Group of 12 carved bone relics crafted by prisoner of war Josephus F. Schuyler, Co. I, 123rd Ohio Infantry Regiment. Items include:

1.Five (5) carved bone napkin rings. One carved "J.F. Schuyler / Libby / Prison"

2. Carved bone 3-tine fork. Handle carved "Libby Prison / J F S"

3. Two (2) carved bone knives. One handl carved "Prisoner of War / Winchester / June 15th 1863."

4. Three (3) carved bone needles

5. Carved bone safety pin.

Josephus Schuyler enlisted as a 2nd Lieutenant on 22 August 1862 and was commission into Company I of the 123rd Ohio Infantry 2 days later. He was promoted to First Lieutenant in early 1863 before he was captured as a POW at Winchester, Virginia on 15 June 1863. He was confined at Macon, Georgia, Columbia, South Carolina, and evidently LIbby Prison in Richmond. It is not clear when he was paroled but he did rejoin his regiment by 1865, receiving another promotion to Captain in April and mustering out at Camp Chase at the end of the war.

[Civil War, Union, Confederate, Ephemera, Relics, POW, Prisoner of War, Sculpture, Trench Art, Carvings, Folk Art]