Artifact of the Quarter | June 2018

Shortly after Shenandoah University’s McCormick Civil War Institute was established, William W. Layton donated a number of documents to the university’s McCormick Civil War Institute. Layton, who died in 2007, was the first African American to serve on the official staff of the Federal Reserve Board of Governors and a man who did not shirk from confronting the obstacles imposed by segregation. Among the items Layton donated to the McCormick Civil War Institute was a receipt for 969 pounds of bread payable to the 87th Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry.

The receipt is dated June 9, 1863, just days before the 87th Pennsylvania and other regiments in Gen. Robert H. Milroy’s command suffered defeat at the 2nd Battle of Winchester. Lieutenant John F. Spangler’s surname appears across the top of the receipt. Spangler served in Company A, 87th Pennsylvania. Although he survived the chaos of the 2nd Battle of Winchester, he was mortally wounded at the Battle of Monocacy when a Confederate bullet struck his chest. According to the regiment’s historian, the bullet took “a downward course and lodged in his stomach.” Left on the field for dead, a resident of Frederick, Maryland, tended to Spangler’s wounds, but to no avail. He died on July 15, 1864.

This receipt, along with other items donated to the McCormick Civil War Institute over the years, is housed in the university’s archives as part of MCWI’s William Layton Collection.