Antique photo, money and newspaper uncovered in second time capsule from Robert E. Lee statue
CBSN
Newspapers, photographs, coins and books were among items uncovered in a 19th century time capsule that was hidden beneath a statue of Confederate General Robert E. Lee in Virginia, historians announced Tuesday. Another time capsule found beneath the same statue and opened last week contained an almanac, cloth envelope and a silver coin.
"It's in better shape than we had expected," said Chelsea Blake, a conservator for the Virginia Department of Historic Resources. "We thought everything was going to be soup and it's not soup. So it's pretty great."
Conservators also unboxed a piece of wood with a bullet in it, handwritten letters, multiple books with antique bookmarks, Confederate coins in an envelope, and a copy of a photograph of former President Abraham Lincoln in his coffin.
Ashley White received her earliest combat action badge from the United States Army soon after the first lieutenant arrived in Afghanistan. The silver military award, recognizing soldiers who've been personally engaged by an attacker during conflict, was considered an achievement in and of itself as well as an affirming rite of passage for the newly deployed. White had earned it for using her own body to shield a group of civilian women and children from gunfire that broke out in the midst of her third mission in Kandahar province. All of them survived. She never mentioned the badge to anyone in her battalion.