During the course of the War millions of canteens were manufactured in the South. Every man in the Southern Army carried a canteen and most would go through several by War’s end. To supply this need, canteens were manufactured at Confederate government facilities, but the government facilities could supply only a small fraction of the canteens required to equip the army. In order to meet the pressing need for canteens the Confederate government purchased the vast majority of canteens from private manufacturing concerns. The most widely used Confederate canteen was made of wood because any cooperage could easily convert to the manufacture of wooden canteens as they required exactly the same skills as barrel making.

Most factory spouts were held in place by wooden threads, and since the canteens are only a quarter inch thick, this allowed for only a thread and a half of a sliver thin thread to retain them. Consequently, the spouts fell out shortly after issue, and with the spout went the stopper. Quite a few straps survived relative to the survival rate of the spouts and stoppers, but relative to wooden canteens in general, very few straps survived. Over many years I have owned nearly one hundred and fifty Confederate canteens, but only 10 of the wooden canteens were complete as issued with spout, stopper and strap.

The canteen shown here retains its original wooden spout and stopper and its Confederate manufactured linen strap; the buckle has been resewn, but I have good reason to believe it is the original buckle also. All three cross bands are firmly in place. The spout and cork stopper are tight; the infantry length strap is strong enough to mount on a mannequin. In short, the canteen is flawless!