Civil War Spencer Cartridges, recovered at Cedar Creek Battlefield

This is another nice item being offered, it is a pair of Civil War Spencer cartridges. They were dug by the late author, historian, and digger Dean Thomas in the 1980s. He recovered them at the Cedar Creek, Virginia Battlefield.

The Battle of Cedar Creek, fought on October 19, 1864, was the culminating battle of the Valley Campaign of 1864. Confederate General Jubal Early launched a surprise attack against the encamped army of General Philip Sheridan, across Cedar Creek, near Strasburg, Virginia.

During the morning fighting, seven Union infantry divisions were forced to fall back and lost numerous prisoners and cannons. Early failed to continue his attack north of Middletown, and Sheridan, dramatically riding to the battlefield from Winchester, was able to rally his troops to hold a new defensive line. A Union counterattack that afternoon routed Early's army.

At the conclusion of this battle, the final Confederate invasion of the North had effectively ended. The Confederacy was never again able to threaten Washington, D.C. through the Shenandoah Valley. While securing Sheridan with lasting fame, the battle ended the career of General Early. It also helped to assure the re-election of Abraham Lincoln, who needed a victory to inspire the war-weary North. Two future U.S. presidents, Rutherford B. Hayes and William McKinley served on the field at Cedar Creek, as did the future legendary General George Custer.

Although the brass shells are split, they are not “put togethers”, but just as he dug them. Dean was the expert on Civil War bullets and wrote many books about them, such as “Round Ball to Rimfire” (see pictures). They come in the glass top display case pictured.