Found in South west tip of Indiana...........

[Fred (S.Indiana)]

Went to cut my daughter's yard today, old part of evansville on north east side in old manufacturing area, across the street there is construction under way, I see an old friend Don Cladspell, gunting and he sayes "you should follow behind me, your detector goes deeper" well , after I cut the yard I followed through with my XLT, a few wheats and THIS, any ideas? this medallion,(it has no holes, or loops for a chain) says "Grand Army of the Republic" with dates 1861-1866 , most certainly Cival War era, but not a medal, not medalion, any ideas?

 

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[DiggerBug]

"The GAR was founded by Benjamin F. Stephenson, M.D., on April 6, 1866, in Decatur, Illinois."
"In 1956, after the death of the last member, Albert Woolson, the GAR was formally dissolved."

These websites tells all about the GAR.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grand_Army_of_the_Republic

http://www.suvcw.org/gar.htm (This one has a pic of your star)


Great find. WTG!

 

[Detectingfreak]

If it came out of the ground like that then the medallion is silver! That looks to be an awesome CW Find! I bet you are truley excited!

 

[nebstater]

It was probably a medal given to those members who were Union vets of the Civil War. The GAR wasn't formed until about 3 years after the war was over. They would hold reunions every year somewhere. The CSA (rebs) used to do the same thing. Eventually, they started having their reunions together so they could meet and talk about different battles and events. Yours is a nice piece of history. Probably belonged to an Indiana vet.

 

[BuckleBoy]

16 years and I have never found any GAR memorabilia. That's a Great find.

 

[rust in peace]

I found one identical to that a couple years ago. I read somewhere that they were made from the melted down confederate cannons after the war and given to all the union army vets. The one I found is in slightly better condition with a deep green patina and is probably my best find while metal detecting.

 

[treasurefiend]

Man, that is a sweet piece of history!!!!

 

[cntrydncr1]

that is really sweet!! congrats on the nice find

 

[jonnyrebel00]

i agree, thats a great find.

 

[tymcmurray]

Very Nice!!!
Thanks for sharing it with us.

 

[allen]

sweet find....