Civil war token, help with ID?

[Jack_MIghtyheart]

Went back to my mom's yard today for a couple hours of detecting. Hit a nice little coin spill early on, 5 lincoln cents in a hole. No wheats, but I'll take it. Worked my way through some iron and trash, pulled a couple pieces of what looked like brass, and some more clad. Pulled what I thought at first was a foreign coin, but when I got home and washed it off, I saw the faintest outline of an Indian head on the front. I knew the reverse wasn't an Indian cent, so I did some research. Looks like I found a civil war liberty head token! It's in rough shape and I can't read a date, any help on how to clean this up without damaging it? Also, does anyone have any more info on what this was used for? I had never heard of it until tonight. I know the pictures are hard to see, but the reverse has two crossed cannons at the bottom, a drum in the center, a flags to the side and a liberty cap at the top.

 

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[Jack_MIghtyheart]

http://m.ebay.com/itm/1863-Civil-Wa...ns-Drums-Liberty-Cap-/262358928904?nav=SEARCH
It looks just like this one, only toasted.

 

[ScubaDetector]

I think they only made them for that year. Not 100% sure. No idea what they were used for. I am guessing they could have been circulated as a penny then.

Civil War Tokens - Collector Information | Collectors Weekly

The government banned private coins in 1864

 

[trapperart]

Nice find congrats

 

[High Tone Drifter]

That's pretty sweet! Congrats!