A very nice condition Civil War soldier’s stencil reading, “O. Sidensparker, / Co. B. 24^th Me. Reg’t.” These were privately purchased by or for soldiers to mark their personal possessions and were made using a thin sheet of metal punched with the appropriate information, folded over a slightly thicker metal frame, and usually supplied with a small brush and bottle of ink. They were thoughtful gifts, though probably lost some of their novelty for the soldier after marking whatever personal items were at hand.

Oliver Sidensparker mustered into Co. B of the 24^th Maine as a private on October 13, 1862, giving his residence as Warren and his age as 25, the same day, location, company and regiment as his younger brother Mark, age 22. They were among the five children of Jacob and Belinda Sidensparker, who owned a farm in Warren, Knox County, Maine. The regiment mustered into US service for nine months on October 16 and reported to General Banks in New York for his expedition to Louisiana, embarking for New Orleans on January 12, 1863, and arriving there on February 14.

They were posted first to Bonnet Carre, 40 miles above New Orleans, on Feb. 26 and then ordered to Port Hudson on May 21. They took part in the entirety of the siege and were in the assaults of May 27 and June 14, though with light casualties in Banks’s failed effort to open up the Mississippi River from the south. The place held out until early July, when Grant solved the problem at Vicksburg further to the north and the 24th left for home in later that month, arriving in Augusta, ME, on August 6 and mustering out August 25.

The regiment lost just 10 men wounded during the siege by CWData’s count, but paid a heavy toll to sickness and disease, losing some 184 officers and men according to their summary history in The Union Army.  Both Sidensparker brothers made it home. Oliver apparently headed west after the war, or at least after his army service, and died in August 1867 at Canyon City, Grant County, Oregon. A Sept. 5, 1923, newspaper article recording the 37^th Annual Reunion of Co. B of the 24^th Maine, lists Mark Sidensparker as one of ten survivors and says he sent a letter regret from Florida that he could not attend.

Soldier’s stencils are a great example of the personal items one might find in a Civil War soldier’s haversack or knapsack. This one is in excellent condition.  [sr] [ph:L]

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