Uniforms State buttons.

major bill

Brev. Brig. Gen'l
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Aug 25, 2012
Most, but not all, states at the start of the of the Civil War had a state button. However, not every militia unit in the state wore the standard state button and some units used their own particular buttons. I wonder when most states adopted a state militia button, any thoughts?
 
Massachusetts began using images from its State seal on its general service militia buttons as early as 1800. From 1800 to 1825 the buttons typically displayed some form of the standing Indian holding bow and arrow with North Star over shoulder. By 1830 some buttons had the State seal with Indian on a shield with the crest of an arm holding sword above. With the reorganization of the militia in 1840 being renamed the Massachusetts Volunteer Militia, the button with the arm holding sword, surrounded by the words "MASS VOLUNTEER MILITIA" was introduced, and continued to be the style used during the Civil War. Massachusetts also had numerous well-to-do volunteer companies that had their own distinct uniform and buttons.

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Massachusetts began using images from its State seal on its general service militia buttons as early as 1800. From 1800 to 1825 the buttons typically displayed some form of the standing Indian holding bow and arrow with North Star over shoulder. By 1830 some buttons had the State seal with Indian on a shield with the crest of an arm holding sword above. With the reorganization of the militia in 1840 being renamed the Massachusetts Volunteer Militia, the button with the arm holding sword, surrounded by the words "MASS VOLUNTEER MILITIA" was introduced, and continued to be the style used during the Civil War. Massachusetts also had numerous well-to-do volunteer companies that had their own distinct uniform and buttons.

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Interesting information. Those are great state buttons.
 
Interesting information. Those are great state buttons.
Buttons are what I started collecting. At one point I had over 100 pre-1865 Massachusetts buttons including many of those specific companies and different die varieties and makers of the more common buttons. But when it got to the point I could not find things to add to my collection, and when I did they would be so rare the cost exceeded $500, it was time to stop. Much of the fun in collecting is finding new things to add to your collection, and for $500 you can buy something much bigger than a button, like a sword. So that's what I did, sold the buttons (many of the rare ones exceeded $500, one over $1000) and started collecting swords. Just have a few buttons now that I stumbled across the past few years that were very underpriced.
 
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