Live Auction Tuesday, October 30, 2007 at 10AM:
27. Lt. Col. William A. Throop Union Army Michigan 5th Corps
Commemorative Gold Honor Cross & CDV
William A. Throop joined the 1st Michigan Infantry as a Second
Lieutenant and was mustered out on August 1861. Honorably discharged 1865.
Even before army corps cap badges were conceived by General Daniel Butterfield,
a Mr. E. Harmon had outlined a similar system to the Secretary of War Simon
Cameron in a letter dated August 2, 1861.
Sir: I would respectfully invite your attention to a new method of
distinguishing the Federal troops from those of the rebels in battle, of which I
am the inventor. It consists in the use of badges of different colors or
descriptions any one of which can be selected by the commander previous to any
engagement thus preventing the knowledge by the enemy of the particular colored
badge which shall be worn by our troops so that they cannot be decoyed within
the range of the enemy’s batteries as they were in the battle of Bulls run by
the display of the Federal flag. In other words the badge will answer the
purpose of a countersign addressed to the eye.
After General Butterfield made his similar recommendation to General Joseph
Hooker in early 1863, Hooker issued his March 21 Circular outlining “identifying
cloth badges for ready recognition” for each corps. Each Corps was assigned a
specific pattern, with classes designated by color. By the war’s end, 23 of 25
army corps were officially recognized. Congress endorsed the symbolic
significance of corps badges in 1866 stating:
All persons who have served as officers, non-commissioned officers, privates, or
other enlisted men, in the regular army, volunteer, or militia forces of the
United States during the War of the Rebellion, and have been honorably
discharged from the service or still remain in the same, shall be entitled to
wear, on occasions of ceremony, the distinctive army badge ordered for or
adopted by the army corps and divisions respectively in which they served.
Thus, battlefield insignia became a badge of honor and distinction.
Polished cast gold cannon cross, incised edges with inset black enamel-style
detail. Applied precious stones in smaller cannon cross form.
Obverse bears engraved battle honors: Occupation of Alexandra, Bull Run,
Chancellorsville, Aldie Gap, Gettysburg, Wapping Heights, Brandy Station,
Bristoe Station, Rappahanhock Station, New Hope Church, Wilderness, Laurel Hill,
Spottsylvania, North Anna, Tolopotomoy, Bethesda Church, Siege of Petersburgh,
Weldon RR.
Reverse bears engraved “1st Brigade, 1st Division, 5th Army Corps, Lt. Col. Wm.
A. Throop, 1st Mich. Infantry, 2nd Lieutenant, April 19th, 1861, Captain Aug.
17th, 1861, Major August 30th, 1862, Lieutenant Colonel May 18th, 1863, Colonel
December 22, 1864, Brev. Col. U.S. Vol August 1st 1864, Brev. Brig. Gen. U.S.
Vol. March 13/65”
Red silk ribbon with post-war added red leather reinforcement. Etched ivy on
gold pin brooch and bar. Includes Swiss-made red leatherette case with green
silk lined lid with gold printed maker “Blondel & Co., Geneva,” purple velvet
form fitted interior.
Includes a fantastic original CDV of Lt. Col. Throop, wearing the badge on his
chest.
Condition Report: Both excellent, the original ribbon is slightly discolored and
mostly detached
Size: Cross 1.9 x 2 in. inclusive of suspension (4.8 x 5.1 cm.), CDV 4 x 2.5 in.
(10.2 x 6.4 cm.)
Provenance: Profiles in History
Estimate: $35,000 – 50,000
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