civil war find need help??

[cemmons]

MY MDING PARTNER FOUND THIS BRASS STENCIL IN A KNOWN CIVIL WAR CAMP IN NORTHEAST MISSISSIPPI. THIS CAMP WAS USED BY BOTH UNION AND CONFEDERATE SOLDERS. WE HAVE SEVERAL THINGS TO INDICATE THE CAMP WAS USED MORE BY THE UNION FORCES. AS YOU CAN SEE BY THE PICTURES THE STENCIL READS:

H.W.W.
BOSTON

WITH THE NUMBER 987 STENCILED ON THE END

THE STENCIL IS EMBOSSED WITH :

RICHARDSON & BROWN
149 MILK STREET
BOSTON

DO ANY OF YOU CIVIL EXPERTS HAVE ANY INFO TO SHED ON THIS FIND??

 

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[jeff of pa]

Can't help you out,
Anything I'd say would be a Guess.
But cool Find

 

[DCMatt]

From the 1885 Boston city directory:

Brown Robert T. (Richardson & Brown), stencil cutter, 149 Milk, h. at N. Somerville

Cool find!

DCMatt

 

[COUNTRY GIRL]

Really cool find. Was it pretty straight when your friend pulled it out of the ground?

 

[cemmons]

IT WAS WRINKLED SOME AND 1 END IS TORN OFF . SOME OF THE SMALL PIECES WERE NOT ATTACHED TO THE STENCIL. WE HAD TO FIND THE MISSING PIECES. WE HAVE FOUND SEVERAL BULLETS , A PAD LOCK, A PAD LOCK BRASS KEYHOLE COVER (BOTH M W & CO-MALLORY WHEELER NEW HAVEN CCT), A BRASS RIVET USED IN LEATHER GOODS AND A LOT OF HARNESS RINGS AND ASSOCIATED PIECES. LOTS OF MYSTERY PIECES!!

 

[DCMatt]

I found a soldier with H.W.W. intials in the 46th Mass. Infantry Militia. But I don't think they ever got further south than South Carolina. I used the last name of "Williams" for my search (first thing that came to mind...) Try it yourself.

http://www.massachusettscivilwar.com/soldiers.asp

Or send info to this address:

[email protected]

And see what happens.

Good luck,

DCMatt

 

[cemmons]

WE KNOW THAT THE OHIO TROOPS WERE HERE IN IUKA, BUT CAN NOT FIND ANYTHING THAT RELATES TO THE NUMBER 987 ON THE END OF THE STENCIL. I HAVE NOT BEEN ABLE TO FIND ANY ONE ON THE OHIO TROOPS ROSTERS WITH A NAME TO MATCH THESE LETTERS. WE WERE WONDERING IF IT MIGHT BE A NAME OF A PARTICULAR UNIT??

 

[mobrigade]

I used to know some nice places to hunt in Iuka....good luck!

 

[{Sentinel}]

Well, I will do some research for you. There was a GREAT, TERRIFIC cavalry campaign/raid throughout the Eastern part of Mississippi from North to Southeast to divert troops away from Vicksburg. U.S. Grant came up with this plan so that he could ease his troops in below Vicksburg. It was a great diversion and worked for Grant who eventually took Vicksburg in large part due to it...but the diversion, in its own rite was a success and became known as one of the best cavalry raids/expeditions of the entire war. Gen. Benjamin Grierson was the head of this cavalry raid and he did an outstanding job at destroying our railroads and burning our munitions stores and cutting telegraph wires. I can ALMOST guarantee that it came from this expedition (if it is indeed from that period 1861-1865, which it may be from the latter half of the 19th century). Although this expedition mostly used men from Iowa and Illinois, it still could have had a photographer or some other men from Mass. with them. It is indeed rare however to find such objects as a Massachusetts stencil in this part of the country as the Union mainly used Mid-western men out in that part of the South. The Mass. men usually stayed along the East coast, mostly in Virginia, North Carolina, and South Carolina.

 

[cemmons]

Thanks for the info. This stencil was found not too far from the center of town about a mile from the rail road and close to water.I have a customer who sent a picture of it to the historian at Shiloh. There was indeed a cavalry campaign in Iuka. Just Saturday I found a union cavalry button less than 2 miles from where the stencil was found. We also found a knapsack hook and several bullets. My understanding is that there was a big winter camp in this area. The rail to Memphis runs thru Iuka, so that was important to both sides. We had a battle at Iuka but the bigger battles took place at Shiloh (25-30 miles from Iuka) and Corinth ( 20 miles from Iuka). Once again thanks for the help. I see that you are from Norfolk, I have a brother that lives there. He is a Navy seal and he owns Mike's Pizza on Hampton Blvd.

 

[Elvis]

Cool find, Congrats!