US CARTRIDGE BOX AND SHOULDER BELT PLATES

The box and belt plate were first introduced in 1839 and used until dropped from the pattern set in July 1864, during this 25 year period the pattern set did not change.

Major Thornton's draft "Ordnance Manual" of 1859 gives a more detailed description of the plates.

Cartridge box plate. ( Sheet brass, filling of lead & tin.) Oval 3.5 inches, by 2.2 inches, with the letters "U.S." embossed - 2 eyes (of iron wire no. 13 well tined (tinned) ) 2.2 inches apart, height or length 0.35 inch, width 0.2 inch, embedded in the lead filling, for fastening the plate to the flap of the box.

Cartridge Box Plate Front - Front	Cartridge Box Plate Back - Back

Cartridge box belt plate. (sheet brass, filling of lead & tin.) circular 2.5 inches diameter, embossed "Eagle", 2 eyes (of iron wire no. 13 well tined) 2 inches apart, height or length 0.4 inch, width 0.2 inch embedded in the lead filling, for attaching the plate to the belt.

The oval brass plate affixed to the flap of the cartridge boxes was both decorative and utilitarian, it's weight ( about 4 1/2 ounces) helped to hold the flap of the cartridge box down when the flap was not fastened.

The cartridge box belt plate is more commonly known as the "Eagle Plate". The design was first adopted in 1834 as a bayonet belt plate. The eagle, known as the "Dingee" eagle and was a copy of an eagle used by that contractor on a rifleman's flask, by the time of the civil war the plate was strictly ornamental and had no functional use.

Non standard plates in Government use 1861 to 1864

With the rush for arms and equipment during the war, the government arsenals were given the opportunity to off load their old out of date non standard stock. A good example of this is the so called "Burnside" (a modern term used by collectors) shoulder belt plate; this plate is smaller in size 2.25 - 2.30 inch or 54 - 59 mm rather than the required 2.5 inches or 63 mm these have also been see along side what collectors have dubbed the "medium " sized cartridge box plate 1.82 x 2.10 inches or 47 x 79 mm rather than 2.22 x 3.50 inches or 58 x 89 mm. The Federal Ninth Corps apparently were equipped with reasonable numbers of these plates as quite a few have been recovered in areas occupied by it on the Virginia battlefields. One theory that has been put forward is that they were left over stock for the 1839 pattern Hall's bayonet belt, which became obsolete when the bayonet scabbard shoulder belt was discontinued. After twenty years in storage at, maybe, the Allegheny Arsenal, with an urgent need for equipment during the civil war these smaller sized plates may have become acceptable as a substitute. To date there is no documentation to describe or refer to this size of plate or for what purpose they were manufactured.

Government production during the civil war

At the start of the war the Allegheny Arsenal was the government's primary production facility. For the first few months of the war the Allegheny Arsenal not only supplied the accoutrement plates to the contractors but also all the other metal items for the accouterments including the tins. By the end of 1862, Watertown Arsenal was ordered to take over all infantry accoutrement (full sets) production and by June 1863, all production of those accoutrements was accomplished by Watertown Arsenal. Allegheny continued making box and belt plates as they still produced part sets of infantry accoutrements, their excess going to contractors or Watertown Arsenal to be included in their sets.

CONTRACTOR PRODUCTION

Contractors supplied full sets of accoutrements as well as individual parts of sets such as shoulder belts and plates i.e. Sproulls, Meeker & Co. who in December 1861 manufactured 20,000 shoulder belts including the shoulder belt plate to match.

In a report to the Secretary of war dated 23^rd October 1866 by Brigadier General A.B. Dyer, a good summary was given of the total number of infantry accoutrement set and plates purchased from contractors, from January 1861 to June 1865

    FULL SETS ………………………………………2,065,875

    CARTRIDGE BOX PLATES ……………………. 114,378

    CARTRIDGE BOX BELT PLATES ……………... 151,573

By adding the number of full sets to the number of plates it gives a general idea of the total number of plates produced and purchased by the U.S. government.

    CARTRIDGE BOX PLATES ……………………….2,108,253

    CARTRIDGE BOX SHOULDER PLATES ………...2,217,448

Plates purchased by individual states that entered in to the Ordnance system are not included in this number.

COST OF THE PLATES

In a letter dated 27^th February 1862 from Major Whiteley to General Ripley he gives a cost for individual parts of accoutrement sets he was paying at that date.

    Cartridge box .69 inch. Vertical loop riveted …………………........$ 1.30

    Cartridge box .58 inch. Vertical loop riveted …………………........$ 1.25

    Cartridge box plate…………………………………………….......$ 0.08

    Cartridge box belt, oil tanned leather (buff leather) …………….....$ 0.85

    Cartridge box belt, oil dressed leather ( waxed or bridle) ………....$ 0.55

    Cartridge box belt plate ………………………………………….. $ 0.06

The cost would rise to about $5.50 for a set of accoutrements by 1864, the cost of the plates would be around $0.19 for the two plates

PLATES MARKED BY CONTRACTORS

Occasionally a plate will turn up with the contractor name die stamped on the rear in the soft solder/tin mix, some collectors believe that these plates date from the Mexican war period 1846-1849, kept on stock in arsenals and issued during the civil war. There is however no documentation to back this up. There is evidence that some contractors marked their plates during the civil war period.

In a letter written in late 1863 from W.H. Wilkinson, of Springfield Massachusetts to General Ramsay, Chief of Ordnance. Wilkinson asked if plates had to be marked with the makers and inspector's names. The General replied that it was not required. However plates marked with both Wilkinson's and the inspector's name (T.J. Shepard) are found in collections today. Also the marking of the plates may have been to the discretion of the governments inspector at the contractors place of work, once more T.J. Shepard's name is seen on two plates made by Boyd & Sons of Boston in Plates and buckles of the American military 1795 - 1874 by Sydney C. Kerksis.

In the marking of plates W.H. Smith of Brooklyn is by far the most common with J.I. Pittman being the rarest. No oval U.S. plates with an Arsenal marking have been noted to date, however sword plates marked "Alleghany Arsenal" are known.

PLATES DROPPED JULY 1864

By 1864 the Ordnance Department decided that something had to done to lower the price of a set of accoutrements then costing $5.50 per set. There were several recommendations, the first was that the two plates should be eliminated from the pattern as useless items; this had first been recommend by Major Symington in January 1858 but it was turned down. But six years later with the price at 0.19cents per set and with the Government setting orders up for 100,000 sets dropping the plates would save the Government $19,000 a considerable saving for those times. So on the fourth July 1864 the plates were eliminated from the new pattern.

Return to Article Index