Hi Dana,

The best place to look for civilinas doing business with the Confederate government or military are the Confederate papers Relating to Citizens & Business (M346) which are 1158 rolls of National Archvies microfilm.

Only a few places in the nation have these - the NA in Washington DC being the main place, but a set is also at Wallace State College in Hanceville, AL (outside Cullman); the University of Missouri and I think at the National Archives in Atlanta.

These rolls are not indexed but are somewhat alphabetical (I say somewhat - if a name can be spelled in different phonetic ways there will probably be entries under those ways). I have worked with them extensively and if your ancestor did indeed sell leather goods to the military he probably has a file in these rolls.

Greg Biggs