Need some help sorting out some items

[Package4]

I've been in contact with Larry Hicklen per your recommendation. We had a good 30+ minute conversation a couple weeks ago. I'm having him do a full appraisal for the insurance rider. This was the item that interested him the most too. He said the belt has the highest monetary value of all the items, but this is the most interesting item in terms of the historical perspective in his opinion. He said he's never seen another one quite like this one, specifically mentioning how the tiers were angled. It was his opinion that this was likely a custom-made version made to specific specifications per person ordering it. Presumably Lt. Edward Phifer but unless I can find it specifically mentioned in a letter we'll never know for sure. There's still dozens of letters I haven't read through yet.

No, it is a Merrill Patent Box and was made for the Merrill carbine. Larry is great and may never have seen one of these as they are exceptionally rare. There is usually a stamped ink manufacturer mark under the top flap and I see remnants of one on yours. Let Larry know this and he will concur. Here is a series of pictures of a recreation:

 

[Package4]

No, it is a Merrill Patent Box and was made for the Merrill carbine. Larry is great and may never have seen one of these as they are exceptionally rare. There is usually a stamped ink manufacturer mark under the top flap and I see remnants of one on yours. Let Larry know this and he will concur. Here is a series of pictures of a recreation:

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Doing a little more sleuthing, you have one of the most rare cartridge boxes of the ACW period. One in about the same shape sold at the 2009 Heritage Auction for over $2,000. I show that the US ordered 5,000 Merrill carbines with appendages. I am not sure if appendages mean leather or tools or both. The pictured item from the auction was most likely an early version before the copper rivets were employed for extra strength.

From the Auction catalog:
"Very Rare Civil War Merrill Carbine Cartridge Box. Black bridle leather, 5.75" x 1.8" x 4.75", with double flaps and implement pocket on the inner flap. Stenciled marking on the inside of the front flap, "Merrill,Thomas & Co./ Baltimore/ Patent Applied For". Marking a bit weak but present. Specially designed wooden insert, divided into four tiers, each tier drilled to hold seven Merrill combustible cartridges. Box in excellent complete sound condition with both belt loops, latch tab, etc. Just some minor flaking on the outer flap and one seam opening on flap ear. Eight of the bored spaces in the wooden block exhibit some breakage, with twenty intact. A nice complete example of one of the rarest of the Civil War commercial cartridge boxes."

 

[east_beast]

Yeah, that's definitely the same box I have, minus the rivets.

 

[Package4]

Just for confirmation as to the markings on your box, see if they match what is on this box that is getting ready to go to auction, but is in far worse shape than yours.

 

[Package4]

Yeah, that's definitely the same box I have, minus the rivets.

You have an extremely rare piece there!

 

[east_beast]

Just for confirmation as to the markings on your box, see if they match what is on this box that is getting ready to go to auction, but is in far worse shape than yours.

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I can't tell. There's definitely a stamp there but I can't make it out.

I'm not selling it either way.

 

[Package4]

I can't tell. There's definitely a stamp there but I can't make it out.

I'm not selling it either way.

No, just for your insurance appraisal you need to know what you have.

 

[gc45]

The ammo box that I think is likely from the Spanish American War era, though I'm fully willing to be wrong on that as I don't really know.

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So I have this same looking ammo box; is it not called a McKeever Box? I was told mine is called that and for holding 45-70 cartridges for trapdoor rifles. ?

 

[Package4]

So I have this same looking ammo box; is it not called a McKeever Box? I was told mine is called that and for holding 45-70 cartridges for trapdoor rifles. ?

You are correct.

 

[east_beast]

The ammo box that I think is likely from the Spanish American War era, though I'm fully willing to be wrong on that as I don't really know.

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Regarding this item, another tintype photo has been found. George L. Phifer had a son who served in the Spanish-American War. The dress looks to be roughly of that period. I wonder if this could be him?

 

[east_beast]

We're still finding more stuff. Found a $10 Confederate bill wrapped up in a poem.

Then there's this.

I think it's a sheet of unprinted Confederate currency. It feels like rice paper and the Confederate $10 bill matches up with the emboss almost perfectly.

 

[east_beast]

I've had a lot of people comment to me that it's a shame that no one in the family wanted these items and that I ended up with them and honestly I kind of agreed. I had done a lot of research into my dad's side of the family because of a research project I had to do in HS tracing our lineage back to the first ancestor we could find who immigrated to the U.S. I did my dad's side simply because my aunt had already done a lot of the legwork into it and this was well before the online genealogy craze with all of the resources that brought. Lately I've been focusing on my mom's side of the family and holy ****! My dad's side fizzled out in the mid-1700s with an ancestor who fought in the Revolutionary War at the Battle of King's Mountain and only one branch went that deep. My mom's side has multiple branches with records extending into the 1500s with virtually every branch going back to either the 1700s or 1600s.

Anyway, that's a long story to get to the point that's relevant to this discussion. One particular branch netted something extremely interesting.

Elizabeth Caroline (Ramsour) Phifer was the mother of these brothers. Cynthia Sarah (more commonly called "Sallie") Ramsour Hoyle was my 5x great grandmother. Sallie and Elizabeth Caroline were sisters. In the end, it turns out these items ARE with family after all.

The person who gave me these items sent me this picture of Sallie from their family records.

 

[Reconstructed Rebel]

Sounds like they found their way home

 

[east_beast]

One thing this genealogy research has showed me is I'm American to the core. I've yet to find a single branch of my family where the original immigrant didn't arrive on this continent prior to 1776.

 

[east_beast]

Met up with the inlaws in Williamsburg this weekend and made a pitstop by some of the sites on the way back. Started at Malvern Hill and caught a low flyover of a massive military cargo plane. Maybe a C-17? The NC 49th spent the night hugging the Earth at the base of the hill forced to see refuge from the constant barrage of canister shot.

From there we stopped by Drewry's Bluff where George was wounded.

From there it was onto Petersburg where Edward would ultimately be killed and George's fighting cut short by a bad wound at the Crater that would force him to become an aide de camp for the rest of the war due to recurring infection issues.

The Phifer boys weren't a part of the taking of Fort Stedman but it was one of the bright moments of the war for the NC 49th, brief as it was.

Then it was on to the Crater where George was very nearly killed less than two weeks after Edward succumbed to his wound suffered during the early assaults on June 18th (passing on July 18th). Edwards was wounded just south of the Crater near what was the Avery farm.

One thing that stuck out to me about the NPS' accounting of the Crater is numerous mentions of the white Union troops turning on the colored troops and killing them in an attempt to quell the furor of the rebels assaulting them. I've never heard any mention of this before.

 

[gc45]

Met up with the inlaws in Williamsburg this weekend and made a pitstop by some of the sites on the way back. Started at Malvern Hill and caught a low flyover of a massive military cargo plane. Maybe a C-17? The NC 49th spent the night hugging the Earth at the base of the hill forced to see refuge from the constant barrage of canister shot.

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From there we stopped by Drewry's Bluff where George was wounded.

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From there it was onto Petersburg where Edward would ultimately be killed and George's fighting cut short by a bad wound at the Crater that would force him to become an aide de camp for the rest of the war due to recurring infection issues.
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The Phifer boys weren't a part of the taking of Fort Stedman but it was one of the bright moments of the war for the NC 49th, brief as it was.
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Then it was on to the Crater where George was very nearly killed less than two weeks after Edward succumbed to his wound suffered during the early assaults on June 18th (passing on July 18th). Edwards was wounded just south of the Crater near what was the Avery farm.
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One thing that stuck out to me about the NPS' accounting of the Crater is numerous mentions of the white Union troops turning on the colored troops and killing them in an attempt to quell the furor of the rebels assaulting them. I've never heard any mention of this before.

Great photos, thanks for sharing.

 

[east_beast]

I finally got around to building a display for the items. Built it out of reclaimed wormy American chesnut and all glass is Tru Vue Conservation Clear. Still gotta figure out exactly how I want to lay everything out before I mount the shelves and then I'll play around with the lights but definitely seeing the light at the end of the tunnel here.

 

[east_beast]

What would this box/briefcase type item be called?

Inside was correspondence, his ink well, toothbrush, an unlabeled empty bottle, and a bottle labeled "Pure Lemon Acid" with the contents still in the bottle.

Any ideas what this is?

It's hard but seems like something that likely would've been gummy or maybe resinous 170 years ago. It still has a very faint odor to it. I would describe it as herbal, almost similar to frankincense if you never smelled that.

 

[east_beast]

There was also this snipped out image of dresses. Can't help but wonder if he didn't have a special lady back home in mind.

 

[Reconstructed Rebel]

There was also this snipped out image of dresses. Can't help but wonder if he didn't have a special lady back home in mind.

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The sleeves on those dresses look like 1890s styles.