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!