Carved tree root, handle 3 in. long, spoon 2 x 1 x 0.5 in. deep, approx. 5 in. long overall. From the top of the handle down, carved
Sumter Prison / Higgins Waldo Dowd Maginnes Whitney Duane Prisoners-of-War, and on the underside
Qui Trans Sus and
Captured April 20, 1864, with an eagle's head near the top of the handle and a five-pointed star under the bowl.
This piece was researched in depth by Robert F. Coli for a piece in
North South Trader's Civil War, Vol. XXIV, No. 5, Sept.-Oct. 1997, p. 26-31. A copy of that issue and copious photocopied research materials are included in the lot.
Sumter Prison is, of course, Andersonville Prison, and the Latin inscription is an abbreviated form of
Qui Transtulit Sustinet, which is the state motto of Connecticut, meaning "He who transplanted (us) sustains (us)." The April 20, 1864, date is significant as that was the day that the Union garrison at Plymouth, NC, was captured by Confederate troops. Among the regiments in garrison that day were the 15th and 16th Connecticut Infantry, on whose rolls all five of the six names can be found. The 15th Connecticut listed Demetrius S. Dowd (Co. K) and James Maginnes (Co. E) while the 16th counted Charles H. Higgins (Co. C), Frederick Waldo (Co. H), and George Q. Whitney (Co. I). The final name that of Charles Duane of Co.D, 11th Connecticut Infantry, who was captured in Virginia in May 1864.
Another member of the 16th Connecticut captured that day, 2nd Lt. B.F. Blakeslee of Co. G, wrote about the captured soldiers' journey to Andersonville, which consisted of five days of hard marching and three or four days of traveling in trains, packed 60 men to a car with no room to lay or even sit, and going 12 to 36 hours between rations.
As to the men's fates once they arrived, Higgins, a 25-year-old clerk, was paroled Dec. 6, 1864, and Waldo, a 26-year-old wagoner, on March 2, 1865, and both lived into the mid-to-late 50s. Dowd, a 30-year-old teamster, was transferred to Florence, SC, where he died in prison November 10, 1864. Maginnes, a 40-year-old private who had served as his brigade's blacksmith, died at Andersonville on August 17, 1864, and is buried in Andersonville National Cemetery, grave #5932. Whitney, just 18 years old at the time of his capture, was paroled March 9, 1865, and died in 1892 in Denver, CO. Mr. Coli identified Charles Duane as the alias of 28-year-old Frank Vanvalkenburg, who was originally a member of Co. A, 107th Pennsylvania, and wounded on the first day of Gettysburg. After recovering, he deserted on August 29, 1863, but seven months later enlisted as Charles Duane in Co. D, 11th Connecticut Infantry. Duane was captured at Drewry's Bluff, VA, May 16, 1864, and arrived at Andersonville one week later, but was transferred to Charleston, where he was able to escape.
Condition
Chip through "Waldo." Nice, smooth, golden-brown patina.