Variations of tin drum canteens were manufactured before, during and after the War, so most tin drum canteens cannot, even if they are from the mid nineteenth century, be identified specifically as Confederate. Sometimes a Confederate identified sling or a name scratched into a canteen’s face can positively identify it as Confederate, but most have to be considered militia, be it Southern or Northern. There are two exceptions to this rule; the tin drum canteen that has CS impressed into its face and the style that has a flat back and a convex front. The only period in which the flat back and convex front was produced was during the War Between the States, and they were only produced by the Confederacy.

The six and three quarters by one and three quarter inch canteen shown here is one of the positively Confederate examples. It has the flat back and convex front. The flat back has an inscription on the back that reads: "J J Godfrey 1 Co E 24 Ga” This is plainly legible in sunlight.

John J. Godfrey enlisted for "the war” in Company E, 24^th, Georgia Infantry on August 24^th, 1861, in Rabun County, Georgia. Company E was formed from the "Rabun Gap Riflemen” who had already formed previously. Some of his records are missing but it appears he was with his company from beginning till the bitter end with the exception of an eighteen day stay in a Petersburg hospital in April of 1862. The 24^th, served in nearly all the battles of the Army of Northern Virginia with the exception of its time in Tennessee with Longstreet’s Corp.

John was captured on the Army of Northern Virginia’s retreat at Farmville on April 6. He was sent to City Point where he arrived on the 14^th. By then Lee’s Army had been surrendered, but they still sent him to Point Lookout Prisoner of War Camp where he languished for two and half month, all the while knowing his Country had been defeated and lay in ruins. He stood 5’8.5”, had a dark hair and complexion and blue eyes when he left with nothing but the clothes on his back and this canteen on June 27^th, 1865.

John was born to Ansel and Elizebeth Godfrey on March 9^th, 1836, in Chechero, a very mountainous region in north Georgia. He died in Raybun, Georgia on September 13^th, 1916.

The canteen is in perfect condition and still has its original cord, but the cord is in rough shape as the photos show.