Early P1860 cartridge pouches

Ralph Heinz

Corporal
Joined
Feb 14, 2016
Location
Pacific Northwest
A. Ross Enfield pouch.JPG


The two photos of Union infantrymen wearing English equipment (waist belt, ball pouch, cartridge pouch, Enfield bayonets and scabbards) that Paul Johnson showed in his book Civil War Cartridge Boxes of the Union Infantryman had narrow pouch belts (cartridge box shoulder straps) which he thought must be 1.5" wide. He stated "British accoutrement regulations state these shoulder belts should measure 2.5." Johnson couldn't understand why these were narrower than the stated regulations.

Several other early war photos show these narrower shoulder belts including one of four Mass. soldiers in the Lillenthal collection.

Actually, I think these shoulder belts were 1.75" wide (rather than 1.5") based on the A. ROSS & CO C&M 1861 marked original in my collection. It is identical to one shown in Barry & Burt Suppliers to the Confederacy Vol II on pages 74 & 75. Each has the narrower shoulder belt and both are white enameled buff leather.

Craig Barry earlier stated that the "44 Mass. Volunteers had full sets of English accoutrements" and that Massachusetts bought something like 10,000 sets. Then the Commonwealth of Mass. sold their excess sets to the State of New York. I'm grateful for his insight .

This would make sense since mine has the name of the soldier originally issued the P1860 pouch in ink on two places on the back of the buff leather white enameled pouch belt: Johann Munch (u with an umlaut). Munch enlisted at NYC in the 68th NY (most likely in the Second German Rifle Regt.) and mustered in as a private, Co. G, Aug. 14, 1861 but deserted Aug. 29th, 1862. That would account for the fact that the pouch is in little used condition and probably was not issued until sometime in 1862. He deserted before the Battle of Manassas. The pouch may have gone back into company storage of excess gear and then never reissued which would account for its incredible condition today.

Perhaps the narrower leather pouch belts were originally made up for Volunteer units in England but sold to American buyers to equip Union troops or with the huge number of accoutrements needed to fill orders to be shipped across the Atlantic in 1861, some of these shoulder straps were simply made .75" narrower so that more could be cut from a hide. A wider strap wasn't really necessary. Those with the white enameled pouch belt must have already been in stock however. All those I've seen in time period photos of Union infantrymen were black leather.
 
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Did the English boxes come with the straps or were they made here or some of both? I would have to imagine there would be some variation depending on who made them. I`ve never paid that much attention to that kind of detail until recently and was kind under the impression that northern made straps were 2 to 2.25 and most southern straps were 1.75. Figured the south was trying to save material wherever they could.
 
English cartridge boxes came with shoulder straps as they could not be worn on a waist belt. Illustrations from a Plate in an English manual shows the black leather pouch belt 2.5" wide and it came in three different lengths: 50," 52," and 53." That is why the narrower 1.75" pouch belts that show up in early war photographs of Union troops are somewhat of an enigma. Since we only have one illustration shown in Pritchard's and Huey's The English Connection we don't know if there was an earlier manual calling for the narrower straps which were later increased by .75." There were actually four slightly different cartridge boxes shown in the manual.

Then too, the English firms contracted to produce sets of English accoutrements for Northern and Southern buyers may have made narrower straps because the demand for leather was so great and shortages arose. It was better to fill a contract for 10,000 cartridge boxes than to run short of leather and not be able to fill the order. Procuring hides and tanning leather took a great deal of time and both sides were ordering huge quantities of English goods.
 
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