Original Item. Only One Available. Here is an original Civil War Corps badge that you seldom encounter. This is the 1863 design badge that is a "four-pointed star" 19th Corps badge. This is a 19th Army Corps Badge for the Department of the Gulf as unofficially adopted on February 18, 1863. The 1864 design 19th Corps Badge, officially adopted on November 17, 1864, is the one that is similar to the Maltese Cross of the 5th Corps. Since they only used this pattern for about a year that aren't as commonly seen as the usual Maltese Cross design.

This example measures 1¾ x 1¾” and consists of a white four-pointed star on a black square background. Interestingly, there is a small bit of newspaper or a maker’s sticker left on the back, which certainly authenticates this piece as period, as soldiers very often used newspaper or other book paper as backing for these badges.

 The 19th was a corps of the Union Army during the American Civil War. It spent most of its service in Louisiana and the Gulf, though several units fought in Virginia's Shenandoah Valley. XIX Corps was created on December 14, 1862, and assigned to Maj. Gen. Nathaniel P. Banks, the commander of the Department of the Gulf. The corps comprised all Union troops then occupying Louisiana and east Texas. It originally consisted of four divisions, numbering 36,000 men.

This is a fantastic example of a very scarce Civil War badge, ready for further research and display.