Civil War Cavalry Picket Pin, possibly CS

This is another great piece being offered, it is an original dug, Civil War iron picket pin. A regulation piece of equipment for Union cavalrymen, but this one is crude and slightly different. It is not as long and does not have the swell near the top which prevents the iron loop from dropping (see pictures). They were used to stake-down a horse temporarily while on picket-duty or grazing. It measures 11 ½” long with an iron “figure 8” loop that swivels (part of this loop snapped off, which is why it was discarded. Union examples are 14” in length. This picket pin was recovered in Corinth many years ago.

The Battle of Corinth was fought October 3 – 4, 1862, in Corinth, Mississippi. For the second time in the Iuka-Corinth Campaign, Union General William Rosecrans defeated a Confederate army, this time one under General Earl Van Dorn.

After the Battle of Iuka, General Sterling Price marched his army to meet with Van Dorn's. The combined force, known as the Army of West Tennessee, was put under the command of the more senior Van Dorn. The army moved in the direction of Corinth, a critical rail junction in northern Mississippi, hoping to disrupt Union lines of communications and then sweep into Middle Tennessee.

The fighting began on October 3 as the Confederates pushed the Union forces from the rifle pits originally constructed by the Confederates for the Siege of Corinth. The Confederates exploited a gap in the Union line and continued to press the Union troops until they fell back to an inner line of fortifications.

On the second day of battle, the Confederates moved forward to meet heavy Union artillery fire, storming Battery Powell and Battery Robinett, where desperate hand-to-hand fighting occurred. A brief incursion into the town of Corinth was repulsed. After a Union counterattack recaptured Battery Powell, Van Dorn ordered a general retreat. Rosecrans did not pursue immediately, and the Confederates escaped destruction.

This picket pin is in very nice condition and the loop still swivels. Like I said, this one is crudely made, so it was probably made by a blacksmith or Confederate manufactured. It has been coated with a varnish for preservation. Picket pins were mainly used in the Western campaigns.