Field-made Regiment number made from melted lead, dug at CS Camp, Tullahoma

This is another unique piece being offered, it is a field-made number “7” hat insignia measuring ¾” x ½”. This regiment number was made by melting lead bullets and pouring it into a brass regulation letter insignia, which acted as a mold. Two holes were made to allow it to be sewn onto a cap. It was recovered in a Confederate camp at Tullahoma, Tennessee (see map).

When Tennessee seceded, Confederate units were formed from the young men of the community. After the battle of Murfreesboro, Tullahoma became the site of General Braxton Bragg's headquarters of the Army of Tennessee. The tenure of the Confederate army at Tullahoma went from January through June 1863 and was to become the longest undisturbed encampment of any Confederate army during the war.

It lasted until mid-summer when Union General William S Rosecrans executed his masterful Tullahoma Campaign, forcing Bragg to give up the town. Over four hundred Confederate soldiers remain in Tullahoma to this day, buried in Maplewood Cemetery, victims of war, sickness, and disease.

Pieces like this show the ingenuity of the Civil War soldier, especially Confederates, when something is not available, you make it. I discuss items such as this is my book “The Civil War Soldier – His Personal Items” (see pictures).