Very colorful piece with spread winged eagle at top and panoply of flags. This is surmounted by 13 gold stars. Beneath the eagle is a US shield with the word “ARTILLERY” written diagonally across its face. The shield is flanked by a naval battle scene on one side and by a Cavalry charge on the other. Below all of the above is a cream colored box with black text flanked by two Corinthian columns. The columns are wreathed with rows of laurel with the different Union Army Corps badges in between the rows. Outside of the left hand column is a sailor with drawn sword climbing over a ships railing while outside of the right column there is a cavalryman mounting his horse. Bottom center has a bust portrait of President Abraham Lincoln. Two battle scenes flank this portrait. One focuses on the artillery and the other on the infantry.

The text at center tells of the service of John F. Byard of Hampton’s Battery, Independent Battery F, Pennsylvania Light Artillery. The text says that Comrade Byard served with the battery during the Petersburg Campaign at Weldon Railroad and Reams Station and through to the end of it’s service. The very bottom reads “DEDICATED BY COMRADE BYARD TO THE MEMORY OF HIS DECEASED WIFE JANE AND PRESENTED TO THEIR DAUGHTER MURL BYARD, OCT. 1911.” This document is in good condition with light waviness on edges from having been rolled at one time. There are also three minor vertical creases near the top edge. The colors are all bright and the ink of the text is very good. Brown frame is modern. Frame meas. approx. 25.75 x 31.75.

John F. Byard was born in 1844 and enlisted in Battery F as a Private on August 13, 1864. He served in all the actions of the battery until he was mustered out June 26, 1865 at Washington, D.C. He died in 1919 and is buried in Mt. Vernon Cemetery in Elizabeth, PA.