Can you identify this image? Photo by the author.
This unidentified object, part of the Alexander Haight Family Collection, was found alongside a broken handcuff and chisel in western Fairfax County, Virginia. Speculation is that a fugitive, possibly a slave, possibly a captured soldier, hid in the woods and used the chisel to break through the handcuff, leaving this object behind with them. Please let us know if you can identify this object.
Longitudinal view of object showing size. Photo by the author.
View of object with "arms" wide open to reveal interior detail. Photo by the author.
The Alexander Haight family collection offers a glimpse of American history told through documents and artifacts once belonging to the Haight family. Correspondence among extended family members refer to the California Gold Rush, in which George Sweet (1821-1898) participated as an original “49er and includes letters from Union soldier John M. Young (1831-1864) to his wife and children. When the Civil War broke out in 1861, Alexander Haight and his wife Phebe, who had recently moved from Dutchess County, New York to Chantilly, Virginia, found themselves in a precarious position as Union sympathizers in the South. Documents in this collection such as army-issued passes allowing the Haights to cross the Virginia border, receipts for supplies provided to both the Union and Confederate Armies, and a letter from Union Major General Julius Stahel affirming Alexander Haight’s loyalty to the Union Army reveal just how precarious their position was.
In addition to correspondence and Civil War artifacts the collection contains old photographs, legal documents, and financial records dating as far back as 1764. Specific items of interest include Confederate bonds, a signed, hand-written letter from renowned journalist and New York Tribune-founder Horace Greeley, and an official order issued by General Stonewall Jackson on the day of the Battle of Chantilly (Ox Hill) prohibiting the theft or destruction of private property.
Text by Eron Ackerman.
Hi Bob! Eron posted this, and brought it to our attention. The object is a bullet mold; pour molten lead in the whole at the top when the mold is closed, let it cool, open it up, and knock out the bullets!
Thanks Rachel. We figured as much, but we like to have others weigh in on these.
bullet machine