Knife-Fork Combination
date: label: date made
content: 1860s
notes: label: Description
content: J. Russell & Company "Green River Works" knife-fork combination utensil designed for Civil War veterans who had lost an arm. This implement was purportedly used by William Henry Thelwall (born in England, died in Virginia (?) ca 1878). Thelwall enlisted in the 7th Regiment, Louisiana Infantry, Company B, on June 7, 1861. He was listed as a farmer from Baton Rouge, LA. Thelwall was injured in the Battle of Port Republic, June 9, 1862. His right arm was amputed due to a gunshot wound. After the war he purportedly taught school in Virginia, and died circa 1878. The1870 census lists a William Thelwall as a teacher in Peddler [Pedlar] Township, Amherst County, Virginia, residing in the home of John N. Eubanks and family.
label: Description
content: In the early 1830s, James Russell (1797-1874) established a cutlery manufacturing business in Greenfield, Massachusetts. A few years later he built a new factory on the Green River which became known as the "Green River Works." The name endured even after the factory moved to nearby Turners Falls on the Connecticut River in 1870.
label: Location
content: Currently not on view
place: label: place made
content: United States: Massachusetts
topic: label: Subject
content: Disabilities
label: Subject
content: Civil War
label: Subject
content: Veterans
label: related event
content: Civil War
setName: label: See more items in
content: Medicine and Science: Medicine
creditLine: label: Credit Line
content: Dr. George Tully Vaughan
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: MG.M-06421
label: catalog number
content: M-06421
label: accession number
content: 172522
objectType: label: Object Name
content: knife-fork combination utensil
physicalDescription: label: Measurements
content: overall (without leather sheath): 20 cm x 6.5 cm x 1.2 cm; 7 7/8 in x 2 9/16 in x 15/32 in
label: Measurements
content: overall (with sheath): 20.5 cm x 8.8 cm x 1.2 cm; 8 1/16 in x 3 15/32 in x 15/32 in