Captured arms question

archieclement

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I'll put here, but question itself could include artillery.

I know soldiers themselves would upgrade their arms at times with battlefield booty. But after major battles where thousands of arms may have been lost in battle and retreat, or like at VB where almost 30,000 surrendered....what would be the process? Would it have differed by sides? Would they have been reissued to the winning side as is, or would they be sent back to depots or arsenals and been reconditioned and new CS or US marking or stampings added to them?

Would assume early in war they would be reissued As Is within that army by need, but as the war went on, and armies had became better equipped, was there a procedure or policy?
 
I believe that neither side had any interest in removing US or CS marks.
The proof marks on the barrel were the most important inspection marks, and both North and South accepted the proof marks put on after testing in Britain. That applied to the hundreds of thousands of Enfields sold to both sides of he conflict.
Complete and undamaged arms already proofed when received, captured during shipment from Britain, or from captured arms at Vicksburg, would be accepted as received.
As for US made long arms, both sides used the same proof methods and marked the barrels in the same way, with the V (inspected) P (proof-fired) and the eagle (I believe this is the "final inspection" mark.) I believe both sides accepted complete and undamaged longarms inspected by the other, too.
 
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The South had a large number of arms in all conditions that were directed to the different arsenals for refurbishment
 
Both sides used captured and abandoned arms: reissued, refurbished and issued, or cannibalized for spare parts.

The Army of Northern Virginia’s chief of ordnance reported, for example, that after the Battle of Fredericksburg the army had recovered 7,720 small arms from the battlefield, including 772 Austrian rifles. Most of the serviceable recovered arms of all models were retained, either for issue to troops or in the army’s reserve trains. Captured and Collected is an excellent discussion of Confederate arsenal level refurbishment.

On the Federal side serviceable arms were reissued, including arms captured at Vicksburg. On 5 August 1862 Secretary Stanton ordered that captured arms which were not suitable for issue to volunteer regiments be repaired and “put in order” by the arsenals for issue to the militia.

Regards,
Don Dixon
 
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I've read that after the surrender at Vicksburg, entire Union regiments replaced their smooth-bores with Confederate Enfields.

I have got a nice untouched early imported Enfield rifle-musket with the JS anchor and engraved tang number (in other words, a classic confederate imported weapon), with ownership markings stamped on the trigger guard brass that suggests this was the rifle musket of a soldier in a Union Regiment which was one of those who swapped their .69 smoothbore muskets for confederate surrendered enfields at Vicksburg.
 
Both sides used captured and abandoned arms: reissued, refurbished and issued, or cannibalized for spare parts.

The Army of Northern Virginia’s chief of ordnance reported, for example, that after the Battle of Fredericksburg the army had recovered 7,720 small arms from the battlefield, including 772 Austrian rifles. Most of the serviceable recovered arms of all models were retained, either for issue to troops or in the army’s reserve trains. Captured and Collected is an excellent discussion of Confederate arsenal level refurbishment.

On the Federal side serviceable arms were reissued, including arms captured at Vicksburg. On 5 August 1862 Secretary Stanton ordered that captured arms which were not suitable for issue to volunteer regiments be repaired and “put in order” by the arsenals for issue to the militia.

Regards,
Don Dixon
That's what I was curious about, particularly the northern side as regts became decently equiped.....what would have been procedure to recondition or reissue arms to different armies/theatres/ or state militias.
 
That's what I was curious about, particularly the northern side as regts became decently equiped.....what would have been procedure to recondition or reissue arms to different armies/theatres/ or state militias.

As replacement arms were issued to the Army of the Potomac less desirable arms were reissued to units serving in the west, along the southern Atlantic seacoast, and in Louisiana. After units enlisted for three years or for the war received first and second class arms, less desirable arms were passed down to units enlisted for one year, nine months, six months, or 100 days. As front-line units received first and second class arms, less desirable arms also passed to rear echelon units guarding facilities, logistical supply lines, or prisoner of war camps. Finally, less desirable arms ended in the hands of militia units. This is reflected in Secretary Stanton's 5 August 1862 order. With each step in these transfers it appears that many arms became progressively more worn and neglected. The extent to which arms were arsenal refurbished between each step in the downward spiral is unclear. I suspect that many of the later war complaints regarding foreign arms resulted from the fact that they had been acquired early in the war and the troops had simply been issued arms that were worn out in service.

There is some good documentation on the transfer of Federal arms to the state of Ohio, but the details are too long to post here. The short version. On 14 August 1863 Governor Tod wrote to Secretary Stanton: “The General Government has now on hand at the Arsenal at Columbus, Ohio, about 23,000 stand of arms that have been returned from the field as unfit for general service; and with slight repairs, however, these arms can be made serviceable, and fit for the volunteer forces of our State. I therefore ask that you order them to be inspected, appraised, and turned over to the State for immediate issues to the volunteer militia forces of the State.” The request was made in response to fear of Confederate raids into Ohio and the resulting mobilizations of the Ohio militia. Stanton endorsed Tod’s request as approved and referred it to BG Ripley with the proviso that the issue be “charged against the amount of annual distribution of arms to be made to [Ohio]” under the Militia Act of 1808. The Ohio state arsenal then refurbished the arms, many of which still did not meet standard for issue to Federalized units even after refurbishment. Most of the "OHIO" stamped arms one sees came from this transfer of arms.

What I have not seen in my research - for either the Federals or Confederates - is the purchase of foreign manufactured spare parts. Except for cannibalization, how does one then maintain foreign arms? Ah, the evil logistics question again raises its ugly head.

Regards,
Don Dixon
 
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Miles Greenwood of Cincinnati manufactured some spare parts and tools. The 15 December 1862 edition of the Cincinnati Daily Gazette includes the following report. "Among the appendages manufactured for the Government by Mr. Greenwood, may be enumerated: spring vices, cones, screw drivers, ball screws, wipers, hammers, musket sights, mainsprings and some equipment such as belt plates and bayonet sheath tips." Additionally, the Spring 2007 issue of Military Collector and Historian has an article on Prussian arms, appendages and bayonets in which the author references two letters from Ripley stating that "requisitions be sent to Miles Greenwood."
 
Here are a few pics of an Amoskeag US M1861 Special dated 1863. Several collectors have told me that is a likely Confederate battlefield pick up because of the heavy pitting around the nipple. They say is due to the very hot caps used by the Confederates. No way of knowing for sure, just interesting.

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