papers by Gaillard Hunt, of the Library of Congress, finally traced the original seal to Rear Admiral Selfridge, an effort was made to buy it back.  In 1912 three Richmond gentlemen, Messrs. Eppa Hunton, Jr., William H. White and Thomas P. Bryan, purchased the Seal of the admiral for three thousand dollars, subject to proof of its authenticity.  Mr. St. George Bryan and Mr. William Gray, of Richmond, then took the seal to London, where the makers are still well-known engravers.  Here, by means of hall marks, the identification was made complete.

No less appealing than the relics of the deceased government and great generals who are gone, are some of the humbler items connected with the deaths of privates in the ranks of North and South alike.  One of the most pathetic was a small daguerreotype of a beautiful young girl.  On a card, beside the picture, is the story of it, so far as that story is ever likely to be known: 

     Picture found on the dead body of an unidentified Federal soldier.

     Presented by C.C.  Calvert, Upperville, Va.

“We have always hoped,” said Miss Susan B. Harrison, house regent of the museum, “that some day some one would come in and recognize this little picture, and that it would find its way back to those who ought to have it, and who might by this means at last discover what became of the soldier who was dear to them.”

An even more tragic souvenir is a letter addressed to A.V.  Montgomery, Camden, Madison County, Mississippi, in which a mortally wounded soldier of Confederacy bids a last good-by to his father.  The letter was originally inclosed with one from Lieutenant Ethelbert Fairfax, C.S.A., informing the father that his son passed away soon after he had written.  The text, pitiful and heroic as it is, can give but the faintest idea of the original, with its feeble, laborious writing, and the dark-brown spots dappling the three sheets of paper where blood from the boy’s mangled shoulder dripped upon them while he wrote: 

Spotsylvania County, Va. 
May 10, 1864.

Dear Father: 

This is my last letter to you.  I went into battle this evening as courier for Gen’l Heth.  I have been struck by a piece of shell and my right shoulder is horribly mangled & I know death is inevitable.  I am very weak but I write to you because I know you would be delighted to read a word from your dying son.  I know death is near, that I will die far from home and friends of my early youth, but I have friends here, too, who are kind to me.  My Friend Fairfax will write you at my request and give you the particulars of my death.  My grave will be marked so that you may visit it if you desire to do so, but it is optionary with you whether you let my remains rest here or in Mississippi.  I would like to rest in the graveyard with my dear mother and brothers, but it is a matter of minor importance.  Let us all try to reunite in heaven.  I pray my God to forgive my sins & I feel that his promises are true, that he will forgive me and save me.  Give my love to all my friends.  My strength fails me.  My horse & my equipments will be left for you.  Again a long farewell to you.  May we meet in heaven.

Your Dying Son,
J.R.  Montgomery.