GROUPING ID’D TO MEDAL OF HONOR WINNER SAMUEL C. WRIGHT, 29TH MASSACHUSETTS INFANTRY

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Item Code: 457-19H

Samuel Cole Wright was born September 29, 1842 in Plympton, Massachusetts. He was listed as an 18 year old farmer when he enlisted as in Co. “E”, 29th Massachusetts Infantry on May 22, 1861. Prior to this he served in the 3rd Massachusetts Militia which was amalgamated with the 29th. The regiment’s first stop was Newport News where it witnessed the battle in Hampton Roads between the USS Monitor and the CSS Virginia. Then in June, the 29th joined the Army of the Potomac and was assigned to the 2nd Corps where it fought alongside the Irish Brigade. During the Peninsula Campaign, Wright received the first of three wounds. At White Oak Swamp on June 30, 1862 he was struck in the head by a shell fragment but remained with his regiment.

Wright, now a sergeant, next faced battle at Antietam. It was here in the attack on Bloody Lane that Wright received his second wound and the Medal of Honor. This second wounding of Wright was a bullet through both legs. Just before the battle of Fredericksburg, where the 29th saw little action, then regiment was transferred to the 9th Corps. It was present for the surrender of Vicksburg and then was active in Tennessee. In January of 1864, Wright reenlisted and became a veteran. Wright’s next wound was at Cold Harbor where on June 3rd he was hit in the left arm but again remained with his regiment. At Petersburg on July 30th during the attack on the Crater, Wright was shot in the right eye and left for dead. After being brought in and sent to Howard Hospital the bullet was removed from his skull. Wright kept it as a souvenir wearing it as a watch fob. He was discharged on February 3, 1865. He lived until 1906.

After the war, Wright had one of the largest and most valuable private collections of artifacts from the war in the country. The collection was later sold by Norm Flayderman in 1962.

The items in this grouping are an early photograph of the flag of the 29th with battle honors mounted on card stock; a display tag reading, “COLLECTION OF WAR RELICS BELONGING TO S.C. WRIGHT OF POST 2, G.A.R., 478 4th STREET, SOUTH BOSTON, MASS.”; another display tag reading, “CUP AND SAUCER FROM THE KEARSARGE ON THE SHIP DURING FIGHT WITH THE ALABAMA”; the actual insurance policy from The Springfield Fire & Marine Insurance Company which insured the collection for two thousand dollars, and several pages of typed lists of the items and their values, a copy of a newspaper article about visitors who viewed the collection, the actual newspaper obituary of Wright dated July 14, 1906; a handwritten list by Wright of some of the items; copy of the cover of the book and two pages that Wright listed the items in, titled, “LIST OF HISTORY OF WAR RELICS BELONGING TO S. WRIGHT, photographs of Wright’s canes; and two copies of Norm Flayderman’s catalogs, No. 56 and No. 74 which feature items from the Wright collection.

Items included in the Wright collection were two canes made of wood from the Antietam Battlefield, guns, swords and Bowie knives from various battlefields, piece of flag staff from Ft. Sumpter, piece of Jefferson Davis’ bed post, complete letters written by Lincoln and many Union generals, shackles and handcuffs worn by Dr. Mudd, bullets and cannonballs from several battlefields, Confederate flag captured at Bull Run, piece of rope that hung Captain Wirz, plus many, many more interesting relics. It must have been fascinating for those who got to view the Wright collection and hear him tell the stories from the viewpoint of a soldier who experienced the war.  [SM]

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