Artifact of the Quarter | June 2019

William W. Layton Collection, receipt from 1863.

Throughout the course of MCWI’s 27 years, various items, including letters and other ephemera, have been donated to MCWI and housed in Shenandoah University’s archives where they are made available for researchers to utilize. One of the items in MCWI’s William W. Layton Collection is 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 Union General Robert H. Milroy’s command suffered defeat at the 2nd Battle of Winchester. It is believed that the name Spangler, which appears at the top of the receipt, is in fact First Lieutenant John F. Spangler, who served in Company A, 87th Pennsylvania. While Spangler survived the disastrous Union defeat at the Second Battle of Winchester, he did not survive the conflict. Spangler died a little more than a year later, on July 15, 1864, from wounds received at the Battle of Monocacy.