A HERO OF VICKSBURG & WITNESS DURING THE TRIAL OF CONSPIRATORS INVOLVED IN LINCOLN'S ASSASSINATION 

14kt gold 17th Army Corps Medal of Honor badge, approx. 1 1/4 x 2 1/2 in., the obverse with a foliate device above a federal shield suspended from a banner engraved “Chickasaw Bayou / Champion Hills / VICKSBURG / July 4th 1863 / Port Gibson Raymond / Jackson,” above a five-pointed star engraved “17th”; the reverse with pinback fittings to both foliate element and star, the shield and banner engraved: “AWARDED / Lt. K. Knox / 13th Inft. / by / the board of honor 17th Army Corps, / for gallant and distinguished services / in the field.”

Accompanied by a signed vignetted studio-bust albumen CDV of Edwin Stanton, n.p., ca. 1860s, and an outdoor group albumen CDV of General J.B. McPherson and his staff, Vicksburg, Mississippi, D.P. Barr, 1863, with photographer’s imprint on the mount verso and a partially clipped pencil inscription identifying the location and date.

This exceptional group is highlighted by an exceptionally rare 17th Army Corps Medal of Honor badge awarded to First Lieutenant Kilburn Knox of the 13th U.S. Infantry for “gallant and distinguished services in the field.” Issued in the aftermath of the Union victory at Vicksburg, the badge is directly tied to one of the decisive campaigns of the war. Following the surrender of the city on 4 July 1863, General James B. McPherson, commander of the 17th Army Corps and the Union occupation forces at Vicksburg, authorized these honors for officers and enlisted men whose conduct had distinguished them during the campaign. Precisely how many were made, and to whom they were awarded, remains unclear, but this example is the first made ever recorded as being made available publicly at auction in recent years. 

Knox (1842/43–1891) first entered service with the Pennsylvania Commonwealth Heavy Artillery before receiving a commission as first lieutenant in the 13th U.S. Infantry on 14 May 1861. After early assignments at Jefferson Barracks and in Iowa as a drill and recruiting officer, he was transferred to the Army of the Tennessee, serving first under General William T. Sherman and later under McPherson. It was under McPherson’s command that Knox distinguished himself at Vicksburg, where his regiment was credited as the only Union regiment to plant its colors on the Confederate works. He was later brevetted major for gallant and meritorious service at the Battle of Atlanta upon the recommendation of General John A. Logan.

The group is made all the more compelling by its association with Edwin Stanton and the aftermath of Lincoln’s assassination. After Atlanta, Knox was ordered to Washington and assigned to Stanton’s staff in the Commissary General’s office, later receiving a brevet as lieutenant colonel. On the evening of 13 April 1865, while at Stanton’s residence, Knox encountered a man who claimed familiarity with the Secretary but did not recognize him standing outside. That visitor was later identified by Knox as Michael O’Laughlen, one of John Wilkes Booth’s co-conspirators, and Knox’s testimony contributed to O’Laughlen’s conviction. The signed Stanton CDV included in this grouping may well have been given to Knox in acknowledgment of his role, or at the very least, as testament to Stanton’s esteem.

Following the assassination and the close of the war, Knox briefly served as assistant secretary to President Andrew Johnson before returning to the army as a captain, first in the 13th U.S. Infantry and later in the 22nd, with command at Fort Dakota until 1869. In later life he remained active in veterans’ affairs, becoming one of the early members of MOLLUS and eventually serving as governor of the National Home for Disabled Veterans in Milwaukee, where he died in 1891.

[Civil War, Union, Confederate] [Relics, Militaria] [Medals, Corps Badges, Badges, Ribbons] [Photography, Early Photography, Historic Photography, Daguerreotypes, Ambrotypes, Tintypes, Cased Images, Union Cases, Albumen Photographs, CDVs, Carte de Visites, Cartes de Visite, Carte-de-visite, Cartes-de-visite, CDV, Cabinet Cards, Stereoviews, Stereocards] [Abraham Lincoln, Politics, Mary Todd Lincoln, 1860 Election, Election of 1860, 1864 Election, Election of 1864,  Lincoln Assassination, John Wilkes Booth]