Civil War relics found in time capsule

Relics dating from the Civil War, but no treasure: the time capsule buried for 134 years under the base of the statue of Confederate General Robert Lee in Virginia unveiled its mysteries Tuesday, December 28 in Richmond, without satisfying the hopes of collectors Americans.

At the Virginia Department of Historic Resources Lab, they’re working to unseal the 1887 Confederate Time Capsule that was found inside the pedestal of Richmond’s Robert E. Lee statue. We’re expecting to learn what’s inside shortly @ 8NEWS pic.twitter.com/SKDIgv5uG3

– Jackie DeFusco (@ Jackie8News) December 22, 2021

Inside this capsule, the opening of which was the subject ofa live broadcast on social media, technicians from the Department of Historical Resources of the State of Virginia found, among other things, Minié bullets (Civil War ammunition between 1861 and 1865), notes and coins issued by the Confederate government, newspapers and magazines, an almanac dating from 1887, books, a Bible, and documents from Masonic lodges in the region.

Two small wood carvings – the Masonic symbols of the set square and the compass – and a Confederate flag were in an envelope. Experts say the wood carvings were carved from the tree that housed the tomb of Thomas “Stonewall” Jackson, a Confederate general. A bookmark with the drawn profile of General Lee was placed in one of the books. The box also contained a fragment of a bomb used in the Battle of Fredericksburg, won by the Southerners in 1862.

The most striking document remains a drawing representing a kneeling woman meditating in front of the coffin of Abraham Lincoln, assassinated on April 14, 1865. It had been published in the central double page of the review Harper’s weekly two weeks later. Observers, however, hoped to discover a photo of the American president presented as historical and which could have panicked the collectors market.