Violin
Violin
Previous
Next
Usage conditions apply
- Description
- Physical Description
- Wood with personal carvings.
- Specific History
- At 24 years old, Solomon Conn, a son of a hotel keeper in Minamac, Indiana, enlisted as a private in Company B of the 87th Indiana Infantry on July 26, 1862. He purchased this violin in Nashville, Tennessee, on May 1, 1863. Conn carried the violin while serving, although his family admitted that he never learned to play. Written on the back of the instrument are the names of places where the soldiers of the 87th were either on duty or engaging the enemy. More place names are written along the left and right edges of the sides. Among the more well-known battles the 87th took part in were the Battle of Chickamauga in September 1863 and Kennesaw Mountain in June 1864. By the end of the war, the 87th Volunteers had lost 283 men, most of them to disease.
- This object stands as a unique memento of the common soldier during the Civil War.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- Object Name
- violin
- user
- Conn, Solomon
- purchased
- United States: Tennessee, Nashville
- associated place
- United States: Indiana
- Physical Description
- wood (overall material)
- metal (part material)
- Measurements
- overall: 24 in x 8 in x 4 in; 60.96 cm x 20.32 cm x 10.16 cm
- ID Number
- 1988.0716.01
- accession number
- 1988.0716
- catalog number
- 1988.0716.01
- Credit Line
- S. Jackson Conn and William M. Conn
- Civil War
- Battle of Chickamauga, 1863
- Civil War and Reconstruction
- Battle of Kennesaw Mountain, 1864
- See more items in
- Political and Military History: Armed Forces History, General
- Music & Musical Instruments
- Military
- ThinkFinity
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
Nominate this object for photography.
Our collection database is a work in progress. We may update this record based on further research and review. Learn more about our approach to sharing our collection online.
If you would like to know how you can use content on this page, see the Smithsonian's Terms of Use. If you need to request an image for publication or other use, please visit Rights and Reproductions.
