Family Heirlooms - Need identification assistance

[Gaelynn]

I just received a box of family heirlooms.  I have an honorable discharge certificate (service time 07/02/1897 through 07/02/1899) for Company A, the first regiment of Territorial Infantry Volunteers.  I am to assume the story lore is correct.  A rough rider?  In this envelope are buttons and a pin.  Can anyone help me identify what this pin signifies?  If this helps - he was born, raised, and married - in Arizona.  Eventually landed in California around 1913.  

 

Thank you in advance for a great-granddaughter who is making heads and tails for stuff.  

[CAC1901]

Great badge!  The buttons are US Army enlistedmans coat buttons of the 1885 pattern. The smaller ones are cuff buttons. Below is a link to a brief history of the 1st Territorial Volunteer Infantry.  I added the text in case the link goes bad.

 

The unit had nothing to do with the 1st US Volunteer Cavalry i.e the rough riders - beyond the fact that they are both associated with the Spanish American War.

 

https://www.spanamwar.com/1stterritorial.htm

 

 

General:

The following is a brief history of the 1st territorial Volunteer Infantry. The unit did not see service outside of the continental U.S.

Unit History:

The unit was formed from volunteers from Arizona, Oklahoma, Indian Territory and New Mexico, and was therefore called the 1st Territorial Volunteer Infantry. The 1st Territorial regiment was mustered into the Federal service between July 4 and July 23, 1898, which was rather late in the conflict. The fighting would actually end less than a month later with an armistice on August 13, 1898, though the war would officially continue until December 10, 1898. The unit contained 50 officers and 1265 men.

The regiment was sent east, and by October of 1898 was stationed at Lexington, Kentucky and was assigned to the military department entitled the "Department of the Lakes."

Between February 11 and February 15, 1899, the unit was mustered out at Albany, Georgia. During its term of service, it had 6 men die of disease, and 29 men desert.

BIBLIOGRAPHY:

Clerk of Joint Comittee on Printing, The Abridgement of Message from the President of the United States to the Two Houses of Congress, (Washington: Government Printing Office, 1899). Vol. 3, p 494.

Statistical Exhibit of Strength of Volunteer Forces Called into Service During the War with
Spain; with Losses from All Causes. (Washington: Government Printing Office, 1899).

Wilkinson, Todd, Springfield-Greene County (Mo.) Library Local History & Genealogy Department

[Gaelynn]

Thank you so must for this rich and thorough history.  This 'pin' is a badge - got that.  Was this something they wore for others to be able to identify them with?   Now, you have me very curious.

[CAC1901]

53 minutes ago, Gaelynn said:

Thank you so must for this rich and thorough history.  This 'pin' is a badge - got that.  Was this something they wore for others to be able to identify them with?   Now, you have me very curious.

 

These were a fairly common item sold to soldiers stationed in stateside camps - the practice goes back before the civil war although the civil war is when they were very popular. They tended to be more a momento of when and where they served, and with what unit. They could double as an id badge if the soldier was wounded or killed - this is before the service issue of personalized dog tags started some years after the war. Some were quite ornate with pictoral engraving and such. 

[aefcav]

James t. Etter was born in Missouri in 1875 his dad was from Tenn and mom from Ireland. He is buried in forest Lawn cemetery in Los Angelis