Summary Statements of Ordnance and Ordnance Stores on Hand?

[Gary Van Kauwenbergh, 101]

I'd like to look at the Summary Statements of Ordnance and Ordance Store on Hand for different dates. Can anyone point me at where to look?

http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&frm=1&source=web&cd=2&ved =0CDgQFjAB&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.11thcvi.org%2Ffile s%2Frifles.pdf&ei=_067Uf6YDYa9ywGltIG4DQ&usg=AFQjC NG0qgSyZGVv6ubUV7vhgsRP0x3tsA&sig2=R21WxEOdPJvVAUV i1wIyyw&bvm=bv.47883778,d.aWc

[Don Dixon]

Gary,

The Federal ordnance manual required unit commanders to submit inventories of their small arms holdings at the end of each quarter. The reports were sent to the War Department and entered into ledgers by the clerks there. It appears that the unit report forms were then destroyed. There are several problems/limitations with this record group. The ledgers do not start until the last quarter of 1862 and generally end with the third quarter of 1864. This may be reflective of the disorganization in the War Department as the Federal army stood up in 1861 - early 1862, and was rapidly demobilized in 1865. Not all regimental reports are recorded for every quarter, and even if there is a regimental report recorded the reports for each company of the regiment are not necessarily recorded. It is also clear that the clerks were not necessarily hired for their hand writing skill; as in is that a "1" or a "4" or a "7", or an "8" or a "0". This is curious in an age when "copperplate" hand writing was greatly valued. Some categories don't provide the degree of differentiation that one would like. For example, "Austrian, Prussian, and French Smoothbore Muskets, Caliber .69 and .70" are covered as one entry.

The National Archives microfilmed the ledgers as Record Group 156 - 159, and it is available on both microfilm and CD from the Archives. It will cost you about $1K, and take three to four months for delivery. If you are in the Washington, DC, area, you can review the microfilm at the main Archives microfilm reading room.

I've had some experience with this resource, since I bought a set of the CDs for my Austrian rifle book project.

Regards,
Don Dixon
2881V

[Gary Van Kauwenbergh, 101]

Thanks Don. I was hoping they'd start earlier than that, and certainly wasn't expecting that kind of price tag. Thanks for saving me some time.

I love my M1854 Lorenz muskets. I shoot two original type 2s, and am also finishing up a type 2 kit from the the Rifle Shoppe. I also have a type 1 that I couldn't pass up, but don't use. I can't seem to find a comprehensive source of information on Lorenz muskets. I've tried to translate some of the text from the reproduction manual that S&S sells, but have managed to stump some German nationals with some of the archaic script.

What's your Austrian musket project? If it's a book, I'll preorder one!

Do you have any other references you can recommend?

[Don Dixon]

Gary,

The book is a long way away. I have a job and a real life, so right now the project is a hobby. I will approach a publisher in several years - I hope - after I retire.

There are NO good sources on the Austrian arms in English. You have to go to the sources in German, Czech, Hungarian, etc. The Austrian arms were much better than Americans have given them credit for. The major problems were the undersized ammunition that the Federal government provided for them and the fact that they were not manufactured here.

Your German friends had translation problems for several reasons. The Fraktur type in the S&S copy of the manual gives modern readers a headache. Also, U.S. and German schools teach the "high," imperial German spoken around Berlin, whereas the Austrian manuals were written in the Austrian dialect of German. And, one is trying to translate archaic Austrian military German into archaic U.S. military English. For example, the part of the caplock muzzle loader that one puts the percussion cap on is called a "nipple" here. One hundred fifty years ago it was called a "cone" here. It has always been called a "piston" in mainland Europe. Unless one has figured these things out, the translations make no sense.

Two fairly good modern sources on the Austrian arms are:

Gabriel, Erich; Die Hand- und Faustfeuerwaffen der habsburgischen Heere [roughly Small Arms of Habsburg Army], published by the Austrian Army Museum, Vienna. The book is in German and now out of print.

Götz, Hans-Dieter; Militärgewehre und Pistolen der deutschen Staaten, 1800-1870 [roughly Military Long Arms and Pistols of the German States, 1800-1870], published by Motorbuch Verlag. Also in German and out of print.

But, both books cover the arms as they came out of the Austro-Hungarian arsenals; not as they were modified for use in the Americanische Burger Krieg [the American Citizens War].

Regards,
Don

[ThomasKavanagh]

Good Morning Gary and Don:
"If you are in the Washington, DC, area, you can review the microfilm at the main Archives microfilm reading room."

The last time I was in the NA Reading Room (looking at Comanche census records), they did have facilities for making your own CD copies of microfilmed documents.

That's the up side. The down side is that you have to use their media (they don't want any outside bugs in theirsystem) although it's free, and their copy program is fairly unique, i.e., it doesn't directly produce a pdf (although i haven't seriously tried to convert it's output thereto). Third downside is there may be a waiting list, so if you intend to make large amounts of copy, best do it in off hours.

tk
Esimotsoraivo
2883v
Wheat's First Special battalion,Louisiana Volunteers

[Gary Van Kauwenbergh, 101]

I'm going to persue some other information sources here in Wisconsin. Those sources don't go back as far as what I'm looking for. Thanks again!