From Civil War News "Arsenal Packs" (April 2014)
An arsenal pack held ammunition (and caps). It consisted of 10 cartridges with an 11th tube filled with 12 percussion caps. It is easy to remember — 10-11-12. The filled tubes were wrapped in a bundle, tied with thread or string. Sometimes they were labeled or stamped with information on the arsenal that produced them, depending on whether it was a C.S. or U.S. facility. In addition to being period correct, the pack is a convenient way to store and carry your blank cartridges until such time as they are ready to be opened and placed in the cartridge box tins.
The minor differences between C.S. and U.S. manufactured cartridges are beyond the scope of this article. In brief, and to generalize, Confederate ammunition was rolled with a three-piece cartridge tube based on the U.S. Army Ordnance Manual of 1850 which was in use when Jefferson Davis served as U.S. Secretary of War in the mid-1850s. U.S. arsenal cartridges used a two-piece cartridge tube which worked about as well and saved a step in the paper tube making process. The making of cartridge tubes, or cylinders, was considered boys' work; however, when men and boys were in short supply it became women's work. Eight hundred cartridge tubes was the expected production for a 10-hour workday.
The most important part of creating the arsenal pack is the U-shaped folding box. Three pieces of 1-inch by 4-inch wood blocks held in place by a couple wood screws will work well. One 4-inch piece is placed on the bottom and the other two on opposite sides so the folding box is open at both ends.
The manual describes it as "one box without ends or top … width equal to 5 times the diameter of the ball, height equal to twice that diameter, and length that of the cartridge." In other words, the arsenal package sheets were about 7 inches wide and 7 inches long, give or take. Paper of identical construction and color to what was specified in the ordnance manual is no longer produced, but simple and inexpensive brown masking paper is very close and works well. A piece of thin string or twine (.03 thick) about 12 to 15 inches long is placed over the box. For frame of reference, .03 corresponds approximately to 10 lb. hemp twine, which is also widely available.
The 7 x 7 sheet of masking paper goes over the top of the string. Then, according to the ordnance manual: "Put a wrapper in the box, the long side perpendicular to the edge of the table, the middle of the paper in the middle of the box; place, parallel to the sides of the box, two tiers of cartridges of 5 each, the balls alternating; [Interpret that as the five on the bottom have the folded tab up and the five on the top are pointed the opposite way]...bring the short ends of the paper together, and fold them twice close down on the cartridges; insert a package of caps in the end of the bundle next to the ends of the lower tier; fold the wrapper on the ends, and tie the bundle, first in the direction of the length, then its breadth, with the twine fastened in a single bow-knot."
The "folded box" of the arsenal pack should be square and tight as close to 90 degree angles as possible. The string should be pulled taut but without tearing into the paper.
The manual does not state this specifically, but it is recommended that the string be tied on the same side as the tube of 12 percussion caps, usually the left, so they can be extracted first.
There is simply no mention of arsenal pack labels in the U.S. Ordnance Manual of 1861. Previously it was specified that stamps or stencils be used to identify the contents, then in 1857 most arsenals used printed labels. No correspondence has been preserved where discontinuance is discussed, it is simply no longer addressed.
Four of the five arsenals discontinued labels on the Federal side with the exception being the St. Louis Arsenal.
It is believed that labels were deemed no longer necessary because ammunition was boxed in different color crates, which were painted on the outside with the specific ammunition it contained. The 1861 U.S. Ordnance Manual also states that the bundle wrappers are to be made of different colors, to distinguish the cartridges for the different arms; however, this does not appear to be consistent with surviving artifacts.
C.S. arsenals appear to have labeled (and often dated) their arsenal packs throughout the conflict. The labels are, generally, under the string.Imported English Enfield cartridge packs did not include percussion caps; caps were packaged separately, with the arsenal packs and percussion caps all loaded up into a barrel-like crate. There is a surviving Augusta Arsenal pack that, if they managed to get caps into that particular package, they must have been squeezed in such a way as to be completely unnoticeable. The label is placed on the pack under the string, which was typical for Augusta Arsenal.
Bringing the