Civil War Martingale / SOLD

Civil War Martingale - Inventory Number: CAV 052 / SOLD

This device was worn on the breast of the horse officers.  Seldom encountered, this example with the raised outer rim which mimics that of the U.S. enlisted plates, was recovered from the Battle of Stephenson's Depot during the Second and Third Battles of Winchester.

In the spring of 1863, General Robert E. Lee made the decision to invade the North by way of the Shenandoah Valley.  By that June, Union General Robert H. Milroy stood with his nearly ten thousand men at Winchester to block Lee's advance.  After fierce fighting on June 14, 1863, Milroy was forced to retreat towards Harper's Ferry, but not after nearly taking a Confederate Battery that commanded the bridge that blocked their escape.  

Later in 1864, this site would again be a vital position in the bloodiest battle to take place in the Shenandoah Valley.  In the Third Battle of Winchester, Union General Philip Sheridan would finally push Jubal Early's Army from the city and force the routed army to withdraw south.

Inventory Number: CAV 052 / SOLD