Original Brass Belt Keeper for an issued Union belt, dug at Cedar Mountain, VA, (SOLD,RF)

This is another nice piece being offered, it is an excavated brass belt-keeper that was issued to Federal troops along with their leather belt and “US” belt plate. Its purpose was to keep the end of the leather belt in place. This one was dug in the 1970s by Mike Rasmussen at the Cedar Mountain Battlefield in Virginia.

When General George McClellan was defeated at the end of the Seven Days battles less than a week later, Lee turned his attention north toward General Pope while McClellan regrouped his army. Pope's three army corps were arrayed in a line from the Blue Ridge Mountains to the Rappahannock River. Lee responded to Pope’s dispositions by dispatching General Thomas J. "Stonewall" Jackson with 14,000 men to Gordonsville towards the center of Pope's line.

Jackson was later reinforced by General A.P. Hill’s division. On August 6th,1862, Pope marched his forces south into Culpeper County with the objective of capturing the rail junction at Gordonsville. On August 9th, Jackson and Maj. Gen. Nathaniel Banks’s Second Corps of Pope's army tangled at Cedar Mountain with the Federals gaining an early advantage. A Confederate counterattack led by Hill on the Union right repulsed the Federals and won the day. Confederate Brig. Gen. Charles Winder was killed. The battle at Cedar Mountain shifted fighting in Virginia from the Peninsula to Northern Virginia, giving Lee the strategic initiative. However, it was a costly battle with 3961 casualties.

This is a nice solid piece; I show an example of how one would be used on the belt (see pictures). It comes in the glass top display case pictured.