Bill Howard

The Company became part of the 21st Alabama Infantry, and Walker participated in the battle of Shiloh before he was fourteen. At Shiloh, th

Joel S. Harrison was twenty-two years old when he joined the Union army for service in the Civil War. A resident of Lansing, Michigan, he v

Original GAR cap with wreath badge and white leather belt with brass GAR belt buckle used by a Civil War veteran for dress parade. The white painted leather belts (or even white canvas belts) are common but the cap painted white is rather unique. In the dusk before evening, a veteran marching with these accoutrements might have seemed a “ghost soldier.” (Credit: William F. Howard Collection) In 1866, a new organization was formed by veterans of the conflict called The "Gra

Original Civil War lettersheet with imprinted portrait of the Union Colonel Elmer E. Ellsworth who was one of the first officers killed in the war. The letter is dated January 23, 1862 and was written by Private James Kelly who served in Company A, 9th New York (Hawkins Zouaves) Infantry. An original CDV photo of a Union soldier and a mechanical pencil patented in 1859 are also shown. (Bill Howard Collection) During the American Civil War, the letters written back and forth