National Civil War Museum - Artifacts

Artifacts

The museum contains a large collection of original artifacts, including weapons, uniforms, camp and personal effects and similar items. Among the many articles on display are:

• portable writing kit of General Winfield Scott
• 1852 Sharps carbine and a pike head from the raid on Harper’s Ferry
• last battle map used by General Robert E. Lee during the Appomattox campaign
• pen used by Governor Wise to sign John Brown’s death warrant
• Lincoln’s leather hat box used on the 1860 (first term) campaign trail
• two of three know sabers of General J.E.B. Stuart's including one presented by his cousin on Stuart’s wedding
• sleeve of General George Pickett removed from his coat after he was wounded at the Battle of Gaines’ Mill, traces of blood are visible
• shadow box of relics once in possession of "Stonewall" Jackson, including hair from his horse, "Little Sorell", wood from his chair, and cloth from his desk
• Major General George McClellan’s saddle, used when he was General-In-Chief of the Union army
• Lee’s hat cord and Bible, inscribed in his hand, used for almost 20 years, until its capture four days before Lee’s surrender at Appomatox
• sword belt presented to General Ulysses S. Grant to commemorate the capture of Vicksburg
• gauntlet worn by “Stonewall” Jackson earlier in the war
• Bowie knife captured from one of "Mosby’s Rangers"
• doeskin riding gauntlets belonging to Lee
• chair taken from the captured Confederate White House
• kepi belonging to Major General Pickett
• a lock of hair belonging to and a post-war painting of General George Pickett passed down through his family
• bullet-ridden fence post from along the Harrisburg Road in Gettysburg
• various other rifles, revolvers, officer’s swords, and munitions later discovered on battlefields
• rare chains, iron shackles, and bracelets from the antebellum slave trade, including a slave collar with remnants of the original linen interior lining
• wooden saddle & tack box used by Grant
• memorabilia from Civil War veterans reunions
• collection of memorabilia from Lincoln’s assassination including a lock of Lincoln’s hair, a sash from the funeral train, (the original) telegram ordering the arrest of John Wilkes Booth, a ticket to that night’s production of "Our American Cousin" at Ford's Theatre, a replica of his "life mask", and a fragment of Mary Todd Lincoln's dress that she wore the night of the assassination
• the key to Libby Prison, a prison used for Federal officers
• lead bullets, complete with teeth marks, given to patients in anticipation of pain during surgery
• stateroom plaque inscribed "D.G. Farragut, USN" carried by him from stateroom to stateroom during his naval career
• a Lincoln Administration China plate and lantern from Lincoln’s home in Springfield, Illinois