[CIVIL WAR]. A group of 3 items identified to George J. Putney, Company E, 29th Ohio Infantry, comprised of a silver corps badge engraved with battle honors, embellished canteen, and book taken from wreckage at Bristoe Station.

1 7/8 in. silver badge (some darkening throughout, with some oxidation to "29"). Pierced center engraved with a number "29" surrounded by engraved identification to "Geo. J. Putney / Co. E., 29th O.V.I.," and battle honors listed near each point of the star, including Winchester (Kernstown), Port Republic, Cedar Mountain, Gettysburg, and Lookout Mountain.

[With:] Model 1858 Bullseye canteen with embellished butternut corduroy cover (body with denting to back side; cover with few spots of wear and discoloration, and some loss to embroidery; sling not present). Spout features initials "G. J. P." Cover with red and blue embroidered identification reading "G. J. P. / Co. E" and "29th / O. V. I." above and below white embroidered XII Corps insignia flanked by war dates "1861" and "1865."

[Also with:] McCLELLAN, George B. (1826-1885). Manual of Bayonet Exercise. Philadelphia: J.B. Lippincott & Co., 1862. 8vo. Appendix of 24 plates. (Spotting.) Original publisher's brown cloth (spine leaned, fading, wear to extremities). Ownership inscription by Putney to front free endpaper: "Geo. P. Putney / Co. E. 29th. [illeg.] O.V.I / This book I Took from the Burning / cars at Bristow Station on the / Orage & Alexandria railroad / Sunda morning August 31st/62." On the evening of 26 August 1862, "Stonewall" Jackson reached the Orange & Alexandria Railroad at Bristoe Station, where he and his men derailed two Federal supply trains and destroyed a quarter mile of track. The book's inscription indicates that it was taken from the wreckage.

George Jewett Putney (1844-1914) enlisted as a private on 16 September 1861 and mustered into Company E of the 29th Ohio Infantry Regiment later that month. He served with that regiment for three years, mustering out in October of 1864. Putney subsequently re-enlisted in March of 1865, this time mustering into Company D of the 102nd Pennsylvania Infantry Regiment, the unit he served with until the end of the war. The Fremont Tribune remembered Putney as "an old soldier, serving through the Civil War, being in many of the important battles...one of the Gettysburg survivors and though he was not able to attend the reunion last year at Gettysburg, he enjoyed the newspaper reports and had his home decorated with flags during the reunion."


The Civil War and American Militaria Collection of Bruce B. Hermann