A Brief History Of The Shoulder Patch:
The shoulder patch is used through out our society by all types of groups
from law enforcement and firefighters, businesses, historical societies to boy
and girl scouts.
The US Army was one of the first to use the modern shoulder patch. It was
born in 1862 in the American Civil War, when General Philip A. Kearney, the
hard driving commander of the Federal Third Corps, assigned badges to the
divisions within his corps. This was prompted, it was said, by an occasion
when he mistook some officers for men of his corps and reprimanded them about
their appearances The shoulder patches worn by the Third Corps were made from cloth cut
in a variety of shapes. Within a year of their introduction, Corps patches had
been adopted by all the Northern armies and General Hooker had assigned colors
to the divisions within each Corps. The Civil War had begun with many regiments
sporting colorful uniforms, but by its close these were greatly simplified and
blue and gray had become standard colors. Shoulder patches were therefore a useful way
of distinguishing men and their units.
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