THE ARTIFACT: Sergeant Francis McMillen’s sword belt plate
CONDITION: Other than the spent minie ball lodged in its upper right corner, the plate is in generally good condition.
DETAILS: In August 1862, Francis McMillen, 30, a farmer, enlisted as sergeant in Company C of the 110th Ohio Infantry. The regiment saw its first fighting almost a year later at the Second Battle of Winchester in June 1863, before it was sent north in July to help suppress the New York City Draft Riots. Returning to Virginia, the 110th was briefly assigned to the Army of the Potomac’s III Corps before being transferred to the VI Corps, with which it fought in 1864 through the Overland Campaign, and at Monocacy, Third Winchester, and Cedar Creek. On March 25, 1865, at the Battle of Fort Stedman—during which Union forces turned back a Confederate attack on a portion of their siege lines around Petersburg—McMillen marked a 33rd birthday to remember. He was hit by a Rebel bullet that struck the diary in his left breast pocket, was turned down-ward, and hit his pocket watch before lodging in the corner of his sword belt plate. A week later, during the Breakthrough at Petersburg, McMillen seized a Confederate flag during the Union assault, an action for which he was awarded the Medal of Honor on May 10, 1865. In June, McMillen mustered out of the army and returned home to farm. He married twice, had at least one child, and died in Dayton, Ohio, in 1913 at 80.
EXTRAS: In addition to the sword belt plate, the collection included McMillen’s lifesaving diary and silver watch, the latter so badly damaged by the projectile that it cannot be opened, along with a photo of McMillen in uniform and a red-and-white piece of silk from a regimental flag.
QUOTABLE: On June 23, 1911, McMillen, living in the Central Branch, National Home for Disabled Volunteer Soldiers in Dayton, added the following entry to his battered diary from 1865: “This Book was in my breast pocket and received the Ball which was intended to take my life but thanks to the Book Watch and beltplate I am Still alive.”
PRICE: $14,340 (realized at Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, in November 2008). “This is doubtless one of the most remarkable Civil War bullet-struck artifacts extant,” a representative of Heritage Auctions noted at the time.
