Pvt. Stockwell's Rifle Musket

From the September 2013 Smithsonian Magazine "From the Castle" by G. Wayne Clough.

This 1863 Springfield rifle musket was once owned by Private Elisha Stockwell Jr, who lied about his age and enlisted in the Union Army at age 15. He took a cannister shot in the arm and a bullet in his shoulder at the Battle of Shiloh in 1862.

He recovered and was around for General Sherman's campaign to capture Atlanta.

Then, at age 81 and nearly blind, finally got around to writing about his wartime experience. As to the wounds at Shiloh, he wrote: "I thought my arm was gone, but I rolled on my right side and...couldn't see anything wrong with it."

Spotting ripped flesh, a lieutenant ordered Stockwell to sit out a charge which possibly saved his life.

Private Stockwell's rifle is part of the Smithsonian's American History Museum's 5,700 firearm collection.

--Old Secesh