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Civil War Ordnance Administration Company E 42nd Massachusetts Arms and Ammunition Return 1863

1863réf. 127561863. Emerson John W. Return of Ordnance and Ordnance Stores Received Issued and Remaining on Hand in Company E 42nd Regiment Mass. Vols. Infantry for First Quarter 1863 March 31 1863 documents the company-level system by which the Union Army accounted for firearms ammunition and related equipment during active Civil War service. Company E of the 42nd Massachusetts reached New Orleans on January 1 1863 and served with the regiment in the Department of the Gulf placing this return within the logistical administration of Union forces in Louisiana. By recording quantities received issued and retained the document reveals how military matériel was tracked down to individual companies and provides primary-source evidence for the study of Union ordnance administration infantry armament supply accountability and the material requirements of Civil War campaigning. Emerson John W. March 31 1863. Ordnance return for Company E 42nd Regiment Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry. Dimensions not supplied. The detailed inventory identifies weapons and accoutrements including "Springfield rifled muskets caliber .58" "Springfield Smooth Bore Musket caliber 69/100" and "Bayonet scabbards for sword bayonets" together with cartridges and numerical quantities for the various categories of stores. Its received issued and remaining columns make the sheet more than a static inventory demonstrating the accounting process by which arms and ammunition moved through a company and were reconciled at the close of the quarter. Emerson signs the return "John W. Emerson Capt. 42nd Mass." Regimental history identifies Emerson as Company E's first lieutenant during this period and records Captain Charles A. Pratt's discharge for ill health on March 28 followed by Emerson's election as captain on April 2 placing this March 31 signature amid the company's transition of command. The return survives from an important stage in the regiment's first enlistment when its companies were dispersed on assignments in the Department of the Gulf rather than operating continuously as a single tactical body. Its granular enumeration of firearm calibers bayonet equipment cartridges and quantities offers evidence for reconstructing what a Union infantry company actually possessed and how the Army imposed accountability over government property in the field. Slight general wear; otherwise no significant defects noted. Very good. A particularly informative Civil War logistical document connecting named weapons and ammunition directly to the administrative machinery that supplied and monitored a Massachusetts infantry company in Union-occupied Louisiana. unknown