OVAL PUPPY-PAW US BELT PLATE WITH LEATHER RECOVERED IN 1955 BY SYD KERKSIS AT TOTOPOTOMOY CREEK AUGUST 1958

OVAL PUPPY-PAW US BELT PLATE WITH LEATHER RECOVERED IN 1955 BY SYD KERKSIS AT TOTOPOTOMOY CREEK AUGUST 1958

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$595.00 ON HOLD

Quantity Available: 1

Item Code: 2025-1888

This regulation US Civil War belt plate comes with Syd Kerksis’ original collection envelope with notations indicating he found it in August 1958 at “Topotomoe” or “Topotomoi” Creek, which we can only assume refers to Totopotomoy Creek. His notations include the word “Grove,” perhaps referring to grove of trees, but more likely refers to Shady Grove Road, a key point in the battle, and “C S front,” followed by what looks like a script “l,” likely meaning simply “CS front lines.” We have handled at least one other plate recovered by Kerksis on this battlefield.

The Battle of Totopotomoy Creek was fought May 28-30, 1864, as Grant continued to edge around Lee’s right flank after Spottsylvania and the Battle of North Anna. After Grant managed to cross the Pamunkey River and continue pressing southwest, Lee dug in behind Totopotmoy Creek. The Union right and center did not make much progress, but the 5th Corps crossed the creek on the left of the Union line and began advancing west along the Shady Grove Road, threatening Lee’s right. Early’s troops were rushed to meet the threat and Confederate counterattacks halted the Union advance, but were ultimately brought to ground by Union artillery and rifle fire and things sputtered to a halt. On May 31 the two armies moved on to the killing ground at Cold Harbor.

The plate is the “puppy paw” style oval US belt plate, with a portion of the belt still under the two oval studs. The fastening hook is in place. The brass face shows a mix of olive green with brown and white residue around the edges and next to raised edges of the letters, etc. There is a slight indentation to the rim at lower left and a few light dings at right. On the reverse the lead solder fill is in place, showing as gray underneath some thin brown, with some surface corrosion but no large missing pieces to the fill, and some crustiness on the belt hook.

The US Army adopted the oval US belt plate in 1839, with larger plates used for dragoons and riflemen and smaller ones for infantry until the 1850s. The oval-top studs for securing the belt are a classic early-war feature, being produced by contractors into 1863 with flat, arrowhead studs coming into general use by 1864 though, as would have been the case here, with many soldiers still wearing the earlier pattern gear.

This belt plate comes from an historic battlefield in the climactic eastern campaign of the war and has a great provenance. Kerkis was one of the legendary early relic hunters and collectors, and author of “Plates and Buckles of the American Military 1795-1874,” which led the way for a couple of generations of relic hunters, collectors, students, and authors.  [sr][ph:L]

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