Marine "blood stripe" fact or myth,

major bill

Brev. Brig. Gen'l
Forum Host
Joined
Aug 25, 2012
Why did Civil War Maines wear red stripes? The lore of the Marines wearing "blood stripes" for the 1847 Battle of Chpultepec is a long held Marine tradirion, but is it based on fact?

Marine uniform regulations of 1849 called for solid red leg stripes, but is there any documentations to show a reason red was chosen? Marines still wear scarlet leg stripes on their blue unifroms. Until I see period documentation of the reason red was chosen, I have to put this in the probably just lore column. Show me a source that demonstrates red represented anything in 1849 and I am open to reconsideration.
 
That is what I was taught in Boot Camp (1970) and only NCOs and above rate the red stripe (of different widths) on their Dress Blues-the higher in rank that you go, the wider the stripe.
 
Last edited:
This has been taught by the Marines for a very long time, but has anyone seen a simulation statement in the 1859s to 1860s? It would seem if "blood stripes" were true the Marines changing to solid red stripes because of the 1849 u I firms regulation would have wrote about their new red stripes representing shed blood. Does anyone have a reference from those decades? If so I would love to see it so I can prove the blood stripes is not a myth.
 
I found this in "Marine Corps Lore" - 1960 by USMC
Screen Shot 2017-01-15 at 1.06.44 PM.png

https://archive.org/stream/MarineCorpsLore#page/n13/mode/2up

This source says the 1798 uniform had scarlet piping -
Scarlet trouser-stripe (Blood Stripe)
Marine Corps Officers and Noncommissioned Officers have worn scarlet stripes on dress trousers ever since the early days of the Corps. It is unsubstantiated, even though often repeated, that the right to wear scarlet stripes was conferred on the Corps as a battle honor after the Mexican actually the intial uniform trousers issued after the reconstitution of the Corps in 1798 had scarlet piping.
http://www.leatherneck.com/forums/archive/index.php/t-23666.html
 
The first example I can find of Marines wearing scarlet trim was sometime between 1778 and 1779 when the white trim on their green uniforms was switched to scarlet trim. So green jackets with scarlet trim goes back to 1779 at least. In 1797 when the Marines were issued The sup plus blue uniforms with scarlet trim turned in by General Anthony Wayne's Legion when it disbanded. The coatee had scarlet trim but the trousers were plain blue, color stripes on legs were not used yet by the services. . This seems to establish blue uniforms with scarlet trim as a standard Marine uniform colors. So if we use this as the start of scarlet trim, the Marines wear scarlet trim because they we issued used uniforms. In 1833 the Marines switched to grass-green uniforms. They ware gray winter trousers and white summer trousers. The gray winter trousers for marine NCOs had buff colored leg stripes. In 1841 the Marine returned to blue uniforms with scarlet leg stripes for officers and NCOs. So Marine NCOs were wearing scarlet leg stripes before the Battle of Chapultepec. When the Marine uniforms were updated in 1849 all of a sudden the scarlet leg stripe on the trousers were to commemorate the Battle of Chapultepec? Sorry i would like a period reference for the "Maine blood stripes" of the 1849 uniforms.
 
Why did Civil War Maines wear red stripes? The lore of the Marines wearing "blood stripes" for the 1847 Battle of Chpultepec is a long held Marine tradirion, but is it based on fact?

Marine uniform regulations of 1849 called for solid red leg stripes, but is there any documentations to show a reason red was chosen? Marines still wear scarlet leg stripes on their blue unifroms. Until I see period documentation of the reason red was chosen, I have to put this in the probably just lore column. Show me a source that demonstrates red represented anything in 1849 and I am open to reconsideration.
----------------------
Not all Marines wear a red strip on their Dress Blues. The strip is authorized to be worn by NCO's & officers (Sgt E5 & above & all officers including Warrent Officers.
We were taught that the strip represented the high casualties that NCO's took at the battle of Chapultepec. That being said, there has always been some debate in USMC circles if that is a fact or a myth. As a Marine I never really cared one way or another. I will say that any awards or symbols worn on a Marine uniform is earned by the Marine wearing that uniform.
 
Military_College_of_Chapultepec2.jpg


Attributed symbolism like this is often created after-the-fact, as a way of instilling shared pride and camaraderie within a group -- in this case, it imbues the stripe with a deeper meaning than just bright trim on the uniform. The appearance of the stripe soon after the war with Mexico makes that a plausible-sounding claim, whether it's accurate or not.

Here's an excerpt from a 21012 interview with Owen Conner, curator for Uniforms and Heraldry at the National Museum of the Marine Corps:

Perhaps the most famous uniform symbol — and the most famously fictional — is the red “blood stripe” on the pants of noncommissioned officers’ dress blue uniforms. Tradition holds that the stripe represents the Marine Corps blood spilled in the storming of Chapultepec Castle in 1847, during the Mexican-American War.

This account is, Conner said, “a bunch of hullabaloo.” However, he said there is also no historical evidence to support the common alternate history, which holds that the stripe originated from leftover Army artillery uniforms appropriated by a cash-strapped Marine Corps. Rather, it appears that regulations in the mid-1800s prescribed that Marine Corps officers purchase uniforms similar to those used by Army artillery, which included red piping on the pants.

Between the services in those days, he said, “You didn’t have these entirely unique uniforms like you have later on.”
 

Attachments

  • Military_College_of_Chapultepec2.jpg
    Military_College_of_Chapultepec2.jpg
    441.8 KB · Views: 31
Last edited:
All I can say is, be prepared for the reaction if you tell this one to a Marine. :laugh:


"When the legend becomes fact, print the legend."

Oh, I understand. Lore and tradition serves a real and concrete purpose. But an official Marine Corps history of Marines in the Mexican War (attached, Appendix A) lists only five men killed at Chapultepec, and three who died later from wounds. Only one of these was an NCO, Corporal Hugh Graham. As assaults on fortified positions go, it wasn't especially bloody for the attackers.

(The one officer killed, Major Levi Twiggs, was the younger brother of Army officer David Twiggs, who surrendered the Department of Texas to the Confederates in 1861.)
 

Attachments

  • Marines in the Mexican War PCN 19000412200.pdf
    3.2 MB · Views: 253
Last edited:
I should clarify … the only parts of some Marines uniforms that aren't an individual award are the red strip on Dress Blues trousers for NCO's & officers and the 6th Marines wear a knotted cord on their left shoulder on their Blues & on their Winter Greens uniforms which symbolizes France presenting the unit one of their awards that I can't remember the name of.
 
During World War I, the French Government awarded decorations for especially meritorious conduct in action to 156 American units varying in sizefrom a section to a brigade. These decorations were: the Fourragere and the Croix de Guerre (Cross of War) with various combinations of palms, gilt, silver, and bronze star devices.

The unit twice decorated with the Croix de Guerre with Palms was entitled to a braided and knotted cord, known as the Fourragere, in the green and red colors of the Croix de Guerre. The Fourragere becomes part of the uniform of the unit so cited, authorizing all members of the organization to wear the decoration on the left shoulder of the uniform as long as they remain members of the organization.

http://www.6thmarines.marines.mil/Units/2nd-Battalion/History/Fourragere/

dcb731abb090371634725fbc32cd0175.jpg
 

Attachments

  • dcb731abb090371634725fbc32cd0175.jpg
    dcb731abb090371634725fbc32cd0175.jpg
    47 KB · Views: 47
Back
Top