Oblong silver badge, measuring 2" in width, and .75" height. Standard USCC frontal inscription: "U.S. / Christian Commission / PHIL."; see rear inscription to Mrs. Brown above. Rear bar pin. Light surface wear with tarnished reverse. Else VG, with crisp inscription. Also two small, matching, brown leather coin purses with names "Mrs. M.H. Brown" & "Rev. Arza Brown" respectively, stamped on the flap interior. Each measuring 4" in width, 2.5" in height. Five interior divider pocket, with outer flap-strap finial. Both purses exibit light to medium outer wear & are missing their flap-straps. Else VG.

At the time of the Civil War, the Reverend Arza Brown was a retired Methodist Episcopal minister living with his wife Mary in the Chicago area. Born in 1792 in Hampton, Mass, Brown was then sixty-nine years old, and had spent much of his earlier adult life in ministry in the vicinity of Ripley, Ohio. His wife Mary, five years younger, was a member of the Chicago branch of the U.S Christian Commission.

Based in Philadelphia, the U.S. Christian Commission was founded in 1861 by the Young Men Christian Association to distribute bibles and bandages to Union soldiers in the coming war. And, by the war's end the commission had dispensed over a billion dollars worth of soldiers charity relief (reckoned in today's finances..) It received glowing praise from virtually prominent Union politicians and soldier, beginning with Abraham Lincoln and U.S. Grant, and from prominent humanitarians such as Florence Nightingale.

A good representative specimen of the standard Christian Commission delegate badge. Superb ID inscription. Great display piece. Documentation included.