I’ve done quite a few readings but never came across this before other than in my readings on irregular warfare during the Civil War. I know Bloody Bill Anderson would cut off ears in Missouri and attach them to his saddle. The only place I can think that something like this might have occurred is maybe with either Morgan’s or Mosely’s men. I’ll have to find my copy of Duke’s accounts of Morgan’s adventures.
Ray

I could have sworn I saw an illustration of a Southern belle wearing such jewelry, but if I am remembering that right it seems to have appeared somewhere other than in Harper's.

The quotes (you can find the scanned issues online at (http://www.sonofthesouth.net/leefoundation/the-… ):

“Impatient of natural decay, they boil the dead flesh of our soldiers to get the bones more speedily. The bones are cut and carved into trinkets, into caskets, into drinking-cups; and the women of the region, equally ignorant and cruel, wear them and gloat over them with glee.”
–Harper's Weekly, May 17, 1862, p. 306

Cartoon caption: “Some Specimens of 'Secesh' Industry–Intended for the London Exhibition of 1862, but unfortunately intercepted by the 'Paper Blockade'”
Eight items are pictured: “Goblet made from a Yankee's skull; Paper-weight: Ingenious application of a Yankee Jaw-bone; Reading-Desk formed of a Whole Skeleton of one of Lincoln's hired Minions; Furs formed of Scalps and Beards; Necklace of Yankee teeth; Head Wreath of ditto; Cake Basket made of 'Mudsill's' ribs; Bell-handle [a skeletal hand] from Manassas”
–Harper's Weekly, June 7, 1862, p. 368

“And there is news of defeat; of slaughter and massacre; of gallant Northern boys left to become the prey of Southern ghouls, who will convert their skulls into trophies, and whose daughters and wives will not blush to wear ornaments made of their bones; news which makes the cheek blanch, and nerves the brave man's heart to further encounters, and warns the wise man that the time for half-measures has passed.”
–Harper's Weekly, June 14, 1862, p. 378

“That his particular friends [the Confederates] starve and torture the loyal citizens of the United States who fall into their hands–that they hack and hew the living bodies of their prisoners, under pretense of surgical practice, until they die in agony–that they dig up our dead like hyenas and ghouls–that they boil the corpses to get the bones–that they cut them into drumsticks and ornaments–that they carve the skulls into cups, and burn the bodies which they can insult no further, are matters that do not trouble the excellent Gregory [a British MP].”
–Harper's Weekly, July 12, 1862, p. 434

“We shall not waste time in arguing with the Copperheads. Men who are capable of justifying the rebels and espousing their cause when the blood of some member of almost every Northern family reddens Southern soil, and the bones of Northern soldiers are worn as ornaments by Southern women, are not likely to be convinced by argument, or to be pervious to any thing short of a bayonet thrust.”
–Harper's Weekly, February 28, 1863, p. 130

[From the Texas Telegraph.]

. . . Very well; but now to the incident foreshadowed. On a certain occasion, my friend's company was ordered out, with other forces, to check an anticipated raid of the enemy. They went, of course, and it so happened that they were then in the vicinity of Gaines' Mill, where thousands of the enemies of our country had left their imbecile bodies in the implacable arms of death. Unlike ourselves, the living had simply buried their dead on the top of the ground, or so shallowly that arm and leg bones and skulls were plenty and rather in the way. Our boys had seen nothing of the enemy. The scouts reported that nothing could be seen or heard of them. The boys were not weary, but thirsting, so to speak, for something to do, and one proposed they should have a game of ten pins. The proposition seemed ill-timed and unreasonable; so another asked, “how can this be done here, where the bones and skulls of our enemies are lying around us?” “Easy enough,” replied the eccentric and original, “the thigh and leg bones scattered around will answer for pins and the skulls will suit for balls.”
The strangeness of the proposition, together with an inexpressible interest all felt in it, won the day, and soon the pins were set up, and the skulls filled with sand to give them specific gravity, care being taken to select the round skulls (a rather difficult thing to find among Yankees), and thus our revellers bowled away for several hours. Just think of it! The invaders of our country having fallen in battle—their bones left by their own friends to cumber the surface of the earth, and our glorious boys meeting with these harmless relics, made them still subserve for the enjoyment of an idle hour. To tell the truth, I should like to have been there to participate. I think at every bowl I should have shouted one more cry for Liberty! and have rolled the balls with a vehemence unusual. The pastime was something so unusual, so piquant, so rich, recherche—like Byron's drinking wine from a skull—that to me doting upon graveyards and delighting in wrecks as I do, the narrative gave exquisite pleasure. This is one of the pleasant features of the Death Dance now going on. Who will get tired first?
Tom Anchorite.

Bone Ornaments.

Silent the lady sat alone;
In her ears were rings of dead men's bone;
The brooch on her breast shone white and fine,
'Twas the polished joint of a Yankee's spine;
And the well-carved handle of her fan
Was the finger bone of a Lincoln man.
She turned aside a flower to cull,
From a vase which was made of a human skull;
For to make her forget the loss of her slaves
Her lovers had rifled dead men's graves.
Do you think I'm describing a witch or ghoul?
There are no such things—and I'm not a fool;
Nor did she reside in Ashantee;
No—the lady fair was an F. F. V.

Vicki Betts

P.S. Kevin, the book arrived and is now in the colllection of the University of Texas at Tyler Library. Thanks!