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CIVIL WAR PATTERN 1862 CANTEEN – CINCINNATI
DEPOT – COMPLETE BROWN JEAN CLOTH COVERING AND FULL
LENGTH ORIGINAL SLING WITH LEGIBLE MAKER AND US
INSPECTOR INK STAMPS – VERY NICE SPECIMEN: This
Civil War issue Pattern 1862 Canteen features the smooth
sided design. The very nice condition suggests it may
not have been issued, but if it was, it was exposed to
very gentle, limited use.
This canteen presents with the characteristics which
identifies it as having been inspected and accepted at
the Quartermaster Depot at Cincinnati, Ohio. The
canteens were delivered to the depot without the covers
and slings so that the quality and integrity of the
canteen could be inspected. Once the inspection process
was completed, the canteen was covered and the sling was
attached. The brown jean cloth covering this canteen is
the covering known to have been used at the Cincinnati
Depot, and the depot inspectors applied the maker’s name
and their inspectors’ acceptance stamp in ink to the
sewn cotton sling such as appears on this sling. And
finally, the upper tin sling loops lack the hole for the
cork stopper retention chain as seen on the New York
Depot canteens. This omission was intentional and the
stopper was held in place with a looped piece of
twine.
The original cotton linen sling is full length, shows no
notable soiling, and no wear or fraying along the edges
as is so often seen. Most importantly, the sling still
retains both the ink stamped maker’s “WINCHELL, MARSH”
and the US inspector’s names. Both stamps are brightly
struck and very legible.
The presence of these
stamps is a significant added value as they are more
often than not found to be very lightly struck on
coarsely woven fabric of the sling to begin with, and
then were subjected to the constant friction of being
carried which soon wore the stamps away. The wear left
the stamps faint – if they survived at all - and almost
impossible to read. Finding the maker and inspector
stamps that have survived enough to be legible such as
are present on this sling is quite notable.
George D. Winchell, Marsh, & Company – one of two
Cincinnati manufacturers who held contracts to produce
canteens for the army - produced 570,000 canteens
between April of 1863 and late summer of 1864.
The brown “jean” cloth cover is fully intact with all of
the seams intact and only a few minor points of wear
through the material, likely due to storage through the
years. The
body is full form with no significant deformities,
holes, or weak points. There are three shallow rounded
dents that can be felt through the material, but they do
not affect the appearance of the canteen. The spout is
very solid and fully intact where it is mounted on the
body of the canteen, and it still retains the original
cork stopper in the throat. All three sling keepers are
intact.
This is a very nice example of a Civil War Canteen,
which has survived in very respectable condition and
would be almost impossible to upgrade. Of greatest
value is that it has survived in its original
configuration and it retains the legible maker’s and
inspector’s ink stamps on the sling.
SOLD
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