Civil War Union Muster Roll
GUEST:
It came to me through my father. He bought it at an antique junk store in Fort Worth, Texas, back in the '50s. That's about the best I remember.
APPRAISER:
This is an original muster roll from the Civil War from the 134th Pennsylvania Volunteers. This was a one-year unit that was mustered in in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. And we've marked a couple things here-- notations that we want to talk about-- because these are all signatories to the original muster, and they're annotated with a little information about these guys. For example, here's one James Harley which I think was really nice. He'd mustered in originally and now he says "Rejected at Harrisburg." He obviously was unfit for service. Right below him, another fellow-- "Hiram Aley," it looks like-- "Withdrawn by his father." My guess is in his patriotic fervor, this young guy mustered in and said, "I'm going to join." His father found out and said, "Wait a minute-- you're only 14 years old; you can't do this." There are a number of people here that are annotated "Dead." This one's a really interesting guy and you've... what's his name?
GUEST:
Mr. Fish, Thomas Fish.
APPRAISER:
Mr. Fish, "Seven Balls through his Blouse at Fredericksburg." He was obviously severely shot up in that battle. And, in fact, this unit took part in the battles of Fredericksburg and Chancellorsville. And in Chancellorsville they were really shot up. They lost 38 men killed in the course of their service, four officers killed, and 68 died by disease, which is very typical of Civil War units. This was a hard-fighting unit but it was only in service for a year, which was very atypical. There are plenty of people that would collect these sorts of original muster rolls from this unit. The back has wood on it. You need to get rid of that wood. You probably ought to think about getting rid of this acidic wallpaper that it's sitting on and have it archivally reframed to take good care of it. I would estimate its value at somewhere between $400 to $600, $500 to $700, that range. It's got a great look.
GUEST:
Thanks for bringing it in today. Thank you, I appreciate it.
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