Of the thousands of these dovetailed crates that were made for transporting artillery shells few have survived. They were so handy for shipping crates, strong boxes, tool boxes, kindling boxes and the like that most simply got used up after the war. Even the Richmond Arsenal re-used this one. (An earlier stencil is visible beneath the final one.) Eric Kane wrote an article about this exceptional box for North South Trader's Civil War magazine after the relic surfaced some years ago. It was in the family descendents of a West Virginia Confederate veteran of the 2nd Virginia infantry. The box measures 10" x 12" x 20". After the war the veteran put hinges and a lock on the lid and must have used it as a household strongbox since its condition is so good. This may be the best surviving Confederate artillery box to have survived the war. The box was also owned at one time by Shannon Pritchard who can attest to its remarkable condition.

This is another Bannerman's surplus item--a gunner's vent punch. This one is marked "Watervliet Arsenal US" on one side and "12 M" on the other. It is in mint unissued condition. Measures 22 1/4" long. A necessary component of the artilleryman's tools.

The portfire was the "modern" replacement for the slow match, a piece of treated hemp or twisted cotton that burned very slowly and was kept close by an artillery piece for igniting the short powder train to the cannon vent. The portfire, which replaced the slow match, was a flammable composition packed in a paper case, burnded slowly but intensely and could only be extinguished by cutting the burning end with portfire cutters. These portfires and their accompanying portfire stocks were kept on hand during battery firing as an emergency when a friction primer failed to ignite. This example is in excellent condition and measures 17 1/2" long. Great piece for artillery display!

You don't encounter these very often anymore. The portfire stave or stock held the portfire, a flammable composition that burned with an intense flame that couldn't be extinguished with water. This was held in readiness in case a friction primer failed to fire. The stock was made of wood with a short spike at the bottom tip for sticking into the ground. There were two copper retaining collars, top and bottom, and the bottom collar is missing from this example. The stave measures 25" long from top to tip of spike. Great for artillery display!

This is a great marked US artillery piece--a leather limber pole bumper. Stamped Allegheny Arsenal and dated 1865 this was an important piece of equipment to protect the horse from injury from the tip of the limber pole. It measures approximately 4 1/4" high x 5' in diameter. It is intact and in unused Bannerman surplus grade condition.

Here is an item you don't see anymore--an 8" mortar and original crate. The crate is sound and still retains its rope handles and traces of the stenciling can still be read on the side panel. The ball does not have its fuze but it is in great condition otherwise. I believe this piece was sold through Bannerman's decades ago.

During the long months of winter camp soldiers relieved the boredom by playing games--from horseshoes to poker. While checkers may have been the board game of the masses, chess was the warrior’s forte and was very popular with soldiers North and South. More often than not, the boards and the pieces had to be made in camp and the soft lead bullets were easy to carve and shape into the desired pieces. With the advent of metal detecting relic hunters began unearthing these carved bullets and identified them as game pieces. Here is a collection of chessmen recovered by one digger in Virginia camps over the past several decades. Each piece was crafted by a soldier rendering them unique as relics of the Civil War and as examples of American folk art. Each piece is priced at $25.00.

Yet another group of carved bullets from Virginia Civil War winter camps. While not as profound as some, each relic in this group represents idle time spent by a Civil War soldier who whiled away the hours with a pocketknife and a few lead bullets. One has a small nail pounded through it for an inexplicable purpose. Another bears sharp cuts--idle whittling or is it a chess piece? The two flattened minies were most likely checker pieces. Another appears to be an unfinished anatomical piece. All in all, interesting testimonies to the drugery of camp life in the 1860s and to the ingenuity of American soldiers of the Blue and Gray. Each piece is reasonable priced at $10.00.

Civil War soldiers in winter camp often relieved the tedium by carving and whittling their bullets. They also made utilitarian items from bullets--rivets, combs, pencils, game board pieces, etc. Shown here are a few such items recovered by one relic hunter in Virginia over the past several decades. The group includes miniature barrels made from ring-tail Sharps bullets, checker and domino pieces, pencils, and fishing sinkers. Each unique piece is reasonably priced at $12.50 each!

A favorite pastime of Civil War soldiers in winter camp was whittling. At some point, soldiers discovered that they could whittle and carve their soft lead bullets. Here are several items recovered from Virginia camps by a prominent relic hunter. At top is a tapered pencil, below left is a tapered stopper for a small bottle or inkwell. Next to that is a set of miniature barbells and to the right is a letter H for a wax seal. At bottom appears to be an erect male organ. Each of these unique soldier-carved relics is valued at $35.00 each.

Of the many utilitarian items fashioned by soldiers in the field from lead bullets, few were as useful as the simple nipple protector. Placed on the nipple with the hammer down, this device kept moisture and dust from clogging the nipple and fouling its tiny channel. Soldiers of both Blue and Gray adapted bullets for this useful device. One side of the soft lead carries the impression of the underside of the hammer and the opposite side reveals the impression of the nipple. These were all excavated from Virginia sites by one relic hunter. Reasonably priced at $12.00 each.