This ID tag belonged to a Ohio private who likely died at Monocacy. The battlefield in Maryland will display 3 disks on a rotating basis after its museum overhaul

The Edward Mathess tag (NPS) and ranger Matt Borders with photo of Gen. Wallace

In early July 1864, the 126^th Ohio Volunteer Infantry and other regiments were rushed from Petersburg, Va., to Baltimore and then Frederick, Md., in a desperate attempt to blunt Confederate Lt. Gen. Jubal Early’s move on Washington, D.C.

The 126^th OVI, part of Ricketts’ Division, subsequently put up a furious fight on July 9 at Monocacy, repelling at least one attack in the heart of the battle. The outnumbered Federal army, under the command of Maj. Gen. Lew Wallace, eventually was pushed off the field, albeit buying time for more reinforcements to reach and save the nation’s capital.

Among the scores of 126^th OVI casualties was Pvt. Edward Mathess, Company B, listed as missing in a newspaper article and in the regimental history. (The 126^th was formed in Belmont County in September 1862)

I learned about Mathess this past summer during a visit to Monocacy National Battlefield, a beautiful park set among western Maryland farms and a busy highway. There, I asked the staff (curator Brian Robinson, left, Picket photo) to show me identification badges that belonged to soldiers who fought there.

The U.S. military did not provide dog tags during the Civil War or have any formal way of tracking the status soldiers beyond roll call. Sometimes, soldiers would write their name on paper and pin it to their uniform before going into action.

Those who could afford it bought metal tags with their names so loved ones would know their fate should they die in battle.

Robinson, wearing white gloves, brought the boxed artifacts to a counter. I was familiar with two tags, having written about Pvt. Samuel M. Weigel (below) and Sgt. Nicholas G. Wilson of the 138^th Pennsylvania

But I was unaware of the corroded metal disk for Mathess. One side shows an image of Union general George B. McClellan and the words “Union and Liberty.” On the reverse is stamped “E. Mathess, Co. B, 126 REG OVI.”

The three disks have not yet been displayed in the visitor center’s upstairs museum, which is closing in early December for a long-planned overhaul. "Everything is getting torn down," said Tracy Evans, chief or resource education and visitor services. The goal is to reopen the museum in April.

Evans said she expects the ID tags will be displayed on rotation once the museum reopens.

What we know about the Edward Mathess tag

Park officials believe Mathess died at Monocacy. I wonder when the Ohio private became separated from his ID tag. We’ll likely never know.

But I got a few details from Lynn Bristol, president of the Monocacy National Battlefield Foundation, a nonprofit that supports the park. The foundation purchased the disk for $1,500 in March 2023. It was described as very rare and possibly made from pewter.

The most intriguing part of the sale and packaging of the item, to me, was the word “excavated.”

Did someone dig this up on the battlefield before the park was established in 1934? Even then, many parcels had not been acquired. The Thomas Farm, near where the 126^th OVI fought, wasn’t purchased until 2001, when it then gained federal protection from relic hunting.

Dealer packaging for the Mathess tag (Monocacy National Battlefield Foundation)

Cal Packard, owner of Museum Quality Americana, told the Picket in an email he doesn’t have record or notes on the Mathess tag he sold to the foundation. “As I recall, that was one of 20 or so ID (tags) that we offered from a lifetime collection.”

Joe Stahl, an ID disks collector and author on the subject, told the Picket the tags were effective in identifying a killed comrade.

In “Forty-Six Months with the Fourth R.I. Volunteers,” Cpl. George H. Allen of Company B wrote about finding a casualty at the Battle of the Crater (Petersburg) in 1864, said Stahl.

“Comrade Thomas Arnold and myself made our way out to the field in search of any dead or wounded of our company,” Allen wrote. “The dead were then unrecognizable, except by medals or letters found upon them. -- We found Augustus T. Thornton of our company --- I removed what few trinkets he had about him, and his medal, and a few days after sent them home to his father.”

Photo and ID tag of KIA Cpl. Alvin Williams of the 11th New Hampshire (Library of Congress)

It’s hard for Americans to understand the chaos of mass casualties and trauma during the Civil War.

I asked followers of the Authentic Campaigner Facebook page to explain why so men were listed as missing. Their take: Some men were taken prisoners, some wandered off in shock for some time or became stragglers, while others were obliterated by artillery fire. Others might be hospitalized or trying to escape capture.

“Keep in mind battles are confusion, and the reports are taken in the aftermath,” said one respondent. “Some men saw one thing, some saw another. And in the follow up the NCOs and officers are filling reports based usually on the men’s response to roll call. If no one came forward saying they saw x,y,z happen that soldier is ‘missing.’”

Tags were affordable, a way to leave behind a name

Stahl co-authored with Larry B. Maier the 2010 volume “Identification Discs of Union Soldiers in the Civil War.” They detailed 49 designs, including eagles and patriotic motifs, sold by vendors at camps and elsewhere.

The first thing to note, he said, is such disks were not available to Southern soldiers. Brass was too coveted and used solely in artillery and other military purposes.

Coin and token manufacturers such as Scoville could turn out discs for 5 cents to 10 cents, with a design on the front. They were probably sold to soldiers for less than 50 cents. One side was left blank so sutlers could stamp the buyer’s name and unit. A hole was typically drilled in at the bottom for a string or rawhide. Soldiers sometimes bought two; they wore one and sometimes sent one home as a love token.

Higher-end, more expensive tags made of silver were generally sold to officers. They were often engraved.

Stahl, who has about 110 ID badges, said he began collecting in the early 1980s. The items were affordable while manuscripts and signatures became expensive. 

Legendary Civil War historian Ed Bearss encouraged Stahl to submit articles about individual soldiers and disks to Gettysburg Magazine.

“When I started buying they were a couple hundred bucks.  If you can find something (today) less than $1,000 you are doing good,” said the collector. (At left, reverse of Sgt. Wilson pin at Monocacy, Picket photo)

Stahl warns buyers to be wary of counterfeits.

“The thing that is usually a dead giveaway for a modern reproduction is the fonts on the letters are incorrect.”

He mentioned the letter F as an example. While the originals have a line for the short bar of the letter, forgers might get lazy and punch a small triangle instead. Stahl’s also known of one soldier’s name appearing on tags for different regiments.

Ohio soldier's fate, family history are unknown

Besides digging deeper into ID disks, I wanted to know more about Mathess – but I did not get very far. The 1860 census lists a 25-year-old Edward Mathess from Ross County, Ohio. His occupation is listed as engineer.

Listed with him is a young woman, Notura Mathess, 17, Idia, 1, and William, a baby. I assume they were a family. The only other document I came across was an 1890 military pension request by his father, Obijah (right). I could not glean anything about these individuals.

Edward enlisted in August 1862 for a three-year term. An 1888 volume about Ohio soldiers in the “War of Rebellion” only says he was missing. “No further record found.”

I wondered: Did Edward fall on the battlefield and his remains never found? Was he buried elsewhere? Or did he somehow survive? The latter seems unlikely.

Pvt. Mathess is listed as missing at Monocacy in regimental history, with no further mention

“It is always possible that there are still partial remains on the battlefield, however the vast majority of the dead were removed from the field and buried in Mt. Olivet Cemetery here in Frederick shortly after the battle,” said Monocacy ranger Matt Borders. “The Confederate dead remain there to this day. The Federal dead were disinterred and reburied in Antietam National Cemetery in 1866/67 in time for the opening of the National Cemetery in 1867.”

Mathess does not appear in the roster of Antietam National Cemetery, so most likely he is one of the 1,400 unknowns buried there, Borders told the Picket.

Foundation bought 2 tags, photo of Confederate officer

Bristol said the foundation has purchased two tags – Weigel and Mathess -- and a CDV image of Confederate Col. William Raine Peck, who also fought at Monocacy.

Robinson said the colonel was at Monocacy with Hays’ Louisiana Brigade. “He would have been part of the main effort under Gen. John Brown Gordon's division that assaulted the Federal flank and forced a retreat.”

The image (right) was not signed.

“Given the paucity of Confederate artifacts overall, it is my humble opinion that the Peck CDV is well worth its price, quite possibly appreciating in value as time goes by,” said Bristol.

The tags and Peck photo are in the park’s collection.

“Matt Borders is a sleuth in identifying objects of interest and he has directed us toward those items. I myself am a collector of letters and prints: three letters I own are from Grant, Sherman and Lincoln, respectively,” Bristol wrote in an email.

Wilson’s ID tag was made of silver and Weigel’s made of brass. Vendors who sold these disks priced them on a sliding scale to meet a soldier’s income: Silver, brass to other/pewter, said Bristol.

Upstairs museum finally getting a refresh

The two-story visitor center at Monocacy National Battlefield opened in 2007 and the upstairs museum is due for a refresh, with enhanced technology. Park officials said the museum will  close after December 3 for several months.

One big change will be a new map of the battle and troop movements. The map "will be a projection onto a white surface. Then we don't have to worry about specialty parts breaking that are no longer made," said Evans

The park has made repairs on the feature (Picket photo, left) over the years but it is near its end of life. “We are looking into a second life for the topographic portion of the program. Other elements of the museum that involved any type of technology, which includes at least five exhibits, no longer work," said Evans.

The new map will physically be more accessible. "We are including the action at the Jug Bridge into the battle map as well,” Evans told the Picket. 

The revamped  exhibits will tell a wider story, officials said.

 “We will be focusing on both the civilians and soldiers who were here throughout the Civil War and specifically the day of the battlefield,” said Evans. “Their stories overlap and those relationships are important to the story of Monocacy, and we want to focus on more personal stories,” she said.

Robinson pointed out people were forced at act quickly when war came to Monocacy Junction. That included fleeing to a basement or cellar, hiding valuables and sending away livestock and horses.

The park also focuses on free and enslaved African-Americans whose lives and actions were integral to the battle and the Civil War as a whole. A recruiting station for the U.S. Colored Troops was established at Monocacy Junction.

Among the signature items in the museum are a bullet-struck Bible, a captured Confederate battle flag, Union Maj. Gen. Lew Wallace’s frock coat, cavalry items, an engraved musket and a frock coat worn by the 14^th New Jersey’s Maj. Peter Vredernburgh Jr., who survived Monocacy but died two months later at Third Winchester.

"Certain elements, such as the tent/field office set up, and Glenn Worthington watching the battle through the boarded-up windows will be integrated back into the exhibit," said Evans.

The Monocacy visitor center is currently closed on Tuesday and Wednesday.