Civil War inkwell

[Phogan87]

I have quite a few letters from Civil War soldiers that I have on display and I'm interested in getting a traveling inkwell to display with them. There are, however, so many different variations that all seem to be attributed to the Civil War. While there is no guarantee that any particular traveling inkwell accompanied a Civil War Soldier into the field, what would be the kind that would be most likely carried? The following three screenshots are the ones I seem to see the most.

 

[Salterr]

I have quite a few letters from Civil War soldiers that I have on display and I'm interested in getting a traveling inkwell to display with them. There are, however, so many different variations that all seem to be attributed to the Civil War. While there is no guarantee that any particular traveling inkwell accompanied a Civil War Soldier into the field, what would be the kind that would be most likely carried? The following three screenshots are the ones I seem to see the most.

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Don't forget glass ones too. Rosewood and stoneware show up a lot. They even reproduce them. On the glass you have to watch for a rolled lip and pontil scar.

 

[Championhilz]

I dug this inkwell from a Union campsite in Vicksburg, Mississippi.

 

[Woods-walker]

Here's one I dug on top of a canteen in a POW site near Fredericksburg. It is the most common I ve seen dug in the 60 years I ve relic hunted. similar to the one @Chamionhilz posted

 

[RedRover]

They had pencils.

Sullivan Press: Museum...

 

[Phogan87]

Those finds are amazing. I would love nothing more than to be able to pull something like that up out of the ground. What is meant by "rolled lip" when referring to the glass ones?

 

[Phogan87]

The glass ones seem so impractical for a soldier on the march. I'm really surprised about this. I've always overlooked these and focus. Mainly on the ones that I originally posted. Interesting.

 

[Tanglewood]

Here's one I dug on top of a canteen in a POW site near Fredericksburg. It is the most common I ve seen dug in the 60 years I ve relic hunted. similar to the one @Chamionhilz posted

View attachment 476766View attachment 476765

I've dug quite a few "octagon ink" glass inkwells in US spots in S.C. Never dug a top, though. VERY nice!
Can you read the lettering on top?

 

[Salterr]

The glass ones seem so impractical for a soldier on the march. I'm really surprised about this. I've always overlooked these and focus. Mainly on the ones that I originally posted. Interesting.

While soldiers carried a good deal of things in the knapsacks or haversacks the wagons also carried a good deal of their personal effects. Officers might have a lap desk containing a glass inkwell that would be too cumbersome to carry around.

 

[Salterr]

Those finds are amazing. I would love nothing more than to be able to pull something like that up out of the ground. What is meant by "rolled lip" when referring to the glass ones?

If you look back at the photos posted the mouth of each bottle is rounded over. Pontil scars are on the bottom and show where the glass was transferred between rods in the manufacturing process.http://glass-museum.com/the-rolled-over-flared-lip.html

 

[Phogan87]

I can't thank you guys enough for all of the information. Again I'm shocked because I've seen the octagonal inkwells and quickly dismissed them, thinking that the three at the original post were most likely to be the ones carried by soldiers. It seems like the ones you have shown me are most clearly the most representative of the time.

 

[Woods-walker]

I've dug quite a few "octagon ink" glass inkwells in US spots in S.C. Never dug a top, though. VERY nice!
Can you read the lettering on top?

Thank you. It's the first top I've ever see dug too. The lettering is Lea & Perrins which has always made me wonder ….. huuuum ! Did they make ink wells during the war? Or did some soldier improvise for a lost top. I don't know much on inkwell history. But I do know it came out of the same hole with the canteen which I still have and was in surprisingly good shape.
The top was still intact with the bottle when I dug it.
I dug deeper and wider after recovering the canteen with the hope there might be another bottle close by- but there wasn't.
I tried to get a better picture for you but my photographer skills suck

 

[Phogan87]

So final question for clarification. Are any of the three images that I originally posted NOT considered to be Civil War era or is there one or two that are more likely to have been carried by Civil War soldiers than the others? I really like the rosewood one, but I certainly don't want to start searching for one if it's not representative of what the troops would have actually carried. Thanks again for your help on this issue.

 

[Woods-walker]

The third image is something i ve dug in camps. Wooded ones might have been used but I don't know. I would use what strikes your fancy or if you want to be absolutely sure then one of the glass octagon or number 3 image you posted