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Very rare 1900 Span Am Philippines USMC campaign shirt


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Many years ago, I was lucky to find a small Span Am grouping belonging to a ship board Marine. The group consisted of an EM dress uniform with the banjo boards, as well as a flannel M1883 Army style flannel wool campaign shirt. I posted that shirt many years ago here:

 

ttps://www.usmilitariaforum.com/forums/index.php?/topic/96852-us-army-span-am-m1883-flannel-campaign-shirt/&tab=comments#comment-712182

 

Many serious USMC collectors know that the M1883 campaign shirt discussed in the thread above consists of blue wool, with a folding collar, button placket, and two prominent chest pockets. This shirt was worn for many years by the Army (as well as the Marines), and was perhaps made most recognizable by the Rough Riders in the Span Am war. 

 

For the Marines, however, a different blue flannel shirt from that time period became much more popular and standardized. That is the Span Am vintage USMC campaign shirt. It is comprised of a very similar flannel wool with a similar cut, but a henley style collar, three button plait and no chest pockets. This shirt saw a lot of use in the Philippines and I believe made its way to China for the Boxer Rebellion. There was a discussion on this style of shirt also many years ago here on the forum, and that discussion can be found here:

 

Pictures of USMC blue campaign shirt - UNIFORMS - U.S. Militaria Forum (usmilitariaforum.com)

 

A photograph (just one of many) depicting this shirt worn in the period, is clearly illustrated on page 138 bottom of Alex Tulkoff's book Equipping the Corps. 

 

To date, I have never seen one of these shirts in the flesh, , never have witnessed one for sale, photographed in a reference or displayed in a museum. I am certain there may be a couple examples out there, but like the M1883 campaign short, they were basically used up during and after the campaigns. In my experience, these shirts are excessively rare.

 

I was astonished when a BIN listing popped up last week for one of these shirts and a pair of named Span Am leggings. The seller lives in a very small town 50 miles south of me! I jumped in and they arrived yesterday. Here are some pictures of the shirt and leggings (not my best work, but should give the reader an idea what these shirts look like). This shirt has seen a lot of wear, has a couple of what I believe to be period field repairs and a bit of mothing, but it is the real deal, and the first time for me anyway to see one of these. The white paint inside the collar area is the owners name. It is very difficult to read, but since the name was clearly written in the leggings, I can decipher the same name with additional writing in the shirt. These items belonged to Ernest Franklin Dennis who enlisted in the Marine Corps 8, June, 1900. He spent a lot of time in his early career in the Philippines, and was ship board for a few years (until 1907 or so) after that. There are a couple of pages on him in the muster rolls, and I need to do further research. 

 

In the above link, forum member Bob Hudson was kind enough to include the detailed description of this shirt from the Marine Corps regulations. Here it is again for reference in this post:

 

FLANNEL SHIRT

 

To be made of dark-blue shirting flannel, white pearl buttons, and black cotton thread. Open front, with top plait two (2) inches wide, under plait one (1) inch wide. Cuffs sewed on sleeve two and one-half (2-1/2) inches deep; corners of cuff and bottom of shirt to be rounded off. Buttons and buttonholes to be at each of the following places, viz: one (1) on neckband at center of the back, one (1) on front neckband at throat, two (2) on front plait, equidistant between the throat and the bottom of opening, and one (1) on each cuff, making six (6) in all. Depth of neckband about three-quarters (3/4) inch; depth of front plait about fourteen (14) inches.

 

Dennis' shirt meets all of these regulations precisely except that the buttons are made of what appears to be white colored bone and not the more delicate mother of pearl. His shirt has a few threads on the back of the collar center where it appears there was once a button sewn consistent with the regs. I believe in use, that his top button on the plait was lost, and he likely replaced it with the button from the inside of the collar. That top button is the same size as the cuff buttons, which are slightly smaller than the remaining two buttons on the plait. 

 

I am thrilled to add this very rare shirt to my collection, and hope others here on the forum might use this for reference in the future. Kevin

 

 

 

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Rare…..rare…..rare…..yes Kevin these were worn during the Boxer Rebellion. Particularly at the Battle of Tientsin, after which the Marines assessed their dark blue shirts made them easy marks for Chinese snipers….so for future engagements in that campaign when they crossed  open ground, the Khaki coat was worn over top the shirt….despite the heat….these were also seen in the PI during those early years….a truly great find! Photo below taken late 1900-early 1901 Olongapo….note the Sgts stripes on the man on the far right …..sometimes you can see photos where they have embroidered their initials into the shirt. And your right the color was different than the Army shirt….but I will let Alec tell that story

C18FC7C8-E39B-4108-AAF6-1A9144CCF350.jpeg

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Thanks again Dirk. I was inspired by our phone conversation and now have it neatly folded under my campaign hat in a display cabinet. They look great together and maybe someday with more space I can try a mannequin or include the belt in the group for display. You are right of course, the blues on this shirt and the M1883 are definitely slightly different. Thanks again for your help and support. Kevin

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Not to beat a dead horse (I know not everyone gets as excited as I do over an old shirt) but I had the light box out to photograph some other stuff and I thought I would take some quick shots of both the USMC flannel and M1883 (also worn by USMC) shirts. So just for fun, as they appear on my display shelf. 

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Kevin, awesome find and displays. You can always tell when someone really appreciates the material (by how they describe and display it).

 

Always a treat to see anything from your collection. 

 

Thanks for sharing. 

 

Eric 

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  • 9 months later...
Schnicklfritz

Wonderful find Kevin.... I almost beat you too it... if I was a little more sure of the regulations for this!   😉

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17 hours ago, Schnicklfritz said:

Wonderful find Kevin.... I almost beat you too it... if I was a little more sure of the regulations for this!   😉

Well it would have gone to an equally good home. I was fortunate as when I acquired my pattern 1883 shirt many years ago, I did a bunch of research on what the Marines wore in the Span Am and Boxer Rebellion. I know they wore both patterns, but there are far more of the Henley style collarless shirts like this one than the 1883 collared style represented in pics. Funny though as there are far less of the collarless shirts in actual existence today. I was lucky that I knew it when I saw it, although I have never seen another real one in a book or another collection. 

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SgtMaddoxUSMC

Dirk (and others) - have any of you ever seen an example of one of these shirts in person with rank chevrons?  I know the shirts are rare to begin with... I imagine finding one with rank is probably near impossible

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For me  Sgt Maddox, , this example ( the collar less) Is the only one I have ever seen, including in books or museums. I have seen many in original photographs but don’t recall ever seeing one with stripes. The M1883 shirt is rarely seen in photos but was issued to Marines, although was more famously worn by the Army including the Rough Riders. This one came from a ship board Marine who served In the Span Am war. Kevin

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Sorry for the late reply….yes Kevin is correct the photo is in my collection and shows stripes. Being worn c. 1900- 1901

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Here’s a enlarged picture.08A26765-612E-472D-9A9B-60493F3A553F.jpeg.f3c8c30787e12cc333179d85974258b2.jpeg

21 hours ago, SgtMaddoxUSMC said:

Dirk (and others) - have any of you ever seen an example of one of these shirts in person with rank chevrons?  I know the shirts are rare to begin with... I imagine finding one with rank is probably near impossible

 

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