Today in History:

Dog Tags and the Civil War

      

Dog Tags and the Civil War

 

dogtag rev

 

Dog tag or ways of identifying a soldier after death were not issued by the major factions during the Civil War. This meant soldiers, and sometimes 3rd party vendors, came up with their own means of identification. Anything from writing one's name in their clothing, to strips of leather or cloth with I.D. on them was used. The Smithsonian archive has a fantastic picture of a medallion which was advertised to soldiers in Harpers Weekly. These medallions could be customized with personal information and were often sold by peddlers who followed the armies. 

 

Source: CivilWar@Smithsonian