Zouave Sergeant's Jacket,, 146th NY

[cannonmn]

Photos and description of a very nice example:

http://gs19.inmotionhosting.com/~milita ... /read/9375

[Bob Huntoon]

Was working a personal collection many years ago and was measuring and sketching a 146th jacket in the collection = found the hidden pockets and found a twist of tobacco, and several period wooden matches. Looking further at construction details, I found the original owners' name in the sleeve cap. Showed the owner the stuff from the pockets and gave him the name - NONE of which he knew about!

A few weeks after my research, Howie Madaus called me and told me that the owner had gotten the guys records from the National Archives -- turned out he was a Medal of Honor winner!

Crazy stuff.

Bob

[John Holland]

Bob -

That's a great story! Now, who was the MOH soldier?

JDH

[Bob Huntoon]

Geez, Johnnie, now I gotta go back into my notes!

Funny thing is, that is not the first time I have found out interesting stuff that the "owner" did not know about the piece thay had in their collection, which they could have known if they had only really looked at the items.

Some collectors are caught up in the "getting" and not so much in the owning and understanding. I DO have to say I truly appreciate those who own interesting items allowing them to be viewed and researched by those of a scholarly bent.

The Zouave jacket sticks in my head because the discovery lead to such an awesome result.

Digger

[John Holland]

Bob,

I agree with you about sharing things of interest with others who may be interested. Although, sometimes we hit a brick wall we didn't expect to exist. Example in point: About 15 years ago I took an ID'd Rush's Lance to the Fort....no Jackie didn't appreciate it....took it to the camp of the N-SSA's 6th PA Cavalry thinking they would enjoy seeing such a rare relic from their famous unit. Their response? "Oh, that's nice." End of conversation.

JDH

[Joe Plakis, 9575V]

Goes to show that not all are buffs some just shooters!

[John Holland]

You're right Joe, sadly not all of our members are interested in the American Civil War and the veterans thereof, whose memory we honor and preserve.

And yet there I was, fulfilling the objectives of the By-Laws, Article 1, Section 2: B, C, and D.

Not only was the Rush's Lance ID'd, I had the research with it. I returned it to it's place of hohor in another collection, and there it stays to this day.

Of course, none of that will even get me a cup of coffee at "Timmy Ho's"!

JDH