Civil War soldier’s excavated shoulder scale, recovered at Gettysburg (SOLD)

This is another nice item being offered; it is the pan section of an excavated brass shoulder scale which was lost or discarded by a cavalryman or artilleryman. It measures approximately 4” x 3”. It was recovered many years ago from the Gettysburg battlefield.

Many cavalrymen and artillerymen wore these adornments on their shell jackets – it was thought that these brass scales would protect the soldier from saber blows, but rarely did this occur, and most soldiers just discarded them over time. This piece has a great untouched patina to the brass.

This item is from the collection of the Peter Miller GAR Post #551. The Post was located in York Springs, Adams County, Pennsylvania and was named after Private Peter Miller of Company K, 1st Pennsylvania Reserves, who was killed in action at South Mountain on September 14, 1862, and is now buried in Sunnyside Cemetery, York Springs.

Not much is known about the Post other than it closed sometime before 1925. In a letter from a collector, he explains how he and his father found the relics from the Miller Post #551 in the 1970’s at the home of Civil War veteran David Starry. At the time when the items were purchased, the house was occupied by Starry’s descendants. Mr. Starry had served in the 165th Pennsylvania Infantry and the 21st Pennsylvania Cavalry during the war and afterward joined the Peter Miller Post #551 of the GAR.

With most of the local Pennsylvania GAR posts, the relics on display at the posts were from the Gettysburg battlefield. This was a time before metal detectors and many items from the field were just “eye balled”, didn’t really have to dig much. It comes in the glass top display case pictured.