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UNITED CONFEDERATE VETERANS PAINT-DECORATED DRUM- C.S. NATIONAL FLAGS, SHIELD, LIBERTY CAP; MOUNTED WITH PHOTO OF DRUMMER; WITH DRUMSTICKS

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The drum is a rod tension snare drum 12 inches tall and 16-1/2 inches in diameter. The rims, heads, and screw tightened snare are intact and in place, with the snare showing just two or three loose strands. The 8 tightening rods with screw adjusted clamps are in place. In an extra, decorative touch the rods were each painted red, white or blue. The body is a natural maple color. The rims have a small carrying ring anchored by a staple on the upper rim and were painted black. This has flaked, more on the lower rim than the top, exposing the lighter, natural wood underneath, giving a not unpleasing leopard or alligatored effect of black on a subdued gold.

The front of the body is decorated with a painted oblong Confederate States shield with orange border and red body with white-edged blue St. Andrew’s cross bearing thirteen white stars. This is superimposed on four Confederate flags draping out to the sides: a battleflag at left front, a First National at right front, a “Bonnie-Blue,” single white star on blue field, at left rear, and a Second National at right rear. (The latter could be a Third National, but the fly end is not visible.) Rising from the center rear is a blue Liberty Cap on a pole. At bottom is an orange ribbon scroll edged in black, with gilt highlighted black lettering: “1862 / U.C.V. / 1882” with some black accents underneath. The paint is in very good condition, with just some rubbing to U and C at center of the ribbon, a little to the tail end at left on the battleflag, and some loss to the blue around the white star on the “Bonnie-Blue,” with small bits of flaking to the blue Liberty cap and to the white of the Second National along the top edge of the shield in front of it. On the whole the decoration shows off very well, with the paint bright and the details clear. The drum is accompanied by a pair of drumsticks, showing good finish, with the upper third dark brown, shading to light brown toward the tips.

Pasted on the drum is an old photograph, looking to have been removed from a period newspaper or reunion booklet, showing a bearded Confederate veteran, with gray uniform coat and kepi, posed with a very similar drum, holding drumsticks and wearing reunion ribbons and badges. He is posed in front of a Confederate flag that bears some partially visible lettering. To the upper left “w… / CA…” is visible; at left “…O.”; and at bottom “…M / TE..” Our best guess is that this shows at upper left the name of the UCV “CAMP,” with the camp number “[N]O.” at left and the digits hidden by the figure, with the location at bottom, with the town starting with an “M” and the state a “TE.” There was a “W.B. Tate” camp in Morristown, TN, but we cannot rule out others in that state or even in Texas for that matter. (One member of our staff thinks there is a “Mc”  before the “M” and has her money on “McMinnville, Tennessee,” but bets are still being placed.)

More promising seems to be the name clearly visible through the vent hole on an old paper label: “Geo. Wohltman” in brown ink, pasted over what just could be “George Wohtlman” in pencil. This has been incorrectly transcribed, with some misspellings thrown in, on an old display card: “UNINTED CONFEDERATE /VETERAN’S DRUM 1882 / PERSONELL DRUM OF / GEO. WOHLYMAN U.C.V.”

We have not satisfactorily identified the owner. Two Wohltmans show up as Confederate soldiers- one from Georgia and another from South Carolina, but neither are named George and both seem to have died in the 1870s. We tried a number of reasonable spelling variations for the last name as well, to no avail. If the photograph pasted on the drum is actually the owner, membership is a Tennessee or Texas UCV camp might prove a lead. Equally puzzling is the 1862 /1882 date and “U.C.V.” at bottom since that group was not officially organized until 1889. There were groups of Confederate veterans meeting long before that, however, so it possibly refers to the founding of what became a particular camp. The significance of the 1862 date is then puzzling. Debate here centers on whether it could be the date a particular Confederate unit was raised, whose members then became the core group of the later veterans’ camp.

There is thus room for further research, but the drum is colorful and impressive in any case and would make a great addition to a UCV collection or as a counterpoint to a similar G.A.R. drum in a veterans’ display.  [sr][ph:L]

Additional shipping charge required.

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