Very young officer!

[yankee659]

Re: Very young officer!

Gentlemen,

I have been looking at a range of belts, both us and cs, and I came across the virginia militia officer's belt (EOG confederate page 189) which the woman is different from the virginia officers belt in which both her arms are raised. If you look at matt's enlarged picture on the right there appears to be a raised arm, which in the origional photo would be backwards so what would be her left is actualy the right arm. on the regular virginia belt here right arm isn't raised. This may be a virgina militia belt buckle(I think that's what it is, maybe just another version). Just my opinion, check it out and prove me wrong please!!!

yours obediantly,

Jeremy Mohr

[yankee659]

Re: Very young officer!

Here is a link I found that matches so close it is definatley scary!!

http://www.civilwardealers.com/bucklesandplates.htm

check it out. go to the 10th triangle link on the left, 'civil war relicman-csa' it is the first picture P1172

-Jeremy Mohr

[Possum Skinner]

Re: Very young officer!

I fooled around with it a bit more. Athough I cannot make it out either, I do not think it is the US belt plate, but rather some kind of picture.

[ewtaylor]

Re: Very young officer!

I fooled around with it a bit more. Athough I cannot make it out either, I do not think it is the US belt plate, but rather some kind of picture.

Virginia had different versions of their state emblem. This appears to be the 1850's "swords up" version. Common item on buttons and plates of the pre-War era.
ewtaylor
bluegrass rifles

[ThehosGendar]

Re: Very young officer!

I fooled around with it a bit more. Athough I cannot make it out either, I do not think it is the US belt plate, but rather some kind of picture.

This is going to end up as the Civil War equivalent of the Rorschach ink blot test.

[PogueMahone]

Re: Very young officer!

Who will be the first to wear a Virginia buckle with their Fed kit?

[Jayhawk102]

Re: Very young officer!

I say this is a moment we have to be there to see it.

[billwatson]

Well...

Who will be the first to wear a Virginia buckle with their Fed kit?

Let's back up a minute. Do we have other instances of seeing federal officers wearing their militia belts -- like Ohio militia, New York, etc.?

Backing up again: There were a number of "Loyal Virginia" folks recruited into the federal ranks, one of which we re-created at McDowell a couple of years ago. Most of these units subsequently became "West Virginia" units. What would be the problem wearing a Virginia belt buckle under those circumstances?
To take it a step farther, in the early war period there were attempts to recruit up to as many as 12 Virginia units into the US forces, and some of them failed for lack of numbers. The unsuccessful attempts were then amalgamated into other units -- the 7th New Jersey, which left Trenton a bit short in the fall of 1861, was augmented by what had been an attempt to create the 12th Virginia, Loyal. The regiment was reorganized and those Virginians formed, for a time, Company B of the 7th NJVI.

I also wonder what the protocol might be for captured swords, that is, an officer surrendering his sword to an enemy officer. What would the recipient do with it? Turn it over to the reclamation unit? Send it home? Wear it as a trophy? I mean, now he's got two swords, presumably.

There's lots we don't know, huh? :-)

[FC Barlow]

Young Officer

Matt:

If anyone cares, Fort C.F. Smith is currently a park protected by Arlington County. A few of the buildings associated with the fort, officer quarters, magazine have been preserved and restored. Its a great place to visit or do a living history. I think the 3rd US Regulars do living histories at the park.

Also - the sash across his chest - that means he is Officer of the Day, correct? What does this responsibility entail? You hear it mentioned all the time in diaries. In some cases, these officers made good targets for Rebel sharpshooters.

Todd Berkoff

[Dignann]

Possible ID

In all likelihood, the young man in the photo is 16 year-old 2nd Lieutenant Edmund L. Zalinski.

This was found in the listing of officers for Co. F, 2nd New York Heavy Artillery on page 1264 of Frederick Phisterer's New York in the War of the Rebellion 1861 to 1865 , Vol. II (Albany, NY: J.B. Lyon Company, 1912).

Zalinski, Edmund L. -- age 16 years; enrolled near Petersburg, Va., to serve three years, and mustered in as Second Lieutenant, Company F, February 23, 1865; mustererd out with company, September 29, 1865, at Washington, D.C.; commissioned Second Lieutenant, January 28, 1865, with rank from January 18, 1865.

Eric

[paulcalloway]

Re: Young Officer

Officer of the Day, in general terms, his responsibilities include Security, Order and Supervision of the Guard. He's on duty for 24 hours and while he is allowed to sleep, he must be available at a moments notice.

[justthemiller]

Reasons for wearing a Va. plate...

Hello All,

I just wished to throw my 2 cents in about the youngster who seemingly is wearing an officers belt with a Virginia seal plate. Eric brought up an interesting point about him in that the youngster was commissioned in Jan/65 and that the photo was, in all likelyhood, taken in June/65. The 2nd NYHA did serve as infantry in the 2nd Corps and as such were present in quite a few actions in the last months of the war. Could it be that this fellow is sporting a belt that was; taken from a Confederate officer (dead, alive, POW or deserter), a battlefield pickup (along with the sword), or even perhaps presented to him from others who had picked it up from someone else or the battlefield. There is a lot of scenarios to consider but I would add that I would hate to see folks sporting their "captured" Virginia belts around at events. But it seems that, at least in this case, the photo shows a federal sporting a Confederate item & not vice versa.

[hireddutchcutthroat]

Re: Reasons for wearing a Va. plate...

Could it be that this fellow is sporting a belt that was; taken from a Confederate officer (dead, alive, POW or deserter), a battlefield pickup (along with the sword), or even perhaps presented to him from others who had picked it up from someone else or the battlefield. There is a lot of scenarios to consider but I would add that I would hate to see folks sporting their "captured" Virginia belts around at events. But it seems that, at least in this case, the photo shows a federal sporting a Confederate item & not vice versa.

It wasnt totally unheard of for Federals to grab souveniers from the battlefield. There are quite a few instances were Federal troops would pick up wooden canteens, belts and sometimes even knapsacks. Just think of more modern times US troops wearing captured German belts and pistols.

Personally I cannot really tell one way or the other what that belt plate is, so I am not even going to geuss.

As a side note the beltplate that Paul posted was very popular in the California Goldfields

[roundshot]

Re: Very young officer!

The sword and belt of Lewis Armistead with a similar VA seal plate was taken at Gettysburg by Sgt. Michael Specht of the 72nd PA. Upon his promotion to LT, Specht reportedly wore both for the remainder of the war. It resides now in the MOC, after it was returned by the veterans of the Philadelphia Brigade to Pickett's Division at a 1906 reunion.

BobWilliams

[roundshot]

Re: Very young officer!

If the young officer is indeed Zalinski, he's the fellow that later invented the dynamite gun. More biographical info can be found here: http://www.famousamericans.net/edmundlouisgrayzalinski/

Bob Williams