Item Number: M00473

Item Title: Blacksmith tongs picked up on Confederate retreat route

Price: $85

Shipping: Not included

Provenance: US/CS

Model:

Type:

Book:

Location Recovered: Powhattan, VA

Description:9 or 10 years ago I went to an old farmstead in the Powhattan, Virigina area. Fred Schneider and some others had gotten a Confederate limber chest out of a barn there and told me that the fellow had other relics from the war. He sure did.

The Army of Northern Virginia had retreated this way in the final days. A shortage of mules caused them to dump and burn 100 or so wagons. They salvaged what they could, but left piles of smoldering stores along the banks of the river there.

Over the years, local families picked up and re-purposed what they could. This family had a pile of tools, mostly from travelling forges up to above my waist. I got a bushel basket full and still have half a dozen in my collection to this day.

This is one of them and 21" long. Opening and closing is stiff but works.