Diary of Brigadier-General Rutherford B. Hayes: Monday, January 2, 1865

Revere House, Cumberland, Maryland. — A fine day. Rode to camp, out one mile north of railroad, east of town. Men all busy getting up huts. Scenery, mountains, etc., around the “Mountain City" very pretty.

Eagle adopted as our badge. Red Eagle for my division. Army of West Virginia in three divisions; General Duval, the First; Kelley, Second; Stephenson, Third. I have First Brigade, First Division.

SOURCE: Charles Richard Williams, editor, Diary and Letters of Rutherford Birchard Hayes, Volume 2, p. 553

Major Charles Wright Wills: February 14, 1865

 EXPLANATORY Note. Until this time the 15th Army Corps had never had a Corps Badge, though the other corps commanders had long tried to induce General Logan to adopt one. Yielding at last to their solicitations he issued the following order:

• Major-General John A. Logan: General Orders No. 10, February 14, 1865

The adoption of the cartridge box as the distinguishing badge of the 15th Corps is said to have originated in this way: Before the battle of Missionary Ridge a soldier in the 11th Army Corps asked an Irish soldier of the 15th Corps what the badge of his corps was.

“And phwat is that badge thing?” he asked.

Being told and having no badge to show in reply, he answered, slapping his cartridge box: “It's that, wid 40 rounds!”

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Nearing Columbia, S. C., February 14, 1865.

Good road to-day. Fine rolling country. Sand with pine wood and scrub oak. Saw the wagoners use their locks to-day for the first time since we crossed the Oconee, in Georgia. Logan's escort got after some Johnnie foragers to-day and captured four wagons and 50 or 60 horses and mules. The Rebels are shooting from the other side of the river and there was a lot in front of us when we stopped here. Lee is said to be in front with 40,000 men. It seems to be the opinion that we will have a fight. Can probably tell better to-morrow night. Rain all p. m., and still quite cold. Wear overcoats all the time.

SOURCE: Charles Wright Wills, Army Life of an Illinois Soldier, p. 346-8

Major-General John A. Logan: General Orders No. 10, February 14, 1865

GENERAL ORDERS No. 10.}

HDQRS. FIFTEENTH ARMY CORPS,        

Baker's Plantation, S.C., February 14, 1865.

I. The following is announced as the badge of this corps: A miniature cartridge-box, black, one-eighth of an inch thick, fifteen-sixteenths of an inch wide, and thirteen-sixteenths of an inch deep, set transversely on a field of cloth or metal one and five-eighths of an inch square; above the cartridge-box plate will be stamped or marked in a curve the motto, “Forty Rounds.” The field on which the cartridge-box is set will be red for the First Division, white for the Second Division, blue for the Third Division, and yellow for the Fourth Division. For the headquarters of the corps the field will be parti-colored, of red, white, blue, and yellow.

II. The badge will invariably be worn upon the hat or cap.

III. It is expected that this badge will be worn constantly by every officer and soldier in the corps. If any corps in the army has a right to take pride in its badge, surely that has which looks back through the long and glorious line of Wilson's Creek, Henry, Donelson,, Shiloh, Russell House, Corinth, Iuka, Town Creek, Chickasaw Bayou, Arkansas Post, Champion's Hill, Big Black, Snyder's Bluff, Vicksburg, Jackson, Cherokee Station, Lookout Mountain, Missionary Ridge, Ringgold, Knoxville, Resaca, Kingston, Dallas, New Hope Church, Big Shanty, Kenesaw Mountain, Nickajack, Decatur, the 22d and 28th of July before Atlanta, Jonesborough, Lovejoy's, Allatoona Pass, Grahamville, Fort McAllister, and scores of minor struggles; the corps which had its birth under Grant and Sherman in the darker days of our struggle; the corps which will keep on striking until the death of the rebellion.

IV. For the present, good temporary badges can be made easily by any soldier in the corps. When communication is re-established with the North commanders can procure very handsome ones for their men at a nominal cost.

V. Division and brigade commanders are requested to examine plans for division and brigade flags at these headquarters.

By order of Maj. Gen. John A. Logan:

MAX. WOODHULL,       

Assistant Adjutant-General.

SOURCES: The War of the Rebellion: A Compilation of the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies, Series I, Volume 47, Part 2 (Serial No. 99), p. 419; Charles Wright Wills, Army Life of an Illinois Soldier, p. 343-4