This two-piece sword belt buckle bears the State Seal of Georgia upon its tongue disc. It is a Wartime Confederate copy of a pre-War die stamped sword belt buckle. The crude casting has the seal showing an arch supported by "Wisdom, Justice, Moderation" and guarded by a soldier in arms. Just before the War, Georgia’s leaders cast "moderation” to the wind and the other two pillars collapsed during the War. Georgia’s citizen soldiers did their utmost to defend their three founding principles, though in the end, all three were crushed.

All of the Southern States had plates bearing their own state seal except for Tennessee and Missouri. The Georgia buckle is one of the rarer state seals, Virginia, South Carolina and Louisiana having the most. The proliferation of state seals corresponded to how long the state had been organized, which corresponded with wealth. The wealthy sons of planters and gentlemen could afford to be in the pre War state armies and afford the best of uniforms and accoutrements. The officer who wore this in all probability hailed from the larger cities of Georgia, where the per capita wealth of white Georgians in 1860 was nearly double that of New Yorkers or Pennsylvanians.

This excavated example is the exact plate shown on page 200 of Charlie Harris’ book Civil War Relics of the Western Campaigns. It was excavated by Trey Boulware while hunting with author Charlie Harris. It was excavated 1/3 mile west of the East Ridge Hospital.

It comes with a letter of province from Charlie Harris. The buckle has no repairs or artificial coloring.

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