Finding authentic civil war navy buttons in an old cigar box or unearthed from a muddy riverbank is like touching a direct line to the 1860s. There's something uniquely personal about buttons; while a rifle or a sword feels like a tool of war, a button was part of a man's daily life, something he looked at every morning while getting dressed for watch duty on a blockade runner or a massive ironclad. These tiny brass artifacts carry so much weight because they tell us about the rank, the loyalty, and sometimes even the manufacturer of the sailor who wore them.
What Makes These Buttons Different?
When you first start looking at Civil War era relics, you'll notice that navy buttons have a very distinct "vibe" compared to the standard infantry ones. While the army was mostly about the eagle holding the shield, the civil war navy buttons almost always feature the "fouled anchor." If you aren't a boat person, a fouled anchor is just an anchor with a rope wrapped around it. To a sailor, a fouled anchor is actually a nightmare—it means the anchor is stuck—but for some reason, it became the universal symbol of naval power.
Most of these buttons were made of brass and then "fire-gilded," a process that used mercury to apply a thin layer of gold. It's why some of these buttons, even after sitting in the dirt for 160 years, still come out of the ground looking surprisingly shiny. They were meant to look sharp. Life at sea was pretty miserable, but the uniforms, especially for officers, were designed to project authority and tradition.
Identifying Union vs. Confederate Navy Buttons
This is where things get really interesting—and where the price tags start to diverge wildly. If you find a Union Navy button, you're looking at a piece of the massive industrial machine that eventually won the war. These were produced by the thousands. You'll see a beautiful eagle perched on an anchor, usually surrounded by thirteen stars. They are classic, well-made, and relatively common for collectors today.
On the flip side, civil war navy buttons from the Confederacy are the "holy grail" for many. The South didn't have the same manufacturing power as the North. They struggled to make everything from shoes to buttons. Because of this, many Confederate Navy buttons were actually made in England by firms like Isaacs & Campbell or Firmin & Sons. They were smuggled past Union blockades. If you find a button with "CSN" (Confederate States Navy) on it, you've hit the jackpot. These buttons often have a slightly different look—the anchors might be shaped differently, and the brass might feel a bit thinner if it was a local Southern "local" strike rather than an English import.
The Importance of Backmarks
If you ever pick up one of these buttons, the first thing you should do—after making sure it's not going to crumble—is flip it over. The "backmark" is the manufacturer's stamp on the reverse side. For collectors of civil war navy buttons, the backmark is the primary way to tell if the button is an authentic piece of history or a high-quality reproduction from the 1970s.
Some of the big names you'll see are Scovill Mfg Co. or Waterbury Button Co. These companies were based in Connecticut and were the powerhouses of button production. If you see a backmark that says "Scovill Mfg Co, Waterbury," and the lettering is slightly raised or indented in a specific way, you can often narrow down the production year to a narrow window.
It's worth noting that after the war, many of these companies kept the same dies. That's why you have to be careful. A button made in 1870 looks a lot like one made in 1864. You have to look at the "shanks"—the little loop on the back where the thread goes. In the Civil War era, these were usually soldered on in a way that looks a bit more "handmade" than the machine-perfect ones we see later.
Sizes and Varieties
You'll generally find these buttons in two or three sizes. There are the big coat buttons, which are roughly the size of a quarter, and the smaller cuff or vest buttons, which are about the size of a dime.
Coat Buttons
These were the showstoppers. Usually found on the front of a double-breasted officer's coat. Because they're larger, the detail on the eagle and the anchor is much clearer. If you're lucky enough to find one that still has some of its original gilding, the way the light hits the feathers of the eagle is really something else.
Cuff and Vest Buttons
These are smaller and were used on sleeves or on the vests worn under the heavy wool coats. Sailors and officers often had dozens of these on a single uniform. For a modern collector or metal detectorist, finding a "nest" of these usually means a coat was lost or discarded in that spot.
The Mystery of the "Water Witch" and Other Shipwrecks
A lot of the best-preserved civil war navy buttons come from shipwrecks. When a ship like the USS Cairo or the USS Monitor went down, it took everything with it. Because these items were submerged in silt or mud, oxygen couldn't get to them, which prevented the brass from corroding.
When these ships are excavated, archaeologists find buttons still attached to scraps of blue wool. It's a sobering reminder that these weren't just "collectibles"—they were part of someone's identity. Imagine a sailor on the CSS Alabama, thousands of miles from home, wearing buttons made in London, fighting a war on the open ocean. Each button tells a story of international trade, blockade running, and the personal life of a man at sea.
Spotting the Fakes
I hate to say it, but the market for civil war navy buttons is full of fakes. Ever since the Centennial celebrations in the 1960s, companies have been making "re-enactor" buttons. Some of them are marked as reproductions, but over time, they get buried in the dirt or tossed into antique shops, and the "copy" mark wears off.
One big giveaway is the "feel" of the metal. Genuine 19th-century brass has a certain weight and patina. If the button feels like it's made of cheap, thin tin, it probably is. Also, look at the detail. Original dies were hand-cut by master engravers. The eagle should look like an eagle, not a weird blob. If the stars around the edge look mushy or uneven, keep your guard up.
Why We Still Collect Them
You might wonder why anyone would care about a 160-year-old piece of brass the size of a coin. But for those of us into history, civil war navy buttons are more than just fasteners. They represent the transition from the old world of wooden sailing ships to the new world of steam and iron.
Whether it's a Union button found in a Virginia camp or a rare Confederate button smuggled across the Atlantic, these items are tangible links to a time that defined the modern world. They're small, they're portable, and they carry a massive amount of history. Plus, there's just something undeniably cool about the design of an eagle sitting on an anchor. It's a classic look that has barely changed in over a century, proving that some things—like the call of the sea—never really go out of style.