This porcelain soap dish belonged to Grafton Fenno, who served in the 71^st New York, the 165^th New York and the 3^rd Massachusetts Cavalry.

The dish meas. approx. 5.00 x 3.75 x 1.50. The top surface is concave with floral designs in each corner and a snowflake pattern of 13 holes through which excess water drains into the bottom of the dish. Each side of the dish has a drain hole to let out the excess water captured.

Attached to the top side of the dish is an old piece of masking tape with a faded somewhat modern pen inscription. The inscription starts with a number that looks like “2 MC 30” and then reads “1861-1865 LT. GRAFTON FENNO SOAP DISH CARRIED THROUGH THE WAR.” Attached to the bottom of the soap dish is an earlier tag that is written out in very old ink that reads “THIS LITTLE SOAP DISH BELONGED TO 1^ST LIEUT. GRAFTON FENNO, 3^RD REGT. MASSACHUSETTS CAVALRY. HE WAS ALSO MEMBER OF CO.D OF SAID REGT. WAS PREVIOUSLY MEMBER OF CO. F, 71^ST REGT. NEW YORK STATE MILITIA. ALSO MEMBER OF CO. D, 165^TH REGT. NEW YORK VOLUNTEERS KNOWN AS THE 2^ND BAT. DURYEA’S ZOUAVES. ENLISTED APRIL 20, 1861. MUSTERED OUT 28 OF SEPT. 1865 EXPIR. OF SERVICE. Q.M. SGT. JULY 26, 1865.”

Grafton Fenno was born in Salem, Massachusetts. He enlisted as a Private in Company F, 71^st New York State Militia on May 27, 1862. With this regiment Fenno served in the defenses of Washington until mustered out on September 2, 1862.

Next Fenno enlisted as a Sergeant in Company D, 165^th New York. Fenno went with his regiment to New Orleans where they became part of the 19^th Corps. While with the regiment Fenno was reduced to ranks on April 18, 1863 and saw some service at Port Hudson before his discharge for disability on May 15, 1863.

On January 5, 1864 Fenno enlisted for a third time. He joined Company d, 3^rd Massachusetts Cavalry. With this regiment Fenno saw service at Sabine Crossroads, Alexandria and Morganzia, Louisiana. The regiment moved to Virginia and saw service at Winchester, Fisher’s Hill, Mount Jackson and Cedar Creek. On July 26, 1865 Fenno was promoted to Quartermaster Sergeant. He was mustered out on September 28, 1865.

After the war Fenno lived in Boston and was a member of the Charles Russell Lowell Post #7 of the GAR. He died in Westboro, Massachusetts on July 29, 1888. He is buried in Boston’s Mount Hope Cemetery.

Below is a short biography of Grafton Fenno from the history of the 3^rd Massachusetts Cavalry:

Lieutenant Fenno was the son of John Woodbridge and Anne F. (Grafton) Fenno. He was born in Salem Mass., February 5, 1827, and early in life was sent to Paris to be educated, Edward Everett being his guardian. He served for a time in Boston as clerk with E. F. Newhall & Co., and as assistant at the Merchants' Exchange Reading Room. In 1849, he sailed for San Francisco, and during his stay there, was for two years, a deputy sheriff. Afterward, when in Chicago, he helped organize the original Ellsworth Zouaves, and at the breaking out of the war, being then in New York, with the Continental Insurance Company, he promptly enlisted, serving through the struggle, and earning the rank of Brevet First Lieutenant in the Third Massachusetts Cavalry in Louisiana and Virginia.

After the war, he was in business in Boston and New York, and was for many years a member of Charles Russell Lowell Post, No. 7, G. A. R. It was Lieutenant Fenno who designed the monument now standing in the Post's lot at Mount Hope Cemetery, Boston, Mass., and it was at his suggestion that the visiting Fifth Maryland Regiment, in 1875, was presented on Boston Common, with an American flag — the first public overture of the Blue to the Gray. In 1868 Lieutenant Fenno married Miss Eliza A. Brooks, of Milford, N. H., who survives him. Lieutenant Fenno was connected with several military organizations. He was in the first battle of Bull Run, with the Seventy-first Regiment, N. G. State of New York. He was also a member of the 165th Regiment of New York Volunteers, known as the Second Battalion, Duryeas' Zouaves. He was a lineal descendant of Governor Thomas Dudley, who was four times Colonial Governor of Massachusetts Bay Colony. Lieutenant Fenno was room-mate of Colonel E. E. Ellsworth in Chicago, before the war.

He served the Regimental Association as secretary from 1873 to 1877. He died in Westboro on the 29th of July, 1888, and, at his request, was buried at Mount Hope Cemetery, under the shadow of the monument he designed in Post 7, G.A.R. lot.

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