whatzzit?

[John E. Tobey]

Hello again,

Does anyone know what the piece of gear is on this trooper? The time frame is spring 1864, place is VA.

John Tobey

[Rebbeh]

Re: whatzzit?

the war's largest cartridge box?

[Marc]

Re: whatzzit?

Boy John if you don't know who does?

Too big to be that special cartridge box for the Spencer that no one really liked and I forget the name.

Almost appears it could be a medical case, but why would he have a saber.

Perhaps some type of special message box?

Curious minds want to know

[wmkane]

Re: whatzzit?

When I look at the shape and size, i think of a early war knapsack, but the strapping on it is all wrong.

[CJDaley]

Re: whatzzit?

My first reaction was a hospital knapsack, but I don't know enough about them. Where is Tim Kindred when you need him?

[Rob]

Re: whatzzit?

Just a guess: a field medicine case?

[toptimlrd]

Re: whatzzit?

Could it be he is a surgeon which may explain the sword? I don't see any rank straps but the photo is rather fuzzy and I can not tell what the front of the coat looks like either.

[Ross L. Lamoreaux]

Re: whatzzit?

The sword is definitely a calvary sword, not an officer's sword, but back to the main question, I concur with the medical box crowd, as I faintly recall looking at something similiar in a museum (possibly the CW Medical Museum in MD), and seeing it identified as a medical steward or surgeons case. It would make sense to me to carry medecines in a hardened case. Now the question is, was the man in the image a calvary medical steward?

[1st Maine Trooper]

Re: whatzzit?

I too cast my vote for the Medical box. On another note, thats either one very short dude or them are some mighty tall horses. Also both saddles have cruppers.

Dave Myrick

[Curt Schmidt]

Re: whatzzit?

Hallo!

He can't be that short, given the length of the sabre.
Must be the horses.... ;-)

Curt
If a steward, trying to figure if the sabre is a martial prop for the photographer...

[Charles Heath]

Re: whatzzit?

Without a doubt this is Jerry Todd's lunchbox in an image struck by Claude Levet at the infamous Oatlands event a few years ago. Notice the ham and cheese hanging out one side, and the optional Soyer's private purchase crust cutter/corkscrew combination tool. Sheesh, must I explain everything? :)

[NY Pvt]

Re: whatzzit?

This isn’t my expertise, but to me it looks like it might be a leather artillery haversack as seen here:

http://cgi.liveauctions.ebay.com/74154-Allegheny-Arsenal-Leather-Artillery-Haversack_W0QQcmdZViewItemQQcategoryZ28267QQihZ007QQitemZ170118089132QQrdZ1

This looks like it is roughly the same size as in the 1864 photo. The strap also looks roughly the same width, and I can only imagine when the leather was new in 1864, it would be much more tough, thus would hold its shape better then that can be seen from this example, 143 years later.

As far as the medical kit, here is one, again just offered on eBay. When new it would have been very much like a saddle bag. But then again for all I know there could have been multiple styles of mounted medical bags.

http://cgi.ebay.com/Civil-War-Medical-Doctor-Saddle-Bag-Medicine-Bottles_W0QQitemZ300127217049QQihZ020QQcategoryZ13960QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

[John E. Tobey]

Re: whatzzit?

Thanks for the both the thoughtful replies and the laughs.

Fred Gaede thought that it might be carrying the farrier tools I spoke of in another post. Thanks to Ross, however, it has me thinking that it would be unnecessary to put things like that in a hardened case.

Another possibility is that it contains saddler tools. You wouldn't want to carry stuff like awls, needles and a head knife in a soft case. Unfortunately, it's all speculation at this point -- I need something concrete.

Thanks again,
John Tobey

[John E. Tobey]

Re: whatzzit?

Oh yeah...I did the math. That trooper is a wee lad of five foot two. :)

John Tobey

[DaveGink]

Re: whatzzit?

Hello again,

Does anyone know what the piece of gear is on this trooper? The time frame is spring 1864, place is VA.

John Tobey

Could you point me to the original image this came from? Is it a LOC photo? I'd like to see the rest of it. Thanks!!