CW Chevrons with Post War Addition - Has Me Stumped

[PaulDRuss]

These chevrons belonged to Willima Morris a Sgt. In the 203d Pa Infantry (Birney's Sharpshooters). This late war unit was uniformed in the green uniform associated with sharpshooters units during the Civil War. Morris survived and was active in the GAR, and apparently added the green discs to these war date chevrons at some point. He lived until 1919, so perhaps it was some type of post war addition? I would be extremely grateful if someone with knowledge of post war insignia had some insight on what this may represent? Thank you!!! Paul

[VMI88]

I don't know what the disk represents but it looks to me like the chevron were manufactured that way. There would be no need for the blue backing material to extend above the chevrons unless there were devices there. Very interesting - I hope you find out what they mean!

[PaulDRuss]

Thanks! Here's a shot of the back, as you can see, the discs were definitely added at some point. And are machine stitched.

[Steve Rogers]

I would think the inserts with circle are a postwar addition, though whether it was something done to CW Sergt. chevrons he had, or whether he received them later in post war service is another question. Do you know if he served in the PA National Guard after the war?

I see two possibilities for the rank. 1) The US army authorized a Hospital Steward chevron in 1867 that used sergeant's chevrons with a separately supplied oval they were to add to the chevron. The catch is that the oval was supposed to have a caduceus embroidered on it in dark blue silk. (This implies the oval was some color other than dark blue itself, so the green might fit.) It might be this set simply never had the embroidery done, perhaps as a less expensive alternative, and maybe one that was acceptable in a National Guard unit. The US army went to forms of a cross in between the chevron bars in 1887.

2) He served as a color sergeant, again postwar. US regs had a ring between the arms of the sergeant chevron for battalion and regimental color sergeants from 1883 to 1901. There was some debate at first about whether it was circle or a ring. The color of the circle, however, would still pose a problem, as would the color of the stripes, since the army went to white for infantry. Again, if this is from National Guard service, then state regs could be different.

My inclination would be to look for postwar service as a Hospital Steward in the National Guard.

[PaulDRuss]

Many thanks Steve! These sound very promising... I will try to do some digging in Harrisburg. Thanks again, Paul