Grib, I Think Whats Making It So Hard To ID Is That It Could Be From Any Number Of Schools Or Academies. I Know For A Fact That Confederate Soldiers Used What Ever They Could Get Their Hands On. Albert's Book Has Many Examples Of Buttons Smiler To Yours That Have Never Been Positively Identified. Just My Two Cents Worth... trk5capt...
Any chance that you could post a link to a pic with more info? I checked all of the Southern Railroad/Railway buttons in Van Court's Transportation Uniform Buttons, Vol. 1 - Railroads and it doesn't seem to be listed there.