19th Corps Badge colors

Joined
Aug 1, 2015
Location
Montana. Gettysburg College alumni.
I am wondering if the 2nd and 3rd Division colors for the 1863 design 19th Corps badge unofficially adopted on February 18, 1863, were 1st Division-red, 2nd Division-blue, 3rd Division-white? The order for the 19th Corps badge officially adopted on November 17, 1864, states: "In color it will be, for the First Division, red; Second Division, blue; Third Division, white" (note that these colors are different from the standard red, white and blue for 1st, 2nd and 3rd Divisions of other Union Army Corps).
The attached image is an 1863 design 1st Division (red), 19th Corps badge that, according to this article, was excavated from the September 4, 1864, campsite of the 114th New York Volunteer Infantry (1st Brigade, 1st Division, 19th Corps) near Charles Town, West Virginia.
Image source: https://john-banks.blogspot.com/2016/10/badges-of-excellence-tiny-artwork.html

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That is an odd corps badge since the Nineteenth Corps had something more akin to the Maltese Cross of the Fifth Corps except with a distinct diamond at the center. That said, yes, the corps' second and third divisions had blue and white badges, respectively. In fact, they were the only corps that broke with the pattern of red, white, blue divisions (the Twenty-First Corps didn't use this pattern at all, however).

Ryan
 
@rpkennedy The above example is an 1863 design "four-pointed star" 19th Corps badge as unofficially adopted on February 18, 1863. The article attached to the above post includes a photograph of a soldier wearing this 1863 design badge. The 1864 design 19th Corps Badge, officially adopted on November 17, 1864, is the one that is similar to the Maltese Cross of the 5th Corps.
While I understand that the 1864 design division colors were red, blue, and white (as per the official order included in the original post above), my question is whether that was also the case with the 1863 design badges.
Please see this for reference: https://howardlanham.tripod.com/linkgr3/link151.html
 
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The system of designator flags used by the Union army sprang from a very practical problem. A division of 10,000 men dressed exactly alike marching behind the same colored regimental flag & the stars n’ stripes was anonymity on a grand scale.

Imagine a courier looking for the commander of the 2nd brigade, 2nd Division, 17th Corps surveying a landscape filled with identical blobs of soldiers. How does he find his way? General Dan Butterfield of the Army of the Potomac was tasked with solving that problem. In the West, General Rosecrans was organizing the Army of the Cumberland & designed distinct designator flags for his three corps.

Butterfield’s inspiration was to use simple geometric shapes to indicate each corps. Unlike Gen. Rosecrans’ design, Butterfield’s simple shapes could be made out very easily even from a distance.

Corps flags were burgees, (swallow tailed) divisions rectangular, brigades pennants (triangular). 1st division / brigade red, 2nd blue & 3rd white. At a glance, any commander or soldier could tell what unit was where.

Butterfield’s elegantly simple design was adopted army wide. Always marching to its own tune, the 14th Army Corps of the Army of the Cumberland carried an eccentric set of marker flags until the end of the war.

Individual soldiers wore a simple cloth corps badge of the appropriate color on their uniform or hats. Needless to say, Enameled & painted metal pins were also in evidence.

Army commanders designed their own HQ flag.

Butterfield’s geometrical system was the grandad of today’s shoulder patch. During WWII, US Navy assigned Butterfield’s geometric shapes to carriers. Aircraft were painted with white shapes on tail & wings to facilitate regrouping after multi-carrier attacks.
 
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