FRANK WARD CIVIL WAR DOG TAG

 

This tale is not about MacNeil, but it is another kind of numismatic discovery I made some thirty years ago. It was a fantastic, never--to-be-repeated happening, and a good story as well. In the early part of 1990, during a relic-hunting jaunt in Poolesville, MD with my friend Henry Winkler, (not the Fonz) I had the good fortune to find the I.D. Tag of a Civil War soldier named Frank Ward who served in Co. H, 2nd Vermont Infantry. Further research determined that Ward had been born in Wiliston, Vermont, July 29, 1844, and subsequently I wrote a piece about the I.D. Tag for a popular Civil War magazine, North South Trader's Civil War.

It took place on an overcast, early spring day in Poolesville, MD, a sleepy hamlet along the Potomac River, west of Washington, D.C. The town hadn't changed much in 130 years, making it an ideal area for metal detecting. There on the rim of a hill, my machine emitted a loud signal, to my mind, another minie ball dropped by a soldier long ago or a button fallen from a shirt. Much to my surprise, it was neither; rather a disk about the size of a quarter with what appeared to be flecks of gold. Winkler took a look at it and said, I've been relic hunting for fifteen years and I've never found an I.D. tag.

The tag turned out to be one of the more common types sold by sutlers during the war years. One side featured an eagle with outspread wings with The War of 1861 above and United States below. Optimism reigned supreme for the conflict to be short. The other side of the gold-washed disk read, F. Ward, Co. H. 2nd Reg.,Vt. Vol. Wiliston. So, who was Frank Ward?

His lengthy Civil War pension record indicates that on enlistment day, May 25, 1861, he stood 5' 8, had blue eyes and red hair. Three months later on July 31 st , he suffered a sun stroke at the Battle of Bull Run and then another on April 15, 1865, shortly after Appomattox and one day following Lincoln's assassination. Unlike many, he was able to return to Wiliston. In the years to come, my head troubling me all the time he worked at various jobs, married and was father to eight children. His wife suffered equally, attempted suicide and was sent to the Vermont Hospital for the Insane. Frank died on November 21, 1909 and was buried beside her in St. Joseph's Cemetery in Burlington. My research did not indicate that the 2nd Regiment of Vermont Volunteers had ever encamped at Poolesville, MD. How Ward's I. D. Tag came to rest there remains a mystery

I gave little thought to the article until the issue in which it appeared was delivered to my door. On a cold November day in 1991 my wife underwent serious surgery in a Washington, D. C. hospital. On the same day, coincidentally, the magazine containing the Frank Ward article arrived at my door. I noted it as I left to visit my recuperating spouse

During the visit a nurse brought a gift that had been sent by a friend. It was a teddy bear decked out in a standard, hospital issue recovery gown, cut to size. Imagine my surprise to read that the bear had been manufactured by the Vermont Teddy Bear Company located then, coincidentally, in Wiliston, Vermont, need I add, Frank Ward's birthplace.

I've always enjoyed telling the story of this happy coincidence and eventually even sent it to the Vermont Teddy Bear Company that has since left its Wiliston site. To this day I've often speculated on the event, but early on concluded that the teddy bear was truly both a message and a gift from Frank Ward, perhaps a way of saying thanks for telling my story. Coincidence? Who's to say?

 

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