CONFEDERATE ARTILLERY BREECH SIGHT-32 LB CANNON WITH ID TO MAJOR HENRY P. BOWDITCH – 1ST MASSACHUSETTS CAVALRY AND 5TH MASSACHUSETTS CAVALRY (COLORED)

$9,500.00 SOLD

Quantity Available: None

Item Code: 408-24

A brass scale with concave base to fit the breech of a 32 pounder cannon, captured by Major Henry P. Bowditch upon entering Richmond, Virginia 1865. The sight measures 17 3/8” overall and is graduated along the register into 8 degrees & 15’ in increments of 15’. The right side of the base is stamped “32. PDR. “The numerals are die stamped except for the “5”s which are hand punched (apparently that die was broken or unavailable at time of manufacture). A sliding notch sight, thumbscrew tightened, is present on the scale and has a matching ochre patina to the rest of the brass. The opposite side of the sight has been engraved at the bottom “RICHMOND-APRIL 3, 1865” and “H.P. BOWDITCH”.

A temperature scale has also been added ranging between minus 30 degrees and 133 degrees Fahrenheit and having certain specific temperatures marked “FREEZING”, “TEMPERATE”, “SUMr/ HEAT”, and “BLOOD/HEAT”. Apparently Bowditch converted the sight to a thermometer after the war and the impressions left by the brackets for holding the mercury tube are still visible at the top and bottom of the register.

Henry Pickering Bowditch was a 21 year old residing in Jamaica Plain, MA. Shortly after graduating from Harvard College, he enlisted on 11/5/61 as a 2nd Lieutenant. On 2/5/62 he was commissioned into Co. G, 1st Massachusetts Cavalry.  Promoted to 1st Lt. on 6/28/62, and to Captain on 5/13/63.  Listed as wounded on 11/27/63 at New Hope Church, VA. Discharged for disability on 2/15/64.  On 5/5/64 he re-enlisted and was commissioned a Major in the 5th Massachusetts Cavalry. He resigned on 6/3/65.

Bowditch, born into a wealthy family in Boston in 1840, had entered the Lawrence Scientific School to pursue studies in chemistry and natural history following his graduation from Harvard. However, once the call for soldiers went out following the outbreak of the Civil War, he put his academic pursuits on hold to serve his country. After resigning his commission in the 5th MA Cavalry in 1865 he returned to the Lawrence Scientific School.  He received his A.M. degree in 1866 and his M.D. from Harvard in 1868. Dr. Bowditch then travelled to Paris in pursuit of further scientific study, including histology and physiology.

With the financial backing of his father, a Boston merchant, he continued on to Leipzig for additional study in the field of physiology. While studying in Germany, he discovered the heart's "all or nothing' contractile property. In 1871 Bowditch was appointed an assistant professor of physiology at Harvard Medical School; he continued his studies on circulation, vasomotor control, neurophysiology and psychology. He also conducted a classic series of studies on the growth of children. He was very active in the Boston community – serving the Boston School Committee, the Boston Public Library, etc. He was the first nonclinical dean of the Harvard Medical School, and was one of the founders and first president of the American Physiological Society. In 1896, the year after the discovery of x-rays, he was one of the first in Boston to have an x-ray taken, which revealed the bullet fragments from his now more than 30 year old wound received during the Civil War.  Bowditch died on March 13, 1911 and is buried in Mount Auburn Cemetery, Cambridge, MA.

This is an extremely rare piece of equipment in its own right that was inscribed by an officer who rose to lofty academic heights after the war.

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Inquire About CONFEDERATE ARTILLERY BREECH SIGHT-32 LB CANNON WITH ID TO MAJOR HENRY P. BOWDITCH – 1ST MASSACHUSETTS CAVALRY AND 5TH MASSACHUSETTS CAVALRY (COLORED)

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