Cartridge box question

[Btc49VA]

My cartridge box sits too low, as the strap is too long and looks sloppy. Is it accurate for a confederate soldier to remove the strap and wear it on the belt? Thanks!

 

[johan_steele]

Shorten the sling or verify it is attached correctly to the box. Some are fine with wearing the box on the belt & others find it uncomfortable.

You want it to sit right on top of your right butt cheek. If it sits on your hip or thigh it will beat the heck out of you on the march.

 

[Phil McBride]

I have a Houston Depot Confederate cartridge box made by Missouri Boot and Shoe Co. that has NO buckles for a strap. It only can be worn on my belt. I now prefer to keep any cartridge box on a belt so I can move it around to my back for marching and slide around to the front when in a battle and pulling out cartridges. Here's a photo of a Reb box on my belt during a long wet campaign weekend-Backwater '64 near Ft Donelson TN in 2010.

Phil McBride
Author of Civil War Novels: Tangled Honor: 1862; Redeeming Honor: 1863; Whittled Away

 

[Btc49VA]

I have a Houston Depot Confederate cartridge box made by Missouri Boot and Shoe Co. that has NO buckles for a strap. It only can be worn on my belt. I now prefer to keep any cartridge box on a belt so I can move it around to my back for marching and slide around to the front when in a battle and pulling out cartridges. Here's a photo of a Reb box on my belt during a long wet campaign weekend-Backwater '64 near Ft Donelson TN in 2010.View attachment 84183

Phil McBride
Author of Civil War Novels: Tangled Honor: 1862; Redeeming Honor: 1863; Whittled Away

I have a Houston Depot Confederate cartridge box made by Missouri Boot and Shoe Co. that has NO buckles for a strap. It only can be worn on my belt. I now prefer to keep any cartridge box on a belt so I can move it around to my back for marching and slide around to the front when in a battle and pulling out cartridges. Here's a photo of a Reb box on my belt during a long wet campaign weekend-Backwater '64 near Ft Donelson TN in 2010.View attachment 84183

Phil McBride
Author of Civil War Novels: Tangled Honor: 1862; Redeeming Honor: 1863; Whittled Away

Thanks Phil! Much appreciated

 

[Craig L Barry]

After 15 years or more of always carrying my cartridge box with a sling, I have recently started carrying it on the waist belt and frankly it is going to be hard to go back to the sling. I like it for the reasons Phil McBride mentioned, and also I find it handier to have it at the same height as the cap pouch when I am loading. Not all cartridge boxes can be worn on the waist belt, for example the English Enfield type and the early US .69 caliber (1839) have no provision for carrying the box except with a sling. Most of the later pattern US and CS boxes (which were mostly copies of US models) have belt loops.

 

[thomas aagaard]

My issue with this method is weight.... of a cartridgebox used for reenactment... compared to the weight of one with real cartridges with bullets...

How do it work with a cartridgebox that is holding the correct weight of both powder and the bullets?

This is meant as a question, since I have not tried it myself... But I question if it still work so well...

 

[Republican Blues]

From the Boston Medical and Surgical Journal August 1862-Feb 1863

The present manner of supporting the cartridge-box is productive of hernia or rupture. Many instances in support of this statement have occurred since the commencement of the rebellion, and reports on the subject are frequently received fiom medical officers. I recommend that, instead of being carried by a belt around the waist, the cartridge-box be supported by a shoulder-strap. This would entirely obviate the evil.

That said, there were many Confederate boxes made for belt only, more than likely as a measure of saving leather.
In addition, the Navy had a habit of wearing the box on the belt only, and Navy pattern boxes were made for belt only. I personally have a thing for the box on my belt as related by Mssrs McBride and Barry. I find it much more comfortable, and more accessible, especially when in a previous impression as a Sharpshooter, I found it much easier to have the box on my belt so I could move it directly over my hip, making it easier to load supine and fire prone. I also tend to find it more comfortable on the march, and easier to put on accoutrements, simply by strapping my belt on.. of course, right now I can only wear mine on my belt, given that one of the box sling buckles tore out LOL

 

[Frederick14Va]

The provision whether to carry the cartridge box on the belt or sling was apparently also a recurring dilemma back then. We see box patterns fitted for just one or the other method... or has provision for either... Seems that some reexplored the idea over time as the different ones cycled . As some then reported that use on the belt alone was thought to be cause of back fatigue or kidney problems due to the weight pressure of a full box... so back to the use of sling again... We occasionally see photographic examples of soldiers wearing either one.... Some appear to being using both together sling and belt... Have tried that... definitely holds it secure in place... but a bit cumbersome to get on and off... and more difficult to shift it about where you want it at the time... Just an observation...

 

[Craig L Barry]

Well, we don't have the cartridge box of full of lead bullets so it is just a matter of preference and convenience for reenactors. But as you point out, yes...it would be harder to carry on the waist belt if it were full of cartridges with lead conical ball.

 

[Craig L Barry]

By the way, the English figured this out as far as the weight issue, too...On August 3, 1775 General Howe, Commander-in-Chief of the British Army in America, ordered, "All soldiers to wear their cartridge boxes over their shoulders, and not around their waists." (see H. Strachan, British Military Uniforms 1768-1796, Published by Arms & Armament (1975) p. 189). The English system was 6o rounds carried in the cartridge box and ball bag.

 

[Phil McBride]

My thoughts on the weight of a cartridge box full of lead bullets: I've put 20 lead Minie balls and 20 paper cartridges in my box and agree that worn a belt on my side, the weight becomes a drag and makes my hip joint ache after a while. But when the cartridge box is slid around to the center of my back, the lead in the box wasn't a problem. Plus when marching the box provides a little shelf to help support my blanket roll which is on a strap over one shoulder, cinched up high above my butt.
As a reenactor I've done multi-day campaign marches with and without the strap, and like Craig and others said, it's a matter of convenience as a Reb to not wear a strap, and correctness as a Yank to wear one. Besides, as a Yank, that round brass eagle plate right on my chest on the strap is needed to complete my impression as a target.