The Confederates made very little coins during the Civil War, but it's a bit more complicated than that. The U.S. had 5 mints around the country that they were using, so when the Confederacy came to be, they took over 3 of them, most notably in New Orleans. The Confederates started making coins...
Does anyone have in their collection the humble pocketknife from CW times? I'd like to see them, even if they're repros or custom-made modern ones. I think this simple tool was one of the most useful for all. What about "bowies"? Where they really used? I've seen pictures from the early war...
Any good hard wood could be used, which included sugar maple, red maple, cherry, apple, pear and sometimes ash and butternut (for southern rifles). French muskets followed the walnut trail as did most others, but Austrian rifles (Lorenz) could sometimes be made of elm and some German and Belgian rifles had beech stocks.
Confederate uniforms were generally made from jeans, cassimere, or kersey, in that order (though from mid-1863 onwards huge quantities of cadet-grey kersey were imported from Britain and used- it seems- primarily for jackets). other wool/cotton fabrics were also used to some extent.
Most case-shot was made of lead, both north and south. Later in the War when lead supplies were short, the Confederacy switched to iron case-shot balls. Most all canister consisted of iron balls. Thanks! Great explanation that even I can understand. Now on to "shells" - I got the ones that were hollow cannonballs with powder inside.
The well made interchangeable parts made it the realization of a dream for ordnance men. It was a simple and inexpensive arm that influenced small arms development well into the 20th century.
By the time their uniform items start to wear out, you can replace them with other higher end pieces one at a time, or if you´ve decided that reenacting isn´t your thing, you can get out without taking a huge loss. Regimental Quartermaster and Fall Creek feature American made products. C&C is the last of the sutlers selling Pakistani inventory.
There were other C.S.A. domestic manufacturers of pistols of course, smaller than the four outfits named above. For example there was Dance Brothers (of Galveston, Texas) which made a .44-cal. pistol that looked like this Elsewhere in Texas the Tucker & Sherrod company was making .44-cal. Dragoon revolvers like these And in still another part of Texas (Sisterdale) the Sisterdale Dragoon .44 ...
I made a measured drawing of two of the knives at the Coastal Museum for a knife smith in our local blacksmith forge. One of them was a utility knife very similar to the Green River multi use knife above. The "Bowie Knife" was exactly the same blade with a clip point. Makes sense, a manufacturer would have no reason not to simplify the production.
In addition to swords made by other manufacturers, military "volunteers" were offered a wide selection of Roby weapons that would have included N.C.O.,Musician, Horse Artillery, and Cavalry swords for enlisted personnel; a Foot Infantry Officer sword, model 1850; and large bowie-knives with inspiring brass, eagle-head pommels.
