- Joined
- May 8, 2015
- Location
- Pittsburgh, PA
I just returned from the National Association of Watch & Clock Collectors regional meeting in Lexington, KY, where I gave a presentation entitled "Collecting Civil War Watches." I picked up the following gem at the meeting. It is a Waltham, "Appleton, Tracy & Company" Grade "Model 1860" 16 Size Keywind watch with 15 jewels and a gold balance wheel. According to the Waltham factory records, the movement's serial number, 80,265, dates its production to November of 1863. However, this movement took a while to work its way through the sales distribution chain to its final destination. (This was not uncommon, especially for higher grade watches.)
The dust cover (i.e., the inner rear lid) of the 18 karat gold hunting case is inscribed: "Presented to Brig. Gen.l J. W. Fuller by the Officers & Enlisted Men of the 27th Ohio Reg.t Vet. Inf. Vol.s, July 20, 1865."
The 27th OH Veteran Volunteer Infantry was the regiment that John Wallace Fuller (who was born in England) had commanded as a colonel before his promotion to command of the "Ohio Brigade." (On the date of the presentation of the watch, the month before Fuller's discharge, Fuller was actually a brevet major general.) This regiment and its Ohio Brigade fought numerous battles. The brigade defended Battery Robinett, the key to the federal position at the Second Battle of Corinth, which took place on October 2-3, 1862. In that engagement, the brigade suffered heavy losses but capturing the colors of the 9th Texas Infantry and secured a Union victory through tremendous grit and determination. The 27th Ohio regiment in particular fought hand-to-hand, at some points, against their attackers, even after several of their companies had been decimated, or even wiped out.
General Fuller may also be the only federal commander who could have claimed to have gotten the better of N. B. Forrest in an engagement. At the Battle of Parker's Crossroads on December 31, 1862, Fuller's brigade caught Forrest's command by surprise and forced him to execute a bold escape, averting a much greater disaster to his command, by famously attacking in two opposite directions simultaneously. That maneuver, while brilliant, resulted in anything but a victory for Forrest, who lost 300 men, 350 horses and six cannon in the process of extricating his unit from its predicament.
The dust cover (i.e., the inner rear lid) of the 18 karat gold hunting case is inscribed: "Presented to Brig. Gen.l J. W. Fuller by the Officers & Enlisted Men of the 27th Ohio Reg.t Vet. Inf. Vol.s, July 20, 1865."
The 27th OH Veteran Volunteer Infantry was the regiment that John Wallace Fuller (who was born in England) had commanded as a colonel before his promotion to command of the "Ohio Brigade." (On the date of the presentation of the watch, the month before Fuller's discharge, Fuller was actually a brevet major general.) This regiment and its Ohio Brigade fought numerous battles. The brigade defended Battery Robinett, the key to the federal position at the Second Battle of Corinth, which took place on October 2-3, 1862. In that engagement, the brigade suffered heavy losses but capturing the colors of the 9th Texas Infantry and secured a Union victory through tremendous grit and determination. The 27th Ohio regiment in particular fought hand-to-hand, at some points, against their attackers, even after several of their companies had been decimated, or even wiped out.
General Fuller may also be the only federal commander who could have claimed to have gotten the better of N. B. Forrest in an engagement. At the Battle of Parker's Crossroads on December 31, 1862, Fuller's brigade caught Forrest's command by surprise and forced him to execute a bold escape, averting a much greater disaster to his command, by famously attacking in two opposite directions simultaneously. That maneuver, while brilliant, resulted in anything but a victory for Forrest, who lost 300 men, 350 horses and six cannon in the process of extricating his unit from its predicament.
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