Excavated Infantry Hat Insignia, recovered at the 1st Battle of Bull Run, VA (SOLD)

This is another nice item being offered, it is an excavated regulation 1858 Infantry Hat Insignia. This rolled and stamped device is made of sheet-brass. It depicts the military insignia worn by soldiers in the infantry branch of the Federal Army during the Civil War. The thin attachment hooks are missing, which is typical of just about every dug example. The mouthpiece was off when dug but it has been nicely repaired and is now a solid piece. It was recovered many years ago at the 1^st Battle of Bull Run, Virginia.

Bull Run was the first full-scale battle of the Civil War. The fierce fight began on July 21, 1861, and it forced both the North and South to face the sobering reality that the war would be long and bloody.

It was a Confederate victory. After this stinging defeat for the Union, Brig. Gen. Irvin McDowell, the commander of the Union Army of Northeastern Virginia, was relieved and replaced by Maj. Gen. George B. McClellan, who set about reorganizing and training what would become the Army of the Potomac.

Although the Civil War officially began when Confederate troops shelled Fort Sumter on April 12, 1861, the fighting didn’t commence in earnest until the Battle of Bull Run, fought months later in Virginia, just 25 miles from Washington D.C.

Under public pressure to end the war in 90 days, President Lincoln had pushed the cautious Gen. McDowell to embark on a campaign to capture the Confederate capital in Richmond, but McDowell’s troops were stopped at Bull Run by Brig. Gen. P.G.T. Beauregard’s Rebel forces. The Federals retreated to Washington, where the Lincoln administration retooled for a war that would be waged at great human and financial cost.

This insignia displays very nice, it has a couple minor repairs/reinforcements, but hardly noticeable from the front. Relics from the 1^st Bull Run Battlefield have become very difficult to find. It comes in the glass top display case pictured.