This item is from the collection of the Peter Miller Post #551 of the GAR. The Post was located in York Springs, Adams County, Pennsylvania and is believed to be named after Private Peter Miller of Company K, 1st Pennsylvania Reserves who was killed in action at South Mountain on September 14, 1862 and is now buried in Sunnyside Cemetery, York Springs.

Little information is known about the Post other than it closed sometime before 1925. In a letter accompanying the item collector Tom Gordon explains how he and his father found the relics from the Miller Post #551 in the 1970’s at the home of Civil War veteran David Starry. At the time the items were purchased the house was in the hands of Starry’s descendants. Mr. Starry had served in the 165th Pennsylvania Infantry and the 21st Pennsylvania Cavalry during the war and afterward joined the Peter Miller Post #551 of the GAR.

This relic is the forward section of a Civil War era hunting rifle. It has a full length octagon barrel with a drum conversion at the beach. Both the rear notch sight and the front blade sight remain. The ramrod is gone but the retaining pipes are present. Also present is the wood stock from the lockplate forward. The lockplate itself is gone but the cutout is visible. All metal surfaces are heavily rusted and the remaining wood is dry. Attached to the stock just forward of the cutout for the lock is a white paper label with a printed number “85” attached and in period ink is “GETTYSBURG, PENNA.”

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