Traveling forge

A reproduction traveling forge. Circa 1850s through 1860s U.S. blacksmith's traveling forge.
Sketch of U.S. Civil War Traveling Forge from the Ordnance Manual of 1863.
Sketch of U.S. Civil War Battery Wagon with Limber from the Ordnance Manual of 1861.
British 1840s Period Forge Wagon side view by Royal Engineers, British Service. Image is from Volume 1 of 6 volumes, An Aide-Memoire to the Military Sciences, 1845, Col. G.G. Lewis, senior editor.
British 1840s Period Forge Wagon top view by Royal Engineers, British Service.
1831 Sketch of U.S. Army Traveling Forge by John Holland, A Treatise on the Progressive Improvement and Present State of the Manufactures in Metal, Volume 1.

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, artisans (called artificers in many armies) and farriers to both shoe horses and repair wagons and artillery equipment for both U.S. and Confederate armies during the American Civil War,[1][2] [3] as well as by western European armies.[1][4] The traveling forge was frequently also referred to in The Official Records simply as a forge,[5] and sometimes referred to by Civil War buffs as a battery forge.[1]

  1. ^ a b c David Einhorn (2010). Civil War Blacksmithing. CreateSpace Publishers, a subsidiary of Amazon.com. ISBN 9781456364816.
  2. ^ Josiah Gorgas (1995) [1863]. The Ordnance Manual For The Use Of The Officers Of The Confederate States Army. Morningside Press. ISBN 0-89029-033-4.
  3. ^ Theodore Thaddeus Sobieski Laidley (2005) [1862]. The ordnance manual for the use of officers of the United States army (3rd ed.). Scholarly Publishing Office, University of Michigan Library. ISBN 1-4255-5971-9.
  4. ^ # An Aide-Memoire to the Military Sciences volume 1 by Royal Engineers, British Service, 1845, Col. G.G. Lewis, senior editor[page needed]
  5. ^ #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[page needed]