Virginia Military Institute Cadet Coat Button / Sold

Virginia Military Institute Cadet Coat Button - Inventory Number: BUT 172 / Sold

V.M.I Cadet Button - The face features the state seal of Virginia with the words, "CADET / SIC SEMPER TYRANNIS / V.M.I."  It is a two-piece, low convex button, coat size.  Nice button with the stand up shank intact. Backmark: "D. EVANS & CO. / ATTLEBORO" dm on a ribbon with flower, inscription runs counter clockwise

Reference: Albert SU408, not listed, Tice VAS294D2

The Virginia Military Institute, in Lexington Virginia, known as, "The West point of the South", is a state-funded military academy founded in 1839.  Located in the Shenandoah Valley town of Lexington, it was only the second governmental military academy in the United States, after the United States Military Academy at West Point, New York (founded in 1802), and represented increased educational opportunity for non-elite southern men. Future Confederate generals Thomas J. "Stonewall" Jackson and John McCausland were VMI instructors during John Brown's raid on the U.S. arsenal at Harpers Ferry in 1859, and they led cadets to his execution in Charles Town, where they helped to provide security. During the American Civil War (1861–1865), approximately 1,800 VMI graduates served (including 19 in the U.S. Army), with about 250 of them killed in action. Cadets famously were called to fight in the Battle of New Market, contributing to the Confederate victory on May 15, 1864. In June, Union general David Hunter ordered the school burned, and the cadets relocated to Richmond, where they helped to defend the Confederate capital.

Inventory Number: BUT 172 / Sold