Watch Timepieces at Gettysburg

[Tom Elmore]

Part 1:

The American Civil War Museum at the former Tredegar Works in Richmond, Virginia, has a display of four watches associated with the battle of Gettysburg (see image below that I took last month).

Far left lower center; watch belonging to Major Benjamin Watkins Leigh, senior staff officer to Major General Edward Johnson, mortally wounded at Culp's Hill on the morning of July 3. This watch has a well-documented provenance: "Your letter of 3rd inst. came to hand … I have the old watch; my wife let one of the children have it to play with about 12 years ago and he broke the hands off, the main spring is broken also. If you will receive it as it is, I will forward it to you by mail." (F. B. Merrill, Topeka, Kansas, to Lawrence Wilson, Washington D.C., September 17, 1897) /// "After the main fighting was over, our boys went out and took from his body his sword, revolvers, watch, etc., and the watch was sent to Ohio, later on to Kansas, and I got on trail of this last August while in Ohio and now have the watch and wish to locate the relatives of Maj. B. W. Leigh." (Letter of Lawrence Wilson, late 1st Sergeant, Company D, 7th Ohio, to Col. W. B. Palmer, Richmond, Virginia, October 8, 1897) /// "Early in the morning of July 4th, James H. Merrill, a private in Company H of my regiment, took from the body of Maj. Leigh a silver watch, and later on sent it to his uncle, Hon. John Stull of Warren, Ohio for safekeeping. After the war, Mr. Stull sent this watch to F. B. Merrill, a brother of his deceased nephew [J. H. Merrill, killed at Ringgold, Georgia] residing in Topeka, Kansas. I gained possession of it" … [and presented the watch to a member of Leigh's family]. (Lawrence Wilson, Company D, 7th Ohio to Miss Lizzie M. Robinson, August 9, 1899, Robinson Family Papers, 1836-1899. Presumably this is Elizabeth Marshall Robinson, https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/93516173/elizabeth_marshall_robinson).

Top left; watch belonging to Captain William Walker Goss, Company E, 19th Virginia, mortally wounded and captured during Pickett's charge on July 3; he died on or about July 18 at the Schoff [School?] House building in town. Goss was one of the youngest officers (21) in Pickett's division. He carried a silver watch made by T. F. Cooper of Liverpool, England. (The Museum of the Confederacy Magazine, Richmond, Virginia, Winter 2013, p. 27) /// Assistant Surgeon Elhanon W. Rowe of the 14th Virginia Cavalry tended to Confederate wounded at this location until July 18. Rowe wrote a letter to William's father, describing how his son had sustained "a serious wound in the left lung followed by pneumonia which was the cause of his death … He gradually sank from the time he was admitted to my hospital [on or about July 10] and died about the 18th of July … [He] had no money or other effects … [and was] buried in the yard attached to the building in which I had my hospital – had the grave marked with name, regiment and co. The building is called the 'Schoff House Building,' about the center of town." (Letter from E. W. Rowe to Mr. J. [?] W. Goss, Orange Court House, December 16, 1863, Brockenbrough Library, [then known as the] Museum of the Confederacy, Richmond)

Bottom center; watch belonging to an unidentified Federal artilleryman killed at Gettysburg.

Far right center; watch belonging to Major General Henry Heth, wounded in the mid-afternoon of July 1. Heth wore this watch at Gettysburg when he was struck on the head by a minie ball that rendered him unconscious for some 23 hours. He was carried off the field by Private A. H. Gibboney, clerk to Heth's Assistant Adjutant General, and placed in an ambulance and taken to civilian physician Dr. William C. Stem in Cashtown. (Confederate Veteran Magazine, vol. 25, p. 518; Vast Sea of Misery by Gregory A. Coco)

 

[PA Gary]

General Heth's watch looks to be in the best condition. Would be cool to see if it still works?!

 

[Tom Elmore]

Part 2:

Watch of Captain William T. Magruder, Assistant Adjutant General on the staff of Brigadier General Joseph R. Davis. The following article appeared in a July 30, 1863 newspaper: "A large size double case watch and link chain belonging to Capt. W. T. Magruder who was killed at Gettysburg and thought to have been placed in the possession of Capt. Wm. Nunn, Company B, 11th Mississippi, who died July 13 at the 1st Army Corps, 2nd Division Hospital, and who, it is supposed, gave it to someone previous to his death for safekeeping. The full value of the watch will be given for its return and the information gratefully received. Apply to: Mrs. Mary C. Magruder … Baltimore."

Watch of Private William G. Monte, Company G, 9th Virginia Infantry. During the July 3 charge, when within 200 yards of the enemy's batteries, Private Monte, "taking his watch from his pocket, said: 'It is just four minutes past 3 o'clock.' … Monte was seen no more by his comrades" (A Pair of Blankets, by William H. Stewart, 61st Virginia, NY: Broadway Publishing Company, 1911, p. 111)

Watch of Major Andrew J. Grover, 76th New York. Grover was fatally struck while trying to rally his men on the late morning of July 1. Before he died, he "handed his watch and badges of rank to a comrade, requesting they be given to his wife, Sylvanus." He left behind three young daughters. (A Newspaper Editor's View of Gettysburg, by Richard F. Palmer, quoting Charles P. Cole, editor of the Weekly Gazette and Banner of Cortland County, New York)

Watch of 1st Lieutenant James Jackson Purman, Company A, 140th Pennsylvania. While lying wounded and helpless in the Wheatfield on the second day, "he gave a rebel his watch for lifting him into the shade." His benefactor was Lieutenant Thomas Oliver of the 24th Georgia, who left Purman with water and food. In gratitude, Purman handed Oliver his "hunting case silver watch." (History of Pennsylvania Volunteers, by Samuel P. Bates, Harrisburg, PA: B. Singerly, State Printer, 1871, vol. IV, p. 409; https://civilwartalk.com/threads/an...eatfield-act-of-kindness.144029/#post-2096440)

Watch of Private Isaac Lyman Taylor, Company I, 1st Minnesota. Isaac was killed on July 2. His brother, Sergeant P. Henry Taylor of Company E, buried him the next day with the help of two comrades, in a grave dug near the Taneytown road, midway between the residences of Jacob Hummelbaugh and John Fisher. Three days later, Henry informed his parents in a letter: "I have Isaac's things and will send most of them home, but I shall keep his watch with your permission." (July 6, 1863, letter from P. H. Taylor to his parents, cited in The Last Full Measure, by Richard Moe, NY: Henry Holt and Company, 1993, p. 278; Diary of I. L. Taylor; Diary of Patrick H. Taylor, Bachelder Papers, 2:961)

Watch of Captain Lucius S. Larabee, Company B, 44th New York. Prior to the battle, Capt. Larabee informed Captains Bourne and Kimberly: "Since our last battle I have known that I would be killed the next time I was under fire. … The premonition had taken such a strong hold of him that he was unable to shake it off. He left, with Quartermaster Mundy, his watch and valuables and the address of his brother in Chicago." Larabee was killed while deploying his company as skirmishers in front of Little Round Top. (A History of the Forty-fourth Regiment New York Volunteer Infantry, by Capt. Eugene Arus Nash, Chicago, IL: R. R. Donnelly & Sons Co., 1911, p. 154; https://archive.org/details/historyoffortyfo00nash/page/154/mode/2up)

Watches taken from the dead. "A man of the 62nd New York came to our camp tonight [July 3] with eight watches to sell." (Diary and Papers of Major John I. Nevin, 93rd Pennsylvania, Library and Archives Division, Historical Society of Western Pennsylvania, Pittsburgh)

 

[CW Watch & Sword Guy]

I just discovered this great thread. I have only one watch in my personal collection of seventeen Civil War provenance watches that was on the field at Gettysburg. Though its owner, Lieutenant Elial Foote Carpenter was legimately a hero (see attached pdf), he and his unit, the 49th NY Infantry, played only a minor role at Gettysburg, having arrived late on the second day and being dispatched on the third day to guard the Union flank along Culp's Hill. There they were only lightly engaged, suffering two wounded. But in 1864, while serving as the Lt. Colonel and C.O. of the 112th NY Infantry, Lt. Col. Carpenter spurned a Confederate surrender demand when surprised in the woods and made it back to warn his unit of the impending ambush, but he caught a bullet in the side during his courageous escape. He died two days later. I have another watch that was carried by Captain John Lawrence Sparks of the first DE Veteran Volunteer Infantry who was wounded in the wheat field at Gettysburg, but the watch did not come into his possession until the following year. He likely would have been carrying it, though, when he was wounded a second time during the Battle of the Wilderness on May 5-7, 1864.

 

[Tom Elmore]

Part 3:

Watch of Captain William Henry Chester, 74th New York, detailed as a special aide to Brigadier General Andrew A. Humphreys. Seen to fall during the July 2 fight, a party of staff officers went looking for Chester after dark: "We found him near that large flat rock, alive, but grievously wounded. His horse and faithful orderly lay dead beside him, and across his legs a rebel soldier, whom he had killed with his revolver, while in the act of plundering him of his watch." The rebel had been shot in the forehead. Chester was taken to a field hospital, where he died on July 5. But before he died, he described the earlier encounter: "A rebel soldier came up to me as I lay helpless, as he thought, and brutally endeavored to wrench the watch and chain from off my person. I told him to release it, or I'd shoot him. Fortunately, the chain was stuck and as he worked to get it off, I raised the pistol I had concealed till then, and shot him through the head. He uttered a deep groan and rolled dead at my feet." (The Battlefield of Gettysburg, by Adolfo Fernandez de la Cavada, The Civil War in Song and Story, collected by Frank Moore, NY: P. F. Collier, Publisher, 1889, p. 210; Diary of A. F. Cavada, Bull Run Regional Library, Manassas, Virginia)

Watch of Sergeant Benjamin Sheldon, Company K, 1st Vermont Cavalry. His daughter later wrote: "I am thirteen years old. My papa and grandpa and three uncles were in the war. … Papa was in the war three years and a half. His name is Benjamin Sheldon. … I like to hear him tell about his soldier days. He had four horses shot, and had his watch hit at the battle of Gettysburg. He keeps it yet, but it is not right but once a day. Papa was wounded near Richmond, Va., the 1st of March, 1864, while with Colonel Dahlgren. … Annah B. Sheldon" (National Tribune, February 7, 1884, p. 2)

Watches taken from the dead. In his memoirs, Private William B. Southerton of Company B, 75th Ohio, mentions a comrade named Jack who collected a pocketful of gold watches from the enemy dead in front of Cemetery Hill on the night of July 2 and afterwards "traded them off for greenbacks." (William B. Southerton Papers, Ohio Historical Society, Columbus, Ohio)

Gold watch of Brigadier General James J. Archer. Following his capture on July 1, he was sent to the Johnson's Island, Ohio prison camp for Confederate officers. "While Archer was there, he gave his gold watch and $150. to a Yankee soldier to permit his escape. The fellow let him out, but had notified the authorities, who, having placed a skirmish line out about a mile from the shore on the ice, recaptured him and brought him back. But the Yankee kept the money and the watch – a 'Yankee trick,' sure enough." (W. M. McCall, former lieutenant, Company E, 7th Tennessee, Confederate Veteran magazine, vol. 3 (1895), p. 19)

Watch of Captain Francis W. "Frank" Bird (variant spelling Byrd), Company C, 11th North Carolina. On the afternoon of July 3, during the assault against Cemetery Ridge, "Capt. Bird's life was saved by a heavy watch which turned a bullet from his heart." (The Wilson Mirror, Wilson, North Carolina, January 17, 1894, p. 1)

Watch taken from a dead Confederate, possibly with surname Bowen. "Found on Battlefield. T. J. Shell, of Shell, North Carolina, writes the Charlottesville Daily Progress that he has a watch taken from the body of a Confederate soldier on the field of Gettysburg. There is the name Mollie L. Bowen inside the watch case, and Mr. [Shell] hopes to locate the proper person to return the article." (The Page Courier, Virginia, July 29, 1909, virginiachronicle.com) [Comment: I am unable to identify a T. J. Shell from North Carolina who served at Gettysburg. Twenty-one Confederate soldiers with the surname Bowen became casualties during the battle.]

 

[Tom Elmore]

Part 4:

Silver watch picked up on the battlefield by Private John Howith (or Howorth), Company G, 15th Massachusetts. A native of "Wally" (probably Whalley), England, who resided in North Grafton, Massachusetts, Howith was severely wounded in the back of both thighs by the fuse from an exploding shell while supporting a Union battery on July 2. His right leg being paralyzed as a result, he was soon discharged from the army and ended up back with the Rumney family in Massachusetts, with whom he had previously boarded. Howith gifted the watch to their son, Thomas M. Rumney, before dying later that year. (Evening Journal, Wilmington, Delaware, July 10, 1913, p. 6; Compiled service records, Fold3)

A "fine" watch belonging to an unidentified Federal soldier; badly wounded, perhaps mortally, on July 1. Lieutenant Channing M. Bolton, an engineer on Pender's staff, recalled: "That night after the first's day's battle I started back to the rear, taking two men with me to get rations, passing over the field strewn with dead and wounded. The litter carriers and ambulances were gathering the wounded. I heard the most unearthly sound and went a short distance out of my direction to find out what it was. I found a Yankee badly wounded and suffering agonies. He begged me to kill him. Knowing that a wounded man suffered greatly from thirst, I gave him some water from a nearby stream [Willoughby Run?], filled his canteen, and laid it down by him and left. When I returned several hours later he was still groaning, but I did not see him. Some months afterwards, when we had returned to Virginia and were camped on the south bank of the Rapidan River, I was lying down in my tent and a number of men were sitting around a fire outside, when I heard one say: 'Where did you get that fine watch?' The answer described the trip we made for rations from the front at Gettysburg, and the owner said that he had taken it from the badly wounded man, telling him that he knew the watch would be of no further use to him." (With Gen. Lee's Engineers, by Channing Moore Bolton, Charlottesville, Virginia, Confederate Veteran magazine, vol. 30, 1922, p. 299)

Watch of Adjutant/1st Lieutenant William S. Shallenberger, 140th Pennsylvania. Shallenberger recalled checking his watch when his regiment arrived at the Wheatfield on July 2: "It was just 6 o'clock by the watch I carried when we crossed the corner of the wheatfield going into action." After the war, he served in the U.S. Congress. (Address of W. S. Shallenberger, Dedication of Monument to the 140th Pennsylvania, September 11, 1889, Pennsylvania at Gettysburg, II:689)

Watch of Private J. Rial Stewart, Company G, 23rd North Carolina; killed July 1. His comrade Jonathan F. Coghill afterwards wrote: "A ball struck Rial in the side and went through him. He lived a few hours after he was hit. He was a brave and noble boy. … Someone has taken his watch and his money before he was found by any of his company, but I have got his pocketbook and two of his rings which I will take good care of … until I can send them home to those that loved him." (July 17, 1863, letter of Jonathan Fuller Coghill, to his parents, Auburn University Archives and Manuscripts Department, Auburn, Alabama; https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/245288965/james_rial-stewart)

Hunting case silver watch of an unidentified Confederate who died on Culp's Hill. Corporal/Sergeant Samuel Bartholomew of Company F, 3rd Wisconsin, was a member of a party that helped bury the Confederate dead in long trenches on July 4, likely in the area of Spangler's meadow and spring, near where his regiment was posted. Many years later, Bartholomew wrote from Boscobel, Wisconsin, concerning one corpse that he helped bury: "The soldiers took a ring off his finger marked 18 carat; also a hunting case silver, English patent lever, watch, marked on the inside of the case, 'Col. Gibson, 42nd N. C.' I saw the watch the other day." (The News & Observer, Raleigh, N. C., October 27, 1899, p. 5; https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/77064922/samuel-bartholomew) [Comment: The 42nd North Carolina was not at Gettysburg, nor can I find the Gibson surname associated with anyone who fought and died on Culp's Hill.]

 

[CW Watch & Sword Guy]

Tom, This is fabulous research! Thank you for sharing this.

 

[Tom Elmore]

General Heth's watch looks to be in the best condition. Would be cool to see if it still works?!

I have no idea, but a photo of Heth's gold watch in: The Museum of the Confederacy Journal, Summer/Autumn 1988, p. 3, has the watch showing five minutes after 6, which differs from the time it now shows in the display case (above). The article states it was worn by Heth at Gettysburg, and was manufactured by M. I. Tobias and Company, Liverpool, England.

 

[CW Watch & Sword Guy]

I have no idea, but a photo of Heth's gold watch in: The Museum of the Confederacy Journal, Summer/Autumn 1988, p. 3, has the watch showing five minutes after 6, which differs from the time it now shows in the display case (above). The article states it was worn by Heth at Gettysburg, and was manufactured by M. I. Tobias and Company, Liverpool, England.

Morris Tobias was the most prominent of several members of the Tobias family who exported watches to the US during the Civil War period. M. I. Tobias was also the favorite target of Swiss counterfeiters, so much so that most watches carrying his name are inferior fakes. The real Tobias products are of distinctly higher quality than nearly all the fakes, and can be recognized on that basis. I haven't seen Heth's watch, but I would imagine, though, that a Confederate general could have afforded a real Tobias and would not have been fooled by a fake.

 

[Tom Elmore]

Part 5:

Watch of 2nd Lieutenant J. Volney Pierce, Company G, 147th New York. Years later, Pierce recalled: "I looked at my watch while we remained at the McPherson house garden and it was 15 minutes of 10" [9:45 a.m., on July 1]. (November 25, 1897, statement of J. V. Pierce, H. H. Lyman Papers, Oswego County Historical Society, Oswego, New York, on file at Gettysburg National Military Park)

Watch of Lieutenant Colonel John A. Graves, 47th North Carolina. Wounded and captured at Gettysburg, he died a prisoner at Johnson's Island, Ohio. His personal effects, however, were carried to North Carolina by his slave ("servant"), Alfred, who rode Graves' horse home bearing his watch, money, sword and pistols to personally deliver to his widow. (A War Reminiscence, Danville Register, reprinted by Daily Charlotte Observer, Charlotte, North Carolina, November 7, 1885, p. 2)

Watch of 1st Sergeant Matthew G. Isett, Company C, 53rd Pennsylvania; mortally wounded July 2. Corporal Anthony J. Beaver of his company wrote home with details about Isett being shot during the retreat of Brooke's brigade through the Wheatfield: "Matthew G. Isett was shot through his right leg above the knee; it was badly smashed up. He was brought part of the way off the field, but [we] had to leave him." Beaver returned two days later to search for Isett: "July 4th, I for one went on the battlefield and found him dead, his money and watch were taken. We buried him inside of our lines a distance of a half mile … on Michael Frey's farm. I and [Sergeant] John McLaughlin and [Corporal] William Shontz buried him." Comment: Battlefield robbers on both sides stripped the dead of valuables after a battle. Michael and Sarah Frey's farm was located on the east side of the Taneytown Road just south of the Granite Schoolhouse road intersection. Isett was afterwards reinterred in Gettysburg's National Cemetery. (July 6, 1863, letter of Anthony J. Beaver to his father, Samuel Beaver, Genealogy of the Woodcock Valley, http://woodcockvalley.webs.com/apps/photos/photo?photoid=114351974, 5/21/2011)

Watch of 2nd Lieutenant William G. "Bill" Branyon, Company K, 26th Alabama; killed July 1. While commanding the company, a ball struck him in the breast and he fell backwards. Soon a wounded comrade went back to Branyon, who was already dead, removed his watch from his pocket and afterwards sent it to his wife. (February 1922, letter of Jeff E. Tomlin to William L. White, taken from a now defunct website of the 26th Alabama, acronet.net/~lutefish/photos/tom.h. Sergeant J. E. Tomlin of Company K was wounded and captured at Gettysburg per his service record, Fold3.)

Silver Watch of Private Martin L. Scott, Company B, 7th West Virginia; killed July 2. When Scott's remains were gathered for reinterment at Gettysburg's National Cemetery, a silver watch was discovered and was retained by the Cemetery Association. (Soldiers' National Cemetery –Gettysburg, Gettysburg, PA: Thomas Publications, 1988, p. 137)

 

[CW Watch & Sword Guy]

Lt. Pierce of the 147th NY was lucky to have survived. They suffered something like 77% casualties, mostly on the first day of the Battle of Gettysburg near the railroad cut, as their colonel was wounded early in the battle and they never got the order to retreat. However, their sacrifice saved the 2nd Maine artillery battery from capture and bought more time for other Union units to retreat and regroup. The 147th NY and the 14th Brooklyn (a.k.a., 84th NY) were the only two Union regiments engaged on all three days of the battle. The 147th fought on Culp's Hill on Days 2 and 3. I have a Model 1850 Field & Staff Officer's sword that was presented to Captain Patrick Regan of the 147th NY., an Irish immigrant who was wounded in the battle.