Union Navy personnel. One a day.

View attachment 209029
Commander Henry W. Morris - LOC

Hi everyone. First post here after introducing myself. I have some knowledge and a good reference collection in the area of USN uniforms and insignia and wrote and illustrated a reference which was cited earlier in the thread.

The uniform on Henry Morris there is the stock-standard full dress of a captain, 1852 regulation. The star on the epaulettes is sort of an idiosyncrasy of that regulation: Captains wore the eagle and one star; the senior-most captain of the navy, commanders-in-chief of squadrons (courtesy title: commodore) or later flag officers wore two stars. On the shoulder straps captains wore only the eagle device, while the senior officers mentioned wore the eagle between two stars. With the 1862 expansion of navy ranks, one star went to commodores, equivalent to brigadier general, as one might expect.

One thing you sometimes see with LoC and even history.navy.mil photo captioning is someone attributes a rank based on insignia of a later regulation. In the case of the Morris photo, we're used to three stripes for commander, but those are the three-quarter inch stripes of 1852, not the half-inch stripes of 1869.

As for the ages, well, that's the Old Navy for you! IIRC when David D. Porter made commander in 1861 he was 48 with 20 years seniority as a lieutenant.

View attachment 209160
Capt. Sylvester Nicoll - LOC
Killed with his crew when the USS Pickett was sunk.

Interesting photo, army uniform with naval-style cap and sword. I'd like to know more about his wartime career!
 
Hi everyone. First post here after introducing myself. I have some knowledge and a good reference collection in the area of USN uniforms and insignia and wrote and illustrated a reference which was cited earlier in the thread.

The uniform on Henry Morris there is the stock-standard full dress of a captain, 1852 regulation. The star on the epaulettes is sort of an idiosyncrasy of that regulation: Captains wore the eagle and one star; the senior-most captain of the navy, commanders-in-chief of squadrons (courtesy title: commodore) or later flag officers wore two stars. On the shoulder straps captains wore only the eagle device, while the senior officers mentioned wore the eagle between two stars. With the 1862 expansion of navy ranks, one star went to commodores, equivalent to brigadier general, as one might expect.

One thing you sometimes see with LoC and even history.navy.mil photo captioning is someone attributes a rank based on insignia of a later regulation. In the case of the Morris photo, we're used to three stripes for commander, but those are the three-quarter inch stripes of 1852, not the half-inch stripes of 1869.

As for the ages, well, that's the Old Navy for you! IIRC when David D. Porter made commander in 1861 he was 48 with 20 years seniority as a lieutenant.



Interesting photo, army uniform with naval-style cap and sword. I'd like to know more about his wartime career!
Feel free to add your knowledge to any of these posts!

All I know about his career is the magazine of the Picket blew up or it was sunk by a CSA boat. Two different versions of his death on the internet.
 
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Commodore J.S. Palmer - LOC
 
Commodore J.S. Palmer - LOC

An earlier coat updated to commodore rank under July 1862 regs; the cuff buttons were supposed to have been removed. Wearing of cocked hats and epaulettes was suspended in January 1864.

Admiral Hiram Paulding - LOC. Wearing Captains stripes on his sleeves?

Right. I think that might be a lightweight summer version of the frock coat, worn without shoulder straps. Looks like he's wearing warm-weather white trousers as well. The gold cap band was deleted in late 1863.
 
An earlier coat updated to commodore rank under July 1862 regs; the cuff buttons were supposed to have been removed. Wearing of cocked hats and epaulettes was suspended in January 1864.



Right. I think that might be a lightweight summer version of the frock coat, worn without shoulder straps. Looks like he's wearing warm-weather white trousers as well. The gold cap band was deleted in late 1863.
All things that I don't know! Thanks for posting.
 
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Help needed with this! 'U S Navy' scratched in the middle. 'John Pemberton' is barely visible in white at the left side. (I horizontally flipped this image so the wording and numbers on the back of the photo would be readable.)
View attachment 209796

LOC title: Pemberton, John, U.S.N.
Created/Published [between 1865 and 1880]
Note: Annotation from negative, scratched into emulsion: 1018, US Navy, John Pemberton, 1539 [crossed out], 1102 [crossed out], 31969.

I couldn't find this guy on the internet. Maybe post-war navy? Looks like younger and older photos of the same man?
 
There are bits about this John Pemberton here and there.

BIRTH 5 Jun 1836
DEATH 28 Sep 1903
BURIAL Sleepy Hollow Cemetery, Sleepy Hollow, Westchester County, New York, USA

Apparently had also been a professor at the College of Pennsylvania and was married to Margaret F. Boyce.

EDIT: Passed Assistant Engineer in the Navy.
 
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