The Ordnance Manual For The Use Of The Officers Of The Confederate States Army

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Title: The Ordnance Manual for the Use of the Officers of the Confederate States Army
Author: Prepared Under the Direction of Col. J Gordas, Chief of Ordnance
Originally Published 1863
Reprinted by Morningside Press, in 1995
ISBN: 0-89029-033-4
The book is approximately 600 pages.

This manual is an update of the 1850 United States Ordnance Manual. It includes updates to equipment that occurred between 1850 and American War Between the States (Civil War).

The history of smithing technology tends to reflect the history of military technology. This book was written during the mid-1800s to provide information for the smith/artisan to be able to build and maintain military equipment of that time period. Included in this book is valuable information on a variety of subjects that include but not limited to formulas for a blacksmith’s flux, paint, making charcoal, information on coal, descriptions of ferrous and non-ferrous materials, finishing and preserving iron and wood, chain, screws and other fasteners, as well as the construction of traveling forge, a portable forge, battery-wagon, wheels, cannon carriages, caissons, and limbers.

This book is an excellent companion to the drawings by Captain Albert Mordecai who created the drawings used by factories to manufacture wheeled equipment used by both sides of the conflict during the mid-1800s U.S. War Between the States.