Blacksmiths

[unicornforge]

would he have ever found himself to the firing line or would he have always been behind the lines on support? This was a confederate. Thanks

To answer your question. No blacksmiths were not expected on the firing line, they stayed with their equipment, and were subject to capture, disease, and subject to armed attack. The standard was the Traveling Forge, referred to in the Official Records simply as "Forge". Sherman's March to the Sea exclusively used boxes lined with dirt (reference: Official Records http://ebooks.library.cornell.edu/m/moawar/waro.html). Blacksmiths were equipped with tools to repair, wood, metal, and leather (see Ordnance Manuals).

Beware reenactorisms.... stuff people think happened, but didn't. Therefor I humbly suggest reading first-hand experiences such as:

Time Life Books reprinted a bunch of autobiographies of soldiers and civilians who lived through the War of the Rebellion. They provide insight into life, politics, and details that I have not seen elsewhere.

Such as:

Hardtack and Coffee, or The Unwritten Story of Army Life (Collector's Library of the Civil War) – January, 1983 By John D Billings (Author), Charles W. Reed (Author)

Detailed Minutiae of Soldier Life in the Army of Northern Virginia, 1861-1865 (Collector's Library of the Civil War) Leather Bound – October, 1982 by Carlton McCarthy (Author)

The Citizen-Soldier; Or, Memoirs of a Volunteer (Collector's Library of the Civil War) Hardcover – March, 1983 by John Beatty (Author)

A Rebel War Clerk's Diary-Vol I Hardcover – January 1, 1982 By John B. Jones (Author)

A Rebel War Clerk's Diary at the Confederate States Capital: Vol 2 (Collector's Library of the Civil War) Hardcover – January, 1983by John B. Jones (Author)

Mosby's Rangers (Collector's Library of the Civil War) reprinted January, 1983
byJames Joseph Williamson (Author)

Four Years in the Saddle: 1861~1865 (Abridged, Annotated)Paperback – November 11, 2016
by Author Harry Gilmor (Author)

A Narrative of a Revolutionary Soldier: Some Adventures, Dangers, and Sufferings of Joseph Plumb Martin (Signet Classics) Mass Market Paperback – June 1, 2010
by Joseph Plumb Martin (Author), Thomas Fleming (Introduction), William Chad Stanley (Afterword)

 

[1SGDan]

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