Old Court House
Civil War Museum

 Winchester, Virginia

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Relics on Display from the Harry Ridgeway Collection

Like Grass Before the Scythe
The Terrible Price of the American Civil War
600,000 Americans Died in the Civil War…
That is more than have died in all the other wars combined in 
which Americans have fought.  With our current population, the equivalent would be 15 million Americans dead or wounded.

Why Did the War Exact Such a Terrible Price 
in Dead & Wounded?

  • Changing Technology
  • Strong Commitment of Each Soldier To His State and 
    to the Cause
  • Awful Living and Sanitary Conditions

The excavated relic collection illustrates these three themes.  

The Life of the Common Soldier
Excavated personal and medical items along with period photographs tell of the hard life and suffering of the ordinary soldier.

Changing Technology
As in many wars, technology evolved faster than battle tactics and the common soldier suffered the price.  Relics illustrate the evolution of guns and artillery from smoothbore to rifled, change to breech-load and repeating rifles, and the extensive experimentation with artillery ammunition.

From Volunteer Militia to a National Army
Excavation of early battles yields relics of the many splendid uniforms that militias from North and South wore to war. Indeed, neither government could equip the huge numbers of early volunteers. State governments and militia units themselves ordered their gear in a wide variety of styles. Relics dug from later in the war illustrate the shortages the Confederate army faced and the emergence of the first true national army of the United States. As that national army developed, each man was issued standard uniforms and equipment.