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Boxer Rebellion Associated Marine Coat


Dirk
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Here is a recent acquisition I am rather excited about: a service coat to a Boxer Rebellion Marine. To put that statement in context, the chances of finding a coat worn during the active phase of the fighting, today is probably near nil. At that time the only men that wore this type of coat consistently was the 52 Marines defending the Legation. Having left their spare uniforms behind at Tientsin, they fought the entire 55 day campaign wearing the same uniform, until they began falling apart from weeks of combat, barricade building, dust, and sweat. When any part of the men’s uniform proved unserviceable, the women of the legations provided a replacement, crafted from whatever material was at hand. Personal accounts and photographic evidence seems to confirm this small detail. But what of the other Marines involved in the campaign?

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Period photos show the roughly 482 Marines accompanying the International Relief Force who lifted the siege of the legations wore khakis. The Marines in the relief force who were originally stationed in the Philippines, arrived in early July, after receiving khaki campaign uniforms and Krag rifles just before departing the P.I. at the end of June. Later in life, Louis Little noted, they had less then one day to gather supplies and load their transport before leaving the next morning for China. Theirs would be a summer campaign. In early August a battalion of Marines from the American west coast arrived with General Chafee, rounding out the relief force. If they were like their Army counter parts, arriving at the same time, khakis were brought. Regardless of where the Marines came from, after ten days of hard fighting and marching all of those men who made it to Peking were unshaven, encrusted in dirt, dust, and sweat. Many had uniforms that were barely serviceable.

 

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But there was a third group of Marines, drawn from navy yards along the American East Coast that came to Asia for expeditionary duty under Major Randolph Dickins. Although their stateside departure was hurried, they like the third wave of stateside Army reinforcements, had more time to prepare for expeditionary duty. And from the latest reports received, it appeared the campaign would span more then the summer. We know from documents discovered by Alec Tulkoff that several of these Marines, as they passed through Annapolis were in need of both overcoats, summer linen uniforms, and other pieces of clothing. So this battalion arrived with more then just their campaign uniforms. 

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After a month-long trip across the Pacific aboard an Army transport, Dickins men arrived in theater 14 Aug 1900, the same day as the Allied Army, 90 miles to their north, was successfully storming Peking. Because significant Chinese resistance quickly collapsed after that, Dickins men spent their China time primarily guarding Tientsin, escorting supply barges up the Peiho River, and perhaps joining local punitive expeditions between Tientsin and the coast. By 25 October Dickins battalion, and the Peking-based Marines were withdrawn from China to the Philippines for reassignment on orders from Washington. It is to a man of Major Dickins Battalion of Marines, that this coat belonged: Charles King. A quick muster roll search reveals King enlisted in Boston February of 1900 and spent his next few months at the local barracks. Pulled for China duty, he left Boston at the end of July, before showing up on the muster rolls at Tientsin in August. His next stop, in October, was Cavite, and assignment aboard the USS Manila. Following additional shore based duty in the PI, he returned to Boston, where in 1904 he made Corporal, a year before his enlistment expired in early 1905. Records show he received China Relief Medal #281 (whereabouts unk)

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His 1892 pattern coat, Quartermaster dated 1900-01, is unremarkable by itself. But it does give an opportunity to compare it to Marine uniform regulations of 1900. Here is what the regs say:

 

“To be made of dark indigo-blue flannel, dyed in the wool, cut half close so as to define the figure. No seam in center of back, darts in the fore part under the arms to extend to top of hip bone. Coat to be one and one-half inches shorter than the full-dress coat. Body to be lined in the fore part, and inside of shoulders covered with black Italian cloth; sleeves to be lined with drab jean. One row of seven 28-ligne Marine Corps buttons down the front, top button one-half inch from base of collar, lowest button about nine inches from bottom of coat. Standing collar one and one-fourth inches high (rounded ends), to hook in front at bottom. Shoulder straps of dark-blue flannel (inner ends rounded) two inches wide at sleeve head seams, and one inch wide at collar seams; to be sewed down to fore part along shouldseams, outer edges sewed in with sleeves, a small Marine Corps button on inner end.  A three-pointed strap at center of upper side of each sleeve band, of same material to be five and one-half inches long, lower point along edge of sleeve band, two and one-half inches wide at each point, one and three-fourths inches wide at inside of curves between the points, a small Marine Corps button sewed on each point, straight side of straps to be sewed down and turned over so as to make the points extend toward the back arm seams.  The coat to be piped down the front and around the bottom, base of collar, shoulder straps and sleeve straps, with one-eighth inch scarlet flannel, excepting straight side of sleeve straps and outer edges of shoulder straps, which shall be plain. Total number of buttons on coat: seven 28-ligne and eight small ones.“ In the case of this coat, the buttons are all by Horstman of Philadelphia. I have include a ligne button chart for future reference. 

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Because I don’t know how the Quartermaster dating system works (did they date stamp by contract calendar year, or contract fiscal year, or by when the item was accepted by the government), it is possible, but most unlikely, he had this coat prior to deploying to China. Right now I am guessing this coat probably did not accompany him on campaign. More probable, is he received this coat from stocks in the PI, or more likely Boston, once he left the Far East. Given the abuse the uniforms received during this campaign, I am pretty sure most Boxer worn uniforms were discarded as soon as the Marines arrived in the PI (The few photos I have seen of newly returned soldiers and Marines show them wearing crisp clean uniforms). Therefore, any set of Khaki or undress blues were probably issued post-China. Of course that does not take into account the possibility that there existed another Marine hoarder like Smedley Butler, who saved their Boxer worn uniforms or headgear for posterity’s sake, but I doubt it. 

 

Before King’s coat surfaced, Ludwigh1980 had a great thread on a Boxer Rebellion Marine Grouping. Since that man was also a part of Dickins Battalion, his 1898-1899 stamped blues may have the strongest case on the forum to have been worn during the campaign. Regardless, these Boxer attributed coats are not that common. But I am pleased to add this Service coat the list of Boxer associated items on the forum. 
 

 

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I have chosen to pair this jacket for display purposes with a 1889 pattern Amy campaign hat that I added a EGA to. Doing research of Marines early use of the campaign hat between 1898 and 1901 and talking with two Marine Corps Museum curators, consensus is a variety of models of hats were worn: star vent, snowflake, metal vent, no vent, chin strap/no chin strap. A document discovered by Alec shows one Post quartermaster noting in his stock having some darker color campaign hats then the men he just equipped for expeditionary duty. So we know the shades of these hats varied too. Although the 1900 regulations indicate a standard example at the Quartermasters Office, we don’t know what that model looked like. We do know the hat with star vent, folded rim edge, and chin strap would by 1902, become the Marine standard, as photo evidence appears to show. Once COVID ends I hope to examine the Marine Museum holdings of their fore and aft campaign hats, looking at style and contract stamps. Even then I have been warned: documentation of museum acquired items during the early years is shakey at best. This particular hat was well marked inside to a volunteer Army state unit, so there is no doubt this hat was not in Marine service. Yet I did find inside the remains of a markers stamp: Ferry & Napier of New York. In November 1900, Napier left the business, so we can assume this hat dates prior to that month. Alec also found paperwork showing Ferry & Napier was the low bid for an April 1900 Marine contract for campaign hats. Alec’s discovery has the Marine Quartermaster asking if Ferry & Napier should receive the contract as their agent’s name appears on the bid, vice the manufacturer. The Navy’s Judge Advocate ruling was yes they could provided the Marines were confident they could fulfill the order. More research is needed to determine if this company did indeed fulfill this 1900 contract, and if so, do any of those hats exist for us to study. 


Regardless, of how the campaign hat story turns out, I had been looking for an early undress service coat. And finding one worn by a Marine that participated in the campaign, and campaign hat that would not look out of place Is good enough for me.

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US Victory Museum

Absolutely gorgeous.  The colors are still vibrant.  I'm sure that you are very much

pleased with your new addition to the collection.

 

Thank you for sharing your photos with us.

 

Msn

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Victory thank you! I am very pleased to have one with a Boxer connection. I have been following your great posts on early Army Khaki for a while and they have really helped me understand the early use by the Marines in the PI and China. Because of them, I have ID’d the Marines use of several types of khaki uniforms and campaign hats including the Army patterns you have identified. 

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In a word, WOW! Your supporting documentation/history makes a strong case.

Congrats on adding a nice piece of history to your collection.

Thanks for sharing.

Ken

 

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Well Dirk, i was counting on a quiet Sunday morning with a cup of tea and boom, I see this thread and don’t know where the last 30 minutes went. First, congratulations on just a fantastic find! And thank you for the detailed research and examination including photos, and the history of this campaign, etc. this really reminds all of us, these artifacts aren’t just things, but history and it is so important to study them and understand how they fit into the historical puzzle.

 

You are right to thank Victory, he is an outstanding resource for items of this time frame and he has educated me greatly on several topics.

 

i personally think your assessment of this tunic and how it may have played a role in the Boxer campaign is spot on. You and I have discussed the campaign hats at length, and I am so grateful you re continuing that study as it is an area that needs to be examined more closely. The fact that there is documentation that these hats were of many different shades is interesting. I believe there is a reference to the ones issued to Huntington’s Battalion being “mouse grey” in color. I still believe those were likely the snowflake vent Army ones. 

 

i think a key to dating your tunic and determining if it was issued pre 1900 or not lies in the roll on the edge of that collar. I have a minty unissued tunic with a paper label remaining inside dated 1898, where the roll on that collar disappeared. I believe this tunic is important as I feel it definitively illustrates that the roll went away mid way through 1898. I will see if I can pull up some photos to add, but I would be interested to hear if you have any regulations or other documentation that illustrates the elimination of this roll in the collar occurred on a different date.

 

Thanks again for posting this wonderful thread Dirk. Really did make my Sunday morning. Much better than reading the newspaper (especially these days). Kevin

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Dirk, I made a mistake (my memory is excellent....just extremely short). The coat I have is dated 1899, not 1898, so I believe it was sometime in 1899 when that rolled collar changed to a straight edge. Here is a photo of the coat, and the paper label remaining inside dated 1899. Obviously this only provides some evidence as to when your tunic was manufactured. If the rolled collar was eliminated in 1899, we all know the old rolled collars would have continued to be worn for sometime, perhaps even years after. Kevin

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Ken, Kevin thank you very much For your kind words! Kevin no rolled collar on mine so post 1899 per your guidance. Been wanting to reach out to you on the coat sooner, but was still writing the thread and waiting on the youth-sized mannequin. Alec help provide some good info that allows me to tie up several loose ends and open new questions. Hope you still got to enjoy your morning tea ;)

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Great write up Dirk! Exceptional coat. I'm especially in awe of your small fortune in museum grade archival boxes stacked up. 

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Ludwig1980 thank you and thank you for leading the way with the example you posted that got the ballrolling.i believe those khakis are the first Marine pattern they used and gives me a reference when I get to the museum archives to survey their holdings.

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Great to see more artifacts of this period. I have to admit it was watching movies when I was a kid like "The Wind and the lion" and "55 days in Peking" that has driven me in the search.  Happy hunting, there is more out there.

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  • 2 weeks later...

As a postscript to this thread, Alec Tulkoff has located documentation that shows the Ferry & Napier Company supplied campaign hats to the Marine Corps as early as summer 1898. He also has documentation showing the Marines around the same period looking to acquire from Army stocks campaign hats. So while the hat shown here was not specifically issued to a Marine, similar hats like this one were from the same company. This opens up another area for research, finding specific Quartermaster contract orders to specific companies between 1898 and 1902.

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How the hell did I miss this first time around? You and I literally discussed you doing a thread the day before!

 

You're having a good year, Dirk. Stars keep aligning. As usual, great research and great write-up.

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