Brass Tent Rope Adjusters from CS camp, Appomottox (SOLD,LB)

Here is great item from the large Civil War collection which acquired – it is another pair of original excavated Civil War Tent Rope adjusters. They are made of solid brass and measure approximately 4” and 3” long. Soldiers used these to tighten the ropes on their tents. They were recovered at a Confederate campsite at Appomattox, Virginia.

The Battle of Appomattox Court House, fought on the morning of April 9, 1865, was the final engagement of General Robert E. Lee's Army of Northern Virginia before it surrendered to the Union Army under Lt. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant, and one of the last battles of the American Civil War.

Lee, having abandoned Richmond and after a ten-month Siege of Petersburg, retreated west, hoping to join his army with the Confederate forces in North Carolina. Union forces pursued and cut off the Confederate retreat at the village of Appomattox Court House. Lee launched an attack to break through the Union lines to his front, assuming the Union force consisted entirely of cavalry. When he realized that the cavalry was backed up by two corps of Union infantry, he had no choice but to surrender.

The signing of the surrender documents occurred in the parlor of the house owned by Wilmer McLean on the afternoon of April 9. On April 12, a formal ceremony marked the disbandment of the Army of Northern Virginia and the parole of its officers and men, effectively ending the war in Virginia. This event triggered a series of surrenders across the south, signaling the end of the war.

Artifacts from Appomattox are very difficult to find – soldiers from both sides were gathering souvenirs to bring home realizing that the war was finally over. There are examples of these adjusters in "The Civil War Collectors Encyclopedia, by Francis Lord (see pictures). Being brass, these relics survived and are in very nice condition – having a beautiful aged patina. They come in the glass top case pictured.