This One's Weird

Manassas 1861

Sergeant
Joined
Dec 30, 2023
Location
Somewhere on Henry Hudson's river.
Today's photograph is from the library of congress. An unidentified Union captain in a strange looking uniform. Officers purchased their own uniforms, so some officers had different uniforms than others.
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Well it very well may Union be but if he's unidentified he's unidentified. There were certainly variations in officer's garb, just look at George Custer. But that trim was popular on early CS uniforms, the state of Louisiana comes to mind if you want to check some out. Would be interesting to see the back of the photo to see if there's a studio stamp on it. That would be a big clue as to where it was taken.
 
It's possible that the LOC has erroneous information - wouldn't be the first time. I think archives sometimes just adopt whatever information was given to them at the time of accession.
ARB
Yup, and it's certainly easy at first glance in this instance to see shoulder boards and automatically assume it's Federal. There's plenty of photographic evidence out there that shoulder boards were not uncommon on CS officers particularly early war. In fact I've based my early war officer's impression on this captain from Georgia. ( my group portrays a Ga. unit )
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Yup, and it's certainly easy at first glance in this instance to see shoulder boards and automatically assume it's Federal. There's plenty of photographic evidence out there that shoulder boards were not uncommon on CS officers particularly early war. In fact I've based my early war officer's impression on this captain from Georgia. ( my group portrays a Ga. unit ) View attachment 501542
This is a direct print and mirror-image. Note the way the jackets fasten. The bayonet frog is on the wrong side too and the bayonet blade is on the wrong side of the rifle. In the same way, the officers sword has the shell guard on the wrong side - facing in instead of out. All very neatly rearranged to make the photo more realistic.

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It seems the subject (or maybe the photographer) here was most keen to show/include the weapon for impression/effect within this particular photographic frame - hence the revolver being half-tucked into the upper jacket pocket
 
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It seems the subject (or maybe the photographer) here was most keen to show/include the weapon for impression/effect within this particular photographic frame - hence the revolver being half-tucked into the upper jacket pocket
Most of these photos tend to do that, particularly early on. There are photos of line soldiers with huge knives and two revolvers - even some British and French ones - invariably without any sort of field equipment. Makes them look good though.They are usually studio photos and it seems that those studios did have a number of 'props' available to make it a 'good photo'.
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Seeing the photos of conventionally held multiple weapons carried by these individuals makes one think that the young Captain in the OP was fixated on getting pictured with his firearm, no matter how odd it appeared. (But in the absence of any belt or holster, thought it interesting that he chose this pose, rather than to customarily hold the weapon, like the others do).
 
Seeing the photos of conventionally held multiple weapons carried by these individuals makes one think that the young Captain in the OP was fixated on getting pictured with his firearm, no matter how odd it appeared. (But in the absence of any belt or holster, thought it interesting that he chose this pose, rather than to customarily hold the weapon, like the others do).
The hand in the coat was the more ... civilised/well-mannered ... gesture.
 
Today's photograph is from the library of congress. An unidentified Union captain in a strange looking uniform. Officers purchased their own uniforms, so some officers had different uniforms than others.View attachment 501532
I believe the caption to be correct, he sports a uniform with a velvet collar lining, which is normal and the tailor thought to continue it down the front. No doubt his fatigue coat.
 

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