Civil War Cartridge Box Sling and Eagle Breastplate Recovered from the Water

Civil War Cartridge Box Sling and Eagle Breastplate Recovered from the Water – This sling and accompanying breast plate were recovered from somewhere along the James River shoreline, in shallow water, under a considerable amount of silt. The silt provided an anaerobic resting place for both the sling and breastplate for over 140 years, thereby preserving the sling in its entirety. The sling’s leather remains quite supple; it was immersed in ethylene glycol after its excavation and then coated with a microcrystalline wax, precluding any post-excavation deterioration. The sling and breast plate are both in fine condition – the plate’s two hooks remain in place on the back, although they are bent over, to aid in affixing it to the sling; the sling is complete with the exception of one of the end “tongues” that hooked into the buckles at the bottom of a cartridge box. There are some numbers or letters shallowly scratched into the sling, but we cannot determine what they represent. These are amazingly preserved, excavated artifacts.