Major General Nathaniel P. Banks Civil War Soldier Identification Diskv (01103)

  

Unissued Major General Nathaniel P. Banks Civil War Soldier Identification Disk (Dog Tag) Maier-Stahl 7A.

Approximate Diameter: 33-34mm; Weight: 17 gms. Either toned silvered white metal or silver.

Unpierced, and with a blank reverse. Many were simple blank disks upon which the sutler stamped the soldier's identification, but others could be had that had portraits of political figures or generals on one side and a place for identification on the reverse.

Banks had been Governor of Massachusetts before the war, but he proved to be a more successful politician than a military tactician. After a few unsuccessful campaigns against the likes of Stonewall Jackson in the Shenandoah Valley, he was assigned mostly to Western positions, far from the major battlefields. In view of his record, the soldiers under his command probably did not have great confidence in him, and being far from the action, were not especially worried about being killed--both perhaps reasons for the extreme scarcity of this type of tag.