Hard Uniform to ID

[major bill]

Legion Para asked for a harder uniform to identify, Only clue is they are early war and from Pennsylvania.

 

[7th Texas Mounted Rifles]

Pennsylvania Bucktails!

 

[7thWisconsin]

Several Bucktail companies drafted down the river to rendezvous when they were mustered, and brought their own rifles. But the early war uniform for Kane's Rifle Regiment was red workshirt, black pants, knee boots and brimmed hat decorated with the bucktail. I've never seen this green trimmed uniform. By the time they got their Sharps, they were in standard Federal uniform. And someone needs to tell the guy with the box that he has a percussion rifle in his hand; he can leave his powderhorn home.

 

[TinCan]

I thought that a little odd too.

 

[major bill]

Yes this company did join the Kane Rifle Regiment, 13tth Pennsylvania Reserves, the 42nd of the Line ( the Bucktails). Note the oil derricks and the Allegheny River shore line denuded of timber by the lumbermen. Note this company was called the "bucktailed wildcats" due to them being recruited in the area of wildcat oil drilling. The company command was a rich lumberman who purchased these uniforms for his company with his own money. We just need the name of this company.

 

[7th Texas Mounted Rifles]

Company C...
'Cameron Rifles'

 

[major bill]

Company C...
'Cameron Rifles'

No wrong compny. But to tell the truth I do not know what uniform the Cameron Rifles wore and I am relaying on a single uniform plate in the Company of Military Historians Uniforms in America plate series.

 

[7thWisconsin]

I'm going to hazard a guess that we're looking at a reconstruction of the uniform of Roy Stone's Company D, the Raftsmen Guards. They were recruited around Warren, PA, certainly in the wildcat district, rafted to join the regiment and were initially uniformed in blue fatigue blouses. The lieutenant bears a resemblance to Roy Stone, who also raised the 149 and 150 PA Bucktail regiments and commanded the Bucktail Brigade at Gettysburg. (The soldier standing behind the lt seems to have a ramrod on his Sharps. He needs that like the other guy needs a powderhorn. )

 

[major bill]

7thWisconsin you are correct. The knowledge of some of our forum members leaves me in awe.

 

[7thWisconsin]

Right now I'm sitting about 30 miles from Warren, and I've reenacted the 13th PA Reserves from time to time. The tale of rafting down to war was very much a part of the Bucktail legend. I've never seen that reconstruction of the Company D uniform, though.

 

[major bill]

This image of the Raftsmen's Guard is from a 1974 Company of Military Historians Uniforms in Americana plate. I can not vouch for the accuracy of the work. The artist is Barry L. Thompson and the author of the accompanying text is John L Marsh, neither of whom I have had the opportunity to meet.

It is known that Roy Stone had purchased the cloth and that 30 good women had made up the uniforms. The problem is what was the color of the turn-back? Mr. Marsh thinks green, but the photograph could be interpreted as some other color. Without a period description of the color of the turn-back or an casually uniforms, we are left with the authors view. In the text is the photograph from which the plate was made and the wide turn-back is obviously a different color, the text reads "Certainly the turn-back cuffs (probably green) of the blouse worn by Jas. Masten, fourth sergeant of the company, were not characteristic of the issue "sack" blouse."

Also I have to laugh at the buck tails on the hats. Pennsylvanian bucks must have wimpy tails

 

[Dutch Mudsill]

Several Bucktail companies drafted down the river to rendezvous when they were mustered, and brought their own rifles. But the early war uniform for Kane's Rifle Regiment was red workshirt, black pants, knee boots and brimmed hat decorated with the bucktail. I've never seen this green trimmed uniform. By the time they got their Sharps, they were in standard Federal uniform. And someone needs to tell the guy with the box that he has a percussion rifle in his hand; he can leave his powderhorn home.

Powder horns survived into the percussion era among hunters. I use a powder horn with my percussion .32 squirrel rifle all the time. A Sharps might be a different matter, but looks like the guy with the box has a civilian half stock muzzleloader.

 

[major bill]

This is the photo show in the text that came with the color plate. Note there are some differences between the color plate and the photo. The men wear kepis in the photo, they wear standard US belt buckles and both appear to wear light blue trousers in the photo. But note the color turn-back in the photo is shown clearly so clearly sack coats did have added cuff trim. One problem being the photo is not dated and exactly when they wore these uniforms is not fully understood. This plate is from 1974 and I have not seen any additional information on the unit. Like all uniform plates, one needs to use this plate as a basis for research a uniforms and not the final word. Still the color plate is an interesting subject and perhaps new information can be discovered at some point which will add to our knowledge of their uniforms.

 

[bdtex]

The knowledge of some of our forum members leaves me in awe.

Me too. I'm 57 and I don't know that my memory was ever good enough to do what they do.

 

[7thWisconsin]

Looking at the original photo is certainly helpful. I don't think I can discern a color for the cuffs either, and green is an interesting choice, being associated with riflemen before. I don't know if the man on the left has them or not. I can't really make it out. There are a number of 13th Reserve photos of men in caps. I don't know if that's significant in terms of uniforming, or speaks more to where and when they had their images done. Remember that many of the hat decorations weren't full tails; they were pieces cut off the hide. They never were of anything approaching a uniform size or dimension. As for the gun questions in the drawing, I have come to believe that at that time, the 50s - 70s, uniform illustrators were more interested in showing the uniform than the firearms. The gun is just a prop, sort of like the way men in clothing ads are always holding something to make the fabric drape. I've seen otherwise credible uniform plates that show the lock missing on a musket, or the wrong musket altogether for the unit, or (in the case of a famous reconstruction of the 42nd PA) the lock on the wrong side of a Sharps. In fact, the lock detail on the Sharps in the drawing is pretty indistinct. The only real identifying feature is the shape of the rear of the lock. That really wasn't what they were interested in at that time. For the artist's purposes, it may as well have been a stick.
I get so used to thinking of horns for priming powder that I forget about using them for carrying loose powder! Of course they were still in use. What was I thinking?