- Joined
- Aug 25, 2012
Taken from An 1865 Account of the Dress of the 11th and 55th Regiments, New York National Guard by Anthony F. Gero published in the Journal of the Company of Military Historians, winter 1990 issue.
"German cavalrymen with helmets resembling ice-cream freezers on the heads, dashed wildly up and down, to keep back the surging crowd..."
OK so what does "helmets resembling ice-cream freezers" mean? This unit could be the 3rd Regiment of Cavalry of New York National Guard which was made up form German New Yorkers. It was known that in 1859 this unit wore round Germanic style stable caps but it is not known if they still wore these in 1865. Could these be described as ice-cream freezer helmets? I have some doubts. What did a period ice-cream freezer even look like?
Another possibility is the report is about the 11th New York Regiment which in 1859 had a lancer company attached to it that may have worn lancer helmets. But was this lancer helmet still worn in 1865? Could a lancer helmet look like an ice-cream freezer?
Exactly who the "Germany cavalrymen' were and what they wore on their heads remains vague.
For a bonus the article tells us the French (55th Artillery) was a six company artillery unit who wore "red caps,epaulets, and pantaloons..."
"German cavalrymen with helmets resembling ice-cream freezers on the heads, dashed wildly up and down, to keep back the surging crowd..."
OK so what does "helmets resembling ice-cream freezers" mean? This unit could be the 3rd Regiment of Cavalry of New York National Guard which was made up form German New Yorkers. It was known that in 1859 this unit wore round Germanic style stable caps but it is not known if they still wore these in 1865. Could these be described as ice-cream freezer helmets? I have some doubts. What did a period ice-cream freezer even look like?
Another possibility is the report is about the 11th New York Regiment which in 1859 had a lancer company attached to it that may have worn lancer helmets. But was this lancer helmet still worn in 1865? Could a lancer helmet look like an ice-cream freezer?
Exactly who the "Germany cavalrymen' were and what they wore on their heads remains vague.
For a bonus the article tells us the French (55th Artillery) was a six company artillery unit who wore "red caps,epaulets, and pantaloons..."