Uniforms Does the West Point Museum have the sash General Lee wore at Appomattox?

major bill

Brev. Brig. Gen'l
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Aug 25, 2012
I was trying to decide what to do with an old copy (December 1953) of the Journal of the Company of Military Collectors & Historians and thumbed through it to see if any thing caught my eye. In the Collector's Field Book section appears an article, Lee's Appomattox Sash, by Milton F. Perry, the Curator of the West Point Museum. I the article Mr. Perry discuses if the West Point Museum has the sash Lee wore at
Appomattox.

One account has Lee wearing a red sash at Appomattox, while other information points to a buff sash. Mr. Perry seems to lean towards a buff sash, which is what the West Point Museum has, but Mr. Perry does not rule out Lee wearing a red sash at Appomattox. Most art work shows Lee with a buff sash. I am assuming that addition information has been found in the 60+ years since Mr. Perry wrote this article.

Anyway I have the December 1853 Journal of the Company of Military Collectors & Historians in a bound reprint from 1973 of all the Journal of the Company of Military Collectors & Historians from 1949 to 1954 , but may just keep this old magazine. It does have 2 uniform plates covering the Civil War. In the end what would I do with a magazine from 1953 anyway?
 
I was trying to decide what to do with an old copy (December 1953) of the Journal of the Company of Military Collectors & Historians and thumbed through it to see if any thing caught my eye. In the Collector's Field Book section appears an article, Lee's Appomattox Sash, by Milton F. Perry, the Curator of the West Point Museum. I the article Mr. Perry discuses if the West Point Museum has the sash Lee wore at
Appomattox.

One account has Lee wearing a red sash at Appomattox, while other information points to a buff sash. Mr. Perry seems to lean towards a buff sash, which is what the West Point Museum has, but Mr. Perry does not rule out Lee wearing a red sash at Appomattox. Most art work shows Lee with a buff sash. I am assuming that addition information has been found in the 60+ years since Mr. Perry wrote this article.

Anyway I have the December 1853 Journal of the Company of Military Collectors & Historians in a bound reprint from 1973 of all the Journal of the Company of Military Collectors & Historians from 1949 to 1954 , but may just keep this old magazine. It does have 2 uniform plates covering the Civil War. In the end what would I do with a magazine from 1953 anyway?
Maybe a note to Les Jensen is in order?
 
Maybe a note to Les Jensen is in order?

Perhaps. I was going to see him at a convention in New Jersey in October, but the convention has been postponed until next spring. It has been several years since I visited the West Point Museum.
 
In the best known Italian book on the American civil war, written by the great Raimondo Luraghi, the sash is described in red, but over the years I have never found any other source that indicated that the sash worn at Appomatox was red. So I was convinced of a writer's mistake.
Only by reading @major bill's post, I come to know there is this doubt about the buff or red sash.
 
No expert on Confederate uniforms, but isn't a buff sash regulation for Confederate General officers? It would seem odd that if he made it a point to appear in full uniform for the occasion the sash would be red. In any case it's a fascinating question in my opinion.

John
 
No expert on Confederate uniforms, but isn't a buff sash regulation for Confederate General officers? It would seem odd that if he made it a point to appear in full uniform for the occasion the sash would be red. In any case it's a fascinating question in my opinion.

John

Most source say he wore a buff sash. Just a thought, remember the wagon carrying his personal gear was captured so one could question if he wore what was available.
 
By all accounts he was dressed immaculately in a fairly new uniform, this would not have been his fatigue or daily wear. Maybe not all of his gear was captured and if he had an almost new dress uniform stored away, it would make sense that all appropriate accouterments would be stored with it, including the appropriate sash. We know the French sword given to him by Marylanders was stored and used for the occasion IIRC.
 
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