The things you find when you're not even really looking.

In April 2018, I took a driving tour during the Confederate Memorial Day weekend with the intention of visiting the cemetery at Beauvoir for their Memorial Day service. As it turned out, I saw about 4 or 5 large cemeteries.

As I recall, I did not plan to stop at this site. It might have been one of times that I literally slammed on my brakes to see a historical marker. I don't think I have ever heard about this site or if I did, I didn't really comprehend its location or the extent of it.

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This cemetery was set in a large forest but it was well manicured and every grave was decorated with a flag---some with Confederate flags and many with Union flags.

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In April 2018, I took a driving tour during the Confederate Memorial Day weekend with the intention of visiting the cemetery at Beauvoir for their Memorial Day service. As it turned out, I saw about 4 or 5 large cemeteries.

As I recall, I did not plan to stop at this site. It might have been one of times that I literally slammed on my brakes to see a historical marker. I don't think I have ever heard about this site or if I did, I didn't really comprehend its location or the extent of it.

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This cemetery was set in a large forest but it was well manicured and every grave was decorated with a flag---some with Confederate flags and many with Union flags.

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Outstanding. Hope I make it there some day. Thanks for kicking in to this thread.
 
In about 2006 or 2007 a new County Courthouse opened in Galveston. There are some county offices still occupying and using the old courthouse. Galveston County has slowly turned the lobby of the old courthouse into a museum. Once or twice a year,I have to go there on business. This is a fairly new exhibit. Not sure how long it has been there. Just got good pictures to post recently. Perhaps member @AndyHall knows more about this artifact. The exhibit identifies it as a "Civil War anchor".

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I was asked by the state to go and look at this anchor when it was first put in the courthouse, to see if it was linked to any historic shipwreck or site. There are no markings on it, or any way to know its source. It's a very generic type of anchor, as the signage indicates, that was in common use for decades. (That signage was not there at the time I looked at it, and no one I talked to at the time knew its story, beyond "someone dredged it up.") It's a nice piece, and for sure emblematic of the county's ties to the sea, but I don't know of any particular reason to associate it with the CW, and would not present it as such to the public.
 
It's a nice piece, and for sure emblematic of the county's ties to the sea, but I don't know of any particular reason to associate it with the CW, and would not present it as such to the public.
Maybe that's based on what the sign says about A&M researchers determination of it's type and age range. I kinda questioned whether they could definitively know that it was a ship's anchor from 1861-1865. They made me look. :D
 
At the old Galveston County Courthouse,there is also a horizontal display case of various era's artifacts one of which is from the Civil War. It is a Civil War sword that belonged to Cmdr. J.M. Wainwright,USN, who was commander of the USS Harriet Lane and was killed in the Battle Of Galveston on January 1,1863.

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At the old Galveston County Courthouse,there is also a horizontal display case of various era's artifacts one of which is from the Civil War. It is a Civil War sword that belonged to Cmdr. J.M. Wainwright,USN, who was commander of the USS Harriet Lane and was killed in the Battle Of Galveston on January 1,1863.

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This attribution is extremely doubtful and highly unlikely, since the piece so labeled is nothing other than a common enlisted seaman's M.1860 Navy cutlass, no doubt made as most if not all of them were by the Ames Mfg. Co. These were housed aboard ship in racks on bulwarks between the decks and occasionally but rarely worn suspended by a belt frog. A naval officer should've had a M.1850 Sword For Naval Officers which was worn suspended by two leather straps from an officer's waist belt exactly like Army officers' swords. I suppose it could be said this was "his sword" because technically everything aboard the Captain's ship might be considered his, in exactly the same way a cutlass aboard the Hartford might be called Admiral Farragut's or another that was aboard the Alabama belonged to Captain Semmes!
 
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This attribution is extremely doubtful and highly unlikely, since the piece so labeled is nothing other than a common enlisted seaman's M.1860 Navy cutlass, no doubt made as most if not all of them were by the Ames Mfg. Co. These were housed aboard ship in racks on bulwarks between the decks and occasionally but rarely worn suspended by a belt frog. A naval officer should've had a M.1850 Sword For Naval Officers which was worn suspended by two leather straps from an officer's waist belt exactly like Army officers' swords. I suppose it could be said this was "his sword" because technically everything aboard the Captain's ship might be considered his, in exactly the same way a cutlass aboard the Hartford might be called Admiral Farragut's or another that was aboard the Alabama belonged to Captain Semmes!
I don't know what kind of provenance came with it when it was donated. Maybe @AndyHall knows something about this piece too.
 
I don't know what kind of provenance came with it when it was donated. Maybe @AndyHall knows something about this piece too.
Since Harriet Lane was captured by being boarded, and these were kept in racks on deck, it's at least possible Wainwright might've grabbed one for use in attempting to repel boarders - in that sense, possibly this might've been "his." (Naval officers almost never actually wore their swords when aboard ship, unless during some ceremonial function; as I recall, the Confederate attack on New Years' Day 1963 at Galveston was a surprise, so he was probably otherwise unarmed.)
 
I don't know what kind of provenance came with it when it was donated. Maybe @AndyHall knows something about this piece too.
That is a new artifact to me. Unless there's some serious documentation of its provenance, I'm extremely skeptical it can be traced back to Wainwright personally. It's entirely plausible to me (even likely) that with his ship in action and in danger of being boarded, Wainwright would've opted to carry a cutlass in that situation. But unless one could show that it was taken from his corpse directly, there's no reason to claim it was "his." As James N. suggests, it's a pretty generic artifact, and probably impossible to show it was ever on Harriet Lane at all.

That's just some bad artifact presentation, I'm afraid. The bigger the claim -- "belonging to Commander J M Wainwright, USN" -- the stronger the documentation of provenance needs to be.
 
That is a new artifact to me. Unless there's some serious documentation of its provenance, I'm extremely skeptical it can be traced back to Wainwright personally. It's entirely plausible to me (even likely) that with his ship in action and in danger of being boarded, Wainwright would've opted to carry a cutlass in that situation. But unless one could show that it was taken from his corpse directly, there's no reason to claim it was "his." As James N. suggests, it's a pretty generic artifact, and probably impossible to show it was ever on Harriet Lane at all.

That's just some bad artifact presentation, I'm afraid. The bigger the claim -- "belonging to Commander J M Wainwright, USN" -- the stronger the documentation of provenance needs to be.
According to the card in the display case,it was "Donated to Galveston County Museum 1998". Wonder where it was for 20 years? I don't think that display case has been in the courthouse more than a couple of years.
 
That's long after I left. It may have have been put aside by staff until recently because they were dubious of its claimed history. There was a complete upheaval of the staff there a few years back.
 
According to the card in the display case,it was "Donated to Galveston County Museum 1998". Wonder where it was for 20 years? I don't think that display case has been in the courthouse more than a couple of years.
More significant and important to the claim would be where it's been between 1863 and 1998!
 
This isn't exactly a brand new find but I didn't have any good pics to post until recently. I live 7 miles from the San Jacinto Battleground State Historic Site. The centerpiece of the site is the San Jacinto Monument and the museum therein. Up until last year,I hadn't been inside the museum since the mid-90's. In April last year,I took my granddaughters to the state historic site to let them get some fresh air and expend some youthful energy. They saw the monument and wanted to go inside and go to the top of the museum. Found something interesting in the museum. We went back there last month. They like walking some of the trails there and I wanted to go in the museum again. Got better pics this time. A number of veterans of the Texas Revolution went on to serve as soldiers for the Confederacy in the ACW. There is a display case of Civil War artifacts in the museum at the San Jacinto Monument. Not sure how long they have been on display there...a while,I'm guessing. Pretty cool stuff. First the granddaughters. :D

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Now the ACW artifacts:

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More significant and important to the claim would be where it's been between 1863 and 1998!
Exactly. Any artifact that is associated with a very specific event or personality has to be very thoroughly documented. Way too much misrepresentation (some of which is well-intentioned, but wrong nevertheless) out there.
 
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Your photos probably came out better than mine because my camera doesn't always realize how to focus indoors, but here are a few from my visit there with @mkyzzzrdet back in February. We were there mainly to see the USS Texas before she was removed for restoration but we also visited the monument, museum, and battlefield at San Jacinto State Park as well. The case above contains a few relics of Texas' Antebellum Governor Sam Houston, while the one below has a few mementoes pertaining to the battle here, like the portrait of Houston's scout Erastus "Deaf" Smith.

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Here are two much poorer photos of cases containing a Mexican officer's uniform above and Confederate officer's uniform below.

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Our visit was on a gloomy, foggy, chilly, and altogether dismal day; fortunately, the cloud deck lifted before we left. At least we succeeded in the main purpose of our visit:

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