Soldiers had access to a number of devices that purported to prepare dirty water for drinking. This particular gadget— RUSSELL’S PATENT DIRTY WATER FILTER— consisted of a mouthpiece, a length of rubber tubing, and a conical piece of pumice stone, through which the water was filtered. At least one Union soldier who tried it was underwhelmed, claiming it lacked “any practical value.� At the outbreak of the war, the
U.S. government looked to improve upon the model 1858 canteen. The result was the so-called BULL’S-EYE CANTEEN, whose stamped concentric rings lent strength to its sides. This bull’s-eye belonged to George Lincoln Dow, a soldier in the 19th Maine Infantry.
A shortage of metals contributed to
the production of WOODEN CANTEENS throughout much of the South. This Confederate-issue wooden canteen bears the name of its owner, Daniel J. Foster, a soldier in the 35th Arkansas Infantry who died of disease in prison in January 1865.
Some soldiers put a great deal of effort into personalizing their canteens. A member of the 28th Wisconsin Infantry painted this CAPTURED WOODEN CONFEDERATE CANTEEN, making clear where its new carrier’s allegiances lay. The cleverly conceived MONTGOMERY PATENT CANTEEN came equipped with a tin overlay, which, when reversed, served either as a funnel to assist in filling or, with the stopper in place, as a drinking cup.
SOURCES: John D. Billings, Hardtack and Coffee, or The Unwritten Story of Army Life (Boston, 1888); Earl J. Coates, Michael J. McAfee, and Don Troiani, Don Troiani’s Regiments & Uniforms of the Civil War (Mechanicsburg, PA, 2002); Robert Jones, The Civil War Canteen (n.p., 2007); Bell I. Wiley, The Life of Johnny Reb (Baton Rouge, 1943) and The Life of Billy Yank (Baton Rouge, 1952). Images courtesy of the Military & Historical Image Bank (www.historicalimagebank.com).
WINTER 2011  THE CIVIL WAR MONITOR
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