Object Record
Images
Metadata
Object Name |
Breastplate, Armor |
Catalog Number |
0985.06.00019, a |
Description |
Four-piece breastplates (or cuirass) of sheet iron with hinged sheet iron tassets. On left shoulder strap, stamped, "Patent applied for". On right shoulder strap, stamped, "Atwater Armor Co. New Haven Conn". Each piece stamped, "3CC", except the hinges are stamped, "3". Complete set of armor, with one lower hinge broken and two upper hinges bent. |
Material |
metal (steel) |
Dimensions |
H-25.5 inches |
Owned |
unidentified Union officer; unidentified Confederate soldier |
Owner Regiment |
5th New York Cavalry |
Made |
Atwater Armour Company, New Haven, Connecticut, USA |
Event |
First Battle of Winchester |
Provenance |
The breastplate was taken from a Major with the 5th New York Cavalry on May 24, 1862 during the First Battle of Winchester. The armor was brought to then Colonel Bradley T. Johnson by one of his men. This armor was captured during Jackson's Valley campaign. Private Randolph Fairfax, 1st Battery, Rockbridge (Virginia) Artillery, wrote of breastplates in the Shenandoah Valley in two letters: 1) to his brother Bert dated May 27, 1862, "Among the spoils I have seen two of those Yankee breast plates that they talk so much about. They were of different patterns. One a simple steel plate, and the other had joints and came down over the hips. Unfortunately for the owners, they had no plates behind where they were most needed." 2) to his sister Jenny dated June 7, 1862, "You have read I suppose of the Yankee breastplates. I saw two at Winchester. They are strong steel plates, so fixed that a ball glances instead of piercing. Unfortunately they had them on the wrong place." Steel vests were not standard issue during the Civil War, but were sold by private sutlers that followed the armies on their campaigns. However, the armor was heavy, hot, ineffective at close range, and likely to elicit ridicule or charges of cowardice from fellow soldiers. |
People |
unidentified Union officer unidentified Confederate soldier Johnson, Bradley Tyler |
Search Terms |
First Battle of Winchester found on battlefield items captured by Confederate soldiers items captured from Union soldiers items taken by Confederate soldiers items taken from Union soldiers Shenandoah Valley Campaign, 1862 United States Army |
Subjects |
Armor |