Engraved Civil War and WWI Identification Discs and Love Token

Wahoo554

I've consigned a few really cool identification discs to Stacks Bowers' Tokens and Medals auction that ends on December 11. The links and additional info are below. Thanks for looking, and please reach out if you have any questions. As you can see, I've done a lot of research on these two items:

1. Civil War Identification Disc, Allison W. Cheney, at https://auctions.stacksbowers.com/lots/view/3-1EVTP9/civil-war-identification-tag-fashioned-out-of-a-new-orleans-mint-liberty-seated-half-dollar-union-illinois-lieutenant-allison-w-chen

Detailed information regarding Allison W. Cheney available at the following weblink: https://illinoisgenweb.org/civilwar/photos/cheneyallison.html . Content is as follows:

“Allison W. Cheney was born in Bradford, New Hampshire Sept 20,1833. When he was five he his parents moved to South Newbury, New Hampshire; where he continued to reside until about 22 years of age when he married his wife Eliza Johnson (1834-1863) and they moved to Jacksonville, Illinois and raised three children.

Allison then moved to Loami, Illinois and engaged in farming until the Civil War began. At 29 years old he mustered into Company B, 30th Regiment, Illinois Volunteers at Camp Butler as a 1st Sergeant, August 21,1861, and was in nearly all the battles with General Grant, from Belmont to Atlanta. He was in active service during the long campaign before Vicksburg, while his younger two brothers, Mark Cheney and Luke Cheney, under General Banks, were at Fort Hudson serving with the 16th Regiment, New Hampshire Volunteers. Luke Cheney after contracting an illness died in New Orleans Aug 3,1863. Allison also received word while in service that his wife Eliza had died in 1863. At the siege of Fort Donaldson, in February 1862, for "gallant conduct", he was promoted that of First Lieutenant. He later mustered out on June 5,1863.

After being mustered out in 1864, Allison moved back to New Hampshire where he purchased a farm in Sutton, New Hampshire. He remarried to an Alma Perkins. Allison became active in the G.A.R. of Sutton, NH, where he served as commander with the Robert Campbell Post, No. 58.

While working on his farm in Sutton, NH he died on November 23rd 1886. The cause of death was a heart difficulty super induced by disease contracted through exposure in the army during the War of the Rebellion.

Allison kept a written account of all his activities while serving in the army by writing in his diaries on a daily basis. These diaries described the hardships that all who served endured during the Rebellion. These diaries were passed down to Allison’s Great -Great Grandson Wayne Allison Cheney."

2. WWI Homemade Dog Tag, Lieut. S.J. Tilleson, A.S. U.S. Army on 1918 2 Franc coin, at https://auctions.stacksbowers.com/lots/view/3-1EVS6M/homemade-world-war-i-identification-tag-fashioned-out-of-a-1918-french-2-francs-first-lieutenant-selmer-j-tilleson-supply-officer-ai

1st Lt. Selmer J. Tilleson was a Supply Officer with the US Air Service during WWI. He was born in 1890 and died in 1984. During WWI he was stationed in Issoudon France where he helped to improve and operate a large aero supply warehouse in Issoudon France. The First Wings of War, Air Force Reserve in World War I publication (p. 27) states as follows, available at https://media.defense.gov/2015/Sep/11/2001329832/-1/-1/0/AFD-150911-040.pdf

"Issoudon also boasted a large aero supply warehouse originally organized by Captain H.B.
Close and further improved by Lieutenant Selmer J. Tilleson. The variety of aircraft flown at the
3 AIC included 17 different types of Nieuport aircraft, four types of Moraine aircraft, three types
of SPAD aircraft, and several others. As a result, the warehouse contained thousands of
individual parts listed under 30,000 different separate categories."

Shortly after WWI the US Air Service issued a publication regarding lessons learned in which a section was authored by Lt. Tilleson. available at https://apps.dtic.mil/sti/tr/pdf/ADA074433.pdf . A snippet is below:

Namvet69

Nice provenance. Good luck

dsessom

Those are some outstanding pieces of history! I too have a lot of interest in the Civil War, and Reconstruction eras. My family was deeply involved on the Confederate side. So much so that their name is pretty famous. Maybe not so much today in modern times, but definitely post war and even through the early 20th century.

I descend from the Forrest family. Lt. Gen Nathan Bedford Forrest, Maj. William Hezekiah Forrest, LTC Aaron Forrest, LTC Jesse Anderson Forrest, and COL Jeffrey Edward Forrest are all my uncles. (2nd great grand uncles to be exact)

Wahoo554

@dsessom It's neat that you have in depth knowledge about your family's Civil War history. I only have fragmented snapshots of my family's Civil War experience. My grandmother was from Draketown, GA. Her grandmother (my great great grandmother) was the daughter of small farmers and was about 10 years old when Sherman's troops marched through the area. She told my grandmother that they took all their food, except for flour that they hid between the folds of quilts. Always interesting to learn about people's personal experiences during the war. You'll find one off my other consignments in the same 12/11 auction interesting. It's a private engraving on a Barber dime that would have been created for a CSA reunion at the turn of the century. Interesting to wonder who it might have belonged to. Here's the item:

https://auctions.stacksbowers.com/lots/view/3-1EVTQH/confederate-states-of-america-private-commemorative-engraving-on-a-1901-dated-barber-dime

Crusty

Really cool coins!

Wahoo554

Bump as all these items go live today at Noon. All are still really cheap!

pocketpiececommems

Those two pictured are really nice