The sources of supply for the arms and accoutrements of the Confederate States Marine Corps have unfortunately not been well researched, despite books on the Marine Corps being published in the past.
This blog post is intended to shed some light on which sources were used to supply arms and accoutrements to the Corps. This study will include CSMC units outside the James River Squadron, as some of them were eventually transferred to the James River Squadron, bringing their arms and accoutrements with them. Please note, this is not to address supply from within the Corps with transfers, but which sources outside the Corps were producing the items or supplying them to the Corps.
The earliest record we have is from May 24, 1861. At this time Captain George Holmes, commanding Company A, purchased 36 canteens at New Orleans, Louisiana. In June 1861 and the receipt of 34 percussion muskets, 34 bayonets, 34 bayonet scabbards, 34 cartridge boxes, 34 waist belts, 34 waist belt plates, and 34 cap pouches from Captain Hypolite Oladowski, Chief of Ordnance and Artillery for the Confederate Army in Pensacola, Florida, by Captain George Holmes, commanding Company A, then at Pensacola. (This is in addition to 51 percussion muskets, 51 bayonets, 51 infantry cartridge
boxes, 51 bayonet scabbards, 51 waist belts, 51 waist belt plates, and 51 cap pouches which he had received from First Lieutenant H.S. Ingraham than same month. Also note, that by the end of June 1862, Holmes' company only had 3 percussion muskets on hand, the rest being replaced by Enfield rifles from an unknown source before that date.)
In mid December 1861, the Marine Guard under Lieutenant R.H. Henderson aboard the CSS Northampton received 1,500 cartridges for English rifles with caps from Naval Store Keeper James A. Mahone.
Our records then jump to mid October 1862 with Holmes' receipt of 22 knapsacks and 20 canteens from Captain J.P. Jones of the Confederate Army.
Records of sources of the supply of arms and accoutrements are murky at best until the first quarter of 1864 at which time we have surviving records from Major Algernon S. Taylor, Quartermaster of the CSMC.
In early January 1864 Taylor received 50 canteens without straps from Captain O.W. Edwards, Military Store Keeper at the Confederate Army Ordnance Store House in Richmond.
In early March 1864 Taylor received 4 drums and 4 pairs of drum sticks from Major William G. Bentley, Quartermaster in charge of the
depot for the receiving and issuing of clothing, tents, garrison and
camp equipage to the armies in the State of Virginia and the manufacture
of tents and camp and garrison equipage for the same of the C.S. Army
in Richmond.
Later that same month Taylor received 50 waist belts, 50 canteens, 50 knapsacks and 50 cartridge boxes from Edwards.
S. Sutherland was paid $25 for a non-commissioned officers sword by Taylor for Sergeant Major of the Marine Corps Edward Wallace. S. Sutherland was a "Southern Importing Establishment" operating as early as 1861 selling "guns, pistols, gun materials, fishing tackle, walking canes, &c., &c., and finer descriptions of cutlery" from their store at 132 Main Street in Richmond, Virginia.
Also at the end of March 1864, Taylor received the only recorded evidence of arms and accoutrements from the Confederate Navy. From Lieutenant R.L. Minor at the Naval Ordnance Works in Richmond, Taylor received 40 cap boxes, 40 waist belts, 40 cartridge boxes, 69 bayonets, 40 scabbards and 69 muskets. However there is no record of the 69 muskets being issued that quarter and none are listed as being on hand at the end of the quarter, nor do they appear on the 2nd quarter ordnance return.
In mid April 1864, Taylor received 3,200 .58 cal rifle cartridges in 4 boxes and 3,840 percussion caps from Captain W.N. Smith, Military Store Keeper in the Laboratory Department of the Richmond Arsenal.
In mid June 1864, Taylor received 100 percussion .58 cal rifle muskets, 100 waist belts, 50 canteens, 100 knapsacks, 100 cartridge boxes, 100 bayonets and 100 scabbards from Edwards.
On July 8, 1864 Holmes received 16,000 rifle ball cartridge, 2,500 musket ball cartridges and 18,000 percussion caps from Major Benjamin Sloan, Chief of Light Artillery and Chief Ordnance Officer to General Whiting. (On July 18, 1864, these rounds were turned over to S.P. Schisane, Gunner C.S.N., without having been opened, less 125 percussion caps which were expended.)
In mid July 1864, Taylor received 4,000 rifle cartridges and 4,800 percussion caps from Smith.
In late September, 1864 Taylor received 100 canteens with straps and 150 haversacks from Edwards.
While this is not as complete a look at the sources of supply for the arms and accoutrements as historians may have hoped to find, it does shed an interesting light on the fact that from the beginning of January 1864 through the end of September 1864, a period for which we have the complete records for the Quartermaster of the CSMC, the main source of supply of arms and accoutrements for the Confederate Marine Corps was the Confederate Army Ordnance Department and their Ordnance Store House in Richmond as well as the Richmond Arsenal.
A future entry
will cover the clothing and camp equipage in similar detail.
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