Black Shield's Canteen

[NH Civil War Gal]

I'm sorry - I can't figure out how to rotate the images, especially the first one.

I was at Harvard's Peabody Natural History Museum yesterday and found this very interesting.

 

[mofederal]

Very interesting. Thanks for posting @NH Civil War Gal. My museum had a Winchester 66 taken from either a Cheyeen or Lakota that surrendered after the Little big Horn fight.

 

[Larryh86GT]

A very neat relic/artifact.

 

[NH Civil War Gal]

I didn't realize, until I read about Black Shield's canteen, that the men in the US Army couldn't embellish or decorate their equipment or uniforms. In case it was too hard to read, the beaded horse shoe's around the canteen represent the number of horses he captured.

 

[UCVRelics]

Very Nice. Thanks for sharing with us.

 

[Badgercwcollector]

Nice item ! I am having problems with rotating photo's also but I'm computer stupid lol.

 

[Package4]

Very nice, many IW canteens were repurposed ACW surplus, the bottom sling guide was sometimes removed and 2 new triangle loops for a snap strap was soldered onto the upper two sling guides. They were then generally covered in canvas as above, sometimes even over their ACW cover. At the end of the Civil War, there were 815,399 unissued canteens in the various arsenals and many more thousands in the hands of state governments.

The army wanted to redesign the canteen, but the War Department insisted that all surplus was to be utilized first.

 

[Ralph Heinz]

While this does not really fit here on the Civil War, here are photos of a Cheyenne pipe bag made of buffalo hide (dark epidermis on the inside of the bag and on the rawhide at the bottom). It is entirely sinew sewn. I speculate it was captured by a soldier possibly at the Dull Knife Village Fight in Wyoming and taken as a souvenir as it had been folded in fourths and stored in a trunk in Montana for over 150 years. It dates from the 1860's-1870's and documents the warrior's horse raids with each raid starting with a blue beaded hoof print. The reverse has four dragon flies in beads -- a common symbol of the Cheyenne as it is very fast and can dart around quickly -- which is just what a warrior wanted to do in battle. There are only four colors of seed beads also sewn with sinew. This is something a warrior would have treasured and never let go of. The porcupine quill work on the rawhide at the bottom is also indicative of the Cheyenne as are the dark green beaded tipis. Later on the women who did beadwork added doors in the tipis. This helps date this one as early and while the buffalo were still plentful.

A man offered to trade it to me for a rifle at a gun show 2 years ago (he bought it at an estate sale in a small town in Western Montana) and I about fell over. I've seen a lot of beadwork but this is one of the very best pipe bags I've ever seen. My wife can sell it for a great deal of money when I'm gone. As for now it is one of my most prized possessions.

 

[NH Civil War Gal]

That is simply elegant and beautiful! It would be one of my most treasured possessions if I owned it too. Thank you for sharing!