Battle scarred canteen?

Billw12280

Sergeant
Joined
Mar 4, 2017
I just got this canteen yesterday and, while it looks cool and has the jean cloth cover, I thought it was just a normal piece. As I looked it over I saw the cut or tear on the one side, nothing out of the ordinary for a piece that is over 150 years old right? What intrigued me was what appears to be a clear blood splatter pattern starting at the end of the cut/tear and going up toward the spout. It is hard to identify unless you are looking for it. I took out my black light and sure enough the spots showed up as a dark almost black pattern. So, my theory is, the cut/tear is where either a blade or bayonet glanced off of the canteen before finding its target. If this is the case I hope the poor soul survived his wounds. This was certainly an eerie and unexpected discovery. I have attached pictures under normal light and pictures under black light. What do you all think?
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Great observation. I wonder if there's a way to determine the age of the stain and whether or not its human blood. If the stain occured during the war I would think that it would be.
It's important to also remember that items like canteens were used as surplus items for years after the war. This could be blood from an animal as the result of a hunting outing. Who knows.
Regards, check it out. It sure looks cool and it may very well be from the war. Keep us posted.
 
Thank you for the replies. I've been trying to figure out if there are any tests that can be done that would be noninvasive. Unfortunately I know nothing about the different types of tests that can be done to determine the stains age or if it is human blood. Short of sending it off to a lab there would probably be no way to get a definitive answer. @zburkett I don't believe there are any repairs to the cover, but I could be wrong. What do you see that maybe I don't?

The truth is, this canteen was sent to me by mistake, I was supposed to get a minty wool covered canteen for the NCO display I am working on. I almost sent this back to the seller for the appropriate canteen but something told me to hang on to it. At that point I hadn't really taken the time to look it over thoroughly I just knew the denim covered canteens were somewhat rare. I'm glad I was able to make an arrangement with the seller to keep this canteen for the cost of the other one since this one most likely "saw the elephant". As @JOHN42768 said if only it could talk.
 
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:rofl: @lelliott19

Apparently you can buy anything on the internet. I will probably be on somebody's watch list because of the internet searches I've been doing "how to detect blood in fabric", "how long will blood fluoresce", "how to clean up luminol", etc. :whistling: I better be really careful with what I search next, lol.

I wonder though if luminol would damage or stain the cloth? Has anybody here ever used it on antique fabric before?
 
Billw, I agree with you that this is more impressive than a mint wool covered canteen would be. It looks to me like the bottom part of the tear on the cover has been sewn up. There looks like thread with a knot.
 
Ah, I see what you mean. I believe the angle and the way the loose threads laid made it look like a repair.
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I have attached close ups of the tear.
 
I just got this canteen yesterday and, while it looks cool and has the jean cloth cover, I thought it was just a normal piece. As I looked it over I saw the cut or tear on the one side, nothing out of the ordinary for a piece that is over 150 years old right? What intrigued me was what appears to be a clear blood splatter pattern starting at the end of the cut/tear and going up toward the spout. It is hard to identify unless you are looking for it. I took out my black light and sure enough the spots showed up as a dark almost black pattern. So, my theory is, the cut/tear is where either a blade or bayonet glanced off of the canteen before finding its target. If this is the case I hope the poor soul survived his wounds. This was certainly an eerie and unexpected discovery. I have attached pictures under normal light and pictures under black light. What do you all think?
View attachment 311041View attachment 311042View attachment 311043View attachment 311044View attachment 311045View attachment 311046View attachment 311047View attachment 311048
The tear is most likely wear from rubbing against other accouterments or even a saddle. Very nice canteen, the double knotting and shortened sling as a result, leads me to think cavalry, but no way to know for sure. Stains could be anything, including rust. One thing I think you can be certain, is that this was a canteen that was most likely there and not surplus.
 
The tear is most likely wear from rubbing against other accouterments or even a saddle. Very nice canteen, the double knotting and shortened sling as a result, leads me to think cavalry, but no way to know for sure. Stains could be anything, including rust. One thing I think you can be certain, is that this was a canteen that was most likely there and not surplus.
I thought it was just normal wear originally but then I saw the stains which I thought looked like blood. It could be like a rorschach or a confimation bias contributing to my theory. I would like to find out if it is blood or, as you said, rust or some other stain. Have you ever used luminol on Civil War cloth?
 
I thought it was just normal wear originally but then I saw the stains which I thought looked like blood. It could be like a rorschach or a confimation bias contributing to my theory. I would like to find out if it is blood or, as you said, rust or some other stain. Have you ever used luminol on Civil War cloth?
No, but I know others who have, with mixed results.
 
No, but I know others who have, with mixed results.
Any risk of damage? From what I've read it is possible to get a reaction from old blood but not guaranteed beyond a few years. If the risk outweighs the possible outcome I may just leave it alone since it is a cool canteen that, as you said, was most likely there and not surplus.
 
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