Civil War Union Eagle Breast Plate, dug Oct. 1982 at 55th NY site, Richmond, VA

Being offered is an excavated Eagle Breast Plate, which would be worn on the leather strap that held the cartridge box. The back has all of the lead remaining and as with just about all dug breast plates, the hooks have rusted away. The digger marked it with the date he dug it “10-10-82 / #57” and the location “55 NY / Brook Rd”.

The 55th New York Infantry (also known as the Garde de Lafayette or French Regiment) fought in the Peninsula Campaign around Richmond, Virginia, in the spring and summer of 1862. It was formed largely of French immigrant volunteers and veterans under Colonel Régis de Trobriand.

Brook Road (present day U.S. 1) in Henrico County and Richmond, Virginia, and was the location of the northernmost outer earthen defenses of Richmond. It was built by a Black labor force in 1862, the earthworks featured 8-to-10-foot-high parapets with infantry trenches designed to block enemy advances toward the Confederate capital (see marker).

The plate has a beautiful untouched patina to the face and only a nick to the rim near the bottom – overall very solid. It comes in the glass top display case pictured.