Hat and Uniform in 1860s Photograph - Help!

[stratasfan]

Hi, All! I posted this in another board and BEAST thought I should try it here, in case someone can help with this! My Mom and Sister are working with a group in England who are digitizing photograph albums from large houses in the UK, for preservation. Mom and Sis are working on a collection from a house in Cornwall, and this particular album was put together by a gentleman who was a diplomat and came to the USA around 1862 for a while. There is this photo of a young man in uniform and it looks kind of like a Union-type uniform to my very untrained eye. So, I was wondering if anyone can ID anything about what he is wearing. He is holding his hat, which seems very singular to me. Thanks to any and all!

 

[MAW]

Civil war uniform,....is there a photographer's backmark on the image?

 

Kepi in his hand...possibly a lieutenant according to the design on it.

[KurtA]

Looks like he has some kind of collar insignia (which is unusual for a Union soldier). Also is he wearing some type of shoulder board? Looks like it goes shoulder seam to collar (not the typical back to front). And the buckle is strange- taller than it is wide (or much larger than a typical US buckle). The kepi certainly looks "American", but the rest of the uniform looks like it could be European.

I hope somebody can id exactly what it is, as I'm quite curious.

[gunbarrel]

Could it be a Confederate officer's uniform? The kepi is similar to this one (picture from the Fall Creek Suttlery online catalog). There were Greeks on both sides of the Civil War, but more so in the South.

 

 

 

 

[Grant S.]

Seems to be a fairly standard Confederate officer. The single line of braid on the kepi indicates a rank of lieutenant or captain. You can see the band on the hat is a different color than the body, which is also quite typical. They also wore their rank insignia on the collar, but it's hard to tell exactly what is in the picture. The belt buckle is no doubt a state buckle. Sometimes there would also be a stripe on the leg and loops of braid on the cuffs as well, but not always.

[mds308]

I've enlarged and cleaned the image as best as I could. Unless I'm seeing things that aren't there, it is obviously a rectangular belt plate with an oval center. Two Confederate belt plates (Probably more) come to mind. The CSA inside the oval belt plate and the taller Louisiana rectangular belt plate with Pelican inside an oval center field. This plate appears to be very tall. I don't think I'm hallucinating. Am I? I realize the Louisiana plate I show is not identical but I was using it as an example for possibilities. I'm no CW expert. CW experts, please weigh in. Thanks.

[KurtA]

What throws me off is the epaulet. Was such a thing worn by CSA officers? And whatever is on the collar is definitely not bars (company grade) and probably not a star (field grade). And if it was a star, he should have two rows of buttons on his coat.

[mds308]

All excellent points. The buckle he is wearing is very tall. This size reminds me of the larger/later Anson Mills belt plate. It's not the same shape top and bottom but similar in size. Like in the other thread, maybe he's a foreign fighter. Don't you think his hair style would be very uncommon for this era inside the USA? Looks like Larry Fine before going bald.

[TJM]

Only another opinion. I would tend to believe it not to be a US coat for several of the reasons already pointed out. Many countries of the period emulated French design uniforms, to include other European, the US, and many South American Armies. The buckle appears (to me) to be a large square. Again, just an opinion.

[Leatherneck72]

Uniform as well as that chair look European.