This tin drum style canteen comes from the collections of the Texas Civil War Museum and was carried by John Rodes of the 62^nd Virginia, who scratched his name into one side near the spout. The condition is very good. We see just one shallow push on one edge. These were made of tinned iron and the tin has oxidized to a gray as usual. The spout and sling brackets are in place and secure. There is a cork stopper with ring attached to one bracket by an old cord. The sling is a woven web and appears original, soiled but complete. One side of the canteen is slightly convex. The other, flat. Tinned canteens were adopted by the Confederacy in 1861 and regularly appear in photos of Confederate soldiers. The pattern is simple and goes back to the 1820s in militia companies, likely starting in New England because of their toleware industry, and became very popular from their light weight, with the regular army contracting for them starting in 1836, and the style becoming dominant in the 1840s and 1850s, with many also being carried into early Civil War service by militia companies.

The 62^nd Virginia Mounted Infantry was an interesting unit, sometimes also titled the 62^nd VA Partisan Rangers, the 62^nd VA Infantry, 62^nd VA Cavalry, and Imboden’s Regiment Partisan Rangers. They had been initially organized in September 1862 and consisted of cavalry and infantry. The cavalry was transferred to the 18^th VA cavalry in December 1862 and four companies of infantry from the 25^th VA were transferred into the 62^nd in January 1863, and the whole regiment was then mounted and assigned to Imboden’s brigade. They were active in the Gettysburg Campaign, guarding Lee’s left and rear, and then played a crucial role in escorting and defending retreating Confederate wagon trains carrying the wounded, earning praise for repulsing Union cavalry at Williamsport. They were subsequently active in the Shenandoah in 1863 and 1864. Fighting at New Market in May 1864 and then transferring with Breckinridge’s command to reinforce Lee in the June 1864 fighting around Cold Harbor before rejoining the Army of the Valley District for the Lynchburg Campaign and subsequent fighting under Early at Monocacy and in the Valley at Bunker Hill, 3^rd Winchester, Fisher’s Hill, Woodstock, and Cedar Creek. The regiment was disbanded in April 1865.

Rodes enlisted in Company I of the 62^nd Virginia Mounted Infantry in Pendleton County on April 1, 1864. He was admitted to the CSA General Hospital at Charlottesville on August 22 with “continued fever.” This would have given him time to fight at New Market in May, Cold Harbor in June and Monocacy in July. He was furloughed for an undetermined period on the same day he was admitted to the hospital in August, but he is again on the company’s Oct. 31, 1864 muster roll, listed as on detached service in Highland County, and then present again on the November-December roll. Depending on when he rejoined the company he would have been present for Bunker Hill, Winchester, Fisher’s Hill and Woodstock. The next record in his file is his parole dated May 20, 1865, at Staunton, which gives the personal details that he was 18, stood 5-9, had light complexion and hair, and hazel eyes.

This is a classic form of Confederate canteen with an interesting history and the possibility of turning up other details on private Rodes. [sr][ph:L]

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