1900 Marine Uniform Regulations

[Niederlander]

Hello!
      I've got the 1900 Uniform Regulations from the GAF website, but does anyone have the plates from those regulations?  Thanks!

[US Scout]

Ned,

Unfortunately, my only copy of the 1900 Regulations are a transcription and don't include any of the plates.  I'll see if my contact at the Marine Corps National Museum can provide them.

What are you specifically interested in?

US Scout
Brig Gen, GAF

[Niederlander]

Good morning, Sir!
      I'm looking for several things.  What color were the campaign trousers?  Were they more brown or tan?  The new cover was evidently the bell crown style.  Was is identical to the cover in the 1912 regulations?  A lot of the field items were listed as being identical to the example in the Quartermaster's Office.  Is there a quartermaster's catalog that shows these things?  I've been getting by with an ersatz field uniform, but I'd like to make it more authentic.  Thank you!

[US Scout]

Good morning, Sir!
      I'm looking for several things.  What color were the campaign trousers?  Were they more brown or tan?  The new cover was evidently the bell crown style.  Was is identical to the cover in the 1912 regulations?  A lot of the field items were listed as being identical to the example in the Quartermaster's Office.  Is there a quartermaster's catalog that shows these things?  I've been getting by with an ersatz field uniform, but I'd like to make it more authentic.  Thank you!

Ned,

I believe I can answer most of your questions when I get home this evening.  I don't have time to do so at work. 

Briefly though - the khaki field uniform was introduced in the 1900 uniform regulations.  The field hat was worn with a fore-and-aft crease until 1912 (?) when the "Montana Peak" was introduced (the Army did it a few years earlier).  However, both styles were being worn during the Vera Cruz expedition in 1914. 

Semper Fi -

US Scout
Brig Gen, GAF

[US Scout]

Good morning, Sir!
      I'm looking for several things.  What color were the campaign trousers?  Were they more brown or tan?  The new cover was evidently the bell crown style.  Was is identical to the cover in the 1912 regulations?  A lot of the field items were listed as being identical to the example in the Quartermaster's Office.  Is there a quartermaster's catalog that shows these things?  I've been getting by with an ersatz field uniform, but I'd like to make it more authentic.  Thank you!

Ned,

The campaign coat and trousers were made of 8oz khaki (tan) cloth.  This is not the brown shade of the Army 1884 fatigue canvas fatigue uniform.

Cap: This is the bell-crown cap as continued to be worn in the 1912 regulations, but it is not the same cap was worn during the Spanish-American War.  This is also not to be confused with the brown campaign hat which was worn with the khaki campaign uniform as well as the blue undress uniform (dark blue coat, sky-blue trousers) when in the field.  There is a well-known photo of Marines in Peking in 1900 wearing this undress combination with the campaign hat.

The Corps Quartermaster kept a "pattern" or sample of all uniforms and related items but it was not in the form of a book.  The pattern would be provided to the manufacturer to study, and then his product would be compared to the sample before it was accepted. 

In Cuba during the Spanish-American War Marines wore a variety of uniforms.  They wore the one like the Marines in Peking wore, or took off the blouse and wore a dark blue flannel shirt in its place.  Some took their white summer undress uniform and dyed it brown with coffee or tea and wore it with the blue cap.  In late 1898, after the experience of the 1st Battalion, the Marines introduced a short-lived roll-collar cotton khaki blouse and trousers.  This was replaced in 1900 by the standing collar blouse. 

If you're doing Vera Cruz in 1914, you can wear a khaki shirt (made of flannel), khaki cotton trousers, and the campaign hat - worn either creased fore and aft, or with the Montana peak.  This would make a great "Wild Bunch" type uniform - which I'm trying to put together before the 2010 Grand Muster.

US Scout
Brig Gen, GAf

[Niederlander]

General,
      In the 1892 regulations, a change occurred in 1896 that specified a new kind of cap for officer and enlisted.  Do you know of any pictures that show that cap?  They show up in a picture of Marines and Sailors in Cuba in 1898 at Camp McCulla.  That picture is in the G.I. Series "The U.S. Marine Corps" on page 27.
      Another question I have is what color blue they identified as "sky blue".  How does it compare with the blue our dress trousers are now?  Did the trousers then have the split waistband in the back?  Did they have belt loops?