Violin
name: label: user
content: Conn, Solomon
notes: label: Description
content: Physical Description
label: Description
content: Wood with personal carvings.
label: Description
content: Specific History
label: Description
content: 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.
label: Description
content: This object stands as a unique memento of the common soldier during the Civil War.
place: label: purchased
content: United States: Tennessee, Nashville
label: associated place
content: United States: Indiana
topic: label: related event
content: Civil War
label: related event
content: Battle of Chickamauga, 1863
label: related event
content: Civil War and Reconstruction
label: related event
content: Battle of Kennesaw Mountain, 1864
setName: label: See more items in
content: Military and Society: Armed Forces History, General
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content: Music & Musical Instruments
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content: Military
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content: ThinkFinity
creditLine: label: Credit Line
content: S. Jackson Conn and William M. Conn
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: 1988.0716.01
label: accession number
content: 1988.0716
label: catalog number
content: 1988.0716.01
objectType: label: Object Name
content: violin
physicalDescription: label: Physical Description
content: wood (overall material)
label: Physical Description
content: metal (part material)
label: Measurements
content: overall: 24 in x 8 in x 4 in; 60.96 cm x 20.32 cm x 10.16 cm