glenhunter
Private
- Joined
- Aug 29, 2013
- Location
- Florida
Thank you for posting that link to a great article!!!!
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I remember when I first had to get glasses and they were SO UGLY!!! I hated wearing them. Now those same type of glasses are in style and my local glasses store says lots of people now get frames as a fashion accessory with plain glass in them! As least now that old phrase, "Guys don't make passes at girls who wear glasses", can be tossed in the rubbish heap of time.It is my understanding that the typical young soldier in the Civil War wouldn't be caught dead wearing spectacles because he would be the object of derision. If you think a "biled" shirt brought contempt on a man, imagine the attitude towards eyeglasses that connoted sissy, effete, weak, old, intellectual, etc. in a decidedly less enlightened mid-nineteenth century America. They are almost never seen in ACW images.
Ole General Delafield sort of seems to validate Pvt. Shattuck's thesis that wearing spectacles wasn't part of the hipster scene for that day and age...General Delafield
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Delafield
It is my understanding that the typical young soldier in the Civil War wouldn't be caught dead wearing spectacles because he would be the object of derision. If you think a "biled" shirt brought contempt on a man, imagine the attitude towards eyeglasses that connoted sissy, effete, weak, old, intellectual, etc. in a decidedly less enlightened mid-nineteenth century America. They are almost never seen in ACW images.
That's a cool photo! Love the spectacles and the militia type sword...!1/4th Plate Daguerreotype of Brevet Major General Richard Delafield, Being The Earliest Known Photograph Of Him
View attachment 47527
Heritage Auctions photo
That's a cool photo! Love the spectacles and the militia type sword...!
Very nice... I stand corrected.What you're calling a "militia type sword" is actually the extremely RARE and completely regulation Sword for Officers of the Corps of Engineers, which is NOT the same as those for Officers of Topographical Engineers ( like what Meade carried ), which differs little from the officers' Dragoon sabers; both were made obsolete when the familiar M.1850 Sword for Officers of the Staff and Field was adopted. Delafield was Chief Engineer of the U. S. Army at the time.
Is here a photo of that particular sword anywhere that would allow me to see it better. Since we reenact Co. A US Engineers, I'd love to see that piece.
Wow! That is simply some beautiful workmanship. I recall seeing one similar to that but thought it was a personal purchase or presentation sword. I had no idea that it was a regulation issue. Good luck finding a repro of that. Thank you so much M.E. Wolf and contributors to this thread. My education continues.
View attachment 47427
Montford S. Stokes