Rare bronze Flagstaff top dug at Shiloh in 1980 (SOLD)

This is a very interesting piece being offered, it is an excavated bronze flag staff tip. It has a beveled top with a diameter of 7/8” x 1 ¼”. This is the section which would go over the top of the wooden staff and then a brass finial (spearpoint or eagle) would go over it. It was dug at the Shiloh Battlefield in 1980 and has the original tag attached with the description and inventory number.

On the morning of April 6, 1862, 40,000 Confederate soldiers under the command of Gen. Albert Sidney Johnston poured out of the nearby woods and struck the encamped divisions of Union soldiers occupying ground near Pittsburg Landing on the Tennessee River. The overpowering Confederate attack drove the unprepared Federal soldiers from their camps and threatened to overwhelm Maj. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant’s entire Army of the Tennessee.

Some Federals made determined stands, and by afternoon, had established a battle line at a sunken road, known as the “Hornet's Nest.” Repeated Rebel attacks failed to carry the Hornet's Nest, but massed Union artillery helped to turn the tide as Confederates surrounded the Union troops and captured, killed, or wounded many of them. During the first day’s fighting, Johnston was mortally wounded and was replaced by Gen. Pierre G.T. Beauregard.

Fighting continued until after dark, but the Union line held. By the next morning, the Federals had been reinforced by the Army of the Ohio under Maj. Gen. Don Carlos Buell and numbered about 54,000 men, outnumbering Beauregard’s army of around 30,000. Grant launched a counteroffensive along the entire line, overpowering the weakened Confederate forces and driving Beauregard’s army from the field. The two-day battle at Shiloh produced more than 23,000 casualties and was the bloodiest battle in American history up to that time.

From time to time the bases of flagstaffs show up, they are more prone to falling off the wooden staff by contact with the ground (they have nail holes for attachment, see pictures) but the top pieces below the spearpoint or eagle finials are a rare find.