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- Aug 25, 2012
I have asked this in the past, but thought with all our new members I could look at this anew. I am working on Michigan pre Civil War and Civil War militia uniforms. The "German" company is one of my militia companies which I would love to understand their uniforms better. I am particularly interested in their 'helmets with long feather', 'Roman helmets'. I am posting what I have in a effort to obtain clues about what their militia uniforms looked like.
The Yager Guards a.k.a. The Yagers a.k.a. the Jagers, named changed to the Detroit Yagers in May of 1861 (Detroit, Wayne County) was formed by a group of local German-American citizens. They elected A. Lingeman as captain and he served in that capacity from 1853 to 1865. The Yager Guards maintained an armory at 67 Gratiot Street and their Yager Hall was on Gratiot Street between Elmwood Cemetery and Chêne Street. They wore 'very tasteful' uniforms of green coats and blue pants. The headgear was a helmet with a long feather. Another report indicates that their jackets were rifle green and the men wore 'Roman' helmets and were armed with rifles and daggers.https://civilwartalk.com/#_edn1 Several newspaper articles provide additional uniform information.
One of these articles indicated their uniforms were exceedingly handsome.[ii] Another article from this period calls their uniforms "full dress' uniforms. The Detroit Daily Free Press on June 14 1859 also described them as wearing dress uniforms.[iii] These reports may indicate that their uniforms were rather showy. Another interpretation is that they also had fatigue uniforms or wore their uniforms in a less 'full dress' manner. During the summer of 1858, they wore white pants: white pants were common at this time and many companies in many Detroit wore white pants during hot weather.
In 1859, they returned their State owned muskets and withdrew from the Michigan Uniformed Militia. Thereafter, they continued as an independent militia company. They and other Michigan Uniformed Militia companies of German heritage sever their relationship with the Michigan Uniformed Militia due to their belief that the State was discriminating against companies of German heritage. Withdrawing from the Michigan Uniformed Militia should not be misconstrued as a lack of commitment or an indication of poor performance. The local newspapers continued to report on them in a positive light.
During the Civil War, the Yager Guards functioned as a home guard company. The company met the first Wednesday of each month and was rather active, marching in parades, providing crowd control, and other such activities. Normally militia uniform lasted about six years, so whether they continued to wear their 1853 pre-war green jacket uniforms during the Civil War or adopted a new style is not known.
At the time Green uniforms with grey trousers were seen as being a 'German' rifles uniform. But green uniforms are associated with many rifle type units. If they wanted to look like 'German rifle units why not gray trousers? I am not sure I can assume they selected 'German style' rifle uniforms simply based on their Yager Guards name. I should note that Michigan militia uniform regulations specified uniforms based on that branch of the US Arm to which the unit belonged
I wonder what the reporter meant by 'Roman helmet' and if they even knew what a 'Roman helmet looked like? So helmets that looked like Imperial Roman soldiers? A crested helmet worn by Italian soldiers of the Civil War era in Rome? Possibly a crested helmet that looked like a Austrian helmet?
The helmets came from somewhere so could I assume that they were the type of crested helmets being sold by era militia hat makers?
https://civilwartalk.com/#_ednref1 1861 Johnston's Detroit City Directory and Advertising Gazetteer of Michigan, H. Bains & Co. Detroit, 1861, reel 1, U.S. City Directories 1861-1881, Detroit, MI.
[ii] "Military Parade", Detroit Free Press, July 6 1853, p. 3, col. 1.
[iii] "Military Parade", The Detroit Free Press, June 14 1859, p. 1, col. 1.
The Yager Guards a.k.a. The Yagers a.k.a. the Jagers, named changed to the Detroit Yagers in May of 1861 (Detroit, Wayne County) was formed by a group of local German-American citizens. They elected A. Lingeman as captain and he served in that capacity from 1853 to 1865. The Yager Guards maintained an armory at 67 Gratiot Street and their Yager Hall was on Gratiot Street between Elmwood Cemetery and Chêne Street. They wore 'very tasteful' uniforms of green coats and blue pants. The headgear was a helmet with a long feather. Another report indicates that their jackets were rifle green and the men wore 'Roman' helmets and were armed with rifles and daggers.https://civilwartalk.com/#_edn1 Several newspaper articles provide additional uniform information.
One of these articles indicated their uniforms were exceedingly handsome.[ii] Another article from this period calls their uniforms "full dress' uniforms. The Detroit Daily Free Press on June 14 1859 also described them as wearing dress uniforms.[iii] These reports may indicate that their uniforms were rather showy. Another interpretation is that they also had fatigue uniforms or wore their uniforms in a less 'full dress' manner. During the summer of 1858, they wore white pants: white pants were common at this time and many companies in many Detroit wore white pants during hot weather.
In 1859, they returned their State owned muskets and withdrew from the Michigan Uniformed Militia. Thereafter, they continued as an independent militia company. They and other Michigan Uniformed Militia companies of German heritage sever their relationship with the Michigan Uniformed Militia due to their belief that the State was discriminating against companies of German heritage. Withdrawing from the Michigan Uniformed Militia should not be misconstrued as a lack of commitment or an indication of poor performance. The local newspapers continued to report on them in a positive light.
During the Civil War, the Yager Guards functioned as a home guard company. The company met the first Wednesday of each month and was rather active, marching in parades, providing crowd control, and other such activities. Normally militia uniform lasted about six years, so whether they continued to wear their 1853 pre-war green jacket uniforms during the Civil War or adopted a new style is not known.
At the time Green uniforms with grey trousers were seen as being a 'German' rifles uniform. But green uniforms are associated with many rifle type units. If they wanted to look like 'German rifle units why not gray trousers? I am not sure I can assume they selected 'German style' rifle uniforms simply based on their Yager Guards name. I should note that Michigan militia uniform regulations specified uniforms based on that branch of the US Arm to which the unit belonged
I wonder what the reporter meant by 'Roman helmet' and if they even knew what a 'Roman helmet looked like? So helmets that looked like Imperial Roman soldiers? A crested helmet worn by Italian soldiers of the Civil War era in Rome? Possibly a crested helmet that looked like a Austrian helmet?
The helmets came from somewhere so could I assume that they were the type of crested helmets being sold by era militia hat makers?
https://civilwartalk.com/#_ednref1 1861 Johnston's Detroit City Directory and Advertising Gazetteer of Michigan, H. Bains & Co. Detroit, 1861, reel 1, U.S. City Directories 1861-1881, Detroit, MI.
[ii] "Military Parade", Detroit Free Press, July 6 1853, p. 3, col. 1.
[iii] "Military Parade", The Detroit Free Press, June 14 1859, p. 1, col. 1.
Bringing the