Silver and enamel official badge of the Eighteenth (XVII) Army Corps, Department of North Carolina / Army of the James. New York: Drowne and Moore, ca. late 1864. Suspended from an unengraved name bar. The blue enamel to the pair of triangular devices to the recto indicates that the wearer would have been of the corps's Third Division. Approx. 1 1/4 x 1 7/16 in.

The foliate cross was adopted by the corps on 7 June, 1864. Extensive variation exists between examples; it's posited that early variants were the product of misinterpretation on the part of the manufacturers, while the badges were intended to resemble this later example instead. This piece was produced by Drowne and Moore of New York. 

Provenance: From the collection of author, historian, and extensive collector, Howard “Howie” Madaus (1943-2007). Accompanied by a small envelope with a description of the badge handwritten by Madaus.

The ambition of Madaus’ badge collection was to assemble representative examples of every major type of Civil War corps badge worn by the various branches of the Union Army, including specimens from each division of every army corps, along with numerous rare and previously undocumented varieties. In both its breadth and depth, his private holdings likely surpassed those of many public institutions, and a portion of the collection is now offered here for the first time at public auction. 

Howard Madaus was a distinguished scholar and curator whose expertise in American military history and flags earned him national recognition. An active member of the Company of Military Historians, the American Society of Arms Collectors, the North-South Skirmish Association, and the Maryland Arms Collectors Association, he built his reputation through decades of dedicated scholarship. From 1968 to 2003, he served as assistant curator of history at the Milwaukee Public Museum, later becoming curator of the Cody Firearms Museum at the Buffalo Bill Historical Center in Cody, Wyoming, and finally Chief Curator of the National Civil War Museum in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania.

In addition to his museum work, Madaus authored numerous influential books and articles on firearms, the Civil War, and American flags. His groundbreaking Battle Flags of the Confederate Army of Tennessee (1976) established him as a national authority, followed by major studies such as The Flags of the Iron Brigade (1997) and The American Flag: Two Centuries of Concord & Conflict (2006). His expertise reached broad audiences through appearances on the History Channel, A&E, and PBS, and over the course of his career he emerged as one of the foremost authorities on United States Civil War flags.

[Civil War, Union, Confederate] [Relics, Militaria] [Medals, Corps Badges, Badges]