“Those (Confederates) wearing our army belts did so with the “U.S.” upside down…” Henry Tisdale, 35th Mass. Inf.
One of the questions that comes up fairly often on internet forums, as well as around the campfire at events and living histories, is the mythology around the so-called “Southern Nation” belt buckle/cartridge box plate. This is when a Confederate soldier uses Union accoutrements, but turns the “US” buckle or cartridge box plate upside down so it appears as “SN.” There are a couple of points to discuss here starting with whether this was ever a limited practice during the Civil War.
There are several period accounts where the inverted US belt buckle/cartridge box plates are mentioned. Union soldier (B.K. Benson) made note of the practice on May 26, 1862, during the retreat after the Battle of Hanover Court House when he found himself trapped behind Confederate lines. He put on the equipment of a fallen Confederate infantryman which included a US buckle and cartridge box plate upside down but he did not speculate about its meaning. Benson was attempting to “pass” as a Confederate and get out of the area alive and in one piece. His account, published many years later was called “Who Goes There? The Story of a Spy in the Civil War” (1900). He states:
“At daylight I was awake. I ate some bacon and hoecake which I found in the haversack; while doing this, I took a good look at my gun and accoutrements. The rifle was a long Enfield with three bands; the cartridge-box and cap-box were slung to a single waist-belt, the scabbard for the bayonet also, but there was no bayonet. The brass plate on the lid of the cartridge-box was a U.S. plate; the belt-buckle also was Federal; both plate and buckle had been turned upside down, so that each bore the inverted letters S N. There were a few cartridges in the box-such cartridges as I had not seen before. I found that the rifle was not loaded, and I allowed it to remain empty.”
Reading between the lines, did Benson mention the inverted box plate and belt buckle as it was an oddity that caught his eye, in other words by no means a common practice? We can’t be sure, but the account is clear on the details of the orientation of the inverted belt buckle and box plate if not the meaning behind it.
Another account of the practice is from the Battle of North Anna, Va., almost two years later, and it is cited in the heading. The quote is from the diary of a captured Union soldier named Sgt Henry Tisdale of the 35th Mass., Co. I, who wrote,
“May 25, 1964. Slept soundly. Fine morning and with the opening day three more of the 35th were brought in making nine of us. As the day grew, it became warmer and we were taken into a wood where it was cool and comfortable. The rebel soldiers were anxious to buy watches knives, paper, and jewelry paying in Confederate money now worth in exchange value 1/10th of United States money. They were in the main good solid looking men, well clothed, many having on some part of United States Uniform. Those wearing our army belts did so with the “U.S.” upside down. Were free to talk with us. At near 3 p.m. shot from some distant battery began to roll in among us and soon we were in a grand “skidaddle” to the rear for about a mile. At 4 p.m. came the words “fall in forward march,” and a march of five mile brought us to Taylorsville, where we halted to then start a ten mile march to Ashland, where we permitted to camp on a fine grassy plot. Missed Uncle Sam’s rubber blankets…”
Sgt Henry W. Tisdale ended up as prisoner of war in Richmond, Va., (Libby Prison); he continued to keep regular diary entries until February 1865 when he ran out of paper. Tisdale survived the ordeal and returned to Massachusetts after the war where he later opened a grocery store in Boston. He married and had seven children. Henry Tisdale lived until 1922.
Here is a final thought on possible reasons for the images of upside down US buckle. An overlooked possibility for turning the buckle upside down may have been that on captured sets it was necessary to change the orientation of the post to the other side (for lefties). There are a few period photos of Union soldiers with their US belt plate upside down. Why would that have been the case?
One argument is that this was an attempt by the photographer in the studio to have the accoutrements appear on the correct side in the photo. Who knows? There is an obvious difference with how a detail like this appears in a posed studio portraits compared to how soldiers wore their equipment in the field.
The period accounts, limited though they are, suggest Confederates wore the captured Union equipment this way. Sometimes the simplest explanations are closest to the truth or as they say “Lex Parsimoniae.”
The real debate isn’t really about whether US buckles/box
plates were sometimes inverted by Civil War-era soldiers. The inverted US buckle/plate appears in more than a few images as well as warranting some mention in memoirs and diaries from the time. However, we are not left with the reasoning for doing so. The broader point to consider is whether soldiers referred to the practice of inverted US belts or plates as meaning “Southern Nation.”
There is simply no period evidence found for the term “Southern Nation” to describe this practice. This is apparently a modern term for the wearing of a US buckle upside down which was not in use at the time. The most likely explanation for the practice at the time is that the simple act of inverting the plate/buckle by Confederates was intended primarily as an insult to Union troops.
Craig L Barry was born in Charlottesville, Va. He holds his BA and Masters degrees from the University of North Carolina (Charlotte). Craig served The Watchdog Civil War Quarterly as Associate Editor and Editor from 2003- 2017. The Watchdog published both books and columns on the material culture of the mid-19th century and donated all funds from publications to battlefield preservation. He is the author of several books including The Civil War Musket: A Handbook for Historical Accuracy (2006, 2011), The Unfinished Fight: Essays on Confederate Material Culture Vol. I and II (2012, 2013) and three books (soon to be four) in the Suppliers to the Confederacy series on English Arms & Accoutrements, Quartermaster stores and other European imports.