Historic, priceless 1902 Chinese silver bowl on display at Fort Carson Museum

A large, decorative silver bowl given as a gift to a Fort Carson unit was unveiled Wednesday during a special ceremony.

The bowl is called the Liscum Bowl, in honor of Col. Emerson Liscum, who commanded the Army’s 9th Infantry Regiment and spent time in Colorado Springs before he was killed in 1900 during the Boxer Rebellion in China.

“As he fell (during the battle of Tentsin), his last words were ‘Keep Up The Fire,'” said Joseph Berg, director of Fort Carson’s museum. “That became the regiment’s motto. His name is engraved inside the bowl and on the ladle. The bowl has come home and is here to stay.”

The regiment is now part of the 4th Battalion, 1st Stryker Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry Division at Fort Carson, and is preparing to deploy to Afghanistan.

Among the speakers at the ceremony was Rebecca Liscum, a distant relative who first noticed a family resemblance in the colonel after seeing his portrait in the Vermont State House and began researching his genealogy in 1996.

“(The bowl) is just such a commemoration of everything the 9th stands for, and the gallant service that he and his troops went through,” she said. “It was in South Korea for a long time and I never thought it would come home.”

The Chinese government presented the bowl to the regiment in 1902, in appreciation for its service during the rebellion.

The bowl weighs 92 pounds and is part of a set including a tray, ladle and 97 cups.

“It was valued at $400,000 then and is worth as much as $5 million today,” Berg said. “It was made to the regiments specifications to reflect good luck, fortune and the distance between China and the United States.”

Liscum was born in Vermont, fought for the Union during the Civil War and was wounded at Gettysburg. He later fought in the Indian, the Spanish-American and the Philippine-American wars.

The silver bowl will be kept at Fort Carson because the 4th ID is the last active duty battalion in the regiment. Historically, the regiment was associated with the 2nd ID.