Name/Title
Commissary Officer [Hat Star]Description
A five-pointed hat star with T-E-X-A-S in the points and a crescent in the center. Die-struck and made of coin silver.Context
The crescent moon insignia is a heraldic symbol that identified preserved foodstuffs, rations, and commissary property.
The Commissary Officer is “solely responsible for the purchase and preparation of the food for the general mess, the care of the stores, and the judicious expenditure of mess funds...” He manages the Chief Commissary Steward (a chief petty officer in charge of the galley) and the Ship's Cooks (a naval rating established in 1838) to ensure rations the crew's daily rations by strictly accounting for standard 19th-century naval staples such as salt beef, pickled pork, hard biscuits (hardtack), flour, and peas.
As a specialist professional whose expertise and authority demanded formal recognition, he is a Warrant Officer and his insignia is silver. The name of the rank originated in medieval England. It was first used during the 13th century, in the Royal Navy, where warrant officers achieved the designation by virtue of their accrued experience or seniority, and technically held the rank by a warrant, rather than by a formal commission (as in the case of a commissioned officer).
Texas' Lone Star identity was formed during the Texas Revolution. This hat star was made to be worn by a Texas Navy Commissary Warrant Officer, and believed to have been manufactured of melted silver coins and/or scrap silver pieces in the Algiers Shipyard, New Orleans, Louisiana.