Incidental Tools of the Artilleryman.gif (7369 bytes)

The question of whether infantry weapons  - rifles or pistols - were issued to cannoneers as a group is often debated.  Primary sources generally indicate that Federal gun crews were not officially issued weapons of that sort, although non-commissioned and commissioned officers routinely carried pistols and sabers.   Augustus Buell, in his The Cannoneer: Recollections of Service in the Army of the Potomac records however that, by 1863, not only did non-commissioned officers, including Gunners, carry revolvers, but so did cannoneers.

While primary sources indicate the presence of such weapons from time to time among artillerymen, we may not infer from those documents that rifles and pistols among the artillerymen were standard issue, other than to the non-commissioned officers.  If anything, the inference most obvious and reasonable to draw is that artillerymen armed themselves, by and large, according to perceived necessity and on the occasions of need - as they were able.

We do know that at least one form of sidearm - the saber - was an integral part of artillery training, according to William H. French's  Instruction for Field Artillery.  Jenkin Lloyd Jones noted in his An Artilleryman's Diary of the arrival of an ordnance train of supplies for the artillery whose inventory in October, 1864 included "sabres and guns...".

The absence of notes within the official documents from either side of the War on a the subject does not preclude the possibility that artillerymen carried personal sidearms, though.  That would have been more likely to be true among the Confederate artillerymen than the Federal artillerymen.  We know that the Washington Artillery cannoneers went off to War with sabers, if nothing else.

It is commonly held that all enlisted artillerymen in the Confederacy were ordered to turn in all of their hand weapons in 1862. While that is the popular belief, it’s true on a limited basis. The orders issued that required artillerymen to turn in their hand weapons were apparently limited to the Army of Northern Virginia. Furthermore, it has yet to be established if exceptions were anticipated or allowed, such as exempting artillery drivers, wagoneers, and teamsters from the provisions of that order.

A moments’ reflection will prove how sensible it would have been to allow the drivers, wagoneers, and teamsters to retain their pistols. In the event that a horse was critically wounded, the artillery horse could create havoc and cause serious damage to the wagon or piece it pulled, as well as being harmful to the other horses, mules, and people in its vicinity as a result of its thrashing about in its suffering. To end the animal’s life by cutting its throat and letting it bleed to death would take too long to bring about an end to its violent movements, and the scent of the horses’ or mules’ blood would have a tendency to excite or frighten the other animals in the team. Incidents in which cannoneers are cited as having had to end the lives of their own wounded artillery horses are numerous.

Edged weapons would have been important to the artilleryman, or at least the artillery driver, wagoneer, or teamster. Folding knives, or pocket knives, were common among the soldiers. As a practical matter, though, it would have been difficult in most circumstances when dealing with horses or mules to manage to open a knife that required two hands to open it, and to keep from injuring oneself with a knife that closed up for storage while trying either to cut the throat of a 1,200 thrashing animal, or the harnesses or traces of such an animal. Too, a pocket knife is too small and not heavy enough for cutting the thick harness leather as might be necessary to free a horse or mule from the trappings of a harness. For that purpose, a better tool would have been the "belt knife", the one-handed knife that was so very popular among Confederate troops, such as the Bowie knife or the Arkansas toothpick. 

While this sort of knife is often discouraged among re-enacting artillerymen - and rightly so, for they pose the same sort of personal danger to artillerymen that a bayonet poses to infantrymen - it may not be entirely accurate to prevent them from carrying such knives as part of their impression.  However, there are sacrifices that must be made to ensure the general safety and welfare of the men, and divesting artillerymen of their long knives is a small price to pay for such safety.

The obvious need during the War for an edged weapon would seem to call for drivers , wagoneers, and teamsters to hang onto their artillery sabers, too, if not to sharp, shorter weapons. The M1840 US artillery saber had been in use for twenty years before the War Between the States broke out, and it remained in active use for another forty years afterwards.  Don Troiani’s research would seem to bear that out, as his depiction of a Washington Artillery of a New Orleans cannoneer of one of the first four companies from 1862 clearly shows the cannoneer with his artillery saber as he leans against the piece in an idle moment. Other illustrations and some photographs likewise show privates armed with their sabers, and the evidence spans the length of the War Between the States.

Again, it should be noted that not all soldiers were members of the Army of Northern Virginia, and it was the Army of Northern Virginia to which the order concerning hand weapons was directed. For our purposes, then, it is significant to note that 5th Company - Washington Artillery was not a part of the Army of Northern Virginia.

If they carried an artillery saber, they had a belt on which it was worn. We do have photographic evidence that the 6th Massachusetts Light Artillery, a company we portray,  wore saber belts and carried the 1840 artillery saber during the War. For Federal service under the 6th Massachusetts Light Artillery flag, the saber belt plate was the Massachusetts sword belt plate shown on our "Photo Album II" section, and the belt was black bridle leather.  For the Washington Artillery, the belt would have been a white buff leather (without an over-the-shoulder support strap), and would have used a two-piece Louisiana spoon-and-wreath buckle or the two-piece "WA" belt buckle.

An implement or tool not common to cannoneers, but indispensable to drivers, teamsters, and wagoneers was the whip. It was a necessary implement or tool when a team of horses or mules would need to be motivated to pull harder when the hauling got to be most difficult, or when it was necessary to urge the team to move faster.   According to an excellent article by Dave Fox of Ferguson's Battery, published in the "Camp Chase Gazette", he related that, in the Confederate States Army Ordnance Manual which was published in Charleston, South Carolina in 1863, the whip described was identical with the US Army Ordnance Manual of 1861. It was described as: "1 Stock [i.e., rawhide] about 30 inches long. The raw hide is first covered with India-rubber cloth; 1 leather cover, sewed over the India-rubber covering, with a loop in the end, well secured; 1 lash [that is to say, thread] tied to the leather cover; 1 loop for the hand, nailed to the butt of whip with 2 tacks."

Replicating a whip is a relatively easy project, requiring only an inexpensive whip of the sort often sold to children at re-enactments or tourist gift shops. The whip length must be reduced from its typical five-foot or six-foot length to approximately 30" and re-braided at the end. A wrist strap may be made from a small piece of leather. An article in the "Camp Chase Gazette" by Dave Fox of Ferguson's Battery recommended using a single black spur strap (available from many sutlers who handle leather goods), cut in two, and then screwed to the butt of the whip to serve as the wrist strap.

As a mounted artillery Company, it may not be a stretch to have spurs. However, without horses or mules, it takes on the aspect of extraordinary silliness to wear them. Again, according to a two-part series by Dave Fox in "Camp Chase Gazette" on the artillery driver that appeared in 1997, there are two types of spurs that are available in replica form. One is a Federal issue spur that was used for almost five decades beyond the end of the War; the second type is the "Richmond spur", cited in the article as "the product of Tredegar as well as Fayetteville, Macon, and perhaps other depots; apparently a regular Confederate model." He went on to say that "the Federal style, worn of course by both sides, runs about $20.00 and is found carried in stock by sutlers such as Levi Ledbetter (Frank Lanning)....The Richmond spur is likewise available from the Cavalry Shop, [and] is visually the more striking of the two styles...Spur straps come from the same sources".

Yet another tool of the artillery driver is the leather and iron leg guard, an accouterment of the driver, teamster, or wagoneer that was first seen in the 1830’s. The leg guard was intended to be worn on the right leg and served to protect the leg from being crushed between the near and off horses, the limber pole, traces, chains and buckles, and anything else that may have come between the driver or teamster or wagoneer and the horses or mules, or other pieces of equipment as they rode along.

An accoutrement - a tool, really, as used by the artillery wagoneer, teamster, or driver - that we cannot confirm as having been part of the normative equipment of the artillery teamster, wagoneer, or driver was a pair of leather gauntlets. By inference and using the test of common sense, we may conclude that drivers, teamsters, and wagoneers wore leather gauntlets as a matter of course. The many tasks required of those men would have necessarily been rough on the hands. For a driver to handle the reins and harnesses of the horses or mules would have been rough enough, and then the specific care of grooming the animals would have been hard on the hands. Exacerbate that with rain or cold and it just would have made good sense - horse sense, even - that the animal handlers would have routinely worn leather gauntlets.  It should almost go without saying that men of truly mounted units - artillery companies in which the artillerymen all rode a wagon or a horse - would have worn gauntlets.

The last tool was really an accoutrement rather than a tool. A detachable leather tube called a valise was strapped to the off-horse saddle. The valise was used to store personal effects, although the amount of storage space was extremely small. It was not the exclusive place in which the wagoneer, teamster, or driver might have stored his personal effects, as he could have stored blankets, canteens, haversack and other items in the battery wagon or even the limber chest.

From the outside looking in, to the uninformed it would seem that those who drove teams of horses were less specialized in their training than those who manned the cannons.  However, even a brief examination demonstrates that there was far more to their work than simply showing up to ride on a vehicle pulled by horses.  The tools specific to their occupational specialty, while not necessarily overly sophisticated, clearly show that there was much more to their jobs than meets the eye.

 

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