Civil War Richard’s Patented Fork, Knife & Spoon, July 23, 1861

This is truly a very unique Civil War piece  being offered, it is a combination of an excavated and non-excavated Richard’s combined knife, fork, and spoon. William H. Richard’s of Massachusetts was awarded US Patent #32916 on July 23, 1861, for a combination knife, fork, and spoon. These two-piece sets were widely used as pieces of them have been recovered from numerous campsites in the Eastern Theater.

The patent states, "The object of this invention is to provide a simple and efficient knife fork and spoon for camp purposes at small cost, which, when not in use, can be so put together as to occupy but little space in a soldier’s knapsack so as to inconvenience him as little as possible.”

The excavated section is the spoon/fork utensil. I was recovered from a campsite in Culpeper, Virginia. A total of eight Civil War campaigns touched Culpeper County, more than any other community in the nation and clashes between jockeying armies occurred with regularity, particularly around fords and strategic crossroads.

The non-excavated knife measures 8” x 1 1/8” and is marked “RICHARDS / PATENT, JULY 23, 1861 / WARRANTED CAST STEEL”.  In my book “The Civil War Soldier – His Personal Items”, I show one of these sets (see pictures). Also, in the Gettysburg NPS Museum collection, there is part of one of these utensils which was recovered from the Gettysburg Battlefield (see pictures).

This display is very unique being that it shows how a utensil started and the results of being under ground for many years. It comes in the glass top display case pictured.