Powder from a Shell Fired into a Soldier’s Tent at Harrison’s Landing, Virginia 1862 / SOLD
Bag of cannon grade gunpowder mixed with percussion caps, housed in a 19th century cardboard box labeled “Fresh Seidlitz Powders.” The box measures 4 ½” by 3” by 1 ½”. The inside of the lid has a 19th century pasted paper label in ink that reads “powder from shell fired into my tent at Harrison’s Landing VA. Aug. 1862. In July and August of 1862, after the Army of the Potomac under George B. McClellan fell back from the Seven Days Battles, one hundred and forty thousand soldiers camped in the surrounding fields of Harrison’s Landing. President Lincoln visited the encampment on two occasions, and it was at Harrison’s Landing that Daniel Butterfield composed the familiar tune "Taps," first played by his bugler, O.W. Norton. A one-of-a-kind Civil War relic.
Inventory Number: ART 365 / SOLD