The maker of this whirligig, or wind toy, was not a professional artist or carver, but a farmer named John Green Satterley who lived in Mount Vernon, New York, just north of the Bronx. The whirligig depicts a Civil War soldier wearing the distinctive uniform of the New York State Militia’s 14th regiment out of Brooklyn. Instead of the more traditional all-blue uniform of the Union Army, the 14th Brooklyn wore red pants, a red vest, a blue jacket with gold buttons, and a red hat capped with blue, earning them the battlefield nickname of “red-legged devils.” Satterley may have been inspired to make the patriotic sculpture by the triumphant return of the legendary 14th regiment to Brooklyn on May 25, 1864.

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