South Florida Sun-Sentinel (Sunday)
Battle of Gettysburg fragment has been beautifully engraved
Q: I found this in my parent’s basement and am not sure what we have here. It looks to be a portion of a cannonball with markings that say “Battle of Gettysburg.” Any information would be appreciated. Thank you. — J.K.
A: The American Civil War Battle of Gettysburg was horrific. Tens of thousands of Union and Confederate soldiers were killed, and many historians consider this to have been the turning part of the war.
When the battle was over, the farms around the small Pennsylvania town were strewn with bodies and bits and pieces of ordinance — cannonballs plus various kinds of shot and bullets. The battlefield was also strewn with objects such as uniform buttons, belt buckles, canteens and other accoutrements worn or carried by soldiers.
The partial cannonball in today’s question is beautifully engraved. The top line, which we cannot quite make out, is a reference to Gen. George G. Meade. The rest of the inscription reads, “in command in the Battle of Gettysburg 1-2-3 July 1863.” We speculate that this might have been harvested near Meade’s first headquarters at the Leister Farm on Taneytown Road, or his second headquarters at the widow Pfeffer house on Baltimore Street.
After the conflict, the battlefield became a sacred site and attracted both tourists and veterans. Various individuals and enterprises went to the battlefield and gathered relics, which they assembled into trays or mounted as desk sets or other
remembrances to sell as souvenirs.
Perhaps the most famous of the scavengers/assemblers was John Good, who was a cabinetmaker with a shop on Race Horse Alley. We have also seen such items attributed to J.A. Good, Gettysburg Battlefield Novelty Works located at 30 N. Washington St. This may be one and the same enterprise with different business addresses.
Associated with Good was someone named John Woodward, but the exact connection is unclear. Groupings of Gettysburg souvenirs were typically made for Grand Army of the Republic Halls, small museums, veterans and sightseers. It is hard to tell who might have salvaged this shard from the field, but we do believe it was once part of a larger collection of artifacts assembled and retailed as a grouping.
The engraving on the shard does look like Good’s work, which we have seen pictured on a much
more complete cannonball that was said to have been engraved by Good in the 1870s. It is our understanding, however, that Good normally nailed his artifacts to boards, and the piece is today’s question appears to have been attached with a screw. We think the engraved fragment is authentic and of interest to collectors as well as to the Gettysburg History Museum.
Assigning a monetary value to this piece would be pure speculation, so we will refrain.
Helaine Fendelman and Joe Rosson have written a number of books on antiques. Do you have an item you’d like to know more about? Contact them at Joe Rosson, 2504 Seymour Ave., Knoxville, TN 37917, or email them at treasures@knology.net. If you’d like your question to be considered for their column, include a high-resolution photo of the subject, which must be in focus, with your inquiry.