A quick Google search reveals much on the coffee mill Sharps. They were designed to grind grain...
Wouldn't surprise me if some enterprising fellows got hold of a bunch of them, and to enhance their sales when fixed cartridge rifles were available in large numbers, (at least that was the idea), the rifles were fitted with grinders for folks going West....at least perhaps some of the copies might be such....I dont think they actually had any in the field. A handful made and later more made up for collectors. That would be a way cool project. I suppose you would have the forum police say the reproduction was not authentic, even though none were actually used.
the 1859/63 sharpsWhich rifles during the Civil War had coffee grinders in the stock? Did they use coffee grinders instead of patch boxes? Anybody ever find or make a coffee grinder that could be inlet into the stock of a rifle stock?
So that brings up a question. Did not the company itself have supply wagons? Did those wagons carry coffee and grain? Where did the individual soldier carry his supplies and were those supplies personal or were they issued by the company? If so, why would that supply wagon not carry a grinder - it could be used for grinding either\both.I think that basically they were to be issued to one person in a company to do some coffee grinding to keep some of the troops from breaking their stocks by smashing up the beans with the butt stocks over rocks. I don't think the whole concept really was successful.
The soldiers carried their rations in their haversack. That was specifically what a haversack was for, although reenactors carry all kinds of stuff in them now days. Each man was assigned to a "mess" of other soldiers. Don't recall if it was 4 or 6, something like that. One of them would go to the supply wagons and bring back the rations for the mess. They were typically given 3 days rations.So that brings up a question. Did not the company itself have supply wagons? Did those wagons carry coffee and grain? Where did the individual soldier carry his supplies and were those supplies personal or were they issued by the company? If so, why would that supply wagon not carry a grinder - it could be used for grinding either\both.
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