This is it! One of the main staples of a Civil War soldier’s diet. The hardtack cracker.

This original and near complete cracker meas. approx. 3.00 x 3.00 inches and is 3/8 of an inch thick with five parallel lines of air holes, in alternating in rows of three and two, for a total of thirteen.

One corner of the cracker is slightly chipped and on the face there are some pock marks where higher areas of the crackers surface has chipped off. The reverse surface is in nicer condition.

The cracker has no cracks or weak spots.

An excellent example overall.

Ott Shields amassed one of the earliest and well known collections of Gettysburg artifacts.  In 1918, he opened a private museum that featured the “Shields Collection,” one of the few documented Gettysburg collections obtained by local families (Rosensteel; Danner; Wert; Mumper; Ziegler, etc.).  The Shields Museum closed in the 1980s and the collection was sold at auction on November 16, 1985.  Offering over 600 lots “comprised mostly of Gettysburg battlefield pick-up relics,” the auction attracted several hundred Civil War collectors, dealers, and museum buyers.  [AD]

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