Guns and ammo.

[JWHunter]

So I remember watching a movie about the battle of Isandlwana, which was fought between the British and the Zulu tribe in the 1870s, and I thought it was interesting that the soldiers had a guy running from the camp and back supplying the soldiers with more ammo when they were running low.

Did the armies in the north and south have a logistics soldier supplying them with ammo when they started to get low? If so, how much ammo did they usually get?

 

[JOHN42768]

One would think they were issued amounts according to the size of the conflict. I'm sure there were supplys when needed. There also was the ammo from wounded and killed comrades. Any ammo wagons would not have been on the front line.

 

[UCVRelics]

It all depended on the situation. In some battles, whole regiments would be relieved and sent back to the wagons to refill their cartridge boxes and get some rest before moving back up. In other cases, a few men would go back and grab some boxes of ammo to bring up to the regiment while the battle was still going on. Ammunition trains location was based on the longest range of available enemy artillery and available cover and concealment.

At regimental level the ordnance sergeant was responsible for resupply and he would travel by wagon to pick up ammunition and then return to an easily accessible location that provided cover and concealment and resupply the regiment.

 

[johan_steele]

That was the job of select NCO's usually a Corporal with a small detail of 1-2 men.

 

[redbob]

The regiment's logistics officer would send back a request for ammunition and hopefully it would be sent up to him for supply to the troops. I have a request from a Captain S.E. Kierolf (G-G-Grandfather) of the 27th Tennessee CSA for 10,000 Enfield cartridges placed during the Battle of Shiloh.

 

[111thNYSV]

They better be strong as a box of 1000 rounds was 80lbs or more.