"Vest" buckle?

[Robert Braun]

J. A> Atwood, in hus The Story of Stillman's Run pp. 21-2, reported on the search and exhumation of the mutilated militia dead from that battle:

Enlarging the hole already made a few inches to the south we came to the end of the trench and proceeded to dig a hole about three feet square and at a depth of three and a half feet one of the phalanges of the right hand of an Illinois soldier was thrown out, then all of the other bones were carefully removed one by one without breaking. Several buttons were found and a vest buckle and when the skull was exhumed it was found that every tooth was present without a sign of decay, and when the lower limbs and feet were exhumed the cavalry boots which the soldier wore were still intact, and the blanket which had become his burial robe, though decayed, was plainly visible.

I am suspicious that the buckle was actually from an adjustment belt for a vest. Perhaps a suspender buckle?


What are your thoughts?

Bob.