Union Eagle Breast Plate recovered from Gettysburg Battlefield, possibly struck

This is another historic piece being offered, it is an excavated Civil War Eagle Breast Plate. It would have adorned the leather shoulder sling of a Civil War soldier’s cartridge box. It has the Union eagle on the brass face of the plate. The eagle has the arrows of war in one of her talons and the other talon has the laurel branches of peace. The back of the plate has the original lead remaining, but the iron hooks are long gone, as with most dug breast plates. This artifact was recovered many years ago from the Gettysburg battlefield.

The front has about one-third of the brass rim present and the reverse still has all of the lead, minus the hooks, which are typically rusted away on dug plates. It has a very distinct "bowl" shape, almost like it got hit with a cannonball, of course that is just speculation. It has that green patina over the face which many collectors and diggers suggest that it was at one time buried with the soldier. (I did have buttons with the exact patina which were found in abandoned graves).

When soldiers were exhumed for reburial in the National cemetery, usually it was done in haste, for obvious reasons. It was a common practice to just remove the remains and usually anything else was left behind if it had no significant value, i.e. buttons, leathers, accoutrement parts, buckles, etc., this breast plate could possibly be one of those pieces.  There is no hard evidence of any of this, I am just passing it along.

The Battle of Gettysburg was fought July 1–3, 1863, in and around the town of Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, by Union and Confederate forces during the Civil War. In the battle, Union Major General George Meade's Army of the Potomac defeated attacks by Confederate General Robert E. Lee's Army of Northern Virginia, halting Lee's invasion of the North. The battle involved the largest number of casualties of the entire war and is often described as the war's turning point due to the Union's decisive victory and concurrence with the Siege of Vicksburg.

In my book “Battle of Gettysburg – The Relics, Artifacts & Souvenirs”, I show breast plates, two which were from Lee’s Headquarters Museum in Gettysburg (see pictures). It comes in the glass top display case pictured. This is a great 100% original Gettysburg relic.