1856 US ARMY QUARTERMASTER SUPPLY ORDER SIGNED BY GEORGE H. CROSMAN

1856 US ARMY QUARTERMASTER SUPPLY ORDER SIGNED BY GEORGE H. CROSMAN

Hover to zoom

Image 1 Image 2 Image 3

$95.00

Quantity Available: 1

Item Code: 1202-1793

Shipping: Determined by Method & Location of buyer

To Order:
Call 717-334-0347,
Fax 717-334-5016, or E-mail

George H. Crosman (1799-1882). Manuscript Letter Signed (“G. H. Crosman”), as Quartermaster, 2 pp. on a single folded sheet, Philadelphia, April 14, 1856. “Office of Army Clothing & Equipage.” Addressed to Capt. R. M. Potter, Military Storekeeper, U.S. Army, Schuylkill Arsenal. Embossed eagle blind-stamp at upper left; docketed on verso. Old folds; clean and legible.

Crosman directs Potter to pack and turn over for transport to Lt. J. W. Ward, A.A.Q.M. at Fort Columbus, New York Harbor (Governors Island), a full recruit outfit and camp equipage “for issue to Recruits at that Depôt,” including 100 infantry caps, 100 cap covers, 800 flannel shirts, 1,000 pairs of bootees (sizes 5–9), 1,000 pairs of stockings, 100 blankets, 75 leather stocks, 700 drawers, 300 knapsacks with straps, 300 haversacks, axes, hatchets, camp kettles, mess pans, bedsacks, and—notably—200 tin canteens with corks and straps, plus drum sticks and 100 sets of drum snares for the depot’s field musicians. Several clothing lines are specified “small for Boys,” reflecting the young drummers and recruits at the depot.

A marginal note keyed by asterisk instructs “Send 100 tin and 100 Gutta Percha canteens” and marks the order “immediate.” The gutta percha specification is the document’s most interesting feature: in 1855 the Quartermaster General had ordered a run of experimental gutta percha field gear—canteens, knapsacks, and haversacks—and this 1856 order documents that short-lived material experiment moving into recruit issue. The order is signed by Crosman, the West Point officer best remembered as the first to propose the U.S. Army Camel Corps and later a brevet major general and quartermaster of the Schuylkill Arsenal, the Army’s largest Civil War–era supply depot.

A clean, content-rich piece of pre–Civil War Army logistics, attractive both for the Crosman signature and the early gutta percha equipment reference.   [ss][ph:L]

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

THIS ITEM, AS WITH ALL OTHER ITEMS AVAILABLE ON OUR WEB SITE,

MAY BE PURCHASED THROUGH OUR LAYAWAY PROGRAM.

CLICK HERE FOR OUR POLICIES AND TERMS.

THANK YOU!

Inquire »

Inquire About 1856 US ARMY QUARTERMASTER SUPPLY ORDER SIGNED BY GEORGE H. CROSMAN

should be empty