Help with Old Soldier Unit Photograph

[rockysgoldandsilver]

Need some help identifying this old photo of a group of soliders. It appears to be Span-Am war or sometime between then and the Civil War. The flag being held by a soldier looks like it may have a year of 1889 (also has council number but can't see it). All of there hats have "Welcome" and "45" badges. They all appear to be holding Springfield Model 1873 .45-70 rifles (any connection between rifles and hat badges? never seen a "Welcome" badge) and are all wearing what looks like Civil War period US belt buckles. That's about all I can tell from it. Any ideas?

[GIl Sanow]

Kepies of this style were worn until 1892. The rifles could be '69's, '73's or '84's, so I would date the photo in that era. Officers (see the man at the left) typically wore the 5-button coat in the field until the undress coat was adopted in '92, so I am leaning toward the middle of that era.

 

I wonder if the flag is Civil War era though -- they did add lettering like this then, but how long those flags were used is unknown to me.

 

G.

[mars&thunder]

Looks like young lads at some military school, not a unit photo. There were plenty of these schools and there are many photos of individual cadets from the schools. Less common to see a group photo.