Rick, Just got to your post today after moving the family to NM. This one took a little while to research but here goes. It appears what you have is a Riflemen button. Based on your description of the stars above and the circle (actually a bugle) with "Rifle" inside of it, it could be one of four possibilities. To define it further, count the number of stars at the top of the button. The button could be RF11 through RF13 as described in Albert's button book on page 75. The backmark might actually be "L.H. & S.W. Con.". There is no reference to a "T.H." and I'll bet it is actually an "L". If so, it stands for Leavenworth, Hayden & Scovill Waterbury, and was a partnership firm that produced buttons from 1811-1827. Your button appears to have been produced somewhere between 1812-16. In reading Tice's button book, it further narrows down that particular backmark to the button being produced in 1814. The RF11's through 13's all have Relative Values (RVs) of 20 and 25, quite a rare button.

Great find! As an aside, none of the books reference your particular button with that particular backmark, so it looks like you may have a newly discovered variation of one of those buttons. If you can, count the stars and post your finding, or better yet, post a scan in the photo forum.

Again, great find!

Continued happy hunting.

Joe