A Humboldt High School student was helping dig footings for the building trades group's next project when she found a small piece of metal. It turned out to be a Civil War-era sword belt plate worn by Union officers and military cadets.
Humboldt High School building trades student Olivia Black shows a brass Civil War-era belt plate she uncovered while digging a footing for a house under construction in Humboldt. She is with Robbie Baker, a member of the Humboldt Historical Society Museum Board of Directors. The plate will be displayed at the museum. Courtesy photo
HUMBOLDT — A construction project turned into a unique history lesson this week when Humboldt High students hit upon some Civil War artifacts.
Olivia Black, a building trades student, was helping with the group’s next venture, building a home in the 500 block of Pecan Street.
Black was helping dig out soil a couple weeks back when she spotted a small piece of metal.
Neither she nor class instructor Scott Murrow knew what it was, only that it featured an eagle clutching a wreath in front of a field of stars.
“Neither one of us had any idea what she found or how old it was,” Murrow said afterward.
A visit to Robbie Baker, a Humboldt history buff and member of the Humboldt Historical Society Museum Board of Directors, gave them their answer.
Baker determined the artifact is a Civil War-era sword belt plate, worn by Union officers and military cadets in the mid 19th century.
It’s actually one of an unknown number of relics likely still hidden in and around Humboldt, Baker explained, pointing to the community’s rich Civil War history.
Humboldt was the site of an 1861 raid by those sympathetic to the Confederacy. Nobody was killed, but several buildings were ransacked and burned, and a number of former slaves were taken back into captivity.
Following the raid, Union soldiers set up camp in Humboldt — Camp Hunter — as the Union drove the Confederate attackers back across the Missouri state line.A booklet explaining the design and history of the brass Civil War-era belt plate.Courtesy photo
WITH THAT as the prologue, Baker was able to help Black and Murrow find out a bit more about the plate.
“It has a couple of pieces that were broken off, but it’s still in pretty good shape,” Baker told the Register.
The Model 1851 the student uncovered is actually a rarity, according to a book on Civil War relics.
Made with stamped brass and adorned with lead, the belt plate has enough fine background striping to indicate it was to be worn by an officer, and not an enlisted soldier.
This type of construction is rarely seen and seems to be associated with a finely made officer’s full dress belts.
