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The document is signed on the rear by R M Stith, Assistant Division Commissary of Subsistence, and was probably written in 1862. This document is probably typical of the types of documents issued and used by the Missouri State Guard

The next set of documents are examples of printed Stated Guard documents. Each of these documents were issued at Osceola, Missouri in 1861. The State Guard went into camp in Osceola at the end of the 1861 campaign. The documents were printed by the army printer. The first document is a quartermaster receipt issued on Nov 26, 1861.

The rosette is 2 5/8 inches in diameter and has four hooks soldered to the back that were used to attach it. To the right you can see another example of this type of rosette. They are identical except that the second star is not engraved and the outer ring has a slightly different shape. The rosette without the engraving has a stamped outer ring, which makes it curved. The engraved rosette is completely flat.

An almost identical rosette can be seen on page 258 of Sylvia and O'Donnell's book The Illustrated History of American Civil War Relics. Their description reads, "Texas star, possibly a pre-war marshal or ranger badge, belonged to Private J. Cook, 17th Texas Cavalry. Records reveal Cook was killed by a shotgun blast in the chest near Richmond where the artifact was found."

Yet another rosette can be seen on page 115 of Charles Harris' book Civil War Relics of the Western Campaigns. The caption reads, "Stamped brass Texas star dug in a Texas camp in middle Tennessee."

Most people associate these rosettes with Texas troops, going as far as to conclude that any camp in which one of these stars is dug must have been a Texas camp. They may have been widely used by Texas troops, but it is not true that they were the only ones to use them.

Here is another example of this type of rosette (front | back) which has slightly different attachment hooks. Instead of being flat, these attachment hooks are more like sharpened pins. Here is yet another example of this style rosette. This star (front | back) is slightly smaller (1 15/16 inches) and only has 3 attachment hooks. Both the outer rim and star are stamped and lead-filled.

The next two stars are a slightly different version. This star (1) was dug at Port Hudson. This one is 2 5/8 inches in diameter and has two solder marks on the back that held the fastening pin. Here's another star (2). This one was dug in Northern Mississippi and also has two solder marks on the back. These stars are very similar to those shown above except that they were attached with a pin instead of four attachment hooks. If you look closely you can see the difference between these last two stars and the stars above. You can see the difference between them in the way the arms of the star join the outer ring. The latter two dug stars don't seem to be quite as precisely stamped.

I've heard several opinions as to what exactly these stars were used for. The general concensus about the latter two stars is that they were used as hat badges. The 1 15/16 inch star was probably used as a rosette. The function of the stars at the top of the page is a little less clear. Some people think they were worn on the soldier's saddle, some people think they were worn on the hat, and others think they were placed on the soldier's blanket.

I teld to come down on the side of them being bridle rosettes. As this picture shows, these stars were used on bridles. The star on this bridle is an example of one with a rounded stamped border and flat attachment hooks.

If anyone owns another or has any information about this type of rosettes I would appreciate hearing from you. I would also be interested in hearing from anyone who might have an image of one of these rosettes.

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