The Charleston Museum

I had intended to post holiday pics in the order in which places were visited. But in the interests of keeping the military as opposed to architectural content on this blog reasonably regular I thought I would jump forward to South Carolina and the riches of Charleston's main historical museum. Charleston has several museums. The Confederate Army Museum was very interesting, although photos were not allowed. There was allegedly an Army Museum that contained several hundred uniforms from various periods, but I missed that one. Never mind - The Charleston Museum, apparently the USA's oldest museum given that it was founded in 1773, contains plenty of military stuff.

Of particular interest was an AWI Continental army 6-pounder. The caption explained that this is one of les than 10 extant American guns from the AWI period. The implication was that the entire gun dates to the period, but people I have shown these photos to suggest that the woodwork looks modern, or at the very least extremely well-preserved. Even if the carriage has been restored, this gun would seem to answer the problem I had as to what the tops of the ammunition cases were amde of - wood or metal. Some readers probably knew all along; I had suspected wood, having for some reason thought metal for some years, but this confirms it. Even if the carriage is modern, the way the woodgrain looks is still useful for painting. The museum has a second gun but it lacks the ammunition cases.

Also shown below are some accoutrements from the AWI. The uniforms themselves (of the 33rd Foot and 1st South Carolina) are replicas but the individual items of equipment are authentic. I like the way the Royal Artillery cartridge pouch has (with age presumably) taken on a buff colour.