Any C.K. Byrd Family From South Carolina Here? CSA Soldiers Pipe

[johnnyreb]

Just to be clear I have no stake in this listing. I would just like to see a descendent of this soldier have the chance to buy this pipe back.
C.K. Byrd

Company E, 4th South Carolina Cavalry

Confederate States of America
http://www.ebay.com/itm/RARE-Civil-War-Idd-4th-South-Carolina-Cavalry-Carved-Pipe-/262117614960?hash=item3d076d6570:g:124AAOSwx~JWEwvx

 

[mso489]

I am guessing here, and I am no Civil War scholar, but many of he more handsome Civil War related items, like uniform jackets and maybe this pipe, were actually done as commemorative items for veterans of the war on both sides, and were worn and taken to veteran reunions after the war. I'm dubious this pipe was carried through battles and on marches or cavalry forays. Just surmise, but times were pretty desperate and neither side had a lot of money or time for luxuries. What do you think?

 

[johnnyreb]

There were lots of wood pipes that were hand carved in the camps & in the prisons during the war. Some pipes were probably wood pipes purchased from sutlers and carvings were added to the pipe during the soldiers spare time in camp. Certainly POWs needed something to occupy their time whether they were allowed to smoke their pipes or not. Pipes hand carved from scratch are one-off examples of patriotic folk art from that time & war. Ben Rapaport's book, "Tobacco And Smoking Among The Blue And Gray" certainly documents tha fact with pictures of great examples.
Certainly some pipes might have been gifted to officers by their company after the war, and some enlisted men might have been so moved to want to commemorate their experience with a gift to themselves. Organizations such as the Daughters of the Confederacy initially concentrated their efforts on commemorating battles & honoring the dead with monuments & markers; later issuing medals like the Southern Cross to the widows of the fallen. Sometime around 1900-1910 they started issuing the Southern Cross medal to Confederate veterans still living, & ribbon/medals to the men at the Quantrill reunions.
When a pipe can be linked to a Civil War veteran I like to see that pipe returned to a direct descendant whether that particular pipe was carved & carried during the war or acquired by the veteran during Reconstruction.