Improper Cavalry Attire

[Badlands Walker]

Howdy pards, just a bit of info I thought I would share with y'all today.  Some of ya know that the Mrs. & I went to Tombstone for Wyatt Earp Days.  Well, while there I met a fine gentleman who goes by the name of Nat Love.  Well, Mr. Love is a Historian on the civil war, the cavalry & the buffalo soldiers.  I spent several hours with the man discussing outfits & such and what is accurate & what is not.

He said the biggest falsehood about the cavalry uniform is the yellow wildrag that you see so many folks wearing today in re-enactments & such.  He told me that yellow was never used by the cavalry & that the army would never allow such a bright target!  The yellow wildrag is a Hollywood movie thing.  He said that in the old B&W films, yellow was the only thing that woiuld show up good, so it was used in the films.  When asked about the yellow stripe down the pant-leg, he claimed that was also false & a Hollywood thing.  The stripe was acually a gold color & not real shinny, as not to attract attention.  He also stated that the trousers with the stripes were dress uniforms only & were never worn in the field, that is also Hollywood!

Just thought I would share that info with you Cavalry buffs & Civial War type individuals.

You can see Mr. Nat Love on my website in the photo gallery section.  http://www.bittercreekbunch.com 

[Old Top]

Badland,

I have no doubt that a lot of what we think is due to the movies and the yellow wild rag is one of those, however the leg strip was part of the rank of the individual and was worn on the field pants in the color of branch, for cavalry that was a lemon yellow or a pale yellow worn by NCO's and Officers.  I just checked a few of the photos I have of the time taken in the field and the NCO's have stipes did not see an officer in the pictures.

Old Top

[Badlands Walker]

Old Top,

I had wondered about the pants thing, but did not want to challenge the man as he is the historian & I am not!  Thanks fer' sharin' pard!

[Wes Virginian]

Also, the width of the stripes designated rank, ie, corporal, sergent, etc.

[US Scout]

The trouser stripe was part of the uniform and its width helped identify the wearer as either an officer or NCO - important if you had to decide to salute or not. 

As for "shiney" lets not forget the brass buttons on the coat, and the metal buckles on the sword or waist belt, the carbine sling, and other assorted leather accoutrement.  They would reflect a lot more light than the trouser stripe, shoulder straps, or chevrons. 

The undress uniform was the athorized field uniform, but some soldiers would wear civiliian coats, shirts and pants.  What the troops wore in the field was up to the commanding officer.  Some liked their men to be regulation, others were more flexible.  You see the same thing today. 

Agree on the scarf - that is pure Hollywood.  Same goes for the white hats and preponderance of bib shirts.  Yeah, they were worn, but they were private purchase, not issue.

[Curley Cole]

Howdy

I can attest to Old Top's accuracy on the uniform. As you see by his alias he is a sargent 1870's era, and being the strange bird Top is he chooses to be in the infantry..(of course he really was for about 30yrs ) anyways he has me looking over pictures and documents and all kinds of stuff to be accurate..and he is. (well like he says a "walksaheap" wouldn't likely have 1 sidearm on let alone 2, but he does have 2 1875 Remmies and a Schofield and they look real good in the holsters...) and he shoots a REAL 1873 Winchester..but, that is another story.

Thats my old pard, Old Top
curley

[Old Top]

Curly,

You left out the 45-70 Infantry rifle, but thanks for the complement.

Old Top

[Curley Cole]

Top,
Didn't wanta brag on ya too heavy, ya jest might out grow that fine new/old Stetson...
ahaaaaaa
cc

[+draw]

Those are good points, thanks for bringing 'em up.  Question: if they didn't use the yellow scarf/wildrag/whateveryoucallit... what did they use?  Was it whatever they had, in the field... and something else (or nothing) back at the post?

[Old Top]

McCandless,

From the pictures that I have seen they used about anyting they wanted, I have seen pasliey and poka dots, and solid some times cotton and sometimes silk as far as color with the photographs light and dark is all that I can tell other then pattern and texture.

Old Top

[Delmonico]

Uniform regs were mostly forgotten the further out on the frontier you got.  Few wore anything resembling the regs on patrol. 

Also when doing research involving pictures, do remember that some of the photgraphic mixtures for the negative plates show yellow up as dark grey.  Did some Calvalrymen wear a yellow bandanna, maybe, was it issue, no.  Did some wear buckskins and bib shirts, yes, more than just Custer.  Did they issue them, no.

As for the historian thing, most of us on the board are also historians.  Professional only means you get paid for it, not that you are good.  I get paid to be a historian, so I guess I'm a Professional Historian, but I like my self proclaimed title of "Mongrel Historian." 

<If you don't undertand that one just hollor and I'll explain.>

[Tommy tornado]

I would say if you are putting together a correct Cavalry outfit do research.  A good place to start are the Osprey Men at Arms books.  Very good pictures and drawings.

[Griff]

Ya'll might also try looking at Randy Seffen's books "The Horse Soldier 1776-1943", Volume II 1851-1880.  There are several variations of enlisted, NCO & Officer uniforms over this period.  I ain't read it in quite a while but I seem to recall that the hat cord on the "slouch" hat deferentiated between calvary, artillery, and infantry.
I ain't a "historian" either, just interested in old stuff and took plenty of classes in those intitutes of high larnin' on how to conduct research.  I like Delmonico's appellation of "mongrel historian" also.  But, ain't up to stealin' the man's brand.

[Old Top]

Griff,

I beleive that you are correct as the color for cav was yellow, Inf was blue, Art was red and the scouts was red and white.  Officers also wore different type of cord with acorns rather then tassles.

Old Top