✅ SOLVED Military button

[Desert Don]

I could use some help identifying the age of this button. The image is the best I could do for now. Here's what I know. It is a military uniform button, probably from the Army. It was found in a very small farming town in California that was established in 1883. Too late for Civil War! The yard it was found it was in back of a house that was built in 1909 by my Grandfather. He was not in the military. My father was born in the house in 1913, He was in the U.S.Army in early 1941, before Pearl Harbor. In late 1941, again before Pearl Harbor, he was discharged from the regular Army so he could enlist in the Army Air Corps. I have his Air Corps Class A uniform. The button does not match any on that uniform. There was no one else in his family that joined the Army. I'm thinking that it is from one of his early Army uniforms, but possible got a newer uniform after he joined the Air Corp. It could be World War I issue. He always said that they gave him World War I leggins and a WWI steel helmet when he joined. He did not get a regular modern Army helmet until he was in China in 1943.

I found many buttons on the Internet that are very close, but none quite match. The differences are the spaces between the wing feathers on the right side of the Eagle, the length of the Eagle's neck, and the direction the head is pointing. On the back is printed "STEELE & JOHNSON, MFC: CO

Can any of you Button collectors help me out? You can click on the image to enlarge it a bit.

DD

 

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[civil_war22]

Looks to be a general service from civil war Era but I don't have my book in hand to verify

 

[fyrffytr1]

That backmark was used between 1875 and 1920 but, your button would date between 1875 and 1901 when the "Great Seal" button was introduced. It is a general service button. I took the liberty of enhancing your photo. I hope you don't mind.

 

[civil_war22]

That backmark was used between 1875 and 1920 but, your button would date between 1875 and 1901 when the "Great Seal" button was introduced. It is a general service button. I took the liberty of enhancing your photo. I hope you don't mind.

I'm gonna have to get a new phone. My screen is jacked up and I couldn't zoom in far enough to see what the eagle looked like other than telling it was a general service. Pretty sure all the civil war Era buttons i have are Scoville or superior. I think on the last one. I don't remember which one was my confederate buttons

 

[Desert Don]

I don't mind at all. I was going to post a better photo today, but now there's no need. I find it hard to believe that it is a Civil War Button, particularly because of where it was found. It was in the middle of California's Sacramento Valley. But could be I guess. Just can't figure out how it got there. There was no body in my family who service in the Civil War. My family built that house and settled that property. Grandpa died there in 1930, and Grandma died there in 1950. The lady we sold it to lived there until her death in 2013. She was a close family friend. My father was the only military person to live there. He made many trips home from boot camp to visit his mother before going overseas in 1942. He did change branches of service, from Army to Army Air Corps in November of 1941. Maybe a uniform change was necessary?

That backmark was used between 1875 and 1920 but, your button would date between 1875 and 1901 when the "Great Seal" button was introduced. It is a general service button. I took the liberty of enhancing your photo. I hope you don't mind.

 

[TheCannonballGuy]

Despite the Steele & Johnson Mfg. Co. backmark, the front's emblem is the 1854-to-1875 version of US Army "eagle button" for Enlisted-men's ranks. Apparently Steele & Johnson produced a few of the old version in early 1875, the first year the company added "Manufacturing" to its name, perhaps only weeks before the Army changed the emblem's design to the "Indian Wars" emblem (in service from 1875 to 1902).

 

[civil_war22]

So technically I was right but I was wrong

 

[Desert Don]

Could this button have been on an early World War II enlisted uniform. My father was the only military person living in that house. Before my Grandfather built the house 1909, the property was just open land. The town of Grimes was founded in 1883, and was originally called "Grimes Landing" on the Sacramento river.

Despite the Steele & Johnson Mfg. Co. backmark, the front's emblem is the 1854-to-1875 version of US Army "eagle button" for Enlisted-men's ranks. Apparently Steele & Johnson produced a few of the old version in early 1875, the first year the company added "Manufacturing" to its name, perhaps only weeks before the Army changed the emblem's design to the "Indian Wars" emblem (in service from 1875 to 1902).

 

[fyrffytr1]

The eagle button was obsolete by WWII. It was replaced by the Great Seal button in 1901. While your button front was made from 1854-1875 the backmark indicates it was made between 1875 and 1901. It could have been something your Grandfather had or it could have been dropped by a soldier passing through. As "TheCannonballGuy" stated, it was probably produced in early 1875 and the early style eagle front was mated to the later style back.

 

[Desert Don]

Damn! I was hoping to have one last connection to my father.

 

[fyrffytr1]

Maybe your father found it. You can't rule that out. Or your grandfather found it and passed it on to your dad. Any way you look at it the button was found on property belonging to them so there is a link no matter how small.

 

[Desert Don]

I don't want to mark this one "solved" just yet. I know it is a military button. I'm hoping we can put a definitive year to it. I'm still holding out hope that it was on a WWII uniform, perhaps it was surplus from years before. There is still some thread attached to the back side. Does anyone have a pre Pearl Harbor Army enlisted man's uniform that I can compare it to.

 

[TheCannonballGuy]

Desert Don asked:
> "Could this button have been on an early World War II enlisted uniform?"

I'm just speaking up to give you confirmation that Fyrffytr1 is correct... there's no way this button was on a WW2 uniform. In 1902 the US Army adopted what is called the "Great Seal of the United States" button as the standard uniform button for all ranks (both officers and enlisted men) and branches (Artillery, Infantry, Cavalry, etc) of the US Army. The sole exception to that rule for Army troops is the Engineer Corps. The "Great Seal" button is still the standard Regulation US Army button today. Here's a photo showing the three versions of US Army "eagle button" -- issued from 1854-75 (at right), 1875-1902 (at center), and the 1902-to-presentday "Great Seal" button is on the left.

 

[civil_war22]

Very nice button from the CW era. I'd be a happy camper to find one with that much gilt still remaining.

 

[Desert Don]

Well, I guess I'm just going to have to go with Civil War era. But I just don't understand it. As far as I know there was no Civil War activity in that area of California. There wasn't even a town there until 1883. Before that it was just a river crossing on the Sacramento River. Cleaton Grimes bought the land in 1844. The crossing was called "Grimes Crossing". So I'm assuming that Cleaton was running the ferry during the Civil War. This button was buried no more than a couple of inches below the surface. At that time the Sacramento River did not have levees to protect the area from flooding. Almost every year the area was flooded, which deposited a lot of river silt. The area is known for the hard-pan clay from the river. Dating that far back, I would have thought the button would have been a lot deeper. There was an area just to the south that was called "Grand Island", because during the flooding it was still high and dry. There is a school in Grimes called "Grand Island Elementary". I attended that school in 1951. I have found some strange things in some strange places. Many years ago I found a Copper 1812 Mexican Reale in a field just outside of the town of Merced in California. You just never know what you're going to find.

Desert Don asked:
> "Could this button have been on an early World War II enlisted uniform?"

I'm just speaking up to give you confirmation that Fyrffytr1 is correct... there's no way this button was on a WW2 uniform. In 1902 the US Army adopted what is called the "Great Seal of the United States" button as the standard uniform button for all ranks (both officers and enlisted men) and branches (Artillery, Infantry, Cavalry, etc) of the US Army. The sole exception to that rule for Army troops is the Engineer Corps. The "Great Seal" button is still the standard Regulation US Army button today. Here's a photo showing the three versions of US Army "eagle button" -- issued from 1854-75 (at right), 1875-1902 (at center), and the 1902-to-presentday "Great Seal" button is on the left.

 

[TheCannonballGuy]

Desert Don, "no civil war activity in that area" can mean the button was lost by somebody wearing an army-surplus winter overcoat many years after the war. Also, these tough brass (non-rusting) metal buttons tended to outlive their original owner, getting used and re-used according to whoever had a need for it, decade after decade. That's how these (ex) military buttons turn up in non-dug (non-excavated) condition in Granny's old button jar, and fleamarkets, etc.

 

[civil_war22]

Desert Don, "no civil war activity in that area" can mean the button was lost by somebody wearing an army-surplus winter overcoat many years after the war. Also, these tough brass (non-rusting) metal buttons tended to outlive their original owner, getting used and re-used according to whoever had a need for it, decade after decade. That's how these (ex) military buttons turn up in non-dug (non-excavated) condition in Granny's old button jar, and fleamarkets, etc.

I'm going to have to post some of the buttons I have on here. I lost my button book and I know most of the early military ones but the few I do have arent military. My ex wife's dad got them off a old woman in her 90's who collected them as a little girl and she gave them to him for mowing and weedeating her yard. I know one is a old RR button and can't remember the rest but like CBG said a lot of old surplus was brought home and used for different purposes. Most old ladies collected, older guys used the jackets as winter coats on the farm, it's really no different than you or I going to the army surplus store and picking out old Vietnam era boots, coats or pants