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SILVER MOUNTED PRESENTATION WOOD FIFE OF EUGENE JEWELL 18th OHIO: CAPTURED AT STONES RIVER; HE SERVED BESIDE TWO OF HIS SONS, AND UNDER ONE OF THEM!

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This is not only a real, identified Civil War fife—in contrast to the vast sea of postwar and even wartime fifes out there with bogus inscriptions and stampings- but also a great piece of Civil War military folk-art: silver-mounted, inscribed and presented to company musician Eugene William Jewell by Company C 18^th Ohio Volunteers on July 24^th, 1863. This followed his return from captivity after being taken prisoner at Stones River (Murfreesboro) on Dec. 31, 1862, and also bears some inscriptions he apparently added to reflect service in the Chickamauga campaign as well. The fife may have been a replacement for one lost at Stones River and something of a welcome back present. It may also have been a joking consolation prize: a young son serving as a musician in another company of the regiment had been promoted over him, to be the regiment’s Principal Musician or Drum Major, and was now Jewell’s commander.

The wood body of the fife was mounted with silver ferrules either end, with another around the embouchure hole, and nine convex silver bands or rings, pinned in place, spaced out along the length of the fife securing a long rectangular silver plaque inlet and pierced for the six tone holes, and also securing an ovoid plaque with tapered ends, just forward of the embouchure (breathing) hole. The plaque around the embouchure hole is engraved just under the embouchure hole with flourishes and foliate motifs, and the words, “The flower of Negly’s Division / Presented to E.W. Jewell” with the ovoid plaque just forward of it engraved, “By Co. C 18^th OVI / July 24^th 1863” amid flourishes. The “flower of Negley’s division” clearly refers back to the company and regiment, though may have been intentionally humorous by putting it close to Jewell’s name. Underneath Jewell’s name on plate around the embouchure hole is also engraved “Stone River Tenn / Hoovers Gap / Elk-River” in slightly different lettering. The engagements refer to his capture at Stone’s River, but also to the Tullahoma Campaign, in which the unit took part after Jewell’s return and which forced Bragg out of middle Tennessee and back on Chattanooga. These took place before the presentation date and were likely done at the same time. The fife also includes some battle honors or locations added shortly afterward to chronicle campaigns in the rest of 1863 in which he took part: the rear ferrule is engraved “Chickamauga Ga” and “CHATTANNOOGA / TENN” amid flourishes, which refer to events after the presentation. The ferrule at the tip is engraved “Davis’ Cross Roads / Ga.” in a flowing ribbon scroll- a battle fought on Sept. 10-11, 1863, as part of the Chickamauga campaign. Similarly, the end of the rectangular silver plate over the tone holes is engraved, “Crawfish Spring Ga.” amid flourishes, which is another reference local to Chickamauga, being the site of major U.S. field hospitals for the two divisions of the 20^th Corps during the battle and the location of the major hospital depot for the entire army. It may have been a meaningful spot for Jewell  from the usual assignment of musicians to aid the medical staff during engagements. Given the references to Chickamauga and Chattanooga, those parts of the inscription were likely added during the siege of US forces bottled up there from September to November 1863. They could have been added after the siege was lifted, when the regiment was still posted

Eugene William Jewell was born in 1822 in Pennsylvania and moved to Ohio, where he married in 1845 and is listed as shoemaker in available census records. The couple had at least ten children, at least nine of whom survived to adulthood, being listed on an 1897 pension application. He enrolled in the army on Aug. 19, 1861, at Camp Wool, near Athens, Ohio, and mustered in September 6 as a musician in Company C , 18^th Ohio Volunteer Infantry. His eldest son, William G. Newell, then just 15 years old (and perhaps even just 14,) signed up about the same time, mustering in to Co. B of the 18^th also as a musician on Sept. 24, certainly with his father’s permission given his age.

The regiment would serve in the Army of the Ohio to November 1862, and then in the Army of the Cumberland, as part of the 14^th Corps to November 1863 and the Engineer Brigade to November 1864, when it reorganized as a Veteran regiment at Chattanooga. During that service it saw action at Stones River (Murfreesboro,) the Tullahoma Campaign, the Battle of Chickamauga, the Siege of Chattanooga, and the Battles of Orchard Knob and Missionary Ridge, followed by engineer duty at Chattanooga. After reorganization as a veteran regiment, it continued to perform engineer duty at Chattanooga, but was summoned to Nashville in response to Hood’s invasion and took part in the Battle of Nashville in December 1864, remaining there afterwards until muster out in October 1865.

Company muster rolls sometimes do not state whether he was present or absent, but Jewell  was presumably present until the Aug 31 – Dec 31 1862 roll, which lists him as missing in action at the Battle of Stone’s River on Dec. 31. This was modified on subsequent rolls making clear that he had been captured. He was transported to Richmond and imprisoned there until paroled at City Point, VA, on Jan. 26, 1863, reported to parole camp on Jan. 27 (to await exchange.) He was then sent to the parole camp at Camp Chase, Ohio, on March 10, reporting there on March 22, received a furlough home for a time, and was sent back to the Army of the Cumberland from Camp Chase on June 2, 1863. He is marked as present with his company from that point forward, including being mustered out on Jan. 31, 1864, and being mustered back in as veteran volunteer on Feb. 1, all the way to November 1864, when he is transferred to Company B of the new 18^th Ohio Veteran Volunteers as part the consolidation of its companies and transfer into the regiment of reenlisted men from other Ohio units. He is marked as absent sick on the Nov-Dec roll, present sick on the Jan-Feb 1865 roll, simply present again for March-April, then absent sick in hospital at Nashville from May 31, 1865, and lastly transferred sometime soon after to a U.S.A. General Hospital at Camp Dennison, OH, from which he was discharged for disability on July 14, 1865.

His son William, who had enlisted as a musician in Company I at age 15 on Sept. 24, 1861,  and had been promoted to Principal Musician on July 1, 1863, did not reenlist as a veteran and was discharged November 9, 1864. Another son, Jonathan, perhaps determined to keep an eye on the old man, signed up in Company H on February 15, 1865, and served until muster out from the veteran regiment on October 9, 1865.

Jewell’s service files and an extensive pension file chronicling his postwar efforts from the 1870s to the 1890s to receive a disability pension, or increase, for injuries to his health incurred in the service are included with the fife.  [sr][ph:L]

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