EXQUISITE WOOD CARVED MINIATURE BUREAU, ONE OF THE FINEST EXAMPLES OF CIVIL WAR SOLDIER ART

Fort Warren, situated on Georges Island at the entrance to Boston Harbor, was completed at the outset of the Civil War and soon pressed into service as a Union prison camp for Confederate captives. Staffed by a garrison of Massachusetts troops, a number of volunteer regiments trained and passed through its walls. Soldiers frequently remarked on the bleak conditions. It was cold, isolated, and monotonous. It was in this setting that John T. Ross (1829–1920), a carpenter by trade, found the time to fashion the present relic. 

Ross mustered into the Massachusetts Salem Cadets on 26 March 1862, serving only at Fort Warren. The Cadets saw no combat, their sole duty being garrison service at the fort.

Most soldier’s art was relatively simple, making this an unusually ambitious and finely executed example.

Stained miniature wooden bureau with attached metal reflective "mirror." Bureau measures 7 1/8 x 3 1/2 x 7 1/4 in. Attached mirror measures 4 1/3 x 3 3/4 in. Two (2) small removable drawers measuring 1 1/2 x 3 1/8 x 1/2 in. Three (3) main body drawers measuring 5 7/8 x 3 1/4 x 1 1/2 in. Outfitted with wooden hardware. 

Period ink inscription to top drawer interior reads: "John T. Ross / Ipswich / Fort. Warren / Boston. Harbor. Oct 4th. 1862." Lithograph of unidentified man pasted to side interior of drawer. 

Period ink inscription to middle drawer interior reads: "John. T Ross. / Boston Harbor. / Fort Warren. / October 4th 1862." Period ink initials to side interior of drawer which reads: "J. T. Ross."

Period ink inscription to bottom drawer interior reads: "John. T Ross. / Boston Harbor. / Fort Warren. / October 4th 1862." 

Etching identification to posterior of bureau which reads: "Fort Warren / October 4th / 1862." 

[Civil War, Union, Confederate] [Relics, Militaria] [Medals, Corps Badges, Badges] [Art, Folk Art, Military Art, Etching, Engraving, Lithographs, Prints, Ephemera]