The 87th Indiana’s Violin Trophy

ECW welcomes guest author Quinton Kirk.

For many soldiers, their most beloved regimental trophies were the flags or the colors. They were the center point of the battleline as the regiment moved into battle. These flags often had names of previous battles embroidered on them. However, in addition to their regimental colors Company B of the 87th Indiana carried a violin, which resides at the Smithsonian today. It, too, is inscribed with the names of battles, skirmishes, and encampments the company participated in.

That old violin belonged to 24-year-old Solomon Conn, the son of a hotel keeper in Winamac, Indiana. He enlisted as a private in the 87th’s company B on July 26, 1862. Funnily enough, Conn admitted that he did not possess any musical skill.^[1] How a man with no musical skills came to possess this artifact proves a conundrum. After finding a newspaper article from 1893 in The Pharos-Tribune, a different story about the existence of this amazing artifact emerged.

The violin was purchased by Company B at Nashville, Tennessee, on May 1, 1863. It was entrusted to the care of Lt. Richard M. Hathaway, a skilled violinist. He was born in Ohio and resided in Winamac, Indiana with the occupation of a printer in 1860 prior to his enlistment. “During the memorable campaigns of Rosecrans and of Sherman’s march through Georgia, its sweetest tones, as drawn forth by the lieutenant’s skilled hand, charmed the hearts of the boys while resting, after the weary marches, around the blazing campfires.”^[2]

After the war, Lt. Hathaway brought the old violin home with him and sold it. The instrument changed hands multiple times and was lost until R.D. Peters purchased it in June 1891 for $80. Peters exhibited the violin at the reunion of the 87th Indiana Regiment in Rochester. Some surviving members of Company B immediately took possession of the violin, claiming ownership. Peters challenged them in the courts, but the judge’s ruling remains unknown.^[3]

Somehow, Solomon Conn had the violin in his possession at the time of his death in 1926. It was passed down the line to his grandsons, who donated the old violin to the Smithsonian in 1988.^[4] Just think of the beautiful tunes that came from this instrument and the joy it brought to the soldiers during this horrific time in American history.

Quinton Kirk serves as a Park Guide at Chickamauga and Chattanooga National Military Park and multiple Historical Societies in his native state of Alabama. He has always had a passion for Civil War History since the age of 10 years old. He is currently a graduate student at Jacksonville State University.

Endnotes:

[1]“Civil War Violin,” Smithsonian Music, February 15, 2019, https://music.si.edu/object-day/civil-war-violin.

[2] “R.D. Peters Recovers His Historic Violin,” The Pharos-Tribune, May 6, 1893.

[3] The Indianapolis News, September 5, 1892.

[4] Joseph Stromberg, “The Civil War 150 Years: Solomon Conn’s Violin Diary,” Smithsonian.com, November 3, 2011, https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smithsonian-institution/the-civil-war-150-years-solomon-conns-violin-diary-126109058/.