Square eagle belt buckle

[Capt7thWvCoA]

Hello , i was wondering if the square federal eagle belt buckle was issued to infantryman?

 

[UCVRelics]

If you are referring to the one below some early war yankee militia units left home with them, any reissue was the standard US oval plate, If you are referring to the eagle rectangle sword plate it was not issued to infantry but was issued to some mounted infantry units.

 

[Package4]

Hello , i was wondering if the square federal eagle belt buckle was issued to infantryman?

In the infantry it was issued to non-commissioned officers

 

[Capt7thWvCoA]

I could be wrong but in a book I have i found a picture of what looks to be a private who has a square eagle belt buckle.

 

[Package4]

If you look closely you will see that he is standing next to an officer, without seeing the actual formation, the soldier in question could be a sergeant. Enlisted infantry were not issued the buckle unless a sergeant, could this soldier have been recently promoted or demoted, possible. This looks to be III Corps 1st Div veterans in 1863 or 64. I found it, Co C 110th PA after Fredericksburg, this would have been Fredericksburg 1863 and from appearances there are no stripes evident in the entire company. Just conjecture, but since this is a company photograph they dispensed with protocol and the soldier to the captain's right is a sergeant. Typically when the captain takes his place in line the sergeant moves to the rear rank.

I'm thinking that for purposes of the photograph they went tall to small in two ranks.