Raynors HCA 2015-05
This lot is closed for bidding. Bidding ended on 5/21/2015
Extremely scarce United States Quarter Masters Department badge issued to the colored employees of the Quartermaster’s Department during the Civil War. 1-5/8” made of Brittania and struck by E. Ivans of Philadelphia and then destributed to the colored soldiers during the Fall of 1863. With complete provenance information issued by the Smithsonian Institute. In dug condition yet likely one of two known. A wonderful relic. According to the research, in 1863 Assistant Quartermaster Alexander J. Perry stated that employees of the department should wear a badge to show that they were in military service of the government. After some conrfusion as towho would actually wear these badges, on October 1, 1863 the Secretary of War directed that they were to be sent to Washington DC to be “issued free of charge to the colored employees of the Quartermaster’s Department.” The QM department was the first Federal agency to hire Blacks, employing them for a variety of jobs in a civilian capacity.
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