Colonial Williamsburg asking descendants of South Carolina soldier to provide DNA to determine whether he was among 4 Confederates buried near Powder Magazine

2023 excavation of graves (The Colonial Williamsburg Foundation); 1907 view of church and Powder Magazine (Harry Mann photos, Special Collections Research Center, Swem Library, William & Mary); Battle of Williamsburg (LOC)

Last fall, the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation mailed out a handful of letters, the correspondence topped by a drawing of the old Virginia Capitol and beneath it the words: “That the future may learn from the past.”

The heading read: RE: Potential Ancestral Connection to Skeletal Remains at Colonial Williamsburg.

Contained in the letter’s five paragraphs was a request that must have jolted the recipients and, if they complied, help fulfill the mission of making the past relevant.

The letter explained the remains of four Confederate soldiers had been found in 2023 in a pit and grave near the history site’s Powder Magazine. They died from wounds suffered in the May 5, 1862, Battle of Williamsburg. Further, the letter stated, a handwritten list of those treated at a makeshift hospital – established in a Baptist church near the magazine – still exists.

Then the inquiry became very personal.

“We are reaching out to you because our genealogist has identified you, based on publicly accessible data sources, as a descendant of … one of the soldiers who is named on the hospital list.” That individual mentioned in the letter believed to be among the four remains.

One of Isabella T. Sully's hospital patient list pages she recorded at Williamsburg Baptist (Tucker-Coleman Papers, Special Collections Research Center, Swem Library, William & Mary)

“If this matches your understanding of your family tree, would you be willing to participate in a DNA study to help confirm the name of this individual?,” the letter continued.

Four descendants said yes. On March 2, a kit was mailed out to each. The recipients will provide DNA from their cheeks and mail the swabs back for analysis.

Their presumed ancestor, says Jack Gary, executive director of archaeology at Colonial Williamsburg, was from the Piedmont region of South Carolina. DNA analysis showed him to be in his 20s. The infantryman was mortally wounded in fighting at Fort Magruder.

The South Carolinian has the most robust family tree of the four, and the project decided to confirm his identity first, aiming the letters at his kin. The soldiers’ names are being withheld for now as research and analysis continues.

Hospital list made the search possible

Gary, who signed the letter and heard from one descendant within a few days, said the endeavor has already been remarkable -- with much more to learn.

“I have not experienced this in my career,” he told the Picket in a recent phone call. “Not many archaeologists have used DNA this way.”

Final resting place for four soldiers at Cedar Grove Cemetery (The Colonial Williamsburg Foundation)

Gary’s team -- which includes staff archaeologist Eric Schweickart,  lab technician Evan Bell and Elizabeth Drembus, a genealogist at William & Mary -- are the beneficiaries of good fortune in their hunt to put names to the four sets of remains, which were buried last year at the city’s Cedar Grove Cemetery, near the graves of other Confederates killed in the battle.

Working from the hospital list, census, newspaper accounts, the ledger of an undertaker and other records, the team narrowed the possible identities to four men who served in regiments from Alabama, Louisiana, South Carolina and Virginia.

Without those documents, the effort would never have gotten off the ground.

“You have to have a known person to go off to trace their ancestry to the modern day,” said Gary (right, at another dig. Photo Colonial Williamsburg Foundation).

The list of names, made by a widow who visited the hospital and later raised money to rebury scores of Rebel soldiers who died at Williamsburg, was especially crucial.

It provided names and regiments of more than 60 soldiers and notes indicating if and when they died. Colonial Williamsburg did not see the hospital list until after the graves were found in 2023. Bell stumbled across it while doing research and the discovery opened the door.

Bell studied two versions to winnow the list of possible candidates down to the four soldiers.

Gary said, if the attempt to identify the remains is successful, descendants will know precisely what happened to the soldiers after they were sent to Virginia to fight. That knowledge will fill in gaps for each of their stories. Somehow, these four warriors were left behind when other hospital dead were moved to cemeteries.

Another aim is to eventually publish all four confirmed names.

“We should try to put a name back with the individual out of respect for human dignity,” Gary said of the South Carolinian. “If this is the man who we think this is, it will be incredibly rewarding.”

At Williamsburg, soldiers first saw the elephant

Hancock's Federal troops launch attack on May 5, 1862 (Library of Congress)

The inconclusive Battle of Williamsburg was the first pitched battle of the Peninsula Campaign, following a Confederate retreat from Yorktown. Most of the combatants had seen little or no action before the clash.

Federal Brig. Gen. Joseph Hooker’s division attacked the Southerners at Fort Magruder, but was repulsed. Confederate counterattacks ultimately failed and they made a nighttime withdrawal toward Richmond. Casualties numbered more than 3,800.

Federal forces took the city, holding it for the rest of the war. A few hospitals sprang up to handle the influx of wounded on both sides.

Williamsburg Baptist Church, which was formed in the early 19^th century, had already been pressed into service before the battle, treating sick Confederates soldiers stationed at Fort Magruder and elsewhere.

Historic courthouse (left), the Powder Magazine and old Williamsburg Baptist church (right) / Special Collections, John D. Rockefeller Jr. Library, The Colonial Williamsburg Foundation

It received the largest crush of the wounded. 

The church, which moved to a new location in the 1930s, kept no records during the Civil War. But an article provided to the Picket by church office administrator Haley Matthews claims the old site was “greatly abused” during the chaos following the battle.

“Bloodstains were on the floors and the pews were stored in an open shed exposed to the weather. Soldiers were buried in the church yard near the west door, as many as 17 in one grave. Their bodies were afterwards removed to the cemetery.”

The 2023 surprise discovery at the Powder Magazine proved not all had been relocated.

Isabella Sully is the story's primary hero 

The Confederates treated at the Baptist church hospital were prisoners of war. The Union forces wanted to move those well enough to Fort Monroe.

But dozens, including these four, were grievously wounded and could not be sent elsewhere. Many died in the days and weeks following the battle.

Local residents and clerics came to the hospital, to give comfort to the wounded and send updates to family members.

Among them was Isabella Thompson Sully, a widow from Richmond who had traveled to Williamsburg. She and friend Cynthia Tucker Coleman provided riveting accounts of the suffering, with Coleman calling one drunken surgeon the “Head Devil.”

A 1937 article in the journal Religious Herald mentioned the 17 soldiers interred in the churchyard near the west door, “buried like sardines in a box.” The author said an African-American showed him the graves years before and they were removed to a cemetery.

In 1892, Sully wrote a letter (left, click to enlarge) that appeared in the Richmond Times, saying 25 of the Rebel dead were buried in the green near the Baptist church. She described the dearth of medicine and food until the Union army brought supplies.

“I shall never be able to tell how we managed to keep so many wounded and starving men alive, so that several days elapsed before I was able to make a list of those who remained,” wrote Sully.

As more men died, they were buried in pits near the first 25.

Critically, Sully in 1862 recorded the names of the wounded, their regiments and company. Dying soldiers were worried about being placed in unmarked graves

She recorded the date of death and burial locations, when possible. She gave the list to Coleman, and the latter’s papers ended up hiding in plain sight at William & Mary's Swem Library Special Collections.

Archaeologists at Colonial Williamsburg were aware of a list, but they had no idea where it was.

'They said they was goin' to take them up'

Following the Civil War, Sully and others raised money to move scores of Confederate soldiers from the graves around the church to Cedar Grove and Bruton Parish Church cemeteries.

A post-1892 monument at Bruton Parish (photo below) lists names of men allegedly buried there, but some apparently were laid to rest elsewhere in the city. One did not die at the battle, said Bell.

Bell believes the burial parties got those in the larger pits and trenches near the Baptist church but somehow did not come across the four soldiers. “It seems like they just barely were missed.”

Interestingly, a formerly enslaved woman mentioned those four burials in a conversation that appeared in a 1933 book.

"It is a pity, pity, pity, for people to treat each other so bad. Lots of men were buried around the Powder Horn. They said they was goin' to take them up, but I ain't never seen them do it,” Eliza Baker said.

I asked why officials did not excavate the graves after Baker mentioned the lost burials. Colonial Williamsburg as a tourist attraction had begun to take shape by the 1930s.

Archaeology was focused then on the site’s architecture and buildings, Bell said.

In 2023, archaeologists were working around the Powder Magazine, which was being renovated. A reconstruction of the 1757 Market House had replaced the old Baptist Church nearby. Both were near Duke of Gloucester Street.

At a reconstructed wall, they came across a single grave and a pit containing three men. All four had all of their limbs. Nearby was a pit with three amputated legs. It was a real surprise, since most histories indicated the dead from the hospital had all been accounted for and moved.

“There is a cluster of men who died around the same time,” Gary recalls. “We assumed they died the same day or one day and the next day. You are not going to leave a pit open.”

The research team determined the four soldiers died on and around May 15, 1862.

Cynthia Tucker Coleman (left), a writer and preservationist who advocated for the restoration of historic buildings at Williamsburg, provided a vivid account of the occupation of the town and the hospital.

“The writer can never forget seeing a dead soldier wrapped in his coarse blanket lying in the vestibule of the Church, his body kept for a comrade to die that the trouble of interment might be lessened – A Confederate woman placed a white rose upon his breast and shed a tear for those who loved him at home.”

Her account is kept at the William & Mary library and can be seen online here.

Bell recalls the archaeologists sanitized their excavation tools and wore personal protective equipment (PPE) to keep their own DNA away from the remains. Some of the deceased had personal items. They were not buried in uniforms.

Experts were able to extract genetic material from teeth and skull bones. Subsequent DNA analysis showed one soldier to be in late 40s or early 50s. One was maybe 15 while another was in his 20s and the fourth in his 20s-30s.

“We had well-preserved DNA,” said Gary, who has a theory as to why the skeletal remains were in relatively good condition.

The courtyard area around the magazine was paved with shell. “It is possible that the shell changed the pH of the soil, making it less acidic.”

His detective work soon began in earnest

Bell got to work on figuring out who these four soldiers were. The journey had a few twists and turns, but the key was finding Sully’s pages, which are kept at William & Mary.

While Bell (right) was looking at documents relating to Cynthia Coleman, he asked one of the Special Collections assistants, Carolyn Wilson, about the hospital list. That’s when he learned the pages were kept in papers related to Charles Washington Coleman, Cynthia’s son.

He recalls thinking, “Oh, my God. This is the list Isabella Sully was talking about. The archivist there saved the day.”

Bell later found a somewhat similar list at Washington & Lee University in Lexington, Va. The page is within the family papers of Samuel Blain. It is not known for certain who took those handwritten notes.

The Presbyterian minister visited the hospital and corresponded with the family of patient William Davis, who died in Williamsburg. The list at Washington & Lee helped Bell eliminate soldiers whose limbs were amputated.

The technician kept an Excel spreadsheet, ensuring the narrowed list did not mention men with amputations. He found some of the 60-plus patients at the church were buried elsewhere. Using the Blain list helped him cut the number of possibilities to 29.

Bell provided the Picket a breakdown of the numbers he used:

-- 66 names on the combined lists; this includes men who only stayed at private homes, not just the hospital.

-- 31 of the 66 survived Williamsburg leaving 35 men who died of their wounds after the battle.

-- 15 of the 35 have recorded burials or died in private homes leaving 20 men who died of their wounds after the battle, but do not have recorded burials. (At left, map of Fort Magruder, Library of Congress)

-- 5 of the 20 have recorded amputations leaving 15 men who died of their wounds after the battle, and did not have amputations. (11 of the 58 names on the Blain list have amputations)

That was how the list was reduced down to 15 names for analysis.

Death dates were key because three men were buried together, allowing the team to pinpoint soldiers who died about the same time.

 “We believe they were some of the first to die,” said Bell.

The four apparently were buried close to a wooden fence. “There is no space for any other burials.” That means they were off by themselves from other pits dotting the green.

Trying to bring closure more than 160 years later

The research team, which includes Dr. Raquel Fleskes at Dartmouth College, noted that the South Carolina soldier had no children but several brothers and sisters. They are in touch with male descendants of one brother. 

Those who responded to Gary’s letter have the same last name as the unnamed soldier, who died in his 20s. (Below, Powder Magazine, Wikipedia)

“If we can make a match with him we can likely confirm the other individuals,” said Gary.

Bell said the challenge with the other three soldiers is there are either few siblings to work from or almost no information available on their families.

Even if Colonial Williamsburg is unable to match DNA matches, the descendants will know their ancestors fought at Williamsburg and struggled for life in a field hospital before passing away.

“I want to see if my hypothesis is right and (we) bring closure to the descendants,” said Bell.

The result also could bring narrative stories to an American citizenry that doesn’t interact as much with history as they used to, he added.

Their bones were found during work on a riverfront park. Now Union soldiers may be interred at Fredericksburg National Cemetery

Archaeologists test potential gravesite (National Park Service)

Scores of bone fragments found near the site of a hospital used during the Battle of Fredericksburg, Va., are expected to be interred at a federal cemetery that holds the remains of more than 15,000 soldiers who fought for the Union during the Civil War.

Fredericksburg and Spotsylvania National Military Park this week posted a Facebook update on the city’s request that the unidentified remains find a final resting place at Fredericksburg National Cemetery, which has not had a soldier or veteran buried there since 1945.

Park officials are trying to find a suitable spot for the burial. They posted  photographs of a National Park Service team at the cemetery testing the proposed location.

“Ground-penetrating radar (done earlier) indicates that the proposed location at the end of this row would work for a new gravesite,” the post says. “However, in this part of the process, the archaeologists need to make sure that the location of the proposed grave is clear of any other burials or archaeologically significant material.”

Wartime image of the town, shows Rowe-Goolrick home at right foreground, 
facing the Eliza Eubank home at left (Library of Congress)

John Hennessy, chief historian and chief of interpretation at the park, told the Picket in an email that the remains were found on city property – the site of the downtown Riverfront Park along the Rappahannock River – by a cultural resources firm working with the city.

“Any analysis of the remains has been done by them and to my knowledge has not been made public,” said Hennessy.

Hennessy said officials have made no decisions about the timing or nature of any ceremony that may attend the reinterment of the soldiers’ remains

The Picket reached out to Dovetail Cultural Resource Group but received no immediately reply.

Recent testing at the national cemetery (NPS photo)

A November 2015 article by The Free Lance-Star newspaper detailed the find near the Rowe-Goolrick house, which served as a hospital during the December 1862 battle. A report said the bones were found mixed in with buttons and bits of fabric from Union infantry uniforms and other items in what may have been a root cellar.

The discovery was made after a Masonic hall next to the Rowe-Goolrick house site was torn down and officials called the company in to study the site. Presumably, remains of soldiers who died at the hospital were buried in the adjoining parcel.

The Rowe-Goolrick house was among several on Sophia Street. It was demolished in 1973 to make room for a parking lot that is now part of the park development. The Picket reached out to the city for a status report on the park project, but received no reply.

A 2019 blog post on the Dovetail website details the discovery of several building foundations and artifacts in the historic area after excavations for the park. It describes the Rowe-Goolrick house:

The now-gone Rowe-Goolrick house in the 1930s (Library of Congress)

“Built in the mid-eighteenth century, this two-story, three-bay home did not face today’s street grid but rather the original town ferry lane, which ceased use shortly after the home was constructed. The foundation of the house was fashioned of local Aquia sandstone.”

As at other battle sites, temporary hospitals were established in Fredericksburg.

According to the Free Lance-Star, there are written accounts from several individuals, including some serving in the 14^th Connecticut Infantry, that describe convalescing on the house’s grounds. Park officials in 2019 said graves were often overlooked in the years following the war.

Sophia Street fronts the Rappahannock River and was home to some of the earliest structures in Fredericksburg, Hennessy has written on his blog. A few survive.

A fascinating circa 1863 photograph of the city shows the Rowe-Goolrick house. It was then the home of Absalom Rowe, a cattleman and future mayor of the town. Near it was the Eliza Eubank home, also shown in the picture. It still survives and may be the oldest building in Fredericksburg (circa 1746).

The Eubank home (By Bradley Owen, HMdb.org)

In recent years, the Eubank home was renovated into office space and a sign outside uses the name Thornton’s Tavern to mark a pre-Civil War establishment in the building.

The Historical Marker Database’s page on the home includes this description on the marker:

“In December 1862, Union and Confederate forces clashed violently in the city's streets during the First Battle of Fredericksburg. The Tavern's owner … one of Fredericksburg's few female property owners at the time … returned after the fighting to find that her home had miraculously survived the battle with only minor damage.”

The park visitor center, about a mile from Sophia Street, interprets the story of several Civil War campaigns and battles in the area over a three-year period.

“Fredericksburg, Chancellorsville, Wilderness, and Spotsylvania -- this is America's battleground, where the Civil War roared to its bloody climax,” its website says. “No place more vividly reflects the War's tragic cost in all its forms. A town bombarded and looted. Farms large and small ruined. Refugees by the thousands forced into the countryside. More than 85,000 men wounded; 15,000 killed -- most in graves unknown.”

Picket exclusive: These two sailors went down with the USS Monitor. Now you can see items they carried or were found near them

(Civil War Picket photos)

They are the kinds of things one might carry in a pants pocket: A rubber comb to tame a lock of hair, a small pocketknife, a wisp of string and a stray button that needs reattaching.

While seeming so ordinary, two dozen artifacts under glass at The Mariners’ Museum and Park in Newport News, Va., tell an incredible story filled with mystery, hope and terror -- a very human story.

Sixteen crew members perished when the Federal ironclad USS Monitor sank during a storm off Cape Hatteras, N.C., on Dec. 31, 1862. At the time, it was being towed to a new duty station -- nine months after its famous clash with the CSS Virginia a few miles from the museum. Nearly 50 men were rescued.

The exhibit, which opened last year, showcases items found in the turret. “These objects were found in context with human remains,” says Tina Gutshall, conservation administrator with the museum’s USS Monitor Center. The exhibit is in a gallery that includes two large replicas of the turret; one depicts how the inside looked 140 years later.

The turret was raised by U.S. Navy and other divers in 2002 and brought to Newport News. The museum and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, or NOAA, removed tons of silt and made the discoveries.

Despite advanced forensics testing and physical descriptions of sailors noted during their Civil War service, the identities of the two crew members remain unknown. Sailor 1 is believed to be William H. Eagan or Jacob Nicklis (Nickles). Sailor 2 is likely either William Bryan or Robert Williams.

“They all speak to me,” USS Monitor Center director emeritus John Quarstein said of the items, which are accompanied by facial and skull reconstructions made during the federal government’s quest to find descendants through a DNA match.

Image courtesy of Mariners' Museum and Park, Newport News, Va.

(Civil War Picket photo)

At top and center in the small exhibit are two pieces of footwear (above). Sailor 1 was found with a mismatched boot and shoe.

“At the moment leading up to the sinking, my hunch is these men were putting anything on that was dry,” said David Alberg, superintendent of the Monitor National Marine Sanctuary.

In the chaos, crew members scrambled out of the turret, with the goal of being rescued by the USS Rhode Island. They left a jumble of clothing, shoes and items.

Among the artifacts is a bent spoon that has the initials “JN.” It likely belonged to Nicklis, a 21-year-old sailor from Buffalo, New York. Quarstein believes the utensil was struck by a heavy object – perhaps two Dahlgren guns -- when the Monitor plunged 236 feet and hit bottom.

“There are a lot of spoons and other objects found in the turret. You can imagine the chaotic situation. Some are desperately trying to keep the Monitor afloat, and the last pump of the Worthington pump was the death knell.”

Image courtesy of Mariners' Museum and Park, Newport News, Va.

Almost immediately after the Monitor hit bottom, the coal stores gave way and sealed in those who could not escape. The two skeletal remains include bone breaks caused by the cannon striking them.

“They died very swiftly, though the ride down was clearly a terrifying 20 to 30 seconds,” Alberg told the Picket.

Officials spent more than a decade studying the bones and trying to determine to whom they belonged. They asked the public to look at photos, go through the attic and review family histories. “Trying to get people to come forward with a match with maternal DNA, didn’t happen,” Alberg said.

The two remains were buried in March 2013 at Arlington National Cemetery in Virginia. While it may be a long shot, there’s a chance their identities may be known one day.

For Alberg, who was present at the burial, it might be better that they remain unknown.

“They belong all of us together.”

The Picket visited the museum in March and conducted interviews during and after that visit. Here are summaries of the items, based on museum descriptions and those conversations. Artifact photos are courtesy of The Mariners' Museum and Park, Newport News, Va. The description of each artifact is below or next to the photograph. Please click each image to enlarge:

Image courtesy of The Mariners' Museum and Park, Newport News, Va.

WELLINGTON LEATHER BOOT, LEFT FOOT

The brown boot, found on the feet of Sailor 1, is in fragile condition. The upper portion of the boot was not attached. “It is possible that the detachment is contemporary with its original use and not related to deterioration after the wreck.” This crew member was wearing two different shoes at the time of the sinking. Remnants of a sock were found in the boot.

Image courtesy of The Mariners' Museum and Park, Newport News, Va.

LEATHER SHOE, RIGHT FOOT

This was the other piece of footwear worn by Sailor 1, showing he may have grabbed what was nearest while trying to escape. “The shoe is made of leather, brown in color with heavy iron staining and in fragile condition yet structurally stable in general." There may be residue of human tissue on the item.

Image courtesy of The Mariners' Museum and Park, Newport News, Va.

RUBBER HAIR COMB

This comb was found by the tibia of Sailor 2. It was made by India Rubber Company, with a May 1851 Goodyears patent. One side has a U.S. Navy inscription. 

GOLD RING

This is possibly a wedding band and is in excellent condition. It was found on the third finger of the right hand of the sailor, possibly worn by Jacob Nicklis. The gold ring has a sealed joint at the back and is decorated with a pattern of swirls, lines and crescents. “Some of the decoration is fairly crude indicating that the ring may have been decorated by the crewman himself or a non-professional jeweler.” Nicklis never married. “There is no way we can really know is it a wedding ring or not,” said Quarstein.

SILVER SOUP SPOON

This Rogers & Bros. decorative spoon bears the initials “JN,” indicating it is more than likely the property of ordinary seaman Jacob Nicklis, 21, of Buffalo, New York.Nicklis came on board the USS Monitor on Nov. 7, 1862, when it was undergoing repairs at the Washington Navy Yard. In a letter to his father, Nicklis said while he did not care for his accommodations on the Monitor's berth deck, he conceded that he at least had "plenty to eat and drink" including rations of sea biscuits and "what they call coffee." 

The bent spoon has a significant dent on one edge, indicating it may have been smashed when the Monitor struck the bottom and heavy objects were dislodged. The spoon was found near the left femur. The location, according to the museum, suggests placement in the front left pocket.

Image courtesy of The Mariners' Museum and Park, Newport News, Va.

SPOON STANDARD SIZE

Rogers Bros. is stamped on the back of the handle, and the front has the initial “S.” After treatment, the shiny silver utensil is free of all debris and in excellent condition. 

BRASS BUTTON

The copper alloy button with four recessed holes is in excellent condition. It was found near the wrist of Sailor 1.

The button was likely a part of the uniform worn by crew members aboard Monitor. There is no textile associated with the button.

Images courtesy of The Mariners' Museum and Park, Newport News, Va.

SKELETON KEY

This was found among pockets for Sailor 2. The main key body is tubular with outstanding rings and detail. The tooth of the key, which was made of copper alloy, is perpendicular to the key body. This object is in extremely fragile condition. 

FLYING EAGLE COIN

This coin was with other items in Sailor 2’s pocket. It is a Flying Eagle coin, one of the first small pennies made in the US. It is made of German silver and is in fair and stable condition.

The edge of the coin is uneven and irregular and no design is discernible on either face. The surface of this coin is eroded beyond recognition of any design or lettering.

LIBERTY HEAD HALF PENNY

This corroded/eroded coin may have been minted in 1813. It is made of copper and is in extremely fragile condition. The edge of the coin is jagged, uneven and irregular.

Although details are difficult to discern, the coin has a decorative serration around the front edge. On the back is what remains of the words HALF PENNY. The coin and other items were together in a pocket.

WOOL FIBERS

This wool string fragment was recovered from the mouth of Sailor 1 in 2002. The string appears to be braided in some areas and frayed throughout. The string is approximately 8” long when laid out straight. The dark brown string is in good condition after treatment.

Image courtesy of The Mariners' Museum and Park, Newport News, Va.

SILK FIBERS

Three separate masses are made of wool, silk and another unidentified vegetal fiber such as linen, flax or hemp.

BONE BUTTON

This is one of nine buttons recovered from the dredge spoil around Sailor 1‘s hand area. The button is dark brown in color and in good, yet fragile, condition. The button has a concave center with four thread holes and is made of bone. 

MOTHER OF PEARL BUTTON

This four-hole mother of pearl button was found with other items in what was the pocket of one of the crew members. The button holes are filled with green concretion and may contain traces of thread. It at one point was concreted to a bone button.

Image courtesy of The Mariners' Museum and Park, Newport News, Va.

WOOD KNIFE HANDLE

These wooden pieces appear to have belonged to a knife rather than a fork or spoon due to the flat shape. Each half of the handle has a 3/16" diameter hole in the butt, as well as four small pin holes. There is no metal remaining and the two halves have separated. 

Image courtesy of The Mariners' Museum and Park, Newport News, Va.

POCKETKNIFE HANDLE

These knife handle parts are made of bone and still have some visible iron staining from the blade. “The exterior faces of the handles, those that were not against the bolster lining, have a gnarled, uneven surface, similar to antler. The interior faces of the handles are mostly smooth with visible saw marks related to manufacturing.” The museum says the artifact was concreted with other contents from one of the sailor’s pockets.

(Picket photo)

Coming soon: When it was launched, many didn’t think the USS Monitor would meet success. They were wrong. A closer look at the crew and the ironclad’s history.