Remains of Enfield bayonet picked up on Gettysburg Battlefield, GAR collection

This is another nice item being offered; it is an Enfield bayonet that had about 11” of the blade broken off. It measures 9” long and the socket is still filled with the original battlefield dirt. It was picked up from the Gettysburg Battlefield in the late 1800s – early 1900s.  

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 explained 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, usually donated by veterans. In the NPS Gettysburg Museum there is a nearly identical example of one of these excavated Enfield bayonets (see pictures).