Document Sander Belonging To Captain James Kacey – 47th PA Volunteer Infantry

Document Sander Belonging To Captain James Kacey – 47th PA Volunteer Infantry.  The sander was a commonly used item for sprinkling an absorbent sand on freshly written documents, soaking up excess ink from the document, etc. to prevent smudging. The sander is 3 inches high and has decorative turnings, a starred spout, with various carvings; the largest being “47th Penna,” with some corps badges carved under the upper rim with include 2nd and 3rd Corps, with a few 24th Corps, followed by either a folky rendition of a king or Indian. The sand was filled by opening a cork plug from the bottom, and sealed some time ago with Kacey’s name, “Capt Kacey / Co H / 47 PV”), written on paper.

In its early assignment, the 47th was attached to an unassigned brigade around Washington, D.C. and some of these badges could have come from that period between Oct ’61 to Jan ’62.  Their first corps assignment came once they regiment reached the Gulf area, that being with the 19th Corps, thus the decoration on the sander came earlier.

Captain Kacey enlisted as a captain on Sept. 19, 1861, commanding company “H.”  He mustered out on Sept. 18, 1864.  This regiment served in the Washington, D.C. area, South Carolina, Louisiana, Florida, and Virginia.

Accompanied with a good amount research material from the National Archive, etc.

Fine condition.