This fancy set of high-grade shoulder straps for an artillery captain used a red velvet ground and a border formed of not one, but three rows of gold bullion embroidery. The rows are roughly the same width, with the outer and inner rows of uniform strands and the middle border using alternating groups of three strands of dead and bright bullion. The borders and rank bars were, as usual, edged with gilt brass jaceron wire. The backs were left open, showing the paper and web underside of the strap and thread, with the edges simply turned under when they were sewn to the officer’s coat.

These show they were mounted on a coat and worn, but the bullion shows only minor oxidation and the bullion strands are still largely close together. The jaceron wire has pulled up on the inner border of one strap, which also shows a short strand missing from the inside edge. The other is missing one longer strand on an inside edge and a small bit of an exterior end strand, and one strand along a rank bar. The velvet has lost its nap, but the fabric shows good color and only one narrow tear along the edge of the same rank bar. There are a few loose threads and a couple of spots where the jaceron wire could be tacked back in place, but even though clearly worn in the field, these are still a very attractive set of straps and the rarity and history more than make up for the wear.

In terms of numbers, at Gettysburg there might be only five or six batteries assigned to an entire army corps. Those numbers might be bolstered by batteries in the army’s artillery reserve, but proportions are indicative of how scarce the straps are. In the field artillery captains were the battery commanders, assisted in action by four lieutenants (in a six-gun battery,) who commanded sections of two guns and the line of caissons, and it is worth remembering they served in the very front lines of battle, engaging not only enemy artillery, but infantry in close fighting, using rounds of case-shot and switching to canister at 400 yards or so. One of the most famous battery monuments here at Gettysburg reads, “Double canister at ten yards,” giving an idea of how desperate the situation might be.

This is a nice set that displays very well and would look great in an artillery display and likely fill a gap in an insignia collection since on any battlefield there were far fewer captains of artillery than infantry or, likely, even cavalry. [sr][ph:m]

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