Confederate Dental Kit John Fletcher Trippe - 2nd Georgia Cavalry / SOLD

Confederate Dental Kit - Inventory Number:  MED 255 / SOLD

John Fletcher Trippe - 2nd Georgia Cavalry

Dental Kit Circa 1860

Trippe served in both the 5th Georgia infantry and the 2nd Georgia Cavalry in the War.  He served throughout Shenandoah Valley. This kit descended in the Trippe family until 2021 when it was purchased for my personal collection.  It is accompanied by aa wonderful letter of provenance by the family as well as an original letter of 1865, and copies of photos and archive records. The kit contains numerous dental tools and foil packets as well as extracted teeth!

The Letter of Provenance Reads:

This dentistry set belonged to my 2nd great grandfather, John Fletcher Trippe, who was a dental student before his service to the Confederacy. It remained in his possession, at his farmhouse in Randolph County, Georgia, through his death. His youngest son Fletcher Milton (F.M.) Trippe then took over the farm, and the dental kit remained in the homeplace. Upon F.M.'s death in 1958, his youngest grandson (my father), Robert Bradley Burke, claimed it when the contents of the farm and homeplace were divided among family members. When Daddy passed away on 9th April 2021, I inherited the kit.           

The wooden case measures 16x10x6 inches and is lined with burgundy velvet. Case and contents are well worn. The top tray contains a variety of ivory-handled instruments (which further corroborate the era, as ivory was not used after that time), two rectangular inset mirrors, and the mother-of-pearl handle from a missing hand mirror. Underneath that lift-out tray, we find an inset tray with two black-handled instruments (including a drill), a beautiful wooden bell-shaped tool, photos of John Fletcher Trippe (flanked by his parents and later in life with his wife), two pieces of lead (used for fillings), a 2" needle, approximately 33 human teeth, a mother-of-pearl bar, and filling papers - tin foil from Veeder, Brother, & Company in Chicago as well as Samuel Hape's gold foil in a lovely pink envelope from Southern Dental Depot, Brown & Hape, in Atlanta. Also included is a handwritten letter from Samuel Hape to Dr. J.F. Trippe dated 15th September 1865. A slide-out tray at the bottom of the case is damaged in front. It contains two pairs of pliers (one with a broken side) and a variety of metal implements.  

Military Background: On 10 May 1861, at age 22, John Fletcher Trippe enlisted as a private in Company F of Georgia's 5th Infantry. Ten months later, on 29 March 1862, he was discharged due to disability. Nevertheless, on 7 May 1862, he mustered again, this time with Company A of 2nd Georgia Cavalry, commissioned by election as a 2m Lieutenant. The next day, he fought in the Battle of McDowell (also known as the Battle of Sitlington's Hill) near McDowell, Virginia - part of General Stonewall Jackson's Shenandoah Valley Campaign. On 23 December 1862, Lt. Trippe co-led a detachment that captured 14 Union soldiers from a scouting party on Nolensville Pike. Several Union soldiers were left dead and wounded, while the Confederates sustained no casualties. See Cracker Cavaliers: The 2nd Georgia Cavalry Under Wheeler and Forrest by John Randolph Poole (Mercer University Press, 2000). He mustered out by resignation on 10 October 1863 with supporting medical documentation, ending ten months with the 2nd Cavalry and going home to his wife of nearly eight months. Their first child was born just over a year later.             

John Fletcher Trippe's occupation is listed as "Dentistry Student" in military records. It is unclear whether his dental kit accompanied him during his service to the Confederacy. Per the letter from Samuel Hape, he was actively practicing dentistry in 1865. Beginning with the census of 1870, records list farming as his occupation. He married Mary Elizabeth Mayo on 26 February 1863, and together, they raised seven children. John Fletcher Trippe died at age 66 on 24 December 1905.    

This information is true and correct to the best of my knowledge.      

Veronica Burke Humphrey   

16 July 2021 

Inventory Number:  MED 255 / SOLD