"I do not regret having done as I have done, for I with many thousands was honest and enlisted for our country. If I was home and knew as much as I do now I would enlist at the first opportunity."
Corporal Andrew D. Couch - January 1863
Killed May 2, 1863 at Chancellorsville, Virginia
Description
Moore's Patent Belt Single Action pistol. It is chambered for 32 cal RF and was manufactured in 1861 or early 1862. It is inscribed "Capt. WH Lacey CV" on the strap.
Lacey was a prominent Bridgeport businessman and militia leader. He organized Company D of the 17th Connecticut and was commissioned Captain of the company upon it's muster in. Following the Battle of Chancellorsville, Captain Lacey resigned his commission under a cloud of alleged cowardice under fire. A soldier under his command wrote home that "...Capt. Lacey of the 17th C. V. Co. D has also resigned & goes home tomorrow after having escaped unharmed in the last & first battle the 17th has ever been, scarcely a week has rolled over his head before he resigns & goes back to Conn, what must we think of such things. The boys do not feel very nice about it I can assure you..."
The pistol is owned by Larry Stewart of Florida.
Sources:
17th CVI documents in collection of Dale Call
James Middlebrook letter - excerpt from Connecticut Historical Society Manuscripts Project, K. Nolin, Civil War Manuscripts Project, The Connecticut Historical Society.
Pistol of Captain William Lacey, Co. D
Photographs by Larry Stewart, owner
