Grand Army Of The Republic Camp Fire Badge, Los Angeles, 1903

Los Angeles, California, 1903; 2 1/2" x 7" satin ribbon badge from the G.A.R. Camp Fire at Los Angeles August 26, 1903, previously belonging to Civil War Colonel E.F.C. Klokke (1834-1914) of the 24th Illinois Volunteers. Klokke was an officer in the Cumberland Department of the newly formed Signal Corps and a veteran of the Battle Of Shiloh. In 1867 he was elected Clerk of the Cook County Illinois Superior Court and held that office for a number years before moving to Los Angeles, where he built a landmark Victorian home at 2105 South Figueroa and soon established himself as a prominent citizen. Accompanying the badge are two 2 3/4" x 6" red satin ribbons. The text of the first reads, "Col. E.F.C. Klokke, Compliments of Mr. & Mrs. Wiley Wells, Saturday, January 27th, 1888." The second ribbon, with the same wording, is made out to Mrs. Klokke. Guilford Wiley Wells (1840-1909) was born in Livingston County, New York. In 1861 he enlisted as a private in the Union Army with the 27th New York Infantry, later becoming captain with the Nineteenth New York Cavalry. He was mustered out as a Lt. Colonel in 1865, admitted to the Illinois bar in 1867, and served as U.S. Attorney for Mississippi from 1870 to 1875, when he left to take a seat in the U.S. House Of Representatives, serving there until 1879. He moved to Los Angeles that same year and returned to private law practice. Klokke and Wells were personal friends and comrades in the G.A.R., and both men, together with their wives, appeared regularly in the society columns of Los Angeles newspapers of the time. The G.A.R. badge is in Fine condition, clean, crisp, bright, with full original sheen. The gilt text of the red ribbons is dulled, but legible. In all other respects they are also Fine.