Traveling Forge built by David Einhorn author of the book Civil War Blacksmithing

British 1840s Blacksmith Traveling Forge Wagon

A traveling forge, when combined with a limber, comprised wagons specifically designed and constructed as blacksmith shops on wheels to carry the essential equipment necessary for

blacksmiths A blacksmith is a metalsmith who creates objects primarily from wrought iron or steel, but sometimes from other metals, by forging the metal, using tools to hammer, bend, and cut (cf. tinsmith). Blacksmiths produce objects such as gates, gr ...

artisans An artisan (from french: artisan, it, artigiano) is a skilled craft worker who makes or creates material objects partly or entirely by hand. These objects may be functional or strictly decorative, for example furniture, decorative art, s ...

(called artificers in many armies) and

farriers A farrier is a specialist in equine hoof care, including the trimming and balancing of horses' hooves and the placing of shoes on their hooves, if necessary. A farrier combines some blacksmith's skills (fabricating, adapting, and adjus ...

to both shoe horses and repair wagons and artillery equipment for both U.S. and

Confederate Confederacy or confederate may refer to: States or communities * Confederate state or confederation, a union of sovereign groups or communities * Confederate States of America, a confederation of secessionist American states that existed between 1 ...

armies during the

American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861 – May 26, 1865; also known by other names) was a civil war in the United States. It was fought between the Union ("the North") and the Confederacy ("the South"), the latter formed by states th ...

, as well as by western European armies. The traveling forge was frequently also referred to in The Official Records simply as a forge,#The War of the Rebellion: A Compilation of the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies prepared under the direction of the Secretary of War, by Bvt. Lieut. Col. Robert N. Scott, Third U.S. Artillery and Published Pursuant to Act of Congress, approved June 16, 1880. Washington: Government Printing Office 1880 and sometimes referred to by Civil War buffs as a battery forge.

Overview

An American Civil War-era traveling forge contained of tools, coal and supplies. These tools and supplies included a bellows attached to a fireplace, a vise, anvil, a box containing of coal, of horse shoes, bundled bars of iron, and on the limber was a box containing the smith's hand tools. A battery wagon accompanied each traveling forge carrying additional blacksmith,

wheelwright A wheelwright is a craftsman who builds or repairs wooden wheels. The word is the combination of "wheel" and the word "wright", (which comes from the Old English word "''wryhta''", meaning a worker or shaper of wood) as in shipwright and arkw ...

, and carriage repair supplies. American Civil War-era traveling forge wagons evolved from crude blacksmith carts used during the

American Revolutionary War The American Revolutionary War (April 19, 1775 – September 3, 1783), also known as the Revolutionary War or American War of Independence, was a major war of the American Revolution. Widely considered as the war that secured the independence of t ...

as well as from equipment used in Europe during the 1840s. British traveling forges were documented in ''An Aide-Memoire to the Military Sciences volume 1'' by Royal Engineers, British Service, 1845, Col. G.G. Lewis, senior editor. British traveling forges likely had canvas covers as indicated by the number and spacing of wood arches above the bellows, and what appears to be cord anchor points on the sides of the bellows house. A canvas cover would have been logical as protection of the bellows from the weather, and in accordance with the standard practice of covering wagons at that time. This canvas cover evolved into the wooden cover of the U.S. version of the traveling forge. The U.S. mid-19th century traveling forge was standardized for U.S. manufacturers in the drawings created by Captain Albert Mordecai circa 1850 under commission by the

federal government A federation (also known as a federal state) is a political entity characterized by a union of partially self-governing provinces, states, or other regions under a central federal government (federalism). In a federation, the self-governin ...

. Copies of Captain Mordecai's drawings are currently published by Antique Ordnance Publishers. The book ''Field Artillery Traveling Forge book No. 61'' published by Antique Ordnance Publishers contains most of the measured drawings and other information necessary to reproduce the traveling forge. Additional crucial information covering measurements, construction and materials used with the traveling forge may be found in the ''Ordnance Manual of 1863''. The Ordnance Manual of 1863 says that in use, the traveling forge was hooked to the back of a limber that was identical in construction to the limbers used to pull field

cannon A cannon is a large- caliber gun classified as a type of artillery, which usually launches a projectile using explosive chemical propellant. Gunpowder ("black powder") was the primary propellant before the invention of smokeless powder ...

, except for the internal arrangement of the limber chest. The Ordnance Manual of 1863 details information about the wheels, paint, wood and iron parts used on the traveling forge, as well as the tools stored in the traveling forge's limber chest and in the battery wagon for use by the

and

. During the Civil War, a traveling forge was provided for each cannon battery, and other traveling forges accompanied each army to provide service to equipment and horses. Portable

sheet metal Sheet metal is metal formed into thin, flat pieces, usually by an industrial process. Sheet metal is one of the fundamental forms used in metalworking, and it can be cut and bent into a variety of shapes. Thicknesses can vary significantly; ex ...

''Mountain Forges'' were provided to units with mountain howitzers which were primarily deployed in

mountainous A mountain is an elevated portion of the Earth's crust, generally with steep sides that show significant exposed bedrock. Although definitions vary, a mountain may differ from a plateau in having a limited Summit (topography), summit area, and ...

areas inaccessible to the No. 1 cannon carriage and wagons. The Official Records only document official government built traveling forges constructed according to specifications in the Ordnance Manuals and the Mordecai drawings. No evidence exists that either army ever used traveling forges that were not built by government contractors.

References

Bibliography

* ''Civil War Blacksmithing'' (December 2010), David Einhorn, CreateSpace Publishing, a subsidiary of Amazon.com, , * ''Field Artillery Traveling Forge book No. 61'' by Antique Ordnance Publishers Inc. * ''The Ordnance Manual For The Use Of The Officers Of The Confederate States Army, 1863'' reprinted by Morningside Press 1995,
* ''The ordnance manual for the use of officers of the United States army. '' reprinted by Scholarly Publishing Office, University of Michigan Library, December 22, 2005, {{ISBN, 1-4255-5971-9

External links

Contact information and catalog for Antique Ordnance Publishers
Military equipment of the American Civil War Ammunition Carts Artillery operation American Civil War artillery