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Engraved US Belt Buckle


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Marktk36thIL

Engraved belt buckle belonging to Capt. James J. Wilson of Co. C of the 36th Illinois Infantry.

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skypilot6670

    WOW ! That is a great looking belt buckle.  The engraving is the best , who ever did it was a master engraver.
And the history of  the soldier is the best. He was enlisted and rose thru the ranks to First Sargent  and ultimately was commissioned Captain and mustered as such. This would be a noteworthy accomplishment in any unit , but he did this in Sheridans division of the Fourth Corps. A very hard fighting unit , second to none.  I can’t do “The 36th Illinois “ justice so I copied a page from , Col. Fox’s Fighting 300 , “ Regimental Losses in the Civil War “

    
 

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That's a beautiful belt plate! 

A nice but generic belt plate was turned into a much more interesting (and valuable) piece of history with the engraving. 

Your posting this thread reminds me of a practice I've followed for years: always check the item all over to see if it has been named, numbered or engraved.  One never knows what surprises will be revealed.

Kim

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Marktk36thIL

Thank you for the kind words everyone. The 36th is certainly a regiment I've taken a central focus towards. Certainly overlooked compared to the eastern units, but more than held their own at any point of the war once a magnifying glass is used to analyze the what, where, and when of every engagement they were in.

 

I'm not exactly a belt buckle collector- Z I have only one, so maybe someone can point out if they ever seen mating numbers for the plate and the hook piece (or whatever it's called).

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Steve Rogers

In answer to the mating numbers on the buckle and hasp, yes, they are pretty common. On enlisted plates being made up and assembled in large batches the numbers get into the three digits.

 

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