$2,706
Blanket Carried by Samuel G. Gilbreth, 1st Company of Massachusetts Sharpshooters, c. 1861-64, gray and white stripes, with red, white, and blue stripes on each end, with a paper museum tag which reads "Carried by: Samuel G. Gilbreth/1st Co. Independent Mass. Sharpshooters." Provenance: The collection of Denis E. Reen. Note: Purchased from the family in Massachusetts. Samuel Gilbreth enlisted in September of 1861 as a private. On October 22, 1863, he was promoted to 1st Lieutenant, and was killed in action at Petersburg, Virginia, on June 18th, 1864. From: Alden C. Ellis, Jr., The Massachusetts Andrew Sharpshooters; A Civil War History and Roster (Jefferson, NC and London: McFarland & Company, Inc., Publishers 2012. The Company Record states that Lieutenant Gilbreth was killed by a ball in the face. In Harvard's Civil War: A History of the Twentieth Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry , Richard Miller sheds more light on his death: ".. [A] man of extraordinary coolness and daring. There was no reason to question either judgment, but on the afternoon of 18 (June) the lanky sharpshooter's virtues had become something else. Firing had tapered off along the Twentieth Massachusetts front as men warily eyed the opposing breastworks. Suddenly a Confederate [s]harpshooter, his mind warped no less than a few of his blue counterparts, leaped onto his parapet and challenged any Federal sharpshooter to a duel. Lieutenant Gilbreth decided to oblige. Probably at some arranged signal, b Read more…
Auctioneer:
Skinner
Date:
2015-10-30
