Civil War soldier’s Cartridge Box, very early pickup from the Chickamauga Battlefield

This is really a rare piece being offered; it is an early battlefield pickup of a Union Cartridge Box. It still has the inner flap makers mark of “E. GAYLORD / CHICOPEE / MASS”. It was one of the pieces picked up off the Chickamauga, Georgia Battlefield between the 1880s and early 1900s. It was on display for many years at a local museum in LaFayette, Georgia until it closed in the 1930s.

The Battle of Chickamauga was fought on September 18–20, 1863, and marked the end of a Union offensive, the Chickamauga Campaign, in southeastern Tennessee and northwestern Georgia. It was the first major battle of the war fought in Georgia, the most significant Union defeat in the Western Theater, and involved the second-highest number of casualties after the Battle of Gettysburg.

Being such an early pickup, the leather remains in a somewhat pliable condition. Needless to say, battlefield leather artifacts are very rare, only second after cloth. It comes with the original description tag and is in the glass top display case pictured. This would be the center piece of any Civil War collection.