ANTIQUE 1909 CIVIL WAR GENERAL ANSON MILLS PINBACK BUTTON Pin Thorntown Indiana

  

Presented for your consideration is this Antique Civil War pinback commemorating GENERAL ANSON MILLS DAY in Thorntown Indiana on October 7 1909. Anson Mills (August 31, 1834 - November 5, 1924) born in Thorntown Indiana was a United States Army officer, surveyor, inventor, and entrepreneur.

Engaged in south Texas as a land surveyor and civil engineer, he both named and laid out the city of El Paso, Texas. Mills also invented a woven cartridge belt which late in life made his fortune. I can't find another example of this pinback anywhere. Thorntown is a small town so the numbers of these manufactured and distributed are quite low and any surviving examples would be nearly impossible to find. This might be the only one in existence.