Description: Capt. Abner Doubleday returned the first shot at Confederate gunners. Two years later, he was General Doubleday and commanded thousands of men in the Battle of Gettysburg.
Description: Pvt. Willaim Ventress of the 5th Alabama Infantry lost this Bible on the battlefield. A note inside reads, "If I should get killed in battle or sicken and die, please send this Bible and my remains home to my wife, to MRs. W.E. Ventress, Clayton, Barbour County, Alabama."
Description: Ethan Allen, the coinventor of this inexpensive single-action pocket pistol, also developed the "Pepper-box" in 1836, which became the most common repeating handgun prior to the invention of the revolving cylinder.
Description: Mt. Bream, the owner of Black Horse Tavern, found this Confederate ammunition box west of town on Hagerstown Road.
Date Created: November 1865
Description: This photograph shows twenty African-American soldiers with their musical instruments.
Description: This frock coat belonged to a Confederate artillery captain from South Carolina. The bars show his rank, and the palmetto tree on the buttons reveal his home state.
Description: Artillerymen's short shell jackets made it easier for gun crews to work the guns. This is a Union jacket.
Date Created: c. 1861
Description: This delicate backgammon set belonged to Lucius Savage of Company F, 2nd Vermont Infantry.
Date Created: c. 1800s
Description: This 19th-century ceramic bottle once held ginger beer.
Date Created: c. 1861
Description: Most enlisted men did not keep much money with them, but this soldier’s money belt was skillfully fashioned from a shirt sleeve. This belt was found on the Gettysburg battlefield soon after the battle.
Date Created: 1861-1864
Description: Model 1851 rectangular brass sword belt plate with raised spread eagle and federal shield. This belt plate belonged to Daniel P. Reigle, 87th Pennsylvannia Volunteers.
Description: Private Lorenzo Curtis fought with the 143rd Pennsylvania Infantry around McPherson's farm on the afternoon of the first day. He carried this book of Bible verses into the battle.
Date Created: 1862
Description: The label on this brown glass bottle announces that it held “Petzold’s Genuine Bitters, The Great Elixir of Life.”
Description: Pvt. John Bodler of the 149th Pennsylvania Infantry was one of the many recent immigrants fighting in the Union army. He was born in Germany, arrived in the United States in 1850, and fought for his new country at the Battle of Gettysburg.
Date Created: 1863
Description: James Stone, Company H, 12th Virginia Cavalry. Co. H, 12th Virginia Cavalry carried this psalm book.
Description: These boots belonged to a soldier in the 74th Pennsylvania Infantry, which fought north of Gettysburg on July 1.
Date Created: c. 1860s
Description: This brown glass bottle held Kentucky Bourbon whiskey.
Date Created: c. 1863
Description: Civil War soldiers were roused out of their blanets with bugles, drums, and shouts. The bugle sounded calls for a Union artillery unit during the Gettysburg campaign.
Date Created: c. 1861
Description: Creative soldiers often came up with their own gaming pieces. In this case flattened lead bullets were used as poker chips. These chips came from Shiloh, Tennessee.
Description: Pvt. Myron Van Winkle of the 111th New York Infantry was wounded on July 3 and died nearly three weeks later. His wife, Rhoda, and son John attended his funeral at the Soldiers' National Cemetery in the fall, and the boy found bullets on the battlefield. Myron was 28 years old.
Description: The retreating army of Northern Virginia buried this artillery shell near Chambersburg, Pennsylvania, about 30 miles west of Gettysburg
Date Created: c. 1861
Description: An enterprising soldier made this button from a flattened bullet. Readily available and easy to work, lead was also a popular medium for soldier art.
Date Created: c. 1861
Description: This buzzer was made of a lead bullet. A 'buzzing' sound was made by threading string through the holes of the "buzzer," pulling both ends of the string, and then twirling.
Date Created: 1861
Description: View of 96th Pennsylvania Infantry Regiment during drill at Camp Northumberland, with the camp in the background.
Description: Confederate soldiers camped on Harvey Lesher's farm in Greencastle, Pennsylvania, two nights after the battle. He found this cannon trace the next day.
Description: This was used to secure the barrel of the slung carbine to the saddle while riding.
Description: Games helped pass the time. Some soldiers discarded their dice and cards before they went into battle. If they were killed, they didn't want evidence of gambling sent home with their personal effects.
Date Created: c. 1861
Description: This carte-de-visite or photograph of an unidentified woman in a wedding dress was found on the Gettysburg battlefield by Samuel Griffiths, Company H, 29th Pennsylvania Infantry. Who she was and the fate of the soldier who carried the image remain a mystery.
Date Created: c. 1860s
Description: This 19th- century photograph of a young woman served the same purpose as a modern pin-up poster.
Date Created: c. 1863
Description: Sometimes a photograph served as the last reminder of a heroic life lost. This is a photograph of Corporal Franklin Halsey, Company F, 147th New York Infantry, who was killed in action at Gettysburg on July 1, 1863.
Date Created: c. 1860s
Description: A soldier’s photograph was often sent home to his parents or a sweetheart. Here 2nd Lieutenant Henry Sheriff, Company C, 4th United States Colored Troops poses for a portrait in Alleghany, Pennsylvania.
Date Created: c. 1860s
Description: Photographs of family and friends helped remind soldiers of the life that awaited them once the war was over. Here, John Shipman, Company F, 13th Connecticut Infantry poses with his daughters Julia and Junie.
Description: Pvt. Albert Odell's name and regiment, the 5th Alabama Infantry, are carved into the flap of this leather cartridge box.
Description: A soldier cut a flap from this cartridge box and made other changes to speed up grabbing cartridges and reloading.
Description: Annual reports summed up the progress of the Soldiers' National Cemetery. They included a list of the men buried there, which reached 3,555 by the end of the war.
