Complete Civil War Spencer Cartridge, recovered at Sailor’s Creek Battlefield

This is another nice piece being offered, it is an original Civil War dropped Spencer Cartridge. Spencers were carried by a number of cavalry and mounted infantry regiments and provided the Union army with additional firepower versus their Confederate counterparts. The South occasionally captured some of these weapons and ammunition, but, as they were unable to manufacture the cartridges because of shortages of copper, their ability to take advantage of the weapons was limited. This cartridge and several others were excavated at the Sailor’s Creek Battlefield, Virginia Battlefield.

It was part of a cache of these cartridges from a long-time relic hunter who searched primarily in the Sailor’s Creek Virginia area in the late 1960s into the mid-1970s.This battle took place when General Robert E. Lee's army was retreating from Richmond to Petersburg. Here, on April 6, 1865, Union General Philip Sheridan cut off and beat back about a quarter of Lee's army. Eight Confederate generals surrendered, and 7,700 men were lost. Confederate General George Washington Custis Lee, eldest son of Robert E. Lee, was forcibly captured on the battlefield by Private David D. White of the 37th Massachusetts Regiment. This was the last major engagement of the war in Virginia; Lee's surrender at Appomattox occurred three days later.

This cartridge is not one of those “put-togethers”, but just as it came out of the ground. It is in excellent condition and would make a great addition to any Civil War collection.