This gray wool covered U.S. M1858 canteen is in excellent condition and has a nice stencil for the 1ST. CONN. / VOLS.” The pattern is the New York Depot style using a chain to retain the stopper, which O’Donnell says came in during 1862 and a full cap on the stopper cork that he dates to early 1863. The strap is a folded cloth strap, full length, typical of those used by contractors supplying the NY Depot, a branch of the U.S. Quartermaster’s Office of Clothing and Equipage, as is the gray wool cover. The strap is complete and very good, with no breaks or stains. The cover is excellent: we see only one small wear spot on the upper reverse. The stencil on front was likely white originally, but has faded to a nice cream color.

Given the date of the canteen, the stencil could designate either the 1^st CT. Cavalry or 1^st CT. Heavy Artillery.  The 1^st CT Vol. Cav. was extremely active. CWData gives more than 120 points at which it took casualties of some sort and it lost 4 officers and 36 enlisted men in killed or mortally wounded alone while serving in the Mountain Department, Army of Virginia, Army of the Potomac, Department of West Virginia, Army of the Shenandoah, etc. It had been organized as a battalion is November 1861 and mustered out August 1865. Alternatively, the stencil might designate the 1^st CT. Vol. Heavy Artillery, a unit formed from the 4^th Infantry in January 1862. They served often by battery or groups of batteries, in the Army of the Potomac and the 22^nd Army Corps, and the Department of Virginia and North Carolina and saw action in many places, including the Peninsula Campaign, Fredericksburg, Chancellorsville, Gettysburg, Bermuda Hundred, Petersburg and Richmond, Fort Fisher, etc. They lost 2 offices and 49 enlisted men killed or wounded in various engagements. CWdata lists about 110 points at which they were engaged with some sort of loss.

This is a great looking Civil War canteen in very nice shape. [sr] [ph:L]

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