Finial Style: Point/Halberd

Location Housed: New Jersey State Museum, Trenton, New Jersey

Measurements: 5.50" X 6.50"excluding the staff portion. 

Recovery Location: Returned to the state after the war.

Finial Attribution: Sixth New Jersey Volunteer Infantry, SHFC 36.

Photograph Attribution: New Jersey State Museum

Additional Information: This particular flagstaff finial is found on a very early regimental flag of the Sixth New Jersey Volunteer Infantry. This is known due to the fact the regimental flag displays a federal eagle and not the state seal of New Jersey. This finial stayed with that flag throughout the duration of the war.

It should be noted, especially if you are not familiar with this style flagstaff finial, that the point of the finial is missing. It is not known if the point was broken off, or simply unscrewed and fell off, or was purposely removed. A close look of the image reveals the real possibility this point was broken off. I have found over the years that some of these pieces, as well as others were purposely removed by some soldier and taken home as souvenirs of the war.

Something else that should be noted, and please realize the pictures furnished are not the best when trying to enlarge the image, is that the surface of the two pieces attached on the side of the ferrule appear to have a smooth finish.  Most of this style finial I have seen, have a rim of sorts around each of the three parts of the finial, and the inner portion of the pieces have a grainy feel, and look, some with raised lines on the inside of the pattern. I have yet to find an explanation as to what, if any meaning may attach to this style finial. I have heard several different meanings, from the possibility of a Masonic connection to copying the early points used on lances in the 16 and 1700's. If you have any information that may help along these lines, please email me. The email address is found on the home page. 

The Sixth New Jersey was an 1861 regiment that was formulated, for the most part, of the Fourth New Jersey Infantry which was a three-month regiment that disbanded in July 1861. The Sixth was assigned to the Army of the Potomac for the duration of the war. The Sixth was found with the Fifth, Seventh, and Eighth New Jersey Infantry regiments in the "Second New Jersey Brigade." By October 1864, the regiment was consolidated with the Eighth New Jersey Infantry. This consolidation took place due to enlistments ended for most of the Sixth's soldiers in September 1864. 

One of the bloodiest battles the regiment participated in was at Gettysburg on July 2, 1863, in the "Valley of Death" near the "Devils Den" where stands a monument to the Sixth. During that battle, the regiment brought 246 men to the field where it lost 1 killed, 32 wounded, and 8 missing. 

It should also be noted that the Sixth produce a Congressional Medal of Honor winner in Sergeant Richard Conner at the Second Battle of Bull Run in August 1862. The Citation for that medal reads, " The flag of his regiment having been abandoned during retreat, he voluntarily returned with a single companion under heavy fire and secured and brought off the flag, his companion being killed." Could this be the flagstaff finial spoken of in the citation when it says, "the flag of his regiment"? One may never know, perhaps with more research the answer is out there. 

Sources:

New Jersey State Museum, Trenton New Jersey

National Park Service, Gettysburg, Pennsylvania

Congressional Medal of Honor Society, United States of America

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