Outstanding group of wartime and post-war ephemera identified to Charles B. Newcomb, Jr. of the 4th Battery Massachusetts Light Artillery. Most notably the group contains a letter “O” from the battery's original flag, accompanied by a note, as well as Newcomb's circa-1861 “Form For Examining A Recruit” and his circa-1864 veteran re-enlistment muster sheet.



Group includes two newspaper clippings reporting on a reunion of the 4th Battery and a leather-bound Portfolio of Personal, Military, and Civil History. The portfolio houses a post-war portrait of Newcomb in his GAR uniform, certificate of membership in the Soldiers & Sailors Historical and Benevolent Society, and a fold-out Certificate of Record outlining his wartime service.



Charles B. Newcomb, Jr. was a 24-year old cabinet maker from Salem, MA, when he enlisted as a private on 9/17/1861. He was mustered in two months later and promoted to corporal upon his re-enlistment on 1 /4/1864. Following the war, Newcomb was a member of Philip H. Sheridan GAR Post #34 in Salem. The 4th Battery MA Light Artillery was one of many New England organizations to be sent west. The battery served in the Department of the Gulf for the duration of the war.



[Civil War, Union, Confederate, Relic]