Treasures of the Civil War
Treasures of the Civil War
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Description
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Model 1864 US Army McClellan Saddle
Lot # 828 (Sale Order: 326 of 335)
Complete with original stirrups, Saddlebags, 6 blanket straps, a pair of spurs, bridle, reproduction blue blanket with orange strips, Light cavalry sword with bracing belt, reproduction rope, and picket.
Condition: Very good to excellent condition.
EST $ 1000 - 1500
Civilian 'Plantation Style' Saddle
Lot # 829 (Sale Order: 327 of 335)
16" seat. Seat tooled with pierced patter, cantle tooled with a heart-like motif. Underside padded with stuffed muslin material attached with nails.
Condition: Good overall condition considering the age and use. There is some scratches and cracking to the leather. Also, a split to the leather on the left side.
EST $ 800 - 1200
Charles E. Town Civil War Era Infantry Snare Drum
Lot # 830 (Sale Order: 328 of 335)
16.75" x 16.5" barrel. Ash body with red-painted maple counter hoops with leather tugs and six-strand snare. Painted U.S. eagle with shield and six-ray sunburst. Eagle surrounded by thirty-five stars and banner marked " REG./U.S./INFANTRY. " Un-reinforced sound hole centered on "diamond-circle-diamond" tack pattern and scarf seam attributed to Town. Interior label reads " CHAS. E. TOWN/MANUFACTURER OF/DRUMS/OF ALL DESCRIPTIONS/BATH, Me.
Charles E. Town received two contracts to build drums for the U.S. Army. The first contract, secured in 1853 was for 100 infantry drums. The second contract in 1859 called for 19 artillery drums and a further 56 infantry drums.
Condition: Very good. Some wear and list wood loss to counter hoops, with minor crack on bottom counter hoop beneath eagle. Paint has some cracking and crazing but still retains a bold image. Interior label is intact and legible. Heads are intact with minimal tearing.
EST $ 2000 - 4000
Civil War Era Infantry Snare Drum with Sticks
Lot # 831 (Sale Order: 329 of 335)
17" x 13.5". Red counter hoops with rope tensions, metal tugs and missing snare. Hand-painted American eagle with five-ray sunburst and thirty-four stars. No interior label with unidentified tack pattern. Includes a pair of black drumsticks.
Condition: Fair. Tension ropes have some visible repairs. Ropes have been separated from the body but could be re-applied. Paints show some wear and thinning with some additional liquid staining. Top head has a thin 3" tear., bottom head has an approx. 4" tear. A good candidate for careful restoration.
EST $ 1000 - 1500
Rare Civil War Trepanning Set with Instructional Pamphlets
Lot # 832 (Sale Order: 330 of 335)
Felt-lined wooden case covered in thin leather, 15.25 x 9.25 x 2.5 in., with brass fittings including top handle and lock, containing thirteen implements (several with ebony or horn handles), three of which are marked " TILLY ," and one of which is marked " CARL TILLY ." Implements include a trephine handle with medium cutting head, a brace style trephine with large cutting head, another large trephine cutting head with tapered blade, a key, an exfoliative blade, three lenticulars, a trepanning elevator, a spade-shaped cutting tool, a Hey's saw, a bone dust brush, and one other tool which appears to be a key with a drill tip.
Lot also includes three copies of a pamphlet titled " An Operation for the Extraction of a Pistol-Ball from the Brain Through a Counter-Opening in the Skull " written by " William F. Fluhrer, M. D., / Professor of Clinical Surgery in the New York Post-Graduate Medical School and Hospital ," and " Reprinted from the QUARTERLY BULLETIN of the Clinical Society of the New York Post-Graduate Medical School and Hospital of February, 1886, and the New York Medical Journal of March 28, 1885. " Pamphlet features four printed photographs, opposite the title page, showing various views of a young man's head with clearly visible scars, presumably obtained from an operation like the one outlined in the text. Illustrations of tools and charts are also interspersed and referred to throughout the pamphlet.
Condition: Case top has large vertical separation at left side of handle, not affecting function of case and not visible from inside case. Leather covering has started to come off in flakes, leaving some areas of bare wood. Felt is still intact and implements appear to be in good condition.
EST $ 1500 - 2000
Civil War Era Field Surgical Kit by Mann Stettin
Lot # 833 (Sale Order: 331 of 335)
Velvet-lined wood case with brass fittings, 16.25 x 10.25 x 3.25 in., having two tiers and containing 30 surgical implements (several with ebony or horn handles), 10 of which are marked " MANN ," two of which are marked " MANN / STETTIN ," and one of which is marked " TEUFEL / PHILA ." Implements include a bone saw, a bone dust brush, forceps, tweezers, several knives, and several trepanning tools such as a brace trephine, raspatory, and lenticular knife. Included with kit is a partial piece of paper from a German periodical dated September 1829.
Condition: Wear to case leather, including leather loss ink multiple areas (mostly edges); some wear including tearing to velvet lining. Tools appear to be in mostly good condition.
EST $ 1000 - 2000
Officer's Mess Kit
Lot # 834 (Sale Order: 332 of 335)
6.5" x 7. Green velvet lined with three threaded implement handles adorned with a rampant lion in a castle turret. Includes knife fork and spoon with additional implements. All accessories fit into silver cup. Cup bottom has partially illegible hallmarks. One implement missing.
Condition: Fair to food, some very light tarnish, most wear to exterior of kit, which is to be expected. Lit and lock function normally.
EST $ 800 - 1000
War Log with Embedded Hotchkiss Shell
Lot # 835 (Sale Order: 333 of 335)
We cannot prove that this war log came from Antietam battlefield, however, the Confederates did have three-inch rifles at Antietam. It is an original Hotchkiss 3" round, that is embedded in a log.
Condition: Overall very good. Unique battlefield relic.
EST $ 4000 - 6000
Art of War Civil War-Era Submarine Patent Model by C.F. Brown, Providence, RI
Lot # 836 (Sale Order: 334 of 335)
Solid brass, 11.75 in. long, in two pieces lengthwise, with working propulsion mechanism and rudders. "Art of War" engraved in stylized lettering on one side and stamped C.F. Brown, Warren R.I.
C.F. Brown was issued patents in the 1850 in the Civil Engineering and Architecture class, including an 1854 patent for "blasting rocks." We could find no submarine/torpedo patents or any reference to a vessel named "Art of War."
EST $ 2000 - 4000
Eyewitness to Appomattox: The Commissioner's Table Cover
Lot # 837 (Sale Order: 335 of 335)
This painted canvas was collected by Private Amos Oscar Benjamin of the 81st New York. Benjamin was assigned as an orderly to General John Gibbon on April 10 during the so-called "commissioner's" meeting at the McLean house at Appomattox Courthouse. It is believed that Benjamin painted the information on the cover sometime in the late 19th or 20th centuries and mounted it to hang in the Stevens Post of the Grand Army of the Republic in Seattle, Washington.
The Surrender April 9-10, 1865
Hemmed in and ground down, the Army of Northern Virginia of the Confederate States of America was officially surrendered to the United States on the afternoon of April 9, 1865. The end came in the parlor of Wilmer McLean's house near Appomattox Court House, Virginia. Ironically, McLean had moved there from Manassas where his house was involved in the first battle of the Civil War. Now it played an integral role in ending it. For more on the location of other artifacts from this historic event, please go to cowans.com.
The next day, McLean's parlor hosted another gathering. The so-called "commissioner's meeting" was attended by Confederate Generals James Longstreet (First and Third Corps), John Gordon (Second Corps) and William Pendleton (Chief of Artillery), and their Union counterparts Generals John Gibbon (Twenty Fourth Corps), Wesley Merritt (Cavalry Corps) and Charles Griffin (Fifth Corps). Their purpose was to detail the implementation of the surrender, and to determine exactly what would happen when the official ceremony took place.
McLean's house had not been their first choice. They had initially gathered at the nearby Clover Hill Tavern, but according to Gibbon found "the room a bare and cheerless place" and reconvened the meeting to the same parlor where their superiors had met the day before.
Stripped of tables and chairs that had been kept as souvenirs, Gibbon ordered his personal folding camp table be brought in and the room arranged for the meeting. This task was apparently left to Gibbons' orderly, Private Amos O. Benjamin of the 81st New York.
Afterwards, Gibbon retained his table, and the next day commemorated the meeting by having its top painted with information about the event. Today, the Gibbon's table is on exhibit at Appomattox Courthouse National Park. Private Benjamin retained the table cover. Years later it was recalled later that he "prepared the room in which the articles of surrender were drawn up. He arranged the table and brought the pen and ink with which the terms of agreement were written and signed and he now has in his possession the table spread which was then used."(King Publishing, 1903:336-339)
In the years after the war, Benjamin moved West, and by 1878 had settled in Seattle, Washington. He rose to prominence as a salvor, and ship owner. He was an active member of the Stephens Post of the Grand Army of the Republic in Seattle, and his participation in that organization is thought to be directly related to the artifact presented here.
GAR posts were often decorated with souvenirs and war trophies, and Benjamin's table cover, may have been displayed at the Stevens Post. This would explain the wooden hangers, and also perhaps the faulty information recorded on the canvas (the date of the meeting was April 10, and Benjamin failed to include Longstreet, substituting instead "Bennett"). The information may be the product of an aged vet, who in the fulsomeness of time simply didn't have his facts straight. A significant relic of the two days at Appomattox.
References Cited:
Lewis King Publishing Company
1903A Volume of Memoirs and Genealogy of Representative Citizens of the City of Seattle and Count of King, Washington, pp. 336-339.
EST $10,000 - 15,000
