The oldest private military college in the United States!

Norwich turned out hundreds of officers and soldiers who fought in President Abraham Lincoln's Union armies during the Civil War!

2 piece, convex, non-excavated coat size uniform button. 3/4 inches in diameter. Face of the button has spread winged eagle with shield, and is holding arrows and olive branches in its talons, and retains almost 100% of its gold gilt finish. On the top of the eagle are the raised letters, "Cadet," and below it is "N.U.," for Norwich University. The reverse is complete with a shank and has the manufacturer's imprint of D. Evans & Co., Attleboro, MS. [Massachusetts]. Very nice example.

WBTS Trivia: Norwich University, also known as The Military College of Vermont, is the oldest private military college in the United States. Founded in 1819, at Norwich, by Captain Alden Partridge, a military educator and former superintendent of the United States Military Academy, at West Point, N.Y.

In 1825, the academy moved to Middletown, Connecticut, to provide better naval training to the school's growing Corps of Cadets. However, the state of Connecticut declined to grant Captain Partridge a charter, and he moved the school back to Norwich in 1829.

The state of Vermont granted the school a charter in 1834, and recognized the institution thenceforth as Norwich University.

At the commencement of the Civil War in April 1861, Norwich cadets served as instructors of the state militias throughout the northeast, and the entire class of 1862, enlisted for the war upon its graduation. Norwich turned out hundreds of officers and soldiers who fought in President Lincoln's armies during the Civil War, including 4 recipients of the Medal of Honor, 1 who led a corps, 7 who headed divisions, 21 who led brigades, and 38 who commanded regiments.

These Norwich soldiers became eyewitnesses to some of the war's most dramatic events, including the bloodiest single day in American military history at the battle of Antietam, Maryland. They also fought in the attack at Marye's Heights in the battle of Fredericksburg, Va., and in the historic repulse of Pickett's Charge at Gettysburg, Pa.

A total of 755 Norwich men served during the Civil War, including an estimated 56 who fought for the Confederacy.

The daring Confederate raid on St. Albans, Vermont, brought much fear to the neighboring town of Newport thinking it would be a certain target of the Rebel raiders. The Corps of Cadets were quickly ordered into action, boarded an express train that same day, and it was a great relief to the citizens living there when the gallant Norwich Cadets came marching in to save the day.