Crater Days this weekend at Petersburg will recall brutal battle that followed mine explosion under Rebel lines

Cannon demonstration during a previous Crater event (NPS)

Petersburg National Battlefield in Virginia this weekend will remember the Battle of the Crater with the first major living history event the park has hosted since 2019.

Crater Days are scheduled for Saturday and Sunday (July 29-30) with formal programs beginning each day at 10 a.m. and 2 p.m.

The Battle of the Crater, which occurred July 30, 1864, followed a Union attempt to break the siege lines. A mine explosion shattered a Confederate position held by South Carolinians. Federal troops rushed in the breach but became they targets when they massed in an area with little room to maneuver.

The attack turned into a Federal defeat after vicious hand-to-hand fighting. Defenders regrouped and massacred US Colored Troops wounded or surrendering in the Crater.

Eric Schreiner, manager of interpretation at the park, told the Picket in an email that about 35 living historians will participate, including the Princess Anne Greys and the 12^th Virginia.

General view of the Crater at Petersburg (NPS)

Rangers will be leading tours and the living historians will be doing weapons demonstrations. Each program will last about 90 minutes.

“NPS staff will be on site, but living historians between programs will be available to the public to discuss the everyday life of the solider around their camp,” Schreiner said. “We focus on leadership and discuss successes and failures that happen leading up to and during the battle.”

Alfred Waud depiction of the futile attack (Library of Congress)

On Saturday at the Eastern Front Visitor Center, there will be displays focused on the civilian experience from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.

Schreiner said he hopes the staff can offer more for the 160^th anniversary of the Crater in 2024. “Hopefully, next year we will be able to find some units to be Federals. I have some contacts with a few already, including some USCT groups.”

If you go: Start at the Eastern Front Visitor Center at 5001 Siege Road, Petersburg. The Crater battlefield is four miles down the tour road from the visitor center. The grounds are open from 9 a.m. to 8 p.m. Bring water, sun protection and wear comfortable clothing appropriate for the weather. For more information about the event, email eric_schreiner@nps.gov.

CSI: Nashville goes Civil War. Police 3D scanners and drones help plot trajectory of bullets fired on Sunnyside Mansion during battle

A mosaic shows likely trajectories of bullets fired by Union troops (MNPD)

What do police crime scene investigators and archaeologists have in common? It turns out, a lot.

Both take extreme care with evidence. They create detailed notes and photographs, make measurements and diagrams, then document and analyze the data.

These skill sets came into play when the Metro Nashville Historical Commission partnered with the Metropolitan Nashville Police Department to study two unoccupied log structures at Sunnyside Mansion in Sevier Park.

They wanted to solve the mystery regarding embedded bullets and holes discovered earlier this year in the cabin walls. The 44 “defects” – bullets, holes and chips – were associated with the December 15-16, 1864, Battle of Nashville, a significant defeat for the South.

Nashville police photographs of bullets, defects and removed projecticle

For Adam Fracchia, archaeologist with the historical commission, the ballistics project has provided an opportunity to learn more about the battle and its impact on the mansion. The house -- situated between battle lines -- was occupied for a time by Confederate pickets. Advancing Union troops fired upon Confederates in the log structures – made of stout cedar -- and used the residence as a hospital.

Sunnyside Mansion, the headquarters for the commission, has been undergoing an extensive restoration.

“I went and looked at the building and I noticed the bullet holes,” said Fracchia, who found more upon inspection. A forensics colleague suggested he reach out to the police department. “We wanted to get a (look at bullet) trajectory and where they were fired from.”

For Nashville police, the partnership was an excellent way to further test their FARO 3D scanners, which were used in the investigation of the 2020 Christmas Day bombing in the city. The scanners take 360-degree measurements and capture other details from a crime scene. (Photo courtesy of FARO Technologies)

Taking advantage of modern technology, police merged the scans with images they took by drones to make a mosaic of the mansion – which was built in 1852 – and show likely bullet trajectories and direction.

The project was only the second time that the department combined FARO and drone data, said Officer Douglas Belcher of the crime scenes detail.

“This gave us a great opportunity to test the technology we have and we think it did very well,” Belcher told the public during a July 13 presentation in the visitor center at Fort Negley, a large Union defensive fortification.

Another disastrous battle for Confederates

Nashville fell to Union forces in early 1862, relatively early in the Civil War. Tennessee was a strategic location for the Northern army and it built defenses in the capital.

Following a disastrous loss at the Battle of Franklin in November 1864, Confederate Lt. Gen. John Bell Hood moved upon Nashville, digging in below the city. Federal Maj. Gen. George Thomas attacked about two weeks later, sending Hood’s battered army off the field on Dec. 16.

The property now in Sevier Park is in the middle (click to enlarge map)

It has long been known that dozens of bullets, including Minie balls, were left on the porch door and columns on the big house at Sunnyside. Fracchia says you can still see evidence today.

The bullets and bullets in the log structures were found in February as restoration work reached that area on the north side of the house.

Until the damage was found, officials did not know whether the structures might have been elsewhere on the property before being moved to the house. Fracchia theorizes they may have been used as a kitchen or other ancillary purposes. Evidence of cabins for enslaved persons has not been found.

The north face in the 1980s and now (red is the area of study)

By the time of the Civil War, log structures were not fashionable and siding would have covered them, the archaeologist said. “The bullets likely went through the siding and they probably replaced the siding and the bullets were covered up.”

Fracchia said officials don’t have detailed descriptions of what happened on the property during the battle, but they believe Confederates must have been a significant target because of the number of bullets and holes. They eventually were forced to retreat.

Siding still covered the buildings when restoration began. “The more siding we took down, the more we found,” Fracchia said.

Crime scene unit logs entry points with rods (MNPD)

Old school and high tech meet

The police crime scene unit’s work at Sunnyside Mansion wasn’t all fancy gadgets. Officers did old-fashioned work first, marking and photographing the “defects” and using handheld rods to help determine trajectory and origin. An angle finder helped plot direction of impact – from the “leading edge” of the bullet. All of this information, including labeling of the defects, was used to complete the analysis.

“The goal is we want to determine origination. We are trying to figure out where the bullet came from,” crime scenes investigator George Bouton told the Fort Negley audience. “Bullets are predictably unpredictable,” he said. Flight paths are dynamic, including the effects of gravity on trajectory.

Police found and marked 44 bullet "defects" (Image MNPD)

Fracchia told the Picket that at some point after the battle, someone had chiseled out some of the bullets before the siding was replaced. “Nobody in active memory knew there were bullet holes in that wall.”

The archaeologist said a total of seven bullets were embedded in the two log structures. Most remain in the larger of the cabins. The smaller cabin, unfortunately, had to be taken down after the police examination because of its poor conditions. The logs have been kept.

The presentation included photos of a three-ring Minie ball and a Williams cleaner bullet.

“We are assuming they are Union bullets, given they were coming from the north, and fits the battle.” Some of the shots fired upon the mansion also came from the northwest.

The two embedded bullets mentioned by police are soft and burrowed themselves into the cedar. They are fairly well lodged in there, Fracchia said. “We don’t know exactly how far they were fired from.”

Officer Steven Jones said the logs had the density of railroad ties. “So it was extremely good cover.” He said most of the bullets were likely .40- or .50-caliber. "It seems to be a heavy concentration of fire in one area.” 

While Sunnyside Mansion is not a crime scene, it was an interesting opportunity for the police department to employ old skills and new technology.

“The last time a human touched this was in 1864,” said Bouton. “It has been that long. It is still right there where it ended up.”

Maps of Federal attack and Southern positions and bullets (MNHC)

More research at site lies ahead

There’s more work ahead, but the project already is helping flesh out details of the fight around Sunnyside as Union forces swept in from the west and north.

“We see a much more complicated picture out of the battle and how it actually played out,” said Fracchia. “It was crucial to tell this part of the Battle of Nashville.”

The commission has found rifle pits and entrenchments on the land. One pit was found this spring when crews were digging a new sewer line to the mansion. “They hit a discoloration in the soil.”

“The soil was burned and there was charcoal. We found melted lead and two percussion caps.” Fracchia (left) said it was evidence of a small fire. “It was very cold during this time period.”

A researcher from Louisville, Kentucky, is doing dendrochronology work to determine the age of the logs.

“We are working on researching what else these bullet holes may tell us,” said Fracchia, adding he may do metal detector surveys and research the site using geophysics. (Metal detecting is illegal on any city property, including parks, he said).

The aim is to tell a wider story and put up interpretive panels next year after the renovation. The archaeologist would like the surviving cabin to have a few places left open so that visitors can see bullets, holes and chinking between the logs. (The holes would be protected by plastic or thick glass.)

Sunnyside Mansion was built in 1852 and it included outbuildings

Fracchia’s work experience has included archaeology in the East, including Baltimore, and forensic aviation archaeology -- he has helped identify fallen US service members overseas.

His goal in Nashville and Davidson County is to build awareness “that could lead to stewardship and ownership and preservation.”

“What is really surprising is the depth and interest in history and the fragility of these resources. We don’t know that they are there until we find them.”

Editor's note: Please contact Adam Fracchia at adam.fracchia@nashville.gov if you have questions or want to join the work on site.

One of the bullet holes tested in a log structure (MNPD)

The rear of the log structures; the one on the right has been removed (MNPD)

Civil War Trails places marker at Gettysburg's Shriver house, scene of sharpshooters and chaos during battle

A Civil War Trails marker has been placed in front of the Shriver house in Gettysburg, detailing the family that fled during the July 1863 battle and the Confederate sharpshooters who fired from the attic.

“For many visitors the story of the battle is only focused on the soldiers, and not the women and children who endured the days before, during, and after,” said Civil War Trails executive director Drew Gruber in a press release. (He is at left with Nancie and Del Gudmestad, owners of the house)

“The Civil War Trails sign will help to encourage guests to take a tour of the Shriver House to understand the story of the Shriver family -- an ordinary family caught up in extraordinary circumstances.”

The Shriver House Museum at 309 Baltimore St. details the sharpshooters’ nest and provides a history of George and Hettie Shriver and their young daughters Sadie and Mollie. A 19^th-century period garden welcomes visitors.

While George was serving with the Union cavalry, Hettie fled to her parents’ farm as Rebel forces moved in. Union forces said they killed at least two of the sharpshooters operating from the Shriver house. The Confederates fired upon Union troops on Cemetery Hill from two holes made in the brick.

Hettie, her girls and a neighbor returned home a few days after the battle.

“What she and the girls saw along the way would be etched in their minds forever. More than 7.000 soldiers and 5,000 horses and mules were killed during the battle,” the museum website says.

“They walked by, and stepped over, rifles, swords, canteens, belts, broken wagons, shattered caissons, ammunition, cartridge boxes, blankets, shoes and knapsacks. They saw buildings which were destroyed, bloody scraps of uniforms, and body parts as well.”

George, Hettie, Sadie and Mollie (Shriver House Museum

The house, which had also been used as a hospital, had been emptied of food and much of its contents.

Numerous artifacts, including medical supplies and bullets, were found during an extensive restoration of the abandoned home in 1996. A child's shoe is believed to have belonged to one of the Shriver girls.

Saving a Civil War survivor: Restoration crews are pouring TLC and talents into the Adam Strain building in coastal Darien, Ga.

Views of the work late last month (Marion Savic photo left, others Civil War Picket)

Joe Kasper used to build custom houses in Vermont. There was just one problem: He didn’t like building them in winter. Kasper moved south a few years back, trading the chilly weather for milder temperatures in Bluffton, S.C. – a fast-growing city between Hilton Head Island and Savannah, Ga.

Of course, living on the Southern Atlantic coast brought the requisite heat and humidity, especially when you toil outside or in unairconditioned places.

Kasper was dealing with both when my wife and I recently stopped by Darien, Ga., late one morning to check on the extensive restoration of the Adam Strain Building -- a tabby structure that survived the controversial burning of the Georgia town during the Civil War.

The Strain, damaged in the fire, has stood amid palm trees on a bluff of the small port city since circa 1813-1815. Tabby ruins of other businesses lie just below the site and Darien’s famous shrimp fleet is just to the east.

Revitalizing the Strain is a labor of love for Milan and Marion Savic, whose family operates a modern-day general store and restaurant in Darien, about 60 miles below Savannah. The couple has spent three years and no small amount of money to save and restore the building, which was long vacant and in real danger of collapse.

For Kasper, 63, (right) and others working for Savannah-based Landmark Preservation, restoring the Strain and an adjoining one-story building is a labor of pure craftsmanship and sweat equity. The work is being supported by Ethos Preservation in Savannah.

Two hundred-plus years had done its work on the two-story building. A wall has a pronounced lean, the back wall facing a creek was hanging by a prayer and other areas were in need of structural stability – all of that has been addressed and crews are currently working on rebuilding the back wall.

The 19^th century Strain’s builders had their own skills, using quality mortise and tenon joints and iron rods.

“They knew what they were doing,” said Kasper.

The Savics are planning a nanobrewery, food service, event space, rooftop patio and an upstairs museum about the town’s rich history and culture. Dozens of artifacts found during the work, including a Civil War-era bullet, will be on display, Marion Savic says. The couple hope doors open for business in early 2024.

Crews early on stabilized the structure by shoring up the walls and installing tie rods and plates – all aimed at strengthening the picturesque and beloved landmark. They then put in a steel membrane of columns and beams to add further support and will put in an elevator.

Kasper specializes in wood work and framing and a lot of that was going in when we stopped. Where they can, he and carpenter Graham Johnston are reusing the Strain’s old yellow pine. But, as they say, when you use old materials you have just one chance of getting it right.

“It has its challenges,” Johnston says of the work. “Nothing is as straightforward as you think it.”

Besides its compelling exterior profile, the Strain’s most fascinating draw is its use of tabby and stucco. The Adam Strain is one of few tabby structures remaining on the Georgia coast and it was used throughout the structure, including with bricks.

All the elements in the interior: Brick, tabby and wood (Picket photo)

Tabby is a type of cement made from crushed oyster shells and was popular in the region for several centuries leading up to the Civil War. Stucco is placed on the exterior to protect it from water and other damage.

“Tabby buildings are different. You can’t just drill holes through it,” says Kasper, whose work in Georgia includes the Atlanta Preservation Center and Savannah City Hall.

As Kasper explains it, the covering of tabby involves tossing a ball of lime on a, interior wall and smoothing it with a trowel. “I learned it when I came down here,” says the builder, whose son is three-time Olympic alpine skier Nolan Kasper.

The removal of the back wall yielded piles of tabby in the back of the building (right) that will be reused when the new wall goes up.

I first wrote about the effort to save the commercial building in April 2020. This was the first time I have visited, and I found the building, materials and construction techniques then and now to be fascinating.

The Strain building was used to store cotton prior to shipment in 1861 and 1862 before the Union naval blockade clamped down on Georgia’s coast. Darien’s destruction in 1863 by black troops, under orders from a virulently anti-slavery white officer, caused a howl of protest across the South and even in newspapers in the North. 

Those favoring emancipation were split on whether the act was barbarity or a necessary message. (The burning of Darien was made famous in the 1989 film “Glory.”)

The Strain building survived the flames and was repaired after the war and saw a rebirth for several decades before it was used for storage following World War II.

It came within whiskers of being demolished before the Savics stepped in and bought the property. Local residents were integral in the effort, and there was a Facebook page dedicated toward saving the landmark.

Part of the building looks like a cocoon beneath steel supports (Picket photo)

The preservation of the Strain building, which sits on the southeast corner of Broad and Screven streets, is just one piece – albeit a significant one – in any plans to boost the small downtown district, which has enjoyed somewhat of a resurgence.

Missy Brandt Wilson, a Darien native who owns a home there, while now living in Athens, Ga., said she expects the Strain will be an economic engine for the area. “We need it.”

And coastal Georgia historian and author Buddy Sullivan tells me he has consulted with the Savics about the museum and says Darien is “relying on tourism and visitation for its economic survival and what the Savics are doing with the Strain, as well as their continuing interest in our local culture, is the best thing that has happened to us here in a very long time.”

I asked Marion Savic for an update on the restoration (old support star bolt at left). Her responses have been edited:

Q. Can you confirm how the buildings will be used?

A. The one-story will house all the operational equipment and rooms -- brewing, kitchen, bathrooms, lift, etc. The Adam Strain first floor will be the brewery with a bar, seating inside and outside on the back bluff patio. The brewery will offer a limited menu. The second floor will house a nonprofit museum. 

Q. Do you have a brewer lined up yet? What style of beers might you provide and how many can the space seat?

A. We do have a person lined up to do the brewing, but I do not know the types of beers yet. He is not a brewmaster, but has experience working for a brewery and with brewing. It will be a nanobrewery, so a small operation that will be complemented with a selection of locally crafted beer. We haven’t worked out the seating count yet. The space inside is about 1,300 square feet.

Q. What kind of menu do you expect for the restaurant? Lunch and dinner?

A. It will be a limited bar menu with small bites, salads and artisan sandwiches. Our daughter-in-law, Chef Megan Savic from The Canopy restaurant, will be crafting the menu. (Milan and Marion Savic also own the Local Exchange market in downtown Darien, not far from the Adam Strain).

One of several blueprints to guide restoration crews inside the Strain (Picket photo)

Q. Do you have a color scheme picked out for the Strain exterior? And for the bank building?

A. We are in the early phases of discussing the finish of the Adam Strain. I don’t have a name for the color yet.  It will be an historic finish and one that we have found while removing layers during the restoration. 

Q. When are your anticipated openings for the brewery, restaurant, museum and event space?

A. We are hoping to complete the restoration by the end of the year and anticipate opening the brewery in early 2024.

Q. My understanding is the interior of the Strain will have daubing lime over the tabby. The outside of the building will be stucco. Is that right?

A. The tabby inside and out will be covered with the traditional stucco.

Q. I noticed the back wall is being fully reconstructed and the old tabby now in piles will be reapplied. I knew that was a concern going in.

A. They knew the back wall would have to be taken down and rebuilt. It was the most damaged and failing section of the whole structure due to severe structural cracking. We hate to ever have to take down anything, but there was no option and it was the only way to save the building. It has taken a lot of time to take down and rebuild, which adds to the overall duration of the project.

Q. I Also noticed the west wall has a lean (right) from all the years. Will patrons see that lean, how did you rectify the stability?

A. The lean will stay and everyone will see it if they look. They will jack the buildings a few millimeters and then tighten the rods, but it won’t be a noticeable difference relevant to the outward leaning of the wall.

The building is fully supported by the steel membrane structure of columns, beams, and rods throughout.  

Q. Joe pointed out a grain hoist in the roof area. Have you learned anything about that and when it was used? I knew the building was a cotton warehouse around the time of the Civil War. Was this an additional service?

A. We don’t have information yet on the hoist -- there is an open area in the floor under it so we assume that material was hoisted up to the second floor. The building would have been used as a warehouse, ship’s chandlery, mercantile, etc. Because of the two fires, specific information has been hard to find.

Q. Can you tell us a little more about the planned upstairs museum?

A. The museum will be the history of Darien - Commerce from rice, cotton, and lumber to fishing/shrimping, Architecture, Burning of Darien, Adam Strain finds and stories from local people -- presented in an inclusive way.

The Strain is at the end (right) of a string of businesses (Picket photo)

Q. Finally, what are your thoughts on the Adam Strain at this point, given the complexity of the project? How will it directly contribute to the city?

A. We’re very excited about the restoration and also entering the last six months of the project. We think it will be an incredible and priceless addition to the waterfront and city of Darien. It’s one of the oldest commercial tabby buildings left standing in Georgia and one of two buildings to survive the burning of Darien. We believe the finished project will attract visitors and history buffs from all over the country. 

Patrons will get this rooftop view of bridge and creek below (Picket photo)

The naval clash between Kearsarge and Alabama is the stuff of history books. The victor's prized souvenirs recently went to auction

35-star flag, ship's log and Capt. WInslow and crew (Case Auctions)

The ship’s log and 35-star flag of the USS Kearsarge -- which sank the Confederate commerce raider Alabama in an epic duel off Cherbourg, France -- and associated items have been sold at auction for more than $60,000, including buyer’s premium.

The Case Auctions sale last weekend in Knoxville, Tenn., featured items that belonged to Capt. John Winslow, hero of the June 19, 1864, battle. History, however, has more remembered his foe, Capt. Raphael Semmes.

“It’s hard for most Americans to appreciate now how momentous this battle was viewed at the time,” said Civil War blogger and author Andy Hall. “Alabama had roamed the globe unmolested for almost two years, destroying American merchant shipping at will. Dozens of civilian ships were seized or destroyed by Capt. Semmes, causing insurance rates to skyrocket and wreaking financial havoc on ships and ports never within a thousand miles of the Confederate raider.”

Winslow and Semmes, who were friends, clashed off Cherbourg (Library of Congress)

Before squaring off with the USS Kearsarge, Semmes and his crew had battled a U.S. warship only once, sending the USS Hatteras to the bottom off Galveston, Texas, in January 1863.

The auctioned items came from the collection of a Tennessee descendant of Winslow. 

“Although there are many surviving artifacts of the naval war that survive today, there are relatively few that can match the ones sold in this auction for their proven, central link to momentous historical events and persons. It’s an amazing collection of pieces,” says Hall.

Here’s a closer look at the items, with the sales price including the premium.

SHIP’S LOG ($19,520)

The Alabama was in Cherbourg for repairs and resupply when Winslow learned of its location.

(Case Auctions)

The log entry on June 14, 1864 reads: "Steering in for Cherbourg Breakwater. Stopped the engines off the eastern entrance and sent a boat ashore to communicate with the Am. Consul. Found the rebel privateer ‘Alabama’ lying at anchor in the Roads." 

Semmes several days later sailed from port and the two warships soon engaged, circling each other for nearly an hour and a half. The USS Kearsarge had outer chains effective in limiting damage from the Alabama’s shells, which were of dubious quality.

Several rounds failed to explode, including a shell that lodged in the sternpost of Kearsarge and almost certainly would have been fatal had it detonated,” writes Navy historian Craig Symonds for the American Battlefield Trust. “Instead, it was Alabama that took several hits and began taking on water. Semmes fought her until she sank, then -- defiant to the last -- threw his sword into the sea and swam to the safety of a nearby British yacht that had come out to watch the excitement.”

Raphael Semmes served the Confederacy again after the battle.

Hall, writer of the Dead Confederates blog and author of “Civil War Blockade Running on the Texas Coast,” calls the log “fantastic. It’s a perfect example of the way official reports were written, presenting the barest necessary facts without comment or editorializing.

“[Winslow’s] note that ‘The English Yacht steamed rapidly away to the Nd [northward] without reporting the number of our prisoners she picked up’ is a classic cold understatement. Winslow and his officers were undoubtedly furious when they learned that the yacht’s waterlogged passengers included Alabama’s commander, Raphael Semmes, and several of his officers, who within hours would be greeted as heroes after landing in Southampton.”

35-STAR U.S. FLAG AND COMMENDATION ($17,080)

A report for Case Auctions says this banner is made of imported British wool bunting. It measures 40 ½ inches on the hoist by 79 ½ inches on the fly.

The USS Kearsarge carried several flags that day, including this ensign, according to a report for Case Auctions by flag expert Greg Biggs.

“This is an exceptionally rare piece and, although it had some efforts at restoration done decades ago, remains in stunning, mostly unaltered condition,” says Hall. Interestingly, this flag was expected to have the highest sale in the lot, but the captain's log went for more.

WINSLOW’s 13-STAR FLAG ($7,680)

The auction house says this banner in the Winslow family collection was likely carried on the USS Kearsarge in the battle, but it is not known for sure. The reported size is 36 inches by 70 inches.

(Case Auctions)

“The flag is used, worn, soiled, and visibly dehydrated,” an accompanying report says. “It exhibits some fabric loss, the majority of which is in the hoist half of the flag with most of it in the lower hoist corner.” Consulting  James J. Ferrigan recommends a vigorous conservation treatment.

“It is not known when this boat flag was framed, but its similarity the frame of another 35-star U.S. flag from the USS Kearsarge makes it highly likely that both Winslow family flags were from the Kearsarge,” writes Ferrigan.

DOLLAND MARITIME TELESCOPE ($4,636)

Case Auctions said the telescope/spyglass likely was used in the fight with the Alabama. The lot includes a tripod and box. The functionality of the lenses was not guaranteed.

“English-made Dollond telescopes were prized for their optical quality and depended upon by some of the world's most important historical figures. George Washington's Dolland telescope, essential to his tactical decisions during the American Revolution, is in the Smithsonian Museum of American History in Washington, DC, and a Dolland telescope owned by Thomas Jefferson is at Monticello.”

USS KEARSARGE WOOD RELIC FRAME AND PAINTING ($4,636)

This is probably the most unusual item in the Winslow collection to be sold earlier this month.

The picture frame for the marine painting was made from four pieces of the ship’s sternpost where a shell from the Alabama lodged.

"Although we received some twenty-five or thirty shots, twelve or thirteen taking effect in the hull, by the mercy of God we have been spared… the only shot which I fear will give us any trouble is one 100-pound rifle, which entered our stern post and remains at present unexploded,” Winslow wrote.

The ordnance round was removed from the post and sent upon request to President Abraham Lincoln. It is currently housed in a museum in Washington, D.C.

The painting appears to be based on a photograph of USS Kearsarge taken by John A. Whipple.

PRESENTATION SILVER TEA SET ($6,144)

Winslow became a hero following the battle, was promoted to commodore and received the Thanks of Congress after for the victory over Alabama. He received many honors before his 1873 death.

(Case Auctions)

The citizens of Roxbury, Mass., presented this tea set to Winslow on Nov. 22, 1864. It is described as being in overall excellent condition.

GORHAM STERLING SILVER CENTERPIECE($4,096)

The body is engraved on one side with Winslow’s monogram and "1864."

(Case Auctions)

The American Classical Revival centerpiece “features an oval gilt-washed bowl centered on each side by masks, with dart banding at edges and stylized anthemion handles terminating in rosettes, and is supported on a trumpet-shaped pedestal flanked by two figural cherub caryatids holding floral swags, atop a plinth base.”

USS Kearsarge was recommissioned several times after the Civil War but wrecked in 1894 on a reef in the Caribbean sea. Several items were recovered, including the ship's Bible.