General staff cuff button. Visible 8 mm. In 24k chainlink cufflink mounts with obverse enameled legend "GEN SHERMAN" and four-star general strap lower cartouche. Rear head with two lozenges engraved "Worn in Action" and "1862-1865". 

BUTTON WORN BY GENERAL WILLIAM T. SHERMAN DURING THE CIVIL WAR

A historic personal relic of the celebrated Civil War strategist, William Tecumseh Sherman (1820-1891). The general staff officer’s button, inscribed “Worn in Action,” was later fashioned into a solid gold cufflink, likely in the late-19th century.

Excitingly, this button and the button worn by General Ulysses S. Grant (offered in the preceding lot) were recently discovered as part of an estate in Idaho. This occasion marks both items’ first appearance at auction. Though Grant and Sherman did not attain the rank of four-star general until after the Civil War, it is likely that the four stars on the buttons’ settings were intended as a retrospective emblem of both men’s ultimate status as the nation’s highest-ranking officers since George Washington, rather than a reflection of their wartime insignia.

Personal relics associated with Sherman’s service are exceptionally rare, particularly those demonstrably linked to field use. The engraved inscription, “Worn in Action, 1862–1865,” anchors this artifact to the military campaigns that defined his career. The later conversion of this button into a gold cufflink reflects the Gilded Age custom of preserving relics as presentation pieces, and it can be reasonably concluded that this artifact was intended for conferral upon a distinguished officer or other person of consequence.

One of the most consequential generals of the Civil War, General Sherman’s relentless campaigns reshaped the course of the conflict and, indeed, modern warfare. Coiner of the phrase “War is hell,” his application of “scorched earth” warfare inflicted strategic and psychological blows that shattered southern morale. In his memoirs, Sherman would write, “My aim, then, was to whip the rebels, to humble their pride, to follow them to their inmost recesses, and make them fear and dread us.” General Sherman’s capture of the city of Atlanta is widely credited as securing Abraham Lincoln’s re-election in 1864, ensuring the war would continue, eventual Union victory, and the universal emancipation of enslaved African Americans.

Pragmatic and unassuming, Sherman believed in good works and much of his post-war life was spent helping veterans who served under his command. During the Reconstruction Era, he championed efforts to rebuild and reunify a fractured nation. However, he never minced words when discussing the war, once stating: “There are such things as Abstract Right and Abstract Wrong, and when History is written, human actions must take their place in one or the other category. We claim that, in the great Civil War, we of the National Union Army were right, and our adversaries wrong; and no special pleading, no excuses, no personal motives, however pure and specious, can change this verdict of the war…we should [never] tear from the history of our country the pages which record the great events from 1860 to 1865; for they should stand there forever as a warning to those who come after us - who, from passion, self-interest, or any human cause or pretext whatever, may undertake to destroy this Government by violence."

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