Detroit Light Guard Muskets.

major bill

Brev. Brig. Gen'l
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Aug 25, 2012
I was wondering about the gold or silver shield talked about below.

"In 1861, they had 60 State owned rifled muskets with accruements, 6 Colt revolvers and 8 noncommissioned officers swords. The rifle stocks were varnished, the locks and screws blued and the barrels burnished. Many men attached gold or silver shields on the rifle stocks; the shields were engraved with the men’s identification number. At the end of the company’s three months of active service, these personalized muskets were turned over to the Ordinance Department."

This company could not be the only militia company which put identification shields on their muskets, so what did these shields look like?
 
i might have something like that on my Bridesburg Conversion that i had recently picked up. now i dont know if its the same thing as to what your talking about but it could be similar though.
 
The the I am thinking of this is that the Detroit Light Guard may not have been the only unit to do this. It is even possible that militia units kind of copied other militia companies.
 
anything is possible, i could take a quick photo of mine if you want to see what it may or may not look like to what your referring to

I would like that if it is not to much trouble. I am thinking of having a artist help me prepare a uniform plate of the Detroit Light Guard for the Company of Military Historians Uniforms in America series. I could have the artist turn the musket to hide the shield, but it would add detail to show the musket with a the number plate. Right now I do not have enough information to include the number plate and would hate to include it unless I could make a good educated guess.
 
ok here you go, this is what my shield looks like and where it was placed. hope this helps you out on what your looking for .
 

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