Its a bronze plaque with a raised letter "H" in the center. This one is attached to the front of the Wornall House Museum in KC, MO. The home was hospital during the Battle of Westport.
The plaque was attached sometime between 1890 and 1930...we think. So far, we have not found a record of when it was put there or what the "H" represents. We've had lots of guesses. "Hospital" is very popular guess, but we've never seen it on any other homes turned hospital during the CW. The National Park Service conducted a Historic American Building Survey (HABS), looked at the building and did survey, but they do not give out bronze H's...as far as we know. I am in the process of checking the records of the UDC to see if they had a hand in its placement, but nothing so far. So, how about it. Care to help me solve a history mystery?
Without further information, my first assumption would be that it's an old marker for subscription fire protection. However, Kansas City was covered by volunteer departments between 1837 and 1872, and switched to a paid department structure thereafter being funded by tax revenue. So. No little bronze fire markers for KC.
"Hospital" is very popular guess, but we've never seen it on any other homes turned hospital during the CW.
If it's a plaque that's supposed to directly relate to hospitals in the Battle of Westport, a clue on where to look for others is in the following paragraph from an old book on the fight:
The wounded were ministered to in at least four places. Some were cared for on the field and in and about the old Wornall Home, which was converted into a temporary hospital by the Federals under Curtis. A few were carried to Shawneetown in an ambulance attached to the Second Colorado and driven by a 16-year-old boy, now Mr. C.W. Whitney of Kansas City. Many others were brought to Kansas City, the Confederates being placed in the Southern Methodist Church that then stood on the south side of Fifth Street, between Delaware and Wyandotte streets. The Federal wounded were cared for in the Lockridge Hall, then standing at the southeast corner of Fifth and Main Streets, and converted into a hospital under the charge of Surgeon Philip Harvey of the United States Volunteers.
What are the odds that the plaque is really just a status symbol put up by Wornall or his family? The stories about the guy seem to be the type of vanity biographies you find on wealthy gilded age businessmen. They all play up that his title is "Honorable" for having served in the State senate for a term.
Here is a link to a photo of the plaque. I tried to post it in the OP but messed up somehow. http://imgur.com/BojmFM6
Mystery solved! The "H" plaque at Wornall House is one of 300 produced and attached to buildings of historic significance. It was purchased by the Kansas City Centennial celebration and placed there in March 1923. It was paid for by Mrs. Ada MacLaughlin. As of today, it is the only "H" plaque known to still exist attached to the original building. I found the receipts, blueprints, and letters to document it being ordered today at the Jackson County Historical Society. History mystery is solved. Thanks everyone for playing!
Can you post a photo of the plaque?