American Civil War 19th Century Oval Brass Snuff Box & Discharge Paper of Private Jonas Weeks

In August 1862, a young Ohio farmer named Jonas Weeks enlisted in the Union Army.

The 100th Ohio served through the campaigns in Kentucky and East Tennessee, the Atlanta Campaign and some of the hardest fighting of the closing years of the Civil War. At the Battle of Franklin in November 1864 alone, the regiment suffered 62 killed, wounded or missing from around 250 men engaged.

Jonas made it through.

This 19th-century brass snuff box belonged to Private Jonas Weeks of Company H, 100th Regiment Ohio Infantry Volunteers - his name still engraved in cursive across the lid.

Weeks enlisted on 7 August 1862 at just 21 years old, a farmer born in Wayne County, Ohio: five foot five, dark complexion, black eyes, brown hair. His regiment, raised at Toledo and with Company H recruited from Fulton County, went on to serve through some of the war’s major campaigns — the Defense of Cincinnati, the Knoxville Campaign, and the fight for Atlanta at Resaca, Kennesaw Mountain and beyond.

Weeks served through to the end, mustered out with his regiment at Greensboro, North Carolina, on 20 June 1865.

What makes this piece special is that it doesn’t stand alone. It comes with his original discharge paper, hand-completed and signed by his commanding officers, and later formally recorded at the Lucas County Recorder’s Office in November 1866.

After three years of war, this was the piece of paper that told him he could finally go home.

A small, personal object belonging to one man who served through the American Civil War, and the paperwork that tells us exactly who he was.

American Civil War | Private Jonas Weeks | Company H, 100th Ohio Volunteer Infantry | Original discharge certificate dated 20 June 1865 | Engraved 19th-century brass snuff box, 6.5 × 4.5 × 2.5cm

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Extraordinary Things, Americana 🇺🇸