A very unusual relic - the thin iron backing from a cloth embroidered officer's shoulder epaulette, with the brass attachment hook still intact.  This is in rough shape from being buried for so long, but the dry Arizona desert preserved it enough to be salvageable.   Something like this would never last if buried in the humid climate and wet ground back East!  This came from the collection of an elderly man (now deceased) in Tucson who used to metal detect in southern Arizona.  This was in a box marked "Fort Breckenridge." Fort Breckenridge was in use for just two years, from 1859 to 1861, and was garrisoned by companies of the Dragoons and Regiment of Mounted Rifles.  It was abandoned in the summer of 1861 as the Civil War got underway.  Thanks for looking!