Soldier's Equipment

The rest received cartridge boxes that were copies of the Union army black box, which had straps on the back so that it could be carried either on a strap from the left shoulder to the right hip or on a waist belt at the centre of the back. The Union army model held forty of the paper-wrapped cartridges in two 20-round tin containers. The box had a small picket beneath the flap, which held musket tools and cleaning equipment. The outside of the flap was decorated with a brass oval plate bearing the letters "US". Many of those boxes were used by Confederate soldiers, who found 8,000 of them on the Chancellorsville battlefield.

Southern-made copies of this box usually simplified the design, the tin containers often being made in one piece; some boxes had a waist belt strap only, some only a shoulder strap. Some eliminated the tool pouch. Finials were often of lead or wood instead of brass. Southern-made cartridge-box flaps rarely had a brass badge, although some made in Richmond did have this bit of luxury; H M Richmond and Sons, for example, stamped the letters "CS" in an oval on the flap of their boxes.

Finally, because of the shortage of leather, the sling and even the outer flap of some boxes were of painted cloth. Plain cotton webbing box slings, and even rifle slings, were made. The cartridge box was carried either on the waistbelt or on the crossbelt tucked under the waistbelt. The waistbelt was supposed to be of black leather, although undied leather and even cotton webbing waistbelts are known to have been issued. Officially the Union army practice of having a brass beltplate was to be followed, and indeed, an oval beltplate, the brass more red than yellow owing to a high percentage of copper, bearing the seals of Georgia or Texas or the letters "NC" or "SC", were also worn if obtainable.
But photographs of Confederate soldiers in the field indicate that most of Lee's infantrymen wore a plain frame buckle of one sort or the other. The majority had a brass frame and were of the styles known as "wishbone", from the split-tongue design, and "Georgia", from its source. Iron buckles, often with roller buckles, were also common.

The infantryman had two more accoutrements on his waistbelt; a thin iron pick used to clear a fouled musket nipple, and his cap box. The latter was a small leather pouch holding his copper percussion caps, and was worn on the front right hip, next to the belt buckle. The Union model was black leather with a sheepskin wrapper inside to prevent the caps from falling out when the flap was opened; a double flap gave extra security. Many of these Union cap boxes saw Confederate use 4,000 of them being found on the Chancellorsville battlefield alone.

Southern-made cap boxes tended to be of simpler construction, with only one strap instead of two at the rear, and lead or wood finials instead of brass. British made cap boxes were supplied; being copies of Confederate box and of the British army white buff box which was secured to the cartridge-box sling instead of the waistbelt. At times however, Confederate infantrymen wore this box on the waistbelt. Possibly because they lacked a cartridge-box sling, or possibly because the practice was alien to them.

Southern-made bayonet scabbards, worn on the left hip, beneath the haversack, were plainer than those of the North. The scabbards produced from the iron spike bayonets to be used with the Richmond copies of the M1855 rifled musket were black, the frog sewn rather than riveted. The tip was a small white metal finial instead of a large brass finial of the US army scabbard. British Enfields came complete with scabbard, these being copies of standard British army issue.