Ambulance Corps Armbands?

[Dispatch]

I've been doing some research but can't find anything specific to my question: What would they have secured the ambulance corps armbands with?

 

[RedRover]

I've been doing some research but can't find anything specific to my question: What would they have secured the ambulance corps armbands with?

They evidently wore them on their hats. Col. Fremantle observed before Gettysburg...

Confederate surgeon John J. Chisholm wrote in 1862 that "the members of this corps are designated by wearing around their caps a red band with ambulance corps printed in conspicuous white letters."

The Museum of the Confederacy website notes an 1863 circular by Dr. Hunter McGuire requiring the badges to be "served" to the front part of the crown of the hat. I suspect that's a type for "sewed."


There are a couple of these sorts of badges yet in existence.

This one is in the collection of the National Museum of Civil War Medicine...

“They Did Not Seem to Respect It Much”: Insignia and Medical Evacuation

Read about the various ways ambulance corps members during the Civil War tried to identify themselves with mixed results.

www.civilwarmed.org

From the American Civil War Museum/Museum of the Confederacy...

Armband | American Civil War Museum

This photo of some of Lee's men at Fredericksburg in early 1863 shows a chap which what I always suspected was the A.C. badge on his hat perhaps...

 

[Dispatch]

"Red also appears to have been the color of choice for the Confederate ambulance men. English observer Lieutenant Colonel James Fremantle wrote that on the march to Gettysburg "in the rear of each regiment were from twenty to thirty Negro slaves, and a certain number of unarmed men carrying stretchers and wearing in their hats the red badges of the "ambulance corps. "The volunteer Richmond Committee for Our Wounded, sometimes styled the Richmond Ambulance Corps, wore hat and arm bands of pink (or possibly red faded to pink over the years), two of which survive in the collection of the American Civil War Museum. Confederate surgeon John J. Chisholm wrote in 1862 that "the members of this corps are designated by wearing around their caps a red band with ambulance corps printed in conspicuous white letters."In both the collections of the American Civil War Museum and the National Museum of Civil War Medicine are fraying examples of these badges."

 

[RedRover]

"Red also appears to have been the color of choice for the Confederate ambulance men. English observer Lieutenant Colonel James Fremantle wrote that on the march to Gettysburg "in the rear of each regiment were from twenty to thirty Negro slaves, and a certain number of unarmed men carrying stretchers and wearing in their hats the red badges of the "ambulance corps. "The volunteer Richmond Committee for Our Wounded, sometimes styled the Richmond Ambulance Corps, wore hat and arm bands of pink (or possibly red faded to pink over the years), two of which survive in the collection of the American Civil War Museum. Confederate surgeon John J. Chisholm wrote in 1862 that "the members of this corps are designated by wearing around their caps a red band with ambulance corps printed in conspicuous white letters."In both the collections of the American Civil War Museum and the National Museum of Civil War Medicine are fraying examples of these badges."

Yes, here's the Richmond committee's arm band:
Armband | American Civil War Museum

 

[Dispatch]

I Googled it, but it's still not clear: Is there such a thing as a 19th-century safety pin?

 

[7thWisconsin]

As a matter of fact, the modern safety pin was patented in 1849 and it pretty much looks like they do now. The clasp is just bent wire as opposed to the metal cap now. (The Hyksos had safety pins, so they´re really old.) If you fasten them from the inside of your hat to the outside, no one will see them, especially if they´re inside your hat lining or below the sweatband.

 

[Dispatch]

I can't find anyone who carries them.

 

[13 IL Cav & 64 GA Inf]

"Red also appears to have been the color of choice for the Confederate ambulance men. English observer Lieutenant Colonel James Fremantle wrote that on the march to Gettysburg "in the rear of each regiment were from twenty to thirty Negro slaves, and a certain number of unarmed men carrying stretchers and wearing in their hats the red badges of the "ambulance corps. "The volunteer Richmond Committee for Our Wounded, sometimes styled the Richmond Ambulance Corps, wore hat and arm bands of pink (or possibly red faded to pink over the years), two of which survive in the collection of the American Civil War Museum. Confederate surgeon John J. Chisholm wrote in 1862 that "the members of this corps are designated by wearing around their caps a red band with ambulance corps printed in conspicuous white letters."In both the collections of the American Civil War Museum and the National Museum of Civil War Medicine are fraying examples of these badges."

View attachment 542396

I like this drawing. Thanks for sharing it.

 

[Dispatch]

On 19h century safety pins, does anyone even know what they look like?

 

[7thWisconsin]

From the online ¨Museum of everyday life.¨ I don´t think it would be very hard to make a pretty good hatband, especially because you´re only making one and not trying to make them in scale. A piece of red wool. Piece of white fabric. Stencil. Black paint. Weekend build.

 

[Dispatch]

View attachment 542646
From the online ¨Museum of everyday life.¨ I don´t think it would be very hard to make a pretty good hatband, especially because you´re only making one and not trying to make them in scale. A piece of red wool. Piece of white fabric. Stencil. Black paint. Weekend build.

No need, NJ Sekela here in Gettysburg makes authentic reproductions, I bought the last four he had in the shop!

Ambulance Corps Armband, NJ Sekela

www.njsekela.com

 

[Dispatch]

Another question... would a Confederate surgeon/doctor wear one or would they only be worn by hospital stewards?

 

[jepridgen]

Another question... would a Confederate surgeon/doctor wear one or would they only be worn by hospital stewards? View attachment 542769

Surgeons were officers and wouldn't have worn a badge since they wouldn't have been forward gathering casualties. In theory, they would have a uniform with green trim where normal branch colors would be on a CS uniform. Obviously, that could vary by individual like most CS army officer uniform.

 

[Dan Kohli]

Another question... would a Confederate surgeon/doctor wear one or would they only be worn by hospital stewards? View attachment 542769

The hospital steward were different than the ambulance corpsman. I'm currently forgetting what insignia that the confederate hospital steward would be wearing, or even if there was one required by regulation. I'm probably going to try to poke around the C.S. Army Regulations within the next day or so.

 

[Dispatch]

Many doctors who saw service in the Civil War had never been to medical school, but had served an apprenticeship in the office of an established practitioner.

Surgeons could either be commissioned officers of the Union or Confederate Army or volunteer officers in State service. Contract surgeons were civilian doctors hired by the army, yet held no commissions and wore no uniforms or insignia of rank. In 1861, there was no military review board for volunteer or contract surgeons. Appointments were often based on nepotism, personal friendships and political patronage, with professional qualifications not the primary consideration.

Most surgeons received their training by the apprentice system, training with an older, more experienced doctor, and thus learning out-of-date medical techniques. Younger doctors attended medical schools, but this caused many an old soldier to hold the opinion that they were only in the field to get more practice, not to save lives. In wartime, quality control standards were frequently ignored, so some doctors were outright "quacks" with forged credentials.

Many surgeons returned to private practice after the war, but some were addicted to pain-killers like opium, laudanum and alcohol like their patients...

 

[Dispatch]

What could pass for a 19th century safety pin?

 

[Dan Kohli]

I'd try t The Button Barron, or some other historical sewing supplies site. I'm currently failing to remember any of the others.

 

[Dispatch]

I'd try t The Button Barron, or some other historical sewing supplies site. I'm currently failing to remember any of the others.

Word around here is they are going out of business soon.

 

[Dan Kohli]

Word around here is they are going out of business soon.

That's the first time I've heard of this. Although, my memory is not really the best.

 

[7thWisconsin]

What could pass for a 19th century safety pin?

I would look in women´s jewelry. From time to time clasp pins that you can hang charms from are popular and they look a lot like 19th century safety pins. If you try jewelry bins in second hand and antique stores, you might strike pay dirt.