A Date of Some Import

I was tasked with removing a heavy calcium crust that covered the entire face of this federal eagle plate.  The crust often grows and bonds to the brass when plates such as this are lost in low,damp areas.  While this is a beautiful relic in and of itself, the fact that the soldier etched a date on the back, a date that must have held significance for him, makes this a neat piece of history.

On May 1, 1863 General Robert E. Lee left General Jubal A. Early's division to hold Fredericksburg, while marching with the rest of the army to meet Union Gneral Hooker's main offensive thrust at Chancellorsville.  On May 3, the Union VI Corps under Sedgewick, reinforced by John Gibbon's II Corps division, having crossed the Rappahannock River, assaulted and carried the Confederate entrenchments on Marye's Heights.  The outnumbered Confederates withdrew and regrouped west and southeast of the town.

The relic was recovered in Fredericksburg, VA.