St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1896-03-22
Alb ARMY BADGES
CAPT. HARRTES PREPARES AN IN
TERESTING ARTICLE ON THE
SUBJECT.
,.,-. BAD uus
ALL THAT WERE EVER USED.
INCIDENT WHICH LED TO THEIR
ADOPTION DURING THE UN-
PLEASANTNESS.
THE FIRST COMPLETE ARTICLE
Covering the Use of These Articles
suggestions for Residents of
st. Paul.
THE FIRST COMPLETE ARTICLE

Capt. William H. Harries, collector
of internal revenue, has been spending
his leisure moments for some time
past getting q collection of facts fig
ures and Illustrations of all army
badges used during or adopted since
the war. 1t is especially interesting
to the people of Minnesota at this
time, in view of the approaching en-
campment Of the G. A. R., to be held
in st. Paul the first week in Septem-
Der next
Flower beds can be prepared the
coming spring of the designs found
in this paper. This will be pleasing
to the eyes of the city's guests, and
the old soldiers will grow enthusiastic
in seeing their old army badges dis
played in the beautiful colors Of the
flowers. 1t will also, it is believed, be
a valuable aid in preparing the dec
orations which the good people Of st.
Paul are going to display when the
G. A L. meets here. The G. A. r.
committee will probably have the ar
ticle printed and the illustrations in
colOrs.
The adoption Of badges to designate
the different divisions and army corps
appears to have been originated by
Gen. Phil Kearney.
One day, when his brigade was on the
march, Gen. Kearney, who was a strict
dlsclplinarian, saw some officers stand
ing under tree by the road side. Sup
posing them TO be Stragglers from his
own command he administered to them
rebuke, emphasized by a few exple-
tives. The officers listened in silence.
respectfully standing in the position
or a soldier" until he had finished when
one Of them suggested that the general
had possibly made a mistake, as none
OF them belonged to his command. With
his usual courtesy, Kearney exclaimed:
Pardon me; 1 will take steps to know
how to recognize my own men here
after" Immediately on reaching Camp
he issued orders that all officers and
men of his brigade should wear con-
spicuously on their caps a piece of red
flannel to designate them. This became
generally known as the Kearney patch,
ana was cut in the shape of a dia-
mond.
Gen.D. B. Birney, in his General Or
ders No. 49, dated Sept 4, 1862, from
the headquarters Of Kearney's diyis-
lon, announced the death Of Gen. Phil
lip kearney, and after the usual re-
qulrement to wear Grape on the left
arm Tor thirty days, says: ITO still
Iufther show our regard for him and
to distinguish his officers as he wished
each officer will continue to wear on
his cap piece of scarlet cloth, or have
the top or crown piece of the cap made
OF scarlet cloth"
After the 'Kearney patch" several
army corps, one by one, adopted dis
tinctiVe badges.
The divisions Of each corps were des-
lgnated by one of their colors, red for
the First division, white for the Sec
ond division and blue for the Third d.
vision. If there were more than three
divisions, then green and orange were
used upon some part Of the badges. AS
there were usually three divisions in a
corps, the national colors were the ones
sure TO be represented. For the head
quarters some slight notifications were
made in the form worn by the division
When several army corps were consol-
dated into an army" the badge of
that army headquarters consisted of a
combination in one or all those of the
corps. But it is believed that with the
exception Of the Army of the Cumber-
land, the army badges" were adopted by
societies of the several armies subse-
quent to their discharge after the close
of the war.
To Maj. Gen. Joseph Hooker prob
ably belongs the credit of first having
issued orders for the adoption of reg
ulaf corps badges to be worn by officers
and enlisted men of all the regiments
or various corps through the entire
Army of the Potomac.
Just before the Charlottesville cam
paign, on the 21st of March, 1868. he is
sued circular prescribing the device
Tor badge for each corps, "for the
purpose Of ready recognition Of corps
and divisions Of the army and TO pre-
vent injustice by reports of struggling
and misconduct through mistake as to
their organization. (See volume XIV.
part IL. page 1872, War Records)
Plate Us of the atlas to accompany
the official records of the Union and
Confederate armies is intended to illus
trate the corps flags. The corps badges
in some instances were different from
the corps flags.
The authority for the flags of the Sec
ond, Fifth and Sixth corps is contained
In drawing submitted on July 81 1854
by Gen. Rufus Ingalls,, chief quarter
master of the Army of the Potomac.
and approved by Gen. Meade Aug. /
1914. The hags of the several corps Of
the Army OF the Potomac, as designat-
ed by Gen. Hooker Feb. 7, 1863, were
as follows: "a blue swallow tail flag
with white Maltese cross in center Of
field; the numerical designation of the
corps in red figures in the center of the
cross. See paragraph xii, General Or
der No. 10. headquarters Army of the
Potomac, volume XIV, part II. page SO
War Records" 1t will be observed that
all corps headquarters flags, as adopt
ed in 1868, had the same device-a NAL
tese cross This was changed Aug, I
1864, so as to correspond with the
badge" Of the several corps.
The corps badges were fastened on
the center of the top of the cap. or
where hat was worn, then in front of
the hat.
The devices seen to have been gener-
ally arbitrarily chosen, without partic-
Mar eiOnificapca