlier design of a separate inner flap, implement pouch on the front of the box, and two tins, each holding a packet of ten cartridges in a bottom compartment, and ten cartridges out of their packs in open trays on top. Very sharp Metzger maker stamp on the left of the inner flap and a U.S. Ordnance sub-inspector stamp on the right side. Front flap is "new shoes mint". Minor alligatoring to the finish on the reverse bottom of the box. A little mold present on the stitching which is easily wiped away. This is the best example of cartridge box I have owned in years. Just like the old days ... noco ... $495.00 - SOLD
Ran across this today while looking for something else
The above from:
http://www.angelfire.com/oh3/civilwarantiques/1603webcat02.html

I have modern handmade copies of both of these that I use when I'm shooting my 1861 Springfield.
 
These boxes utilized an embossed US on the front rather than a separate US box plate
The embossed "US" on the flap of the M1864 boxes was a cost-saving measure, but was definitely inferior in use to the lead-backed brass plate on the earlier boxes. The brass plate served as a weight to keep the flap closed when unlatched. That was important in preventing the loss of cartridges.
 
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