Whatever Fits
1851 Springfield .69 Caliber Musket
| The
grouping below was from where Pender's North Carolina and Field's Virginia regiments held
the line north of the cornfield. The bullets, gun tool and cartridge box remnants were
most likely the result of scavenging by one or more Rebs armed with .69 caliber muskets. It is easy to imagine a Confederate soldier, perhaps a wounded comrade, picking up cartridge boxes from the dead and wounded in a search for dry ammunition. It's also possible he was loading the muskets and handing them back to the firing line. The "vent pick" part of the gun tool was probably being used to clear fouled gunpowder in an effort to keep the weapon(s) serviceable. The distinctive Italian Carcano bullet pictured below is almost always associated with North Carolina militia units. The Belgian bullet had extraction marks on it where it had been pulled back out of the barrel (obviously because the powder had gotten wet). The Prussian bullet had been whittled around the top for a looser fit when the diameter of the musket barrel was reduced from fouled gunpowder residue. Soldiers were also known to carry two types of caliber's for their weapon. One for a clean barrel and one that was a smaller caliber for when the barrel became fouled with gunpowder residue. |
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| .69 Caliber Belgian |
.71 Caliber Italian Carcano |
.69 Caliber Prussian |
| There
were over 370 different types of guns and at least 65 different caliber's (ranging from
.220 caliber to .858 caliber) used throughout the war. Since it was hard for the
Confederate army to supply ammunition for the many types of guns it used, the soldier
would use any bullet that would go down the barrel. The bullets found in this grouping are also a good sampling of the varied styles and suppliers that the Confederates used during the war. |
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| .75 Caliber English Tower Musket |
.69 Caliber U.S.A. |
.69 Caliber U.S.A. |
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| The .69 Caliber all-in-one gun tool found in this grouping was a screwdriver, nipple wrench, and vent pick. A soldier could maintain and completely disassemble his .69 Caliber Musket with this one tool. |
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| Cartridge Box Brass Rivet | Cartridge Box Brass Finial | Cartridge Box Brass Rivet |
| The brass cartridge box rivets still have some of the original leather attached. The brass finial's were located on the bottom of the cartridge box where the leather flap would be secured to. |
