Monday, March 18, 2024

Lost (stolen), found and sold: 48 portraits from Herb Peck's prized collection, plundered in 1978 Nashville burglary, have new homes after auction

Florida soldier with carbine; siblings with 3rd Tennessee (Fleischer's Auctions)
Forty-eight photographs, mostly of young Southern men toting rifles, Bowie knives, revolvers and fierce gazes, sold for $259,000 (excluding buyer’s premium) at a weekend auction, pleasing the widow and son of an esteemed collector who curated the images before they were stolen in 1978.

The family of Herb Peck Jr. enlisted the help of law enforcement, other collectors and Military Images magazine in their hunt for 117 images taken during a burglary at their Nashville home.

Peck  began collecting in the 1950s ahead of the Civil War centennial, amassing one of thepremier collections of Civil War portrait photography at a time when the genre’s importance was only first being realized,” said Fleischer’s Auctions.

Peck died at age 67 in 2004 before any of the photographs were recovered. One was located in 2006, 39 were seized during a 2020 raid and eight more were returned in the past year.

Herb Peck Jr. with some of his photos in the 1970s. (Fleischer's Auctions)
Fleischer’s Auctions said representatives of the family attended the three-hour Saturday sale in Columbus, Ohio.

“It’s been an emotional process for everyone involved,” the company said in an email to The Civil War Picket.

Adam Fleischer, in a social media post after the sale, said high interest in the photographs reflected Peck’s eye for quality. “The Peck family's decision to share Herb’s captivating images with the public, following decades of uncertainty, resonated deeply with collectors and history enthusiasts alike.”

The top seller Saturday was lot 45, entitled “Confederate with Colt Revolving Rifle.” It went for $32,200 with the buyer’s premium. The subject wears an outdated cap topped by a havelock and holds a Model 1855 Colt revolving rifle. It’s possible he was from Virginia, according to Fleischer’s.

“This is a masterpiece of Southern photography and I chose it for the cover (left) that featured the story about Herb's collection,” Ronald S. Coddington, editor and publisher of Military Images, told the Picket. (Fleischer’s Auctions is an advertiser with the magazine)

Behind that was lot 34, entitled “Masterful Character Study,” which realized $24,300 with the buyer’s premium. The portrait depicts James and Calvin Walker of the 3rd Tennessee Infantry. Calvin was killed in action in Georgia in 1864, with an eyewitness noting that nothing was left of his head after he was hit by artillery shrapnel but “"...[a] chin and rather long whiskers.”

Images going for high prices included a Tennessee infantrymanFlorida soldier with carbine and a Confederate private armed with a Model 1842 musket, Bowie knife, and pair of large Colt Navy revolvers.

Coddington said he found lot 28, a photograph of a Confederate first sergeant, to be particularly compelling (right, courtesy Fleischer's Auctions).

He cites “the focal clarity of the image, the look of the soldier, the way he holds his saber and the unusual paper mat that was likely used as a substitute for brass mats that were unavailable in the South due to the blockade and loss of territory.

Ahead of the sale, Fleischer’s Auctions said the collection was once thought lost forever.

Coddington, in a Military Images article about Peck, said photographs from the collection were published in “The Civil War” by Ken Burns and in more than 50 books, magazines and articles, including Time-Life’s “The Civil War” series, the “Confederate Faces” series and “Civil War Times.”

Burglars hit the Peck home in September 1978, making away with 117 images, cameras and more than a dozen weapons.

Law enforcement agencies in Tennessee and the FBI worked on the case as several photographs appeared for sale on online sites. The FBI office in Indianapolis netted one image in 2006.

Peck’s son asked Military Images to revive the case in 2016 and he created a poster showing many of the photographs. The FBI and police in Ethridge, Tenn., recovered 39 images in an October 2020 raid. Eight more turned up later. (Southern musicians with fife and drum, left)

About 70 photographs are still to be recovered, according to Coddington. The publisher says the family is committed to their return. “Due to the active nature of the investigation and concerns from the family about jeopardizing the investigation, this is all I am able to state at this time.”

Saturday’s auction must have brought some satisfaction to Peck’s family.

Peck’s widow, Felicity, previously told Military Images: “I remember how distressed the collectors were at the time of the burglary. It has always been a comfort to me that others care about the importance of these images as historical, visible and tangible evidence of this country.”

Tuesday, March 12, 2024

Photo collector David Vaughan pens essays that detail the rich stories of Georgia soldiers. Still, the vast majority of Civil War images are unidentified

David W. Vaughan at 2023 Phoenix flies (Picket photo) and images of Georgia soldiers 
William Raines, Randolph Spalding and Alfred Cantrell, described below (David Wynn Vaughan Collection)
David Wynn Vaughan enjoys the thrill of the hunt.

The longtime collector of photographs depicting Confederate soldiers -- many from Georgia -- has a seasoned eye for ones that stand out. “I love (subjects) that are heavily armed,” he says. “I love tinted photographs. It crosses over to artwork to me.”

Vaughan’s pursuit doesn’t end at a purchase. He becomes that soldier’s storyteller, researching and writing a modest biography that highlights service, combat and the subject’s personal attributes – heroic and perhaps less so.

Vaughan will talk about his passion Wednesday evening in Atlanta and show pictures of a dozen or more soldiers and give an overview of their wartime lives.

I attended Vaughan’s captivating talk last year at the Atlanta Preservation Center, the same site for this week’s “Southern Photography in the American Civil War.”

The program is part of the center’s annual Phoenix Flies. Participants over several weeks can attend the “preservation celebration” at scores of sites across the Atlanta area.

The collector told me he is going to add some new material and speak about research discoveries since March 2023.

The internet has been a huge boost since Vaughan began collecting some 40 years ago. “It has totally changed my collecting habit. I look at history as much as the photo,” he tells the Picket. (Photo at left courtesy David Wynn Vaughan Collection)

Vaughan, an Atlanta Realtor, is well-known in Civil War photography circles for his premier collection of hundreds of images and his precise research.

About 50 of his photos and biographies have been published in Georgia Backroads magazine, with 8-12 hours of work going into each profile.

“David Vaughan is a terrific resource for Georgia history,” says Dan Roper, editor and publisher of Georgia Backroads. “His Civil War photograph collection is superb and he does a great job finding and writing backstories.”

Vaughan’s efforts garnered some national attention some 15 years ago in an article in Garden & Gun, a copy of which sits in a framed case at home (below). His photographs have also appeared in Military Images, including one depicting a fighting minister.

(Courtesy of David Wynn Vaughan)
“Every time I buy a new portrait, I’m off on a new tangent,” Vaughan told Garden & Gun. “I research each one, so I get to learn and grow. I chase down their history, their letters, their thoughts. It’s enriching. And it’s surprising.”

During his presentations, Vaughan weaves anecdotes about how he came to acquire some of the images – being strung along by sellers or learning fascinating details about a soldier from descendants.

He has about 100 photographs of Georgia soldiers. “You can literally put a book together on some of these guys.” Among the men he has researched for Georgia Backroads:

-- Pvt. Alfred Webb Cantrell of Cobb’s Legion cavalry (right): Cantrell was one of three brothers to join up. His unit fought at Brandy Station and skirmishes leading up to Gettysburg, and later Petersburg. Cantrell took part in every engagement except when in Georgia in 1864 to help procure horses. After the war, Cantrell took his family to Warrensburg, Mo., where he died in 1917 at age 75. Cantrell poses in the ambrotype with a revolver and cavalry saber. He wears a nine-button shell jacket and an oval Georgia state seal buckle, upside down for some reason.

-- Col. Randolph Spalding, 29th Georgia: Spalding was a member of a prominent family on the Georgia coast. His unit was stationed in Savannah and South Carolina, and he was reported by a sergeant to be “shamefully drunk” before battle at Fort Walker. An officer in another unit said Spalding attached himself as a private to a South Carolina regiment and fought throughout the day. He resigned for unknown reasons in December 1861 and died of pneumonia at age 39 in Savannah.  A newspaper said “a more generous and kind-hearted man never lived.” The ambrotype of Spalding depicts him in a double-breasted jacket, with three stars on his collar. He strikes a Napoleonic pose, with hand in jacket.

(Photos courtesy David Wynn Vaughan Collection)
-- Pattillo brothers: Left to right in the portrait above are Benjamin, George, James and John Pattillo, who served in Company K of the 22nd Georgia Infantry from Henry County. The regiment took part in “prolonged, arduous campaigns” from Seven Pines, Gettysburg and Cold Harbor to the Petersburg trenches and surrender at Appomattox. Benjamin died at Second Manassas and James and John were wounded during the war. The 1861 ambrotype features Corsican cap covers over their kepis. The brothers hold Bowie knives and George’s shell jacket has red tape trim on either side of the buttons.

-- Sgt. William Green Gaither Raines, 9th Georgia Infantry: The Walton County, Ga., man and his regiment fought in Virginia at first. It suffered brutal casualty numbers at Gettysburg and Raines was wounded a few days later. He died on Nov. 18, 1863, during a skirmish around Knoxville, Tenn. He was about 29. His brother, Littleton, died a few weeks later during an assault on Fort Sanders in Knoxville. In an ambrotype, Raines wears a seven-button jacket and the image is housed in a handmade case with a rare black embossed paper mat. “There was a shortage of photographic supplies in the South because of the Union naval blockade,” Vaughan wrote in Georgia Backroads, and photographers improvised by making their own cases

-- Col. John Hart, 6th Georgia Cavalry (right): “Although a man of the cloth, he loved hard liquor and single women,” Vaughan wrote in Georgia Backroads. Hart used his hot temper and Rebel yell to lead charges. He was wounded in July 1864 near Atlanta and got into a row a month later with another officer, leading to talk of a duel. His regiment chased the Union army all the way to Durham, N.C. The officer returned to Floyd County, where he died in 1878 at age 52. In his portrait, Hart wears a seven-button, double-breasted frock coat, and the stars on his collar and gold braid denote has rank as colonel.

Ode to just a boy: 'Not knowing your real enemy'

Roper of Georgia Backroads says Vaughan’s “photos are terrific and have drawn a lot of interest from readers.”

Vaughan, as a freelancer, provided a photograph of a Union soldier for the spring 2011 issue of Georgia Backroads. Pvt. Rasho Crane, a musician with the 7th Wisconsin Infantry, was captured at the Wilderness and died at Andersonville prison in Georgia. His grave marker gives his last name as Cram.

Crane was only 15 when he died, just a few months after enlistment. The magazine says it chose Crane for the cover as representative of the huge human loss at Camp Sumter (Andersonville).

The publication of Crane’s photo inspired writer Emma Cottrell, then in her 80s, to drive to Andersonville, find Crane’s grave, lay two roses on it and then write a poem about the photo and his story, says Roper. 

Cottrell’s poem reads, in part:

“I stand before your grave, Rasho Crane,
far from Wisconsin and the waters of Lake Michigan:
the green fields of Kenosha.
I saw your photograph in a magazine;
a Union boy, a stranger, someone’s son.
Pathos struck my heart and I could not choose
but follow you to this place. In the strange
silence growing round me, I close my eyes
and see you again; young, hot-blooded,
impatient -- lured from home to fight,
not knowing your real enemy was Fate.

-- Emma Cottrell and Georgia Backroads

Who is this man whose photo was put in Macon time capsule?

Civil War-era photos of identified soldiers, of course, are a premium for collectors and that’s who Vaughan generally acquires.

“You can find out so many nuances of the images, based on the identity of the soldier,” Vaughan told me. “You can find where it was made, when it was made. It could be a first- or second-issue uniform.”

He does occasionally buy unidentified images and has been able to learn their names in about a half dozen cases. But it’s tough.

Officials hope to verify the identity of this man (Historic Macon Foundation)
The Cannonball House in Macon, Ga., reached out to Vaughan for help identifying a man whose ambrotype or tintype image was in a time capsule placed under the base of a Confederate monument in 1878. (The monument was moved in 2022 and the weathered time capsule was opened.)

The man likely was a Civil War veteran, given the monument was topped by a marble Confederate soldier holding a rifle, and he appears to wear a uniform. Are the crutches he holds the result of a battle injury or did the need to use them rise after war’s end?

Vaughan says the crutches stand out and raise many questions. He believes the man is possibly wearing a Confederate jacket, but it’s tough to tell whether it has military buttons. There is no insignia, but Vaughan believes it may be a navy-use coat.

“He was probably lucky to be alive. He was convalescing. It could have been made in a studio or could have been in a camp. It is important for him to be photographed with crutches.”

Research leads enthusiasts down many rabbit holes as they seek an identity. “We don’t know who he is. More times than not you are so far off-base,” says Vaughan.

Cheryl Aultman, executive director of the Cannonball House, confirmed on March 17 the man remains unidentified.

Tough battle to identify the unknown photo subjects

Ronald S. Coddington, editor and publisher of Military Images, explains why so many Civil War photographs pose identification challenges.

“Hard-plate photos, including daguerreotypes, ambrotypes, and tintypes, tend to be less identified because it was not easy to do so. The most common practice was to tuck a note, and maybe a lock of hair, poem, or other items, into the case behind the image,” Coddington wrote in an email.

“Less common is writing on the back of the image plate, or scratching a name into the surface emulsion. Paper photographs, including cartes de visite and other albumen prints, were much easier to identify because identifying information could be written directly on the print surface, or, more commonly, the mount. I estimate maybe 5 percent of hard plates and 20 percent of paper photos are identified, though not all are airtight.”

Ron Coddington at the Chickamauga Civil War Show in 2018 (Picket photo)
Cartes de visite (CDVs) were easier and cheaper to produce and were given out in larger numbers.

Internet sites, notably Civil War Faces on Facebook and Civil War Photo Sleuth, are a boon to professional collectors and amateurs wanting to put a name to a face.

Civilwarphotosleuth.com has made it possible to use face recognition in combination with classic photo sleuthing techniques to identify soldiers and sailors, says Coddington, who recommended I upload the Macon image there.

I did so in November 2022, asking others to weigh in. I compared his face to possible matches, but have had no luck thus far in identifying him.

David W. Vaughan at last spring's Phoenix Flies talk (Civil War Picket)
A Georgia photo collector uploaded the photograph on Civil War Faces. An inventory of the 1878 time capsule lists H.C. Tindall of Macon as the donor of the photograph and a miniature Confederate flag worn by a soldier. Another source gives his name as M.C. Tillman.

That post did not yield any concrete answers, and it’s not certain whether the subject is a Tindall or Tillman – or someone else.

Another contributing factor to the high number of unidentified portraits is they were never intended for public consumption.

“These were personal, family artifacts to be cherished. In many cases, names were not required because the recipient knew the sitter,” Coddington writes.

Concerns about loss of context and provenance

Those who want to get into serious collecting can expect to spend significant money.

Vaughan tells the Picket he rarely discuss prices “because it opens up a Pandora's box of possibilities.” Many factors determine value and it can be difficult for the beginning collector or dealer to grasp because every image is an original and the price is greatly determined from the subject matter, he says.

“Some of the first images I purchased over 30 years ago were in the hundreds of dollars. Quality Confederate and Union images have continued to climb in value. Expect to pay several thousand dollars for a clear, armed and identified image.”

Part of a very big collection (Courtesy of David Wynn Vaughan)
Coddington points out that collectible items can lose their context – and perhaps identity -- over time.

“As images became separated from families and moved into the marketplace they often became separated from diaries, letters, uniforms, weapons and equipment. Breaking up these personal items resulted in more money for the sellers, who could find more buyers for single items rather than a single buyer willing to spend a lot of money to buy an entire intact collection. As a result, many single artifacts made their way into collections of those who really appreciated them, but at the cost of destroying the provenance and context.”

Vaughan says he wants his collection to be kept together, wherever it ends up. “It would be hard to put it back together again” if they were sold off individually, he says.

The collector acknowledges he is in essence a custodian of the photographs. “I only own them for a while.”

Vaughan’s talk Wednesday at the Atlanta Preservation Center, 327 St. Paul Avenue SE, Atlanta, Ga. 30312, begins at 7 p.m. You can register for free admission here. Event capacity is limited.

Saturday, March 9, 2024

Union officer brought formerly enslaved family to Minnesota after war

Brad Edgerton takes particular pride in one simple gesture amid his great-great-grandfather's many accomplishments: After commanding a regiment of Black soldiers during the Civil War, Alonzo Edgerton invited a family born into slavery to join him when he returned home to Minnesota.  "Everyone knows the North was sympathetic to Black people, but Alonzo walked the walk and followed up the talk with philanthropy for a family he loved,” said Brad Edgerton. -- Article

Wednesday, February 28, 2024

Artillery Capt. William Hawley was wounded at Monocacy. The New Yorker's conserved kepi and frock coat will be part of revamped park museum in Md.

Capt. Hawley's frock coat and kepi in a 2nd-floor exhibit at Monocacy (NPS photo)
A mended kepi belonging to a New York officer wounded at Monocacy has been returned to the Maryland battlefield ahead of a planned overhaul of its museum.

Capt. William Hawley, Company E, 9th New York Heavy Artillery, was wounded in the arm on July 9, 1864. His hat and frock coat have been on display at Monocacy National Battlefield near Frederick since 2007.

Tracy Evans, acting chief or resource education and visitor services at the park, said Caring for Textiles of Washington, D.C., patched 10 small holes in the kepi's wool and reattached several open seams, including the leather trim.

At Monocacy, outnumbered Federals delayed Confederates bent on taking Washington. Union artillery did a lot to slow the Confederate advance, despite the latter having more guns. Jubal Early did not use the majority of his ordnance because he believed only militia was in his way. (Hawley's unit served as infantry at Monocacy.)

By the time Rebel troops reached the capital’s outskirts, Union reinforcements had arrived. 

Park officials say the revamped museum will tell more of the individual stories of soldiers and others. (Hawley's frock coat at left, NPS photo)

“The currently fiber-optic battle map will become a much larger map in the center of the museum that will be accessible,” Evans said in an email. “Surrounding exhibits will talk about all the people who lived on the farms, and how their stories intersect with the war and the Battle of Monocacy.

“It will also explore information about the campaign, battle, soldiers, post-battlefield hospital, (and) aftermath of the war/memorialization/effect of postwar on the people the war ultimately freed,” the ranger said.

Park officials anticipate the visitor center museum will close for renovation in September and reopen prior to Thanksgiving. 

Collector Richard Abel, in a comment on the park’s Facebook post about the kepi, said the Hawley cap and the coat were purchased from the family via an antique store in Gettysburg, Pa.

“I was always proud of this gift, to return the uniform to where it belongs, the field of battle, & to be viewed by the public,” he said. Abel donated many items, which were first kept at Gambrill Mill when it served as park headquarters.

Evans said Abel’s donations helped make up for a shortage of artifacts at the time. She added officials do not know whether Hawley wore that specific kepi and coat at Monocacy, only that he had them during the war.

Hawley was in his early 40s when he enrolled in Auburn as a lieutenant in the 138th New York Infantry in August 1862. The unit was designated as the 9th New York Heavy Artillery a few months later.

9th New York Heavy Artillery at a Washington, D.C., fort (Library of Congress)

The regiment helped defend Washington and participated in the Overland Campaign in Virginia before it fought at Monocacy, both times fighting as infantry. It served until the war’s end, suffering 461 casualties, nearly half from combat.

Hawley, who led a company, was honorably discharged in September 1864. Some newspaper accounts said his arm injury was slight, but it may have been more serious. He apparently applied for a pension in 1880 and died at age 77 in Wolcott, N.Y.,  in 1897, according to findagrave.com.

Evans says Hawley’s coat, featuring red shoulder boards and artillery buttons, is in very good condition. “The conservator created some padding to add to the mannequin to ensure the shoulders did not sag.”

While he was a captain at Monocacy, Hawley's shoulder bars are those for a lieutenant.

The coat was "rested" from the effects of light in spring 2020. "In the new museum, the frock coats will be rotated so that they have some rest from the mannequins and light," Evans said. 

At Monocacy, Union Maj. Gen. Lew Wallace’s troops used his limited artillery and the terrain to their advantage, says park ranger Matt Borders.

“Deployed along the ridge south of the Monocacy River, these cannons had a wonderful field of fire and high ground from which to engage. The scattered deployment of the artillery also gave the impression of more cannons than there actually were or the possibility that the ridge hid more cannons,” he says.

Ranger Evans adds curatorial stuffing to arm of frock coat  (NPS photo)
The cautious Confederates were targeted by an effective 24-pound smoothbore howitzer. Early’s cavalry looked for other crossing options at Worthington Ford on the Monocacy River.

“As Confederate forces got south of the river, more of the Federal artillery was shifted to the left of their line; eventually five of the six rifled artillery pieces were deployed on the rising ground near Thomas Farm to engage Confederate infantry and some of their artillery support,” Borders wrote in an email.

“It was the presence of these cannon that helped hold the Federal flank until 4 p.m., at which point they had used all their long-range ordnance and were compelled to retire. The Federal infantry stayed in line from 4ish to 5 p.m. in large part to make sure their artillery can successfully withdraw from the field."

All the while, Confederate artillery, which had been pushed forward into the very front yard of Best Farm, was firing across the Monocacy River enfilading the Federal line.

"Hawley and his men were some of the troops holding the line as the Federal artillery withdrew and were eating that enfilading fire coming from across the Monocacy River," said Borders.

This fire, along with an infantry attack against that same flank, eventually unhinged the Federal position, forcing it to give way around 5 p.m.“

Monday, February 19, 2024

Battle of Chancellorsville artifacts that were on renamed Navy missile cruiser will now be displayed at Spotsylvania County's museum

Sword, box of artifacts and Civil War saddle for years were on USS Chancellorsville (now USS Robert Smalls)
One year after the U.S. Navy changed the name of a guided-missile cruiser from USS Chancellorsville to USS Robert Smalls, numerous artifacts from the Battle of Chancellorsville that were formerly displayed on the warship have been returned to a Virginia community.

Spotsylvania County officials requested the Navy return items donated years ago by the Friends of the USS Chancellorsville.

“We are grateful artifacts previously displayed aboard the former USS Chancellorsville have found a fitting home at the Spotsylvania County Museum, where they can be shared with our community and visitors for years to come,” said Drew Mullins of the Spotsylvania County Board of Supervisors, in a recent press release.

The decision to rename the ship came after the Naming Commission examined more than 750 bases, facilities, buildings and more to see if they commemorated the Confederacy, according to CNN. The commission found the Ticonderoga-class cruiser’s original name honored the major Rebel victory at Chancellorsville.

Civil War sword and scabbard that have been returned by the Navy (Spotsylvania County photo)
The cruiser (CG 62) was commissioned Nov. 4, 1989, and was deployed in March 1991 to the Persian Gulf in support of Operation Desert Storm.

The ship's motto was "Press On," a saying of Confederate Lt. Gen. Thomas J. "Stonewall" Jackson when his men had Yankees on the run. Jackson was fatally shot by his own troops at Chancellorsville.

USNI News, in a 2022 article about the suggested renaming, quoted a Naming Commission leader's comments on the vessel's crest (below), heraldic background and what was said during the commissioning ceremony and before then, when a Navy officer praised the performance of Jackson and Gen. Robert E. Lee at the battle. The inverted wreath on the crest was a reference to Jackson's death.

The ship’s wardroom featured a painting of Lee and Jackson that was removed in 2016, according to USNI News.

“We looked at the entire context and felt as though that this commemorated the Confederacy,” the commissioner said.

So now, the items are back on shore. The Civil War items included in the Navy’s gifting to Spotsylvania County include:

-- A McClellan cavalry saddle

-- Two framed cases of excavated Chancellorsville battle artifacts, including buckles, belt plates, bullets, tools and uniform fasteners. They appears to be items that were used by Confederate and Union soldiers.

-- An Ames Model 1860 Light Cavalry Saber presented in 1992 to the ship’s captain.

-- Framed map of Chancellorsville 

-- “Battle of Chancellorsville, Sunday, May 3, 1863” print (original art from “Frank Leslie’s Illustrated Famous Leaders and Battle Scenes of the Civil War,” 1896) 

-- A copy of “The Campaign of Chancellorsville: A Strategic and Tactical Study” by John Bigelow Jr., 1910 Yale University Press

Craig Carroll presented these battle belt plates for ship (Spotsylvania County)
The collection includes several modern items associated with the cruiser.

“Plans are underway for the artifacts to go on display but that date has yet to be determined since we just recently acquired the items,” Michelle McGinnis, director of community engagement and tourism for the county, told the Picket in an email.

It has not yet been determined which items will go on display, she said.

Mullins said the museum will be the “perfect location and will serve to honor not only the ship itself and the crew who served our country while working on board, but also recognizes history while giving us the opportunity to learn from the lessons of our nation’s past.”

The late Lynn Freshour, a 23-year U.S. Navy veteran, was active in organizing the Friends of the USS Chancellorsville, according to officials, and helped foster a relationship between the crew and the Spotsylvania community. (Officials said the group is no longer active).

The Navy League, which also supported the vessel, assisted with the transfer of the items to the county. The Picket has reached out to its local chapter for comment.

Lt. Ian McConnaughey, a spokesman for Naval History and Heritage Command, said the Navy decided to keep a few items from the USS Chancellorsville collection. (As to where the artifacts were displayed on the cruiser, he said possible locations include the wardroom, quarterdeck, a passageway and the captain's office/quarters.)

McConnaughey said among items retained by the Navy are a modern blue and gray battle streamer, several plaques, a mounted 12-pound Napoleon spherical shot (right) and a .58-caliber 1861 Model Springfield rifle-musket.

The renamed cruiser honors Smalls, a South Carolinian (photo above) who escaped slavery by commandeering a Rebel steamship.

At the start of the Civil War, the enslaved Smalls was a pilot on the CSS Planter. On the morning of May 13, 1862, he led a takeover of the ship by its slave crew, sailed past Charleston Harbor's formidable defenses and surrendered the vessel to the Union blockade fleet. His wife and children were among those on board who gained freedom.

Crew of then-USS Chancellorsville with banners from Spotsylvania
Smalls, 23 at the time, was celebrated across the North for his daring ride to freedom and he served as a ship’s pilot for the rest of the conflict. After the war, he returned to his hometown Beaufort and bought his former master’s home.

Following a stint in South Carolina’s Legislature, he was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives and served several terms.

The congressman fought against the disenfranchisement of black voters across the South, according to the American Battlefield Trust. He also fought against segregation within the military.

The Spotsylvania County Museum is located at 6159 Plank Road, Fredericksburg, Va. It features 1,800 square feet of exhibits that provide visitors insight into the county’s 300-plus-year history. The area is buffered by land under the control of the American Battlefield. The museum is free to the public daily from 10 a.m. to 4.p.m., except major holidays.