Upside-down Buckle...?

[Private Watkins]

What do you guys think...? A sloppily dressed Yankee, or a Reb making a statement with battlefield scavenged gear...? Either way he sure looks like an ornery old cuss...

 

[AndyHall]

 

[Private Watkins]

This guy is sort of what I would imagine Cobb from Cain at Gettysburg (Ralph Peters) would look like... (which I am enjoying immensely right now...)

 

[Frederick14Va]

Not completely rare to find period images with inverted waist belt plates... Some have speculated that since the finished image was reversed... if they flipped something over.. it might look correct.... Except for most it is now still backwards AND upside down.... A few scarce images of Confederates wearing captured US belt plates in same fashion... However spawns assumption they are intentionally making some political statement... Far too many reenactors tend to emulate that on the field... But same as US troops observed... many more wearing them right side up just as well...

A few other identified Federals wearing inverted US waist belt plates

 

[Private Watkins]

Not completely rare to find period images with inverted waist belt plates... Some have speculated that since the finished image was reversed... if they flipped something over.. it might look correct.... Except for most it is now still backwards AND upside down.... A few scarce images of Confederates wearing captured US belt plates in same fashion... However spawns assumption they are intentionally making some political statement... Far too many reenactors tend to emulate that on the field... But same as US troops observed... many more wearing them right side up just as well...

A few other identified Federals wearing inverted US waist belt plates
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That middle guy is a bona-fide weapon magnet...!

 

[JerseyBart]

That's a gig.

 

[Frederick14Va]

That middle guy is a bona-fide weapon magnet...!

He must have emptied the box of weapon props the photographer had... lol...

 

[rosefiend]

What do you guys think...? A sloppily dressed Yankee, or a Reb making a statement with battlefield scavenged gear...? Either way he sure looks like an ornery old cuss...
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Everybody wants a beard like that. Even the ladies.

 

[Mr. King]

Yeah, the Southern Nation belt buckle doesn't mean anything.

If that guy is a yankee, he's got to be from West Virginia, Kentucky, or "Pennsyltucky".

 

[James N.]

It appears to be an ambrotype, too, making deciding even harder - if it were a tintype like I think two of the other three are I'd incline towards Union.

 

[Poor Sharecropper's Son]

Everybody wants a beard like that. Even the ladies.

Sharp Dressed Man

 

[Patrick H]

That middle guy is a bona-fide weapon magnet...!

I was thinking the same thing!

 

[rosefiend]

Sharp Dressed Man

*gets fuzzy guitar*
*does funny little wave*
*fades out whilst playing a blues lick*

 

[Banjo Pete]

Looks like his beard was re-touched slightly... as if it wasn't, um, "epic" enough!

 

[CheathamHill]

Hmmm...McDowell cap...Civi Frock (w/possible eagle button), cavalry sabre, private purchase pistol.
Indeed, this man is an enigma.
Cavalry..but for whom

 

[kholland]

Confederates not having the "supplies" that the Yankees had tended to borrow clothing items from Union troops that they deemed did not need them anymore. Belt buckles were worn upside as they were certainly not worn by US "supporters" and also as a bit of disrespect (like flying a flag upside down).

 

[reading48]

This guy is sort of what I would imagine Cobb from Cain at Gettysburg (Ralph Peters) would look like... (which I am enjoying immensely right now...)

I read that book last year, forgot about Old Cobb....Good comparison...

 

[CheathamHill]

Belt buckles were worn upside as they were certainly not worn by US "supporters" and also as a bit of disrespect (like flying a flag upside down).

More myth than canon

 

[Dave Wilma]

What do you guys think...? A sloppily dressed Yankee, or a Reb making a statement with battlefield scavenged gear...? Either way he sure looks like an ornery old cuss...

He's they guy from HR who shows up on a Friday afternoon.

 

[Private Watkins]

It appears to be an ambrotype, too, making deciding even harder - if it were a tintype like I think two of the other three are I'd incline towards Union.

It is a tintype in a full floral thermoplastic case.