The Battle of Ft. Myers

[BigWaveDave]

So I found this button this past weekend, and after further research, I have reason to believe that this button is beyond freakin incredible.

The link provided leads me to believe that it could have been lost by a free black Union artillery soldier. Just wow.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Fort_Myers

If you missed it, here are pics of my best relic find ever.


I’ve been asked how much this button is worth, and I’ve got no clue....
Any Tnet member who knows can chime in with a value, just out of curiosity.

 

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[Peyton Manning]

from your title I assumed it was a problem with the wife

love the button, especially with the loop still on

 

[relic nut]

Great job on the research! I'm not sure of the value but I can clearly see your enthusiasm.
Knowing the possible history should add to the value. At least it does to me

HH, RN

 

[villagenut]

Great stuff there Dave. A piece of local history is priceless.The 2nd USCT Infantry that skirmished there in Ft Meyers left there and came north to where I lived as a young guy. They are referenced in your articIe. I found their small camp here and to have a button they left behind...m8ne is an Eagle I. Special stuff here Dave.

 

[Loco-Digger]

I can see your stoked about the button Dave. It's a great find when it piques ones interest and the research that follows the dig. It's the only one of those that you've dug, so to me it's priceless.

 

[smokeythecat]

JeffGordon,it's still nap time.

 

[Peyton Manning]

awww already?

 

[devldog]

Dave, I'll put a price on this button for you. How about PRICELESS? Very nice Eagle Artillery button. In VGC Too.

 

[smokeythecat]

That is a nice, early button for sure. I see its nite-nite for Jeff. We got together last winter and dug and dug and dug...good stuff.

 

[BigWaveDave]

FYI to all.....
I got a PM from CannonballGuy, and he’s got me some info on this piece....
I really hope he shares it here.
This is older, and drooling with history.
Outstanding.

 

[TheCannonballGuy]

I sent Dave the info in a Private Message, for the reasons stated in it, below. Let me publically compliment him for taking so graciously the information which contradicted his prior belief about who wore his eagle-A button, and when. (Believe me, many people don't take the contradictory info very well, even when it is politely phrased.) He said I should post the contents of the Private Message, so here it is.

=================
Dave, I'm sending you a Private Message because I don't want to blindside you in public by giving you a "contradictory" historical analysis of your Fort Myers eagle-A button. I'm writing to you because as a civil war relics digger myself (for over 40 years) I prefer to research out the actual facts as far as possible, and "let the chips fall where they may." You may feel differently, and if so, I'll apologize and drop the subject.

The "form" of the eagle on your eagle-A button, and more importantly its "Scovills & Co. / Waterbury" backmark, date it to the 1840s. Scovill used the Scovills & Co. name only from 1840 to 1850, when it became the Scovill Manufacturing Company.

Being made in the 1840s makes it very-very unlikely that your button was issued to a soldier during the civil war... especially in the latter half of the civil war. All the pre-war stocks of eagle buttons got used up in the first year of the war.

Also, at the time of the civil war, having a letter in the shield meant the eagle button was for Officers, not Enlisted-men. If it was worn by a free black artilleryman during the civil war, he'd have to be an officer, in command of a section of the artillery battery. So far as is known, there were no black Artillery Officers. The only black soldiers at Fort Myers were one company of troops from the 2nd US Colored Infantry regiment. They served the Fort's cannons during the 1865 battle, but they were not wearing uniforms which had artillery buttons.

All of that makes it more likely that your button was issued in the 1840s (or because Scovill used the Scovills & Co. backmark into to 1850, perhaps it was issued in the early-1850s) to a soldier who was part of the garrison of Fort Myers at that time. We know that Fort Myers was built in the 1830s and was "used as a base of operations against the Seminoles" during the three Seminole Indian Wars (in the 1830s, 40s, and 50s).

I hope I have not offended you by providing you with the historical evidence about your button and the "timing" of its presence at Fort Myers. Like I said, I myself would rather know the actual historical facts about what I've dug, than think something that is incorrect about it.

 

[BigWaveDave]

Thankyou very much Pete for the information....
It will be hard for me to ever find something this incredible and important to Ft. Myers history.

 

[devldog]

Congrat's to both Dave on a great Historical Find and Save on the button, and for the research provided by The Cannonball guy. Both of you are Winners in my book.