Rick,

Thanks. I saw that ATO was not founded until 1865 and eliminated it. Can't be sure but I think it is an old Sigma Chi badge, but the cross members are much larger, or another local fraternity. Can you tell the chapter from the guard? The Sigma Chi chapter is Eta. It was a large chapter at that time.

To make this discussion relevant:
http://www.wabash.edu/orgs/fraternity/sigmachi/ConstantineChapter.htm

"The Constantine Chapter: Why one man's determination kept the Fraternity alive in the South

Harry St. John Dixon and his small band of Sigma Chi soldiers established what has come to be known as the Constantine Chapter of Sigma Chi.

The Constantine Chapter was organized on the night of September 17, 1864 during the heated Atlanta campaign of the Civil War. The place of the historic event was "a few miles southwest of Atlanta." Dixon, who was a member of Psi chapter's class of 1861 at the University of Virginia, states the circumstances under which the war-time chapter was conceived:

It was ascertained that a number of the Fraternity were in the Army of Tennessee under General Joseph E. Johnston during the Atlanta campaign in 1864. It was conceded that the South was forever disunited from the general government, and it was assumed that all chapters throughout the South would cease to exist. Furthermore, it was deemed expedient that we brothers should know each other and our several commands for the purposes of relief in distress, and communication in case of need, with our Northern brethren.

In the ruin at hand my sentiment was to preserve the lofty principles typified by the White Cross. I know that I had no authority to establish a chapter of Sigma Chi outside a college, or at all; but, isolated as we were, I thought I should raise the standard and fix a rallying point. By so doing, we should preserve the Order, whether we failed or not in our struggle for independence.

Throughout the war, Dixon kept informed of all Sigma Chis known to be in the vicinity, and he recorded their names upon the flyleaf of his diary. With the plan for a confederate Army chapter fully formed, he and Harry Yerger, Mississippi 1864, who was in Dixon's division, contacted all brothers who might reach the place selected for the meeting. Of this first meeting Dixon wrote:

The meeting was held in a deserted log cabin on the outskirts of the camp, at night. By a miraculous effort one wretched tallow candle was procured. The cabin was in a state of frightful dilapidation. its rude walls and rafters were covered with soot and cobwebs and the floor showed evidences of having been the resting place of sundry herds of sheep. But the spirit was there and shone brightly. There was no time for ceremonies beyond what were absolutely necessary. We had left our camp without permission and did not know at what minute our bugles would sound 'To horses' as the 'fearful adversary' was at hand. We got some 'chunks' and, by placing rails upon them, improvised benches, lit our candle, had the President reconnoitre the premises thoroughly, and upon his report that all was well, proceeded with business. This, however, was hardly necessary, as our 'hall' was on the edge of a lonely field, and was almost covered with vines and overhanging trees.

The chapter elected Harry St. John Dixon as "Sigma," or president, and Harry Yerger as "Chi," or vice president. Other brothers known to be involved in this chapter include Reuben T. Pollard, Mississippi 1861; Evan J. Shelby, Mississippi 1862; and William H. Bolton, original Sigma Chi chapter at Lagrange (Tennessee) 1862. The Constantine Chapter initiated two men, Thomas N. Fowler and A. B. Raffington.

Each man had lost his original badge. The loss was keenly felt, for the badge could not then be replaced in the South. The only badge in the chapter was the one Dixon had improvised earlier in the war. With an ingenuity born of necessity, he had finished a rough substitute from a silver half-dollar. The task had required several weeks of tedious work, which he performed at odd times in camp, using his pocket knife and a file. With great labor, he even set the Greek letters S? therein with bits of gold. Dixon chiseled it and felt certain it would be of great value in the event he was captured.

A final, formal meeting occurred New Year's Day 1865. With Dixon presiding, these devoted men of the Southland passed a resolution to pay a 'tribute of respect' to the four Constantine Chapter Sigs who had died during the war. The last days of the war quickly came and rendered impossible any further activities of this wartime chapter.

In May 1939 the Constantine Chapter Memorial was erected by Sigma Chi in memory of the Constantine Chapter and its members. The memorial is located on U.S. 41 in Clayton County, Georgia."