Author: William H. Ward

Publisher: Theclassics.Us

Published: 2013-09

Total Pages: 268

ISBN-13: 9781230207742

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can usually download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1886 edition. Excerpt: ... History of Army Corps and Badges. The adoption of badges appears to have originated in the " Kearny Patch." The following is the story told on the subject: One day when his brigade was on the march General Philip Kearny, who was a strict disciplinarian, saw some officers standing under a tree by the road-side. Supposing them to be stragglers from his command, he administered to them a rebuke, emphasized by a few expletives. The officers listened, respectfully standing in the "position of a soldier" until he had finished, when one of them, raising his hand to his cap, quietly suggested that the general had possibly made a mistake, as none of them belonged to his command. With his usual courtesy Kearm-exclaimed, "Pardon me; I will take steps to know how to recognize my own men hereafter." Immediately on reaching camp he issued orders that all officers and men of his brigade should wear conspicuously on the front of their caps a round piece of red cloth to designate them. This became generally known as the ' Kearny Patch.' After the battle of Fair Oaks, or Seven Pines, it was observed that the Confederate prisoners universally wore strips of red, blue, or white cloth on their caps, which they said were to designate the commands to which they belonged. General Kearny, in conversation with General Hooker, enthusiastically instanced this as illustrating the utility of his "patch." The usefulness of distinctive badges became so apparent to the corps commanders that very soon they were generally adopted. They, however, had not an official recognition until General Joseph Hooker became the commander of the Army of the Potomac. On the 21st of March, 1863, just before the Chancellorsville campaign, he issued an order prescribing the device for a...