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GETTYSBURG SPANGLER SPRING RECOVERED MARYLAND BOTTANY CROSS

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The Bottony Cross was a popular device for pro-southern Marylanders in the Civil War and is inextricably associated with Confederate Maryland troops. As part of the quartered Calvert-Crossland arms the emblem was associated with Maryland as a colony and revived on the state’s Great Seal in 1854. With onset of the Civil War, it became a symbol of state’s rights and secession in much the same way as the Palmetto tree did for South Carolina. The best known examples are its use on the headquarters flag of Bradley Johnson while commander of the Maryland Line and on the guidon of the 4^th Maryland (Chesapeake) Artillery. More personalized insignia such as an inscribed silver Bottony Cross badge worn by a member of the 1^st Maryland Cavalry are known, as is an image from the Bill Turner collection showing a cavalryman with a cloth Bottony Cross on the front of his hat.

This silver example was recovered in the area of Spangler’s Spring in the 1950s by Philadelphia resident Michael Hall. (On old type-written label with it says “ca. 1955.  A portion of handwritten card says 1959.) It is a commercial, jeweler-made piece measuring 1-1/8” across the arms in either direction. The T-bar pin and hook catch are still firmly in place on the reverse, with a slight bend to the pin and one arm of the cross shows an every-so-slight upward bend. It shows as a slightly dark silver gray on both sides with minor scratches.

Five Confederate Maryland units were at Gettysburg. Two, the 1^st Cavalry Battalion and Griffin’s Artillery served with Stuart. The 1^st Infantry Battalion, 1^st MD Artillery, and the Chesapeake Artillery, however, all served with Ewell, putting them in the right area for a member to have lost this badge during the battle. A member of the Chesapeake Artillery would seem a good candidate from their guidon, but a member of the 1^st Maryland Battalion, taking part in the assault on Culp’s Hill, would have been in much closer proximity to the find site would seem even more likely.

Maryland is the quintessential Civil War state with families split by loyalty and relatives fighting on both sides. This is a very scarce piece of insignia on its own, and doubly important from its recovery at Gettysburg.  [sr][ph:L]

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