INCREDIBLY RARE EXTRA RICH MAJOR GENERAL COMMANDING THE ARMY AND LIEUTENANT GENERAL SHOULDER STRAPS

$4,950.00

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Item Code: 490-7262

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These shoulder straps show every sign of wartime construction and bear the three embroidered silver bullion stars of the Major General Commanding the Army and then the revived rank of Lieutenant General starting in 1864. The is a great looking set and extremely rare, with very few officers qualified to wear them.

The three-star rank of Lieutenant General had been retired since Washington held it and the US army since then had had only two general grade ranks: brigadier and major general – signified by one and two stars. The only exception was for the Major General Commanding the Army, who wore three stars, an office held by Winfield Scott from July 5, 1841, to Nov. 1, 1861, with the regulations specifying the center star as larger. Period photographs of Scott show that pattern, which seems to have been followed by McClellan when he briefly took over the post from Scott on Nov. 1, 1861, though photos are a little too indistinct to be certain about the size of the stars. In any case, McClellan held the rank only up to March 11, 1862, when he returned to field command of the Army of the Potomac and resumed his two-star insignia. Halleck then took over post on July 23, 1862, holding it until March 9, 1864. Photos show him wearing three-star straps with stars apparently the same size, but with the center star oriented differently from the two flanking it, like this set. That post as a separate entity, however, was abolished and merged with the revived rank of Lieutenant General in February 1864, and awarded to Grant on March 2, 1864, with the insignia specified as three stars. An extant triple-bordered strap at the US Grant historic site has three stars, all about the same size and oriented in one direction. A pair sold at auction some years back shows the central star a bit larger, but oriented the same as the others. So, there was clearly some difference by maker with more than one donor likely sending them as gifts. Grant then held the rank until July 1866, when he became General, or General Commanding the Army, entitle to four stars, and the rank and three stars of Lieutenant General then went to Sherman, who in turn held it until late 1869 when it went to Sheridan and Sherman moved up to General of the Army.

These measure 5” by 2-1/8” (measuring from the edges of the jaceron wire borders) and would be characterized in the Schuyler, Hartley and Graham catalog as “Extra Rich, Three Row Straps,” which use three rows of bullion embroidery to form the borders, the central border being wide and having two narrow borders running along its inner and outer edge, with jaceron wire lining the outer and inner edges of the raised bullion embroidery. They have a wonderful mellow, patina showing a slight shift toward brown in the black velvet centers and slight rubbing to the gilt on the high points that conveys just the right bit of age to them without any egregious shift to gray. The gilt is well preserved on the lower portions and recesses and shows very nicely, matching the general tone of the straps. The velvet shows a few light rubs, but no holes or significant wear. The edges on the underlying blue fabric show only minor wear. The backs show some abrasions and losses to the glazed black paper exposing the backs of the embroidered stars and three spots on one strap and one on the other that show the yellow thread used in the borders. The centers have three silver embroidered stars on each strap, of roughly equal size, with the points touching the inner jaceron wire, but the center star of each oriented differently from those flanking it by having one point against the inner jaceron wire where its neighbors have two, and vice versa along the other edge.

Needless to say, these would be the highpoint of any Civil War bullion insignia collection.  [sr][ph:L]

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