These are four hole buttons, the two hole style is shown on our 18th Century button page. For references on Civil War buttons we highly recommend Albert's Record of American Uniform and Historical Buttons and Tice's Uniform Buttons of the United States . A super reference for US uniforms is Langellier's Army Blue, The Uniform of Uncle Sams Regulars .
Primary use is for officer uniforms.
Enlisted uniform button. Used for enlisted coats per Uniform Regulations, 1851. Used on trousers, haversacks and shelter halves. Used on the fly of trousers. We elected not to reproduce the back marking on this button to reduce the possibility of it being used to fake an original.