RARE - Iron Martingale Heart from the Rose Woods, Gettysburg, Shields Museum

This is a very unique piece being offered; it is an iron martingale measuring 3 ¼” x 3 ½”. They were attached to the leather straps and used to limit the height to which the horse can raise its head. It was found many years ago at the Rose Woods, Gettysburg.

The Rose Farm was at the center of some of the fiercest fighting of the war on the second day of the battle, July 2, 1863. The farm included the Stony Hill and the Rose Woods. It also included a twenty acre field where over 20,000 men engaged in brutal and often hand-to-hand combat. Over six thousand men were killed or wounded there. Ever since it has been known simply as “The Wheatfield”. Alexander Gardner took some of the most famous photographs after the battle here (see pictures).

It was once part of the Shields Museum Collection, located on the First Day’s Battlefield by the Reynolds equestrian statue (see pictures). Arthur “OTT” Shield’s opened a Civil War Museum west of Gettysburg along route 30 near the Reynold’s Monument in 1925. The Shields family would operate the Museum until the “NPS” acquired the property in 1985. The Collection was sold by Redding Auctions, Gettysburg in November 1985.

This is a 100% Gettysburg relic and has great provenance by originating at the Shield’s Museum. I discuss the Rose Woods and the Shield’s Museum in my book “Battle of Gettysburg – The Relics, Artifacts & Souvenirs” (see pictures).