I found this medal three weekends ago. We were searching a vacant lot in a small town where they have begun excavation for a courthouse addition. There was very little undisturbed ground and I was lucky to find this. (36, 8" deep Bunker) It has been a lot of fun to do the research and find out as much as I did. One side has "For Liberty" on the upper piece. There are the dates 1861 and 1865. The small print that you can't read says, "Died in the Defence of His Country". The other side reads' "Presented by the State of West Virginia". So I googled WV Civil war medals and hit this site http://www.lindapages.com/cwmedals.htm. The site is maintained by a lady who was very helpful and has pictures of the medals. The State made 26,000 similar medals. Class 1 was "Honorable Discharge", Class 2 was "Killed in Battle" and Class 3 was "For Liberty". Those were awarded to the family of a soldier who died of his wounds or of disease. I had carefully cleaned the medal enough to make out what was on it. I emailed the lady at the web site and was completely surprised when she told me the soldier's name would be on the edge. I couldn't see anything there and so I soaked it in olive oil overnight and carefully cleaned it again and, sure enough, could make out what it said. Here's what is on the edge, "Wm. S. Tracey, Co. G, REG INF VOLS. I emailed all of that to her and she was able to access his original record. William Tracey was mustered into the 3rd regular infantry volunteers on June 27, 1861 at Clarksburg, Va (West Virginia wasn't a State yet. It became a State on June 20, 1863). He died of disease in Bridgeport, WV on June 17, 1863, three days before WV became a State. He was officially discharged on August 4, 1864 by reason of death. He was 21 years old when he mustered in, 6', 1 1/2" tall, fair complexion, blue eyes, light hair and a miller by trade. He had received $44.15 worth of clothing from the US since his account was last settled.
Another interesting site is this one http://www.wvculture.org/history/medals.html. It turns out that there are still some 4000 of these medals that were never claimed. The State still has them in safekeeping. If you are descended from a recipient and can prove it with documentation, you can apply to the State and claim it. You have to fill out a form and pay $50, but I would sure be happy to do that if I could prove one of my ancestors had an unclaimed medal.
Sorry that the pictures aren't very good, but my daughter isn't here to take them for me. I think it is easily one of the coolest things I ever found and hope you guys enjoy the story.
Brookie
Another interesting site is this one http://www.wvculture.org/history/medals.html. It turns out that there are still some 4000 of these medals that were never claimed. The State still has them in safekeeping. If you are descended from a recipient and can prove it with documentation, you can apply to the State and claim it. You have to fill out a form and pay $50, but I would sure be happy to do that if I could prove one of my ancestors had an unclaimed medal.
Sorry that the pictures aren't very good, but my daughter isn't here to take them for me. I think it is easily one of the coolest things I ever found and hope you guys enjoy the story.
Brookie
