Which Artifact is Quirkier?

Sallie went to work today as a docent at the Fifth Maine Regiment Museum on Peaks Island. Since a docent's job is to call visitors' attention to things of interest, she decided to share two of her most favorite artifacts at this museum on an island in Maine. Here she is welcoming you as she stands in front of the regiment's original silk flag, recently restored and placed on display.

One of her favorite artifacts sits in an exhibit case constructed by the veterans themselves after they built their reunion/memorial hall (which is now the museum). On these shelves they placed the souvenirs and other items that they brought back from the Civil War battlefields. Using her own flag as a pointer, Sallie wants you to notice that the museum curates one hundred and fifty year old hardtack, a common type of biscuit eaten by soldiers during the Civil War. Yup, these biscuits are 150 years old and have been sitting on this shelf since the veterans put them there. Yucky but cool.

Next she takes you out of the Great Hall and into a small room that once served as a bedroom for vacationing soldiers and their families. Now it's a small gallery. Using her flag as a pointer again, Sallie is showing you the bullet hole in the top of this kepi worn by Adjutant Bicknell of the Fifth Maine. Many, many soldiers perished on the battlefields, but Bicknell was fortunate and survived his bullet hole wound.

So now you can vote - which artifact wins the Quirky Prize?

If you would like to learn more about what goes on at the Fifth Maine, check out Patricia Erikson's blog!