Excavated Civil War Combination Spoon/Fork Eating Utensil, dug at Ft. Harrison, VA

This is another interesting piece being offered, it is an excavated Civil War Combination Spoon/Fork Eating Utensil. It measures 5”  and the spoon is brass but the remainer of the utensil is incased with dirt and rust. It was recovered at Fort Harrison, Virginia.

On September 29, 1864, 2,500 Union forces over ran and captured Fort Harrison. It was the strongest Confederate Fort on the Richmond-Petersburg line. The next day Lee personally organized a major effort to retake the fort but failed.

Fort Harrison consisted of a semi-circle of earthen works facing the Union lines. When the Union forces took it over, they built earthen works facing the opposite direction, thus completing a circle. The Union renamed Fort Harrison to Fort Burnham, after the Union General killed in the September 29th attack.

I have examples of these eating utensils in my books “Battle of Gettysburg – The Relics, Artifacts and Souvenirs” and “The Civil War Soldier – His Personal Items”. They are also in the Gettysburg National Museum (see pictures). As seen in the pictures, it was complete when the soldier lost it. It is not chipping or flaking, but I would suggest a coat of varnish to keep everything intact.  This is a great example of what many soldiers on both sides used during the war.