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Shield Badge of Morris Harrington 122nd New York Vol.Inf.


skypilot6670
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    On August 11 , 1862 , 23 year old Morris Harrington from Geddes New York , enlisted in Co.H 122nd New York Volunteer Infantry . The regiment left Onondaga County for Washington 3 days later . On arrival it was assigned to the 6th Corps Army of the Potomac. Morris took well to soldiering and by Feb. 1st was promoted to corporal. 

    The first battle he was engaged in was Antietam. On the second day ,the 122nd deployed as skirmishers to the right of “Millers Cornfield “(ever after known simply as “ The Cornfield “ ) and immediately in front of the “Dunker Church”. The  unburied dead from the previous days fight , many of them artillery casualties must have shocked the new recruits. The unit did well enough , having several men wounded and none killed. 

    After Antietam the regiment was lightly engaged at Fredericksburg and Chancellorsville. The real test for Morris and his fellow soldiers would be the battle of Gettysburg. 

      The first days fight had drawn the two armies to Gettysburg . The 6th Corps marching 37 miles in 17 hours to reach the field around 3 o’clock in the afternoon on the second day. Deployed on the Union left near the Round Tops , they tried to rest and assist the wounded , which  meant that not much rest was had. 

     That  afternoon on the Union right a portion of the Twelfth Corps  at Culps Hill had been pulled out of the entrenchments they had dug and were moved to help stabilize the Union left . Sometime later the Confederates found some of those empty trenches and occupied them. 

     At daybreak Morris’ brigade was moved to Culps hill to help retake those trenches. Their assault was made along a well built stone wall , that and the lay of the land helped the 122nd to get near the flank of the confederate position. A severe fight led to the recapture of the trench. Morris was wounded in the forehead and he spent some days in the 6th Corps Field Hospital at Gettysburg . The Syracuse Journal found him there and reported , “ Morris Harrington Co. H was wounded in the forehead . It was a loud call for Morris , but it did not cool his courage . The wound is healing nicely , and he is able to be about . “ Eventually he ended up in a hospital in York , Pennsylvania .

     Morris returned to his unit in time to participate in Gen. Grants overland campaign .

     The 6th Corps in July was moved to Washington to stop Confederate Gen. Jubal Earlys advance. Morris and the 122nd had the distinction of President Lincoln watching them at Fort Stevens as they advanced to clear the confederates in their front. 

   The next major engagement for Morris would be his last. General Sheridan had driven the Confederates back to Winchester.  Where on September 19,1864 while assaulting the confederate flank Morris was killed. His I.D. Shield was recovered at Winchester. 

     I can find no record of his burial and will have to wait for the archives to open to complete his story.

    This is the 4th shield badge I have that was made by the same jeweler .      

     A brave soldier , may he Rest In Peace.     Mike

     

       5A81B488-D0E0-465E-A13E-EC02AD4744FD.jpeg.13c21b4442fef7886162fabbfd705ff5.jpeg089D848D-8A2D-4B9F-8FE5-25C2163ADB32.jpeg.deec332644b05bdef829e22d69b979c7.jpeg643E9349-1853-4DFB-8F8C-DC89E71192BD.png.852ca23306af00d83c8b821656b368cc.png

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wartimecollectables.com

The shield is great, as is your research, these men endured so much. Four wartime badges from the same jeweller is nothing short of incredible! Interesting they are to different units. There has to be a common tie there somewhere that could pin down the sutler.

 

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Hi Andrew , I appreciate your comment. I think the connection on who made the badges was probably one of the weekly papers such as  “Harpers Weekly “ or “ Leslies “ . I’ve tried to match a common location and have not been successful.  Thanks again.   Mike

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manayunkman and Mike thanks for commenting. It’s a nice badge , a little dinged up , but hey it’s a hundred and fifty plus years old.  Thanks again. Mike

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USCapturephotos

Absolutely love that badge Mike. I know the 3rd Battle of Winchester pretty well and did a lot of relic hunting there 25 years ago. That id disc that I dug that I showed you before came from the 6th Corps camps the week before they went into battle at 3rd Winchester.  Sad to think that Harrington must have been camped on that same ground where I was. 
Thanks for sharing. If you ever decide to part with that one, please give me a ring.

Paul

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Hey Paul,  I’ll let you know if I sell it and you’ll get first shot  . I’am looking forward to doing some shows in 2021 will keep you advised. The 102nd New York Badge that I have that soldiers unit went in with this regiment at Culps Hill. A lot of head wounds because they were behind breastworks  and a stone wall. Got a period newspaper article on 3rd Winchester that list Morris as K.I.A. I’ll post it as it’s interesting reading . I appreciate your comments. Thanks again , Mike

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This 12th Corps soldier was in the adjoining breastworks with Morris’ Brigade on Culps Hill. It’s engraved with 17 battle honors and dates including Gettysburg. It lacks Aversboro and Bentonville.  
 

03199B14-FEBA-4930-8878-5226006BA3EF.jpeg.107a6d639943a5cd83e8bf9470d303d2.jpeg4B000BB2-E352-4B29-94FE-C107409DC203.jpeg.1baea06f9a4557ca8f272509b2ca044b.jpeg

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Articles from Syracuse Journal about “ The Battle of Third Winchester “ it list Morris Harrington Co. H killed in action.    Copied from N.Y. State Military Museum .
 

C883237C-2AF9-4D72-90FA-D46EC6A22496.png.ba268e12023fa542ee56470f44ccfe05.png21251430-35DD-4DC3-882C-C7EAB37D251A.png.f6730505a33da25aa3179901fac4816d.png4E045241-4967-421B-A69B-0516C1821A6F.png.9baf681fdea33c1f44c256a2e817e4fd.png

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Wow just Wow Mike. That 12th Corps badge is beautiful.

Maybe it's my eyes, but even when I expanded the article on 3rd Winchester, I couldn't easily see the article so if it's not too much trouble, could you email it to me?

[email protected]

Have a great Sunday Mike!

Paul

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Hey Paul , Your eyes are fine . The articles didn’t copy well. I no longer have email so I tried to pm them to you.Let me know if that worked , if not here’s a link to the museum page with the articles https://dmna.ny.gov/historic/reghist/civil/infantry/122ndInf/122ndInfMain.htm  Hope this works.   Have a great Sunday also.  Thanks for commenting I appreciate it.   Mike

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wartimecollectables.com

FYI. Onondaga County courthouse has several NY Civil War flags on display. Found out doing some research, they were very helpful! Wish I could visig!!

This one is from the 122nd.

122ndInfNat.jpg

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Hi Andrew , Beautiful Flag , New York has a very large collection of flags at their Military Museum in Saratoga Springs. About 20 years ago they consolidated all the collections from the National Guard Armory’s around the state . They also began a large conservation effort to preserve their flags. The effort was very timely as a lot of the civil war flags , in their words , “ have the consistency of a potato chip “. My guess is this flag was one that was saved.  As usual I’am getting a little long winded. Thanks for posting it , l copied it for the file on Morris.  Mike

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Thanks Mike , it’s a handsome badge with that classic calligraphy style lettering.His name is on the back of the broach. John Q Adams , middle name Quincy.  I never checked the family tree to see if he was related to the president , after the war he ended up in Missouri, which  is where this badge surfaced . 

 

 

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9 hours ago, skypilot6670 said:

Hey Paul , Your eyes are fine . The articles didn’t copy well. I no longer have email so I tried to pm them to you.Let me know if that worked , if not here’s a link to the museum page with the articles https://dmna.ny.gov/historic/reghist/civil/infantry/122ndInf/122ndInfMain.htm  Hope this works.   Have a great Sunday also.  Thanks for commenting I appreciate it.   Mike

Yes. Thank you Mike. That link worked great. Can't wait to read those now. I really appreciate you following up.

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17 hours ago, skypilot6670 said:

Hi Andrew , Beautiful Flag , New York has a very large collection of flags at their Military Museum in Saratoga Springs. About 20 years ago they consolidated all the collections from the National Guard Armory’s around the state . They also began a large conservation effort to preserve their flags. The effort was very timely as a lot of the civil war flags , in their words , “ have the consistency of a potato chip “. My guess is this flag was one that was saved.  As usual I’am getting a little long winded. Thanks for posting it , l copied it for the file on Morris.  Mike

I remember when they had all of the battle flags on display at the State capital in Albany.  They were in late 19th century wood and glass cases and the flags were furled on their original staffs.  You could see in the bottom of the cases where small pieces were falling off some.  I'm glad they invested the money in conserving them!  If you go to their website, you can see the images of the flags that have been saved to date.  They also have a very large collection of captured Confederate flags as well.

 

Mike

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