CARTRIDGE BOX PLATE FROM CEDAR MOUNTAIN RECOVERED BY SYD KERKSIS OCTOBER 1957

CARTRIDGE BOX PLATE FROM CEDAR MOUNTAIN RECOVERED BY SYD KERKSIS OCTOBER 1957

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$495.00 ON HOLD

Quantity Available: 1

Item Code: 2025-186

This is a very good excavated condition M1839 cartridge box plate recovered by pioneer relic hunter, scholar, and author Syd Kerksis, that is still in his collection envelope documenting its recovery in October 1957 on the Cedar Mountain battlefield, specifically in the area fought over by “Williams - near center of, and edge of, Wheatfield.” His notations include his categorization of it as “CBP” i.e., a cartridge box plate, and bearing a “Boyd” maker’s mark.

The plate has an attractive chocolate brown patina with excellent rim and well defined letters showing just some thin scratches and one narrow ding on the lower right of the “S.” The lead-solder fill on the back has a level surface and shows a mix of gray, white and thin brown, with the iron-wire loops in place and intact, but showing dark brown rust that has slightly stained the fill next to them. Part of the maker’s mark is visible: “BOYD & …” in an arc indicating Boyd and Sons of Boston, who were in business in Boston from 1818 dealing in leather gear, had army contracts for accoutrements as early as the Mexican War, and were a major supplier in the Civil War. The arched “Boyd and Sons / Boston” backmark was introduced in the 1850s and apparently replaced in 1864 by a straight line stamp (See O’Donnell and Campbell.) The letter style is also known from their early-war plates and the plate, correctly, does not have the U.S. and inspector’s name stamps required for suppliers to the Springfield Armory beginning in 1864. These plates were introduced in 1839 as both ornamental and functional, serving to keep the cartridge box flap down even if the soldier left it unlatched, and were used throughout the war, despite the army’s late war effort to cease issuing them.

Cedar Mountain, August 9, 1862, marked one of the few times Stonewall Jackson came near defeat, when Nathaniel Banks unexpectedly went on the offensive. “Williams” refers to Gen. Alpheus Williams, commanding a division of the 2nd Corps containing the brigades Crawford and Gordon. The wheatfield was located north of the Orange-Culpeper Road and was the scene of fierce fighting between Confederates under Garnett and Ronald, commanding the old Stonewall Brigade, and Union troops under Crawford, who pushed the Confederates back until they were rallied by Jackson personally.

The plate thus has a tight and interesting history and provenance, coming not only from a really interesting battlefield connected with Jackson, but also recovered by one of the real pioneers in Civil War collecting, the author of reference books on military belt plates and projectiles that are still useful.  [sr][ph:L]

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