A flier checked a bag carrying five pieces of Civil War artillery ammo. She didn't know they had been stolen by a grandchild from Fort Morgan on Mobile Bay, officials say

The artillery rounds were wrapped in paper towels (TSA-Gulf Shores photos)

Alabama’s Fort Morgan State Historic Site will not press charges after a juvenile took artillery ammunition from the coastal Civil War fort and the artifacts were detected by the Transportation Security Administration in the checked bag of the child's unwitting grandmother.

The TSA recently posted an article about the July 18 incident at Gulf Shores International Airport. It said screener Justin Dupree spotted the five iron balls, at first thinking they appeared to be a medicine ball wrapped in paper towels. 

The article called the items cannonballs, though observers said most are likely canister or grapeshot  The largest was described as being about the size of a grapefruit.

“I had never seen anything quite this unique,” said Dupree, a TSA officer for four years. “I’ve seen inert grenades and training munitions but never an Indiana Jones-esque stolen artifact-type situation.” He was concerned they might have been live.

The TSA contacted local authorities, who determined the prohibited rounds were inert and did not contain explosive components.

TSA officer Justin Dupree in the checked baggage area of the airport (TSA)

Capt. Nathan Lusk of the Baldwin County Sheriff’s Office told the Picket in an email that the items were taken by the juvenile from a storage area at the fort.

“Fort Morgan personnel were able to confirm the items as their property due to paint markings they apply to artifacts. The grandmother stated that she did not know they were stolen. Fort Morgan’s director chose to not press charges, so there was no further action from us.”

The pieces were returned to the state park. Heather Tassin, the site manager, said, “Due to this being an active investigation we are unable to provide any comments.”

The airport is about 20 miles east of Fort Morgan, which sits at the mouth of Mobile Bay.

Fort Morgan is nestled in a popular vacation area (Picket photo)

The historic site played a prominent part in the 1864 Battle of Mobile Bay.

Mobile was one of the last major Confederate ports still open at the time. Fort Morgan, with a garrison of about 600, and other fortifications meant to keep Union Adm. David Farragut out. The bay was heavily mined with what were then called torpedoes.

On Aug. 5, 1864, the monitor USS Tecumseh struck a mine within a few hundred yards of the fort. More than 90 hands died when the monitor rolled over and sank. The other 17 Union vessels began to move back, but Farragut, on board the USS Hartford, demanded the fleet move through, uttering “Damn the Torpedoes!”

Farragut triumphed over the opposition of heavy batteries in Fort Morgan and Fort Gaines. His fleet secured the surrender of the ironclad CSS Tennessee and defeated the squadron of Confederate Adm. Franklin Buchanan.

The USS Tecumseh buoy off Fort Morgan; Dauphin Island is in background (Picket photo)

Farragut’s brazen assault was one half of a Union operation. Troops landed on Dauphin Island and laid siege to Fort Gaines, which had few ships to help in its defense. Confederate Col. Charles D. Anderson had half his infantry foe’s number and surrendered

After the fall of Fort Gaines on Aug. 8, Yankee troops moved on Fort Morgan across the bay, forcing its surrender on Aug. 23.

Mobile itself was heavily fortified and the Union command moved on after securing the bay. The city surrendered in April 1865, three days after Appomattox.

Old number 9: Vandals and thieves tried to diminish this Civil War cannon. The weathered survivor, displayed for a decade at a Georgia battlefield, will be a star artifact at an upcoming Atlanta History Center exhibit

Key's battery howitzer at Pickett's Mill (Picket photo), number 9 on top of dented muzzle (Georgia State Parks), gun after it was recovered in Spalding County, Ga. in 2010, and artillery Capt. Thomas Key (Wikipedia); click to enlarge images

A dinged-up 12-pounder howitzer that survived numerous battles, years of vandalism and theft from a city park will be returned next month from a Georgia battlefield to the Atlanta History Center, where it will be featured in a new exhibition telling a bigger story about the Civil War.

The gun, manufactured in Boston in 1851 for the Arkansas Military Institute, has been on loan for nearly 10 years to Pickett’s Mill Battlefield State Historic Site northwest of Atlanta. It’s possible it was used to mow down Federal attackers who futilely charged through a ravine toward Confederates waiting for them in strength.

“Captain Key's howitzer is one of the most important artifacts /stories we have going into the new exhibit,” Gordon Jones, senior military and historian at the AHC, wrote the Picket in a recent email. “It'll be a cornerstone of the Atlanta Campaign area, right up there with the U.S. Army wagon, Confederate flag that flew over Atlanta, Cleburne sword, plus more new acquisitions.”

Jones was referring to Confederate Capt. Thomas Key, whose Arkansas artillery battery served in the division of legendary Maj. Gen. Patrick Cleburne during the Atlanta Campaign.

Key's Battery flag (Wikipedia

The AHC in 2016 lent the gun to the state park as it prepared to move the “Battle of Atlanta” cyclorama painting from the city’s Grant Park to the center’s facilities in the Buckhead neighborhood (The gun, below, during its move from the AHC to Pickett's Mill).

For the AHC and history aficionados, the audacious Key and his four-gun battery are remembered for being in the thick of things in numerous 1864 Atlanta Campaign battles – Dalton, Pickett’s Mill, Peachtree Creek and Jonesboro, among others..

Yet this bronze gun has a postwar history as interesting as its service during the war. It had several postwar homes and was vandalized while displayed outside in Grant Park. Indignities included a broken cascabel, hacksaw marks and scores of indentations.

The howitzer was subsequently stolen, turning up in a county south of Atlanta.

The AHC gained custody of the weapon and had it refurbished and placed on a carriage that was built in 1936.

Thomas Bailey, who makes and restores carriages and other artillery components, recalls working on the Key howitzer, which has an artillery shell jammed into its 780-pound barrel.

“It always stood out to me how beat up it was,” said the owner of Historical Ordnance Works in Woodstock, Ga. “Somebody tried breaking it up for scrap. There were saw marks on the trunnion.” He estimates the barrel had about 60 marks from a sledgehammer.

So you can say this gun is a survivor -- from the horrors of war and the ravages of vandals.

Key and his men always in the thick of things

The Key battery howitzer was one of two cast by Cyrus Alger & Co. for the Arkansas Military Institute. The number 9 is stamped on its muzzle face and the barrel is marked with an eagle atop a globe.

At Chickamauga, in September 1863, his superiors lauded Key for his gallantry and effectiveness, saying that in the fiercest part of the struggle he ran his battery by hand to within 60 yards of the enemy's lines.

Key and his cannons played a large part in the Confederate victory at Pickett’s Mill on May 27, 1864. Cleburne ordered Key to place two guns to the right oblique to enfilade the ravine. 

It’s uncertain whether number 9 was one of those two, but it certainly was among the four battery guns there.

Federal troops under Brig. Gen. William Hazen charged uphill in their attempt to take the top of a ridge. Key’s howitzers were ready for them. The battery fired about 182 rounds of spherical case and canister in two hours.

The Federal army suffered about 1,600 casualties at the battle, compared to 500 for the South. (At right, volunteer Michael Hitt at Pickett's Mill ravine in 2023, Picket photo)

On July 25, 1864, Key’s Battery was issued Napoleons captured from the Federals during the Battle of Atlanta and number 9 was sent to the Macon Arsenal. The Napoleons were considered a step up.

In his postwar book, Key wrote he regretted parting with number 9, which had been with his men at Perryville, Missionary Ridge, Resaca, New Hope Church,  Peachtree Creek and other battles.

“So it cannot be thought strange that I regret having separated from my command a gun that has been my companion under such trying and bloody circumstances.”

The howitzer made a lot of stops after the war

A 2016 newsletter produced by the Georgia Battlefields Association tells what happened to number 9 after the war:

At war’s end, the gun became property of the U.S. Army and was sent to the Washington Arsenal.

In 1880, upon a request on behalf of the state militia, number 9 was one of four guns (including two originally belonging to the Georgia Military Institute) sent to Rome, Ga. In 1887, Atlanta requested four obsolete guns for display in Fort Walker in Grant Park; the Rome guns were selected. (Fort Walker is not far from the old Cyclorama building).

“Over the years, the gun was vandalized: initials scratched, dented, pieces broken off, overturned, etc.,” according to the GBA newsletter, authored by Charlie Crawford, who then served as GBA president.

Michael Hitt, a volunteer historian at Pickett’s Mill and Civil War researcher, provided the Picket two vintage post cards (below) showing the gun when it was at Fort Walker.

In one photograph, the barrel lies on the ground and the left cheek of the gun carriage is heavily damaged.

“Maybe a tree or part of one fell on it,” Hitt said. “The other image shows it remounted, with a big dent on the muzzle, at an 11 o'clock position.”

Something unexpected found at residence

In the 1980s, Hitt – then a suburban Atlanta police officer -- restored three artillery pieces languishing at Fort Walker, part of the South’s defensive works in Atlanta. But vandals continued to damage the guns.

“There’s a lot of history connected with that fort,” Hitt, lamenting the lack of city protection, told The Atlanta Journal in 1984 (article below). “It’s like they abandoned it.”

Things somehow got worse.

“In 1985, all the guns were removed from Fort Walker,” according to the GBA. “Number 9 was removed from its carriage and displayed on a Grant Park monument, from which it was stolen in summer 1993.”

In February 2010, a tip about stolen goods led sheriff’s deputies to a Spalding County house, where they found stolen items, including a crate with a damaged cannon barrel inside. The whole affair was covered by The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

Hitt at that time identified the gun as number 9 and said it was part of the Helena Artillery, also known as Key’s Battery. It was part of the Confederate Army of Tennessee.

While a small debate ensued on whether the gun belonged to Georgia, Arkansas or the U.S. Army, the gun eventually was reclaimed by Atlanta. According to the GBA newsletter, it sat in a crate in the foyer of the old Cyclorama building for a few years.

In 2014, the AHC struck a deal with the city to restore and relocate the giant painting, locomotive Texas and other artifacts in the Cyclorama building to a new wing in Buckhead. That meant the howitzer would move, too.

What a long strange trip it's been for gun

After it was cleaned up, the Key howitzer was shown off in the visitor center at Pickett’s Mill, which is in Paulding County, just northwest of Atlanta.

John Nash, head of the Friends of Pickett’s Mill Battlefield, recalls taking his cannon trailer to the AHC to take the gun and carriage to Pickett’s Mill. The carriage was among those built by Works Progress Administration (WPA) employees in the 1930s when the guns were at Fort Walker.

Now the gun is heading to Buckhead. (Editor's note: I learned about the upcoming move from a Facebook post on The Atlanta Campaign History and Discussion Group.)

The Atlanta History Center in May closed its longtime Civil War exhibit, “Turning Point,” to make way for two new galleries that will feature breathtaking artifacts and a broader discussion of issues that engage the republic to this day: our belief systems, victory, defeat, reconciliation and the evolving meaning of freedom.

Museum officials said they will announce the confirmed name of the new Civil War era exhibition and an opening date in the next week or so.

AHC CEO Sheffield Hale with Union 20th Corps wagon that traveled near what is now the AHC (Picket photo)

Some people on social media had expressed worry the gun would go back into storage at the AHC. Or they advocate it should stay at Pickett's Mill.

Josh Headlee, curator and historic preservation specialist with the Georgia Department of Natural Resources, which oversees state parks, said the weapon’s association with the battle made it a compelling artifact there.

“Rather than it sit in storage for all that time, the AHC was generous enough to reach out to us about the loan,” said Headlee. “Since the Key’s Battery played a prominent role in that battle, it has been a wonderful temporary addition to the Pickett’s Mill exhibits. However, Key’s Battery played an important role in the battles for Atlanta as well, so it’s just at home in their collection as it is ours.”

Hitt, a board member with the Pickett’s Mill friends group, agrees.

“I was able to get the Key battery howitzer (loaned) out from the AHC several years ago with the knowledge that it would be returned when it was needed for a display. Well, it is going to be part of a display now at the AHC and I don't have an issue with it. The gun's Atlanta story is just as interesting as the Pickett's Mill story.”

So there’s the story – for now – about old number 9. Living historians occasionally fire a reproduction Key’s Battery gun at Pickett’s Mill. The next event is scheduled for Jan. 17.

Those wanting to see the original gun at Pickett’s Mill before it leaves have only a few weeks. It will be back in Atlanta some time in February

The old GBA newsletter said the artifact might win a contest for most interesting story. “Go see the gun and marvel at its long, strange trip.”

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 the “premier 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 3^rd 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 infantryman, Florida 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.”

Reward jumps to $30,000 in search for stolen gun presented to Lincoln's war secretary

(Photos: Harrisburg, Pa. police)

The owner of 1860 Henry repeating rifle stolen three years ago from a Pennsylvania museum is now offering a $30,000 reward for any information leading to its recovery.

The private collector increased the reward by $10,000, Harrisburg police announced recently. Pennlive.com last year said the rifle is valued at between $400,000 and $500,000.

The rifle and two revolvers taken from the National Civil War Museum in February 2016 were presented to Simon Cameron, Abraham Lincoln's secretary of war from March 5, 1861, to Jan. 14, 1862.

While the revolvers were owned the city, the rifle was on loan as part of the “Guns and Lace” exhibit sponsored by the National Rifle Association. The thief used a sledgehammer to break a window and display cases.

WPMT-Fox43 said one of guns is a .44-caliber army revolver, while the other is a .36-caliber Colt 1861 Navy revolver.

Police asked that anyone with information about the rifle should call them at 717-558-6900.

Someone stole Civil War revolvers, cartridge box and other artifacts, leaving a Virginia battlefield group mad as hell about it

(Winchester Police Department)

Nothing looked out of sort last Saturday morning when the staff at Kernstown Battlefield in Winchester, Va., opened the visitor’s center that formerly served as a tractor barn.

But as they prepared for a Civil War-period ball that evening, a volunteer noticed several artifacts – including revolvers, cartridge box and a Confederate double-barrel shotgun -- were missing in display cases.

The discovery of the theft has set off a campaign by police and the Kernstown Battlefield Association to get the word out so that the items don’t end up at pawn shops or in the hands of private buyers.

“We are heartbroken and furious,” Susan Golden, vice president of the nonprofit group, told the Picket on Thursday. The items came from private collections – including a board member’s and others from a friend of the member.

“They only took Civil War artifacts,” said Golden. “They took only what we they wanted. They knew what they were doing.”

Visitor's center in background (KBA photo)

(Winchester Police Department)

Among the purloined items are an 1861 North Savage .36-caliber revolver, an 1860 Colt 4-screw revolver, an 1857 Smith patent carbine, a US Navy 1863 Navy leather primer pouch and an 1858 Remington .44-caliber revolver.

While a Winchester police news release cites the value of all items at about $5,600, Golden says $10,000 is a more accurate figure. Golden said none of the artifacts were directly linked to the two Civil War battles fought in Kernstown.

The site was closed for a few days before the discovery, but Golden believes the heist may have occurred on Friday, Sept. 28, or early Saturday.

The visitor center’s main doors are reinforced with bars, but the thieves must have used a ladder to access the second floor, disable the motion detectors and go downstairs to steal the artifacts, said Golden.

The thieves had to pull out display cases, she said. “They put everything back absolute perfect.”

Pritchard House (Kernstown Battlefield Association)

The association operates the 400-acre battlefield, the visitor's center/museum, artillery annex and the marquee Pritchard House (above), which contains artifacts relating to the four families that lived in the home from 1854 to 1945. Most of the programming is related to the Civil War, though a few other events, such as highland games, are held on the property’s fields.

“I have had really good volunteers,” said Golden. “If you are a huge Civil War buff they can tell you movement by movement. If not a Civil War buff, they can give you an overview.”

The first battle at Kernstown, in March 1862, was a rare Union victory over Maj. Gen. Thomas “Stonewall” Jackson. The second clash, in July 1864, was a significant Confederate win during the Valley Campaign.

Owner offers a $20K reward for Henry rifle stolen from National Civil War Museum

(Photos: Harrisburg, Pa. police)

A $20,000 reward has been offered for the recovery of an 1860 Henry repeating rifle that belonged to President Abraham Lincoln’s first secretary of war and was stolen from a Pennsylvania museum.

The private collector made the offer for information that leads to the gun, Harrisburg police announced Monday. Pennlive.com said the rifle, engraved with Simon Cameron’s name, is valued at between $400,000 and $500,000.

The rifle and two revolvers taken from the National Civil War Museum in February 2016 were presented to Cameron, secretary of war from March 5, 1861, to Jan. 14, 1862.

While the revolvers were owned the city, the rifle was on loan as part of the “Guns and Lace” exhibit sponsored by the National Rifle Association. The thief used a sledge hammer to break a window and display cases.

WPMT-Fox43 said one of guns is a .44-caliber army revolver, while the other is a .36-caliber Colt 1861 Navy revolver.

Police asked that anyone with information about the rifle should call them at 717-558-6900.

Bust of Civil War statue found by police

Officials in Philadelphia say the stolen bust of a Civil War general has been found under a bridge. The bust of Gen. James A. Beaver was found Friday under an Interstate 95 bridge near FDR Park. It's believed to have been stolen from the Smith Memorial Arch, a Civil War monument in West Fairmount Park. • Article 

Howitzer that produced carnage, later endured vandalism is now at Georgia's Pickett's Mill battlefield

(Georgia State Parks)

An artillery piece is back at the Georgia battlefield where it is believed to have been used in a deadly barrage on attacking Federal troops.

A 12-pounder howitzer that was part of Confederate Capt. Thomas Key’s battery is on display in the visitor center at Pickett’s Mill Battlefield Historic Site. The park northwest of Atlanta this weekend is commemorating the 152^nd anniversary of the Atlanta Campaign battle.

The bronze gun -- on loan from the Atlanta History Center  -- has a postwar history about as interesting as its service during the Civil War.

The 780-pound barrel was sent after the war to the site of Fort Walker in Atlanta’s Grant Park. The park was home to the Cyclorama, the huge mural that is being moved to the Atlanta History Center in the Buckhead neighborhood.

(Wikipedia Commons, public domain)

The howitzer, which was spiked and vandalized over the years (hacksaw marks, broken cascabel, large dents), has been restored by the history center and sits on a reproduction carriage. It was cast in Boston by Cyrus Alger & Co. in 1851 for the Arkansas Military Institute. The number 9 is stamped on its muzzle face and the cannon is marked with an eagle and globe.

According to a 2010 article in The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Alger cannon No. 9 was stolen decades ago, presumably from Grant Park, and turned up in Spalding County, Ga.

Capt. Thomas Key

Capt. Key and his Arkansas four-gun battery played a large part in the Confederate victory at Pickett’s Mill on May 27, 1864. Maj. Gen. Patrick Cleburne ordered Key to place two guns to the right oblique to enfilade a ravine.

Federal troops under Brig. Gen. William Hazen charged uphill in their futile attempt to take the top of a ridge. Key’s howitzers were ready for them.

“They shot solid shot and canister. And that was 48 balls per (canister) round,” said Stephen Briggs, interim director at Pickett’s Mill. The battery fired 182 rounds of spherical case and canister in two hours, he said.

The Federal army suffered 1,600 casualties at the battle, compared to 500 for the South.

For this weekend, the park will have a 3-inch ordnance rifle on the white trail. The park has a reproduction of the 12-pound howitzer and will set it in the approximate location of where Key’s battery wreaked havoc. Briggs hopes an individual may bring a second howitzer reproduction piece.

There will be artillery demonstrations, tours of the well-preserved battle area and living historians to interpret what happened.

Stephen Briggs with the howitzer during its move

The programming schedule includes:

Friday, June 3, 2 p.m.: Historian and author Michael Schaffer discusses the Atlanta Campaign

Saturday, June 4, 10 a.m.: Michael Schaffer discusses the Civil War in Georgia.  He will lead tours in the afternoon.

Saturday, 11 a.m.: Historian and author Stephen Davis lectures on “taking another look at John Bell Hood: What we've learned since the centennial”

Saturday, 1 p.m.: Brad Butkovich, historian and author of "The Battle of Pickett's Mill: Along the Dead Line," will discuss his book and lead a tour following the lecture.

Sunday, June 5, 11 a.m.: Historian and author Gould B. Hagler will show and discuss photos of Confederate monuments, focusing on their purpose and significant physical characteristics.

Admission is $3 for children and $5.50 for adults. Pickett’s Mill Battlefield is located at 4432 Mount Tabor Church Road in Paulding County. For more information, visit this website or call 770-443-7850.

Civil War items taken from Vermont home

Vermont State Police are asking for help in recovering Civil War memorabilia stolen from a Shrewsbury home during a burglary. The memorabilia includes a 6-inch flintlock pistol with a small leather powder horn, a post-Civil War era bayonet and a Union soldier’s leather ammunition case. • Article

Stolen sword recovered in western Mass.

A $3,800 Civil War sword stolen from a Manchester, N.H., antique store has been recovered. The sword, one of only 814 made, is a Cross & Co. Civil War sword with "USA" and shields stamped on the blade with brushed metal around the handle. • Article

Stolen flag recovered in Va.

A Civil War battle flag said to have been stolen from a Louisiana museum more than two decades ago is headed home after the FBI found the item at a house in Caroline County, Va. • Article

Three held in gravesite thefts

Police arrested three women they believe to be connected to the theft of 380 military grave markers, including some from the Civil War, that were takenn from cemeteries in Burlington and Camden counties in New Jersey and sold for scrap metal. • Article

Civil War-era medals recovered

Firestone, Colo., police recovered two stolen Civil War-era medals and had a suspect in custody on Tuesday afternoon. • Article

Thief takes Civil War heirlooms

A Colorado family is hoping thieves have respect for family, history and country and return two treasured family heirlooms. The two missing Civil War medals had been in Caitlin Rumery's family for almost 150 years, since her great-great-grandfather's service in the New Hampshire infantry. • Article

SCV-UDC marker stolen in Florida

A bronze plaque erected almost five years ago to commemorate the bloodiest one-day Civil War skirmish in Duval County, Fla., has been stolen. It is valued at $3,000. • Article

Cap, pistol, buckle stolen from museum

Some $2,000 worth of Civil War relics were taken from the Old Court House Museum in Vicksburg, Ms. • Article

Man returns stolen revolver to museum

A Civil War buff from western Pennsylvania has returned a historic revolver to the Chicago museum from which it was stolen decades earlier. • Article

Head of soldier statue returned

It took them a while, but vandals who beheaded a statue of a Union soldier two weeks ago finally had a change of heart.

Police found the detached granite head resting on a cemetery wall near the Shirley (Mass.) town common, where the Civil War memorial statue has stood for nearly 120years.

The statue is inscribed with names of 58 men who fought in the Civil War, including 19 who died. • Article