Description

Please visit our eBay store for a complete list of in-stock Civil War relics organized by recovery location. We are working as partners in conjunction with Gettysburg Relics to offer some very nice American Civil War relics for sale. The owner of Gettysburg Relics was the proprietor of Artifact at 777 on Cemetery Hill in Gettysburg for a number of years, and we are now selling exclusively on eBay. THE BATTLE OF CHANTILLY, VIRGINIA (THE BATTLE OF OX HILL) - RECOVERED ON THE BALLARD FARM - THE SECOND MANASSAS CAMPAIGN - FROM THE BILL GAVIN COLLECTION - This relic was recovered from the Chantilly VA (The Battle of Ox Hill) Battlefield, and was specifically found on The Ballard Farm - this blown brass top or section of an unknown artillery shell fuse was dug by metal detecting pioneer, Bill Gavin - If you know exactly what this came off of, please let us know. On first inspection, it looked like it could be from a Hotchkiss shell fuse, however it is lacking any holes. One end is clearly sheered away from the explosion. There are no markings. We next suspected that it could be, due to the horseshoe shape, the thin perforated iron plug “e” that was coated with tin and pressed into the bottom of the “booster charge” horseshoe retaining plug, however it very clear that this is not the correct size or material, being brass. A very interesting relic with great provenance. A Civil War relic section of a blown brass artillery shell fuse . The photographed tags were included with the grouping, but are not included with this relic as they were the only tags with the grouping of artifacts. This artifact was recovered at the site of the Battle of Chantilly, Virginia , also known as The Battle of Ox Hill, which was part of the Second Manassas Campaign . This relic was a part of the collection of the famous relic hunter Bill Gavin . Bill Gavin (1924-2010) was the first relic hunter to use a metal detector to search for Civil War artifacts (back in the 1940s - the first location was Cold Harbor in 1946, following his graduation from West Point (Class of 1946). Bill amassed a huge collection of items in the decades that followed. He wrote four books, including the well-know "Accoutrement Plates North and South, 1861-1865" and several articles and was well respected for his knowledge in the field. He passed away in 2010. A provenance letter will be included with this relic. 'The historic Reid-Ballard House once stood 140 yards west-northwest of this marker. The original log structure was built by Joseph Reid before the Revolution on land inherited by his wife, Barbara Walker Reid. The house and land passed to succeeding generations of Reids and upon his death in 1860, Col. John Reid willed the house, 143 acres and two slaves, Daniel and Harriet, to his granddaughter, Mary Lillie Reid Thrift. On September 1, 1862, during the Second Manassas Campaign, the Reid farmhouse was a prominent landmark in the Battle of Ox Hill or Chantilly. Union infantry led by Gens. Isaac Stevens and Philip Kearny advanced from the vicinity of this house to engage the Confederates of Gen. Stonewall Jackson. From positions near the Reid House, Federal artillery supported the attack, shelling Confederates in the woods at the north end of the Reid farm fields. During the battle, the Reid House sheltered wounded Union soldiers who later were carried to the Millan place, known as Oakley, where a field hospital was established. In 1874 Mary Thrift married former Confederate Lt. John N. Ballard, a veteran of Mosby’s 43rd Battalion Virginia Cavalry. At the Reid – now Ballard House, the Ballards raised seven children, worked the farm, known as Fruit Vale, and became prominent citizens of Fairfax County. In 1915, the Ballards deeded a 50x100-foot lot for the erection of monuments to Generals Kearny and Stevens who were killed in the battle. The monuments can be found 435 yards northeast of this marker. On the morning of September 1, Pope ordered Maj. Gen. Edwin V. Sumner of the II Corps, Army of the Potomac, to send a brigade north to reconnoiter; the army's cavalry was too exhausted for the mission. But at the same time, he continued his movement in the direction of Washington, sending McDowell's corps to Germantown (on the western border of modern-day Fairfax, Virginia), where it could protect the important intersection of Warrenton Pike and Little River Turnpike that the army needed for the retreat. He also sent two brigades from Maj. Gen. Jesse L. Reno's IX Corps, under the command of Brig. Gen. Isaac Stevens, to block Jackson. Maj. Gen. Philip Kearny's division from the III Corps followed later that afternoon. Jackson resumed his march to the south, but his troops were tired and hungry and made poor progress as the rain continued. They marched only three miles and occupied Ox Hill, southeast of Chantilly Plantation, and halted, while Jackson himself took a nap. All during the morning, Confederate cavalry skirmished with Union infantry and cavalry. At about 3 p.m., Stevens' division arrived at Ox Hill. Despite being outnumbered, Stevens chose to attack across a grassy field against Brig. Gen. Alexander Lawton's division in the Confederate center. The Union attack was initially successful, routing the brigade of Colonel Henry Strong and driving in the flank of Captain William Brown, with Brown killed during the fighting. The Union division was driven back following a counterattack by Brig. Gen. Jubal Early's brigade. Stevens was killed during this attack about 5 p.m. by a shot through his temple. The Death of General Kearny A severe thunderstorm erupted about this time, resulting in limited visibility and an increased dependence on the bayonet, as the rain soaked the ammunition of the infantry and made it useless. Kearny arrived about this time with his division to find Stevens' units disorganized. Perceiving a gap in the line he deployed Brig. Gen. David B. Birney's brigade on Stevens's left, ordering it to attack across the field. Birney managed to maneuver close to the Confederate line but his attack stalled in hand-to-hand combat with Maj. Gen. A.P. Hill's division. Kearny mistakenly rode into the Confederate lines during the battle and was killed. As Kearny's other two brigades arrived on the field, Birney used the reinforcements as a rear guard as he withdrew the remainder of the Union force to the southern side of the farm fields, ending the battle. That night, Longstreet arrived to relieve Jackson's troops and to renew the battle in the morning. The lines were so close that some soldiers accidentally stumbled into the camps of the opposing army. The Union army withdrew to Germantown and Fairfax Court House that night, followed over the next few days by retreating to the defenses of Washington. The Confederate cavalry attempted a pursuit but failed to cause significant damage to the Union army. The fighting was tactically inconclusive. Although Jackson's turning movement was foiled and he was unable to block the Union retreat or destroy Pope's army, National Park Service historians count Chantilly as a strategic Confederate victory because it neutralized any threat from Pope's army and cleared the way for Lee to begin his Maryland Campaign. The Confederates claimed a tactical victory as well because they held the field after the battle. Two Union generals were killed, while one Confederate brigade commander was killed. Pope, recognizing the attack as an indication of continued danger to his army, continued his retreat to the fortifications around Washington, D.C. Lee began the Maryland Campaign, which culminated in the Battle of Antietam, after Pope retreated from Virginia. The Army of the Potomac, under Maj. Gen. George B. McClellan, absorbed the forces of Pope's Army of Virginia, which was disbanded as a separate army. The Battlefield today The site of the battle, once rural farmland, is now surrounded by suburban development in Fairfax County. The modern thoroughfares of U.S. Route 50 (Lee-Jackson Memorial Highway) and State Route 286 (Fairfax County Parkway), as well as State Route 608 (West Ox Road) intersect near the location of the battle. A 4.8 acre (19,000 m²) memorial park, the Ox Hill Battlefield Park, is located off of West Ox Road and lies adjacent to the Fairfax Towne Center shopping area, and includes most of the Gen. Isaac Stevens portion of the battle, about 1.5% of the total ground. The park is under the jurisdiction of the Fairfax County Park Authority; in January 2005, the Authority approved a General Management Plan and Conceptual Development Plan that sets forth a detailed history and future management framework for the site. A small yard located within the nearby Fairfax Towne Center has been preserved to mark the area crossed by Confederate troops to get to the Ox Hill battlefield.' We include as much documentation with the relics as we possess. This includes copies of tags if there are original identification tags, additional maps, as well as a signed letter of provenance with the specific recovery information. All of the collections that we are offering for sale are guaranteed to be authentic and are either older recoveries, found before the 1960s when it was still legal to metal detect battlefields, or were recovered on private property with permission. Some land on Battlefields that are now Federally owned, or owned by the Trust, were acquired after the items were recovered. We will not sell any items that were recovered illegally, nor will we sell any items that we suspect were recovered illegally. Thank you for viewing!