8th Michigan

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State of Michigan Staff Officers Button
(Gold Plated Brass)

The above Michigan staff officer's button was found about 60 to 70 yards south from where the cornfield met the woods. It apparently was lost when the 8th Michigan shifted to the northwest during Stevens attack. Artifacts from Gregg's Brigade, shown earlier in the exhibit, were found approximately 100 yards further north.

The occasional artifact with a state seal along with equipment that is commonly identifiable with each side can help validate descriptions of the battle. This is especially true of Ox Hill since the battle was a series of attacks that occurred just as a line of very intense thunderstorms came through the area (preceding a strong cold front). Most of the eyewitness accounts probably only saw and understood what was happening to their immediate front due to the lack of visibility.

Interpretation

This artifact came from a Michigan Staff officer who was advancing with the 8th during Stevens initial attack. However, the officer could have also lost it when the 8th, along with the rest of the Division, was falling back through the same area.

Since Lieutenant-Colonel Graves had been in command of the 8th Michigan until he was killed during the Battle of the Wilderness, it is quite possible that the button was from his uniform. Especially since his was the only Michigan regiment in that area.


	Conservation
1862	To the left, is the original size and condition of the button as it would have looked in 1862 embossed with the Michigan state seal. The back mark on the button is "Goddard & Bro Extra " who had manufactured a limited quantity of these buttons for the State of Michigan.	1981

Staff officer buttons are two piece with a rim that held the dome and back plate together. They were more ornamental and therefore more fragile under battlefield conditions. The standard enlisted men's uniform buttons usually held together much better in combat situations because of their flatter profile.

The artifact sustained damage from both the battle and from the corrosive effects of metal being buried for a long period of time. The same button probably would not have been identifiable if it had been left in the ground for much longer

The uniform button has now been cleaned and stabilized. However more work still needs to be done. With proper care, it and the other artifacts represented in this exhibit, will tell their stories for centuries to come.

Note: If any of the readers, have any old metallic items, please understand that the idea is to stabilize the artifact, not to "shine it up". You never want to destroy the patina, just remove the corrosive salts.

If the artifact is not too delicate it can be boiled in distilled water in successive treatments until all of the corrosive salts have been removed. I've done this as many as ten times or more, discarding the distilled water along with the leached salts each time. The artifact is then cleaned and sealed with a special micro-crystalline wax that most museums and conservators use for this purpose.