Silver and enamel unofficial badge of the Seventeenth (XVII) Army Corps, Department of the Tennessee. New York: B.T. Hayward, 1864-1865. The red enamel to the small circular device at center recto indicates that the wearer would have been of the corps's First  Division. Approx. 1 7/8 x 1 13/16 in. Ex-Milwaukee Public Museum.

Provenance: Howard "Howie" Madaus Collection

Publications: Stanley S. Phillips. Civil War Corps Badges and Other Related Awards, Badges, Medals of the Period. Lanham, M.D.: S.S. Phillips and Assoc., 1982. P. 73.

The badge is finely engraved to its obverse with the following: "W.P. / Gould / Co. H. / 17. Wis. / Vols." William Palmer Gould (1844-1924) mustered into the 17th Wisconsin Infantry on 10 February 1862. Nicknamed the "Irish Regiment," the 17th Wisconsin would, ironically, be assigned to the Seventeenth Corps, Department of the Tennessee, from January 1863 through the end of the war. The regiment was well fought prior to and during this assignment and earned specific accolades for its services at the Second Battle of Corinth and the Siege of Vicksburg.

The official arrow-shaped badge would not be adopted by the corps until 25 March 1865. Earlier unofficial examples took the form of a star with a circle at center. B.T. Hayward of New York, the producer of this example, included a trio of trefoils to their badges as well.

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]