Forearm Bone found in relic collection.

[Kathy the history sleuth]

A Gettysburg shop called the National Park Service after it found a human remain in a collection it bought. Now the forearm bone, believed to be from a Union soldier at Spanish Fort in Alabama, will be buried at battle park

civil-war-picket.blogspot.com

 

[Package4]

A Gettysburg shop called the National Park Service after it found a human remain in a collection it bought. Now the forearm bone, believed to be from a Union soldier at Spanish Fort in Alabama, will be buried at battle park

civil-war-picket.blogspot.com

Thank you for posting this, some years ago I was involved in an online auction for a Confederate brogan that was unearthed during reburial of CS dead at the Sunken Road at Sharpsburg (Bloody Lane). I won the auction and was very excited to pay and have my treasure sent on its way to me. Well, not to be, it turns out that under some of the old paper filling the shoe were the foot bones of the unlucky original owner of the bootee. I understand that human remains are not saleable and the auction was cancelled; I have no idea what came of the artifact and its contents.

I'll not mention names since I do not remember what came of the artifact, but a friend of mine had a piece of land that is now part of the NB Park in Gettysburg. Prior to the sale of the land, he was detecting and found an amputated forearm with a minie' ball lodged in the wrist. I do know that he gave it to the proper authorities, but do not remember who that was.

There was also a skull of a soldier that went up for auction some years ago, complete with display case and other artifacts found with it. This auction was also cancelled when it was reported.

IIRC there was also a withered amputated arm at the old Charlie Weaver Museum in Gettysburg, I may be wrong but I think there was one on display at one time.

I guess there are more of these instances than we know:

The Antietam Arm on Display

If you’ve been following my blog for a while, you may have seen my previous posts about the mummified arm in the National Museum o...

guardianoftheartifacts.blogspot.com

 

[Kathy the history sleuth]

Due to the horrific nature of burials and fighting in the Civil War this isn't surprising. It's also very sad that these body parts are still floating around.

 

[Cato3rd]

I'll not mention names since I do not remember what came of the artifact, but a friend of mine had a piece of land that is now part of the NB Park in Gettysburg. Prior to the sale of the land, he was detecting and found an amputated forearm with a minie' ball lodged in the wrist.

I remember talking to Jim Thomas over at the Horse Soldier about a case in the 1980s of a shop owner in town selling human remains. Supposedly a full skeleton of a soldier was found at a field hospital (on private property) at either Gettysburg or Chancellorsville and was being sold at a relic shop in Gettysburg. Someone bought it apparently and now resides in someone's collection

 

[lupaglupa]

One would hope that respect for the dead would outweigh the desire to make a profit. But sadly.....

 

[Joe Whitworth]

Thank you for posting this, some years ago I was involved in an online auction for a Confederate brogan that was unearthed during reburial of CS dead at the Sunken Road at Sharpsburg (Bloody Lane). I won the auction and was very excited to pay and have my treasure sent on its way to me. Well, not to be, it turns out that under some of the old paper filling the shoe were the foot bones of the unlucky original owner of the bootee. I understand that human remains are not saleable and the auction was cancelled; I have no idea what came of the artifact and its contents.

I'll not mention names since I do not remember what came of the artifact, but a friend of mine had a piece of land that is now part of the NB Park in Gettysburg. Prior to the sale of the land, he was detecting and found an amputated forearm with a minie' ball lodged in the wrist. I do know that he gave it to the proper authorities, but do not remember who that was.

There was also a skull of a soldier that went up for auction some years ago, complete with display case and other artifacts found with it. This auction was also cancelled when it was reported.

IIRC there was also a withered amputated arm at the old Charlie Weaver Museum in Gettysburg, I may be wrong but I think there was one on display at one time.

I guess there are more of these instances than we know:

The Antietam Arm on Display

If you’ve been following my blog for a while, you may have seen my previous posts about the mummified arm in the National Museum o...

guardianoftheartifacts.blogspot.com

I remember seeing that arm in Sharpsburg when I was on a Boonsboro Elementary School field trip to the nearby battlefield. Going to guess it was 1962 since the 100th anniversary of the battle was a pretty big deal around here. To a kid it was creepy laying in a display case with a note stating it had been found in a stone wall a few years after the battle if i recall correctly from long ago....perhaps conveniently placed there in lieu of burying.

 

[R. Porter]

Our class trip took us to the Virginia Museum in Richmond which had an Egyptian mummy in a mock-up of a looted tomb.

 

[Josh The Lighthouse Guy]

One would hope that respect for the dead would outweigh the desire to make a profit.

It gets much worse if it's Native American remains - in terms of mistreatment, monetary value, and legal troubles.

 

[James Brenner]

I remember seeing that arm in Sharpsburg when I was on a Boonsboro Elementary School field trip to the nearby battlefield. Going to guess it was 1962 since the 100th anniversary of the battle was a pretty big deal around here. To a kid it was creepy laying in a display case with a note stating it had been found in a stone wall a few years after the battle if i recall correctly from long ago....perhaps conveniently placed there in lieu of burying.

I had a similar reaction, but it wasn't at a battlefield. As a kid, we were on vacation in Quebec and visited the shrine to St. Anne. They had a relic on display - I think it was a finger (don't say it) - and it creeped me out, too.