Introduction

My colleague, Bob Hughes, and I were moaning about the sad state of affairs regarding the understanding of some of the dealers and collectors regarding the Uniform minutia as it pertains to Straps. This drove Bob to compose a scholarly piece on the subject.

This was in 1996 and it has been resting in a drawer marked “Waiting for a Venue”.

Here it is.

The Gold or Silver Standard

A great deal of discussion has taken place among insignia collectors in the last several years centering on the issue of whether Union captains and first lieutenants’ shoulder straps with silver bars are of the Civil War period or “Indian War” period. The resolution of the issue, on a strap by strap basis, results in sometimes large differences in the price of the straps to the buyer or collector. More importantly, however, the resolution of the issue, across the board, may serve to maintain the integrity of identification of all of those shoulder straps which are indeed of the Civil War period.

 

Most collectors of Civil War relics and pieces will advocate never saying “never” when it comes to attempting to establish a guideline or rule for identifying a piece as of the period or not. So it may be with the issue of the silver bars; however the U.S. Army’s own regulations in effect at the time are difficult to ignore.

 

General Orders No. 31, published June 12, 1851, provided “1….The following description of the UNIFORM for the Army of the United States, having been approved by the Secretary of War, is published for general information and will be strictly adhered to….” .“ The SHOULDER STRAPS section provides that the straps will be one and three-eights inches wide by four inches long; bordered with an embroidery of gold one-fourth of an inch wide. Section 119 provides: “FOR A CAPTAIN—the same as for a Colonel,… omitting the eagle and introducing at each end two gold embroidered bars of the same width as the border, placed parallel to the ends of the strap, at a distance between them and from the border equal to the width of the border.” Section 120 FOR A FIRST LIEUTENANT, provides the same as for a captain, excepting that one gold bar is specified instead of two.
The comprehensive uniform changes established by General Orders No. 31 clearly provide that captains and first lieutenants would wear shoulder straps featuring GOLD embroidered bars.

 

The uniform regulations of 1857, which incorporated General Orders issued since 1851 contain no changes in the shoulder strap specifications from those quoted above from the 1851 regulations. Likewise, General Orders No. 6, published Mar. 13, 1861, providing for the uniform which would be prevalent during the Civil War, made no changes in the shoulder strap specifications from those promulgated in the 1851 regulations. Union captains and first lieutenants went into the Civil War under orders to wear gold bars as their mark of rank on their shoulder straps.
The wearing of silver bars for captains and first lieutenants on their shoulder straps was first prescribed, after 1851, by General Orders No. 92 published Oct. 26, 1872. The language of the 1872 regulations relating to shoulder straps is the same as that of 1851, 1857 and 1861 regulations, with the exception of changing the color of the bars from gold to SILVER. The silver bars have graced the shoulder straps and undress uniform of captains and first lieutenants since 1872.

Where could there be authority which would lead to the confusion? In the 1851, 1857 and 1861 regulations, the specifications for Epaulettes for captains and first lieutenants calls for Silver bars There may be those collectors or dealers who confuse or do not differentiate between shoulder straps and epaulettes, and therefore read this portion of the regulations as a basis for the opinion that the silver bars belong to the Civil War period.

 

All three of the cited regulations describe the epaulettes to be devices with a crescent, a circlet, and gold bullion strands of a certain diameter and length, depending upon rank, and the shoulder straps to be a strap of a certain length and width, with a border and color of field to correspond to branch or staff. The epaulettes and shoulder straps are described as distinctly different articles of the uniform and each occupy a separate section in all of the regulations cited.

 

Another area of confusion may arise from a failure of the collector to ascertain any differentiation in the color of the bars and the bullion borders because of the manner in which the bars have aged or acquired patina. This is not an issue of interpretation of the regulations, but rather, a pursuit of identification in which it is easiest to lump all Captains’ and first lieutenants’ shoulder straps into one period, in almost every instance the Civil War period. In this situation, the bars have aged to a very similar color with that of the bullion borders and the making the distinction of gold or silver bars is difficult. If that issue faces the collector, a tiny drop of any one of several substances readily available on the market, carefully placed on a strand of the bullion of the bar will, in almost every instance, demonstrate the true original color of the bar and permit an honest identification.

 

Probably the most definitive evidence of whether captains and first lieutenants bars were gold or silver during the Civil War period is gathered from observing the color of the bars on shoulder straps which are known or strongly believed to be original to a particular frock coat, shell jacket, or sack coat which is itself known to be of the Civil War period. It is here that the authors must rely upon other than the written word or personal observation. In talking with people who have had the opportunity to handle dozens of uniform known to be of the Civil War period, and who have studied these uniforms and their constituent parts, it seems to be almost unanimously the conclusions of these people that uniforms of the Civil War period bearing captain’s or first lieutenant’s shoulder straps feature gold bars on the shoulder straps rather than silver bars. These same people have observed that the silver bars began showing up on captain’s and first lieutenant’s shoulder straps on uniforms which these people could reasonably identify as being of the post 1872 period. Although the authors do not possess the experience of the people interviewed, they, as collectors of shoulder straps and insignia of both the Civil War and Indian War periods, have seen a number of uniforms known to be of the Civil War period bearing captains and first lieutenants shoulder straps, and in every instance, the bars have been gold.

 

Another significant body of evidence relegating the silver bars to Captains and first lieutenants of the post 1872 period is the construction of the shoulder straps themselves. As most collectors of shoulder straps have learned, there are material differences in the attributes and construction of shoulder straps of the Civil War period and of the post War period. Of the dozens of pairs of captain’s and first lieutenant’s shoulder straps of both periods which have been handled and examined collectively by the authors, it can be conclusively stated by these authors that the captain’s and first lieutenant’s shoulder straps which exhibited the attributes of the Civil War period, in every instance bore gold bars, not silver bars. Conversely, the shoulder straps of captains and first lieutenants exhibiting the attributes of the post War period, in every instance, bore silver bars, not gold.

 

There are those who cite to several of the “pioneer publications in the Civil War relic and memorabilia field which make passing references to silver bars being found on captain’s and first lieutenant’s shoulder straps of the Civil War period. What of these references, we are asked. A well-respected consultant on one such publication was questioned by the authors regarding such a reference in the publication, and he answered emphatically that the reference was an error which was overlooked in preprinting text review. He added his observation that gold bars belong to the Civil War period and silver to the post 1872 period. As for the few other publications which continue to carry references to silver bars on the ranks in question being found on Civil War shoulder straps, the authors can only believe that those observations were made at an early time in collecting when this distinction may not have been so important. These few publications to which the authors refer have not been revised or updated in a number of years.

 

Why, the reader asks, do the authors go to such lengths to write an article on this narrow subject, which may only interest a few? Price of items aside, for the moment, the authors believe that the collectors of our history’s relics and pieces have an obligation to preserve these items, to the extent possible, for future generations to enjoy and study. If those who come behind us are to have an accurate view and understanding of that which went before, those who preserve the items must also pass along as accurate a history and description as is possible, given the information available at any given time. Thus, to sanitize a pair of post 1872 captain’s shoulder straps, and pass them along as of the Civil War period, is to deceive those who come later regarding the place these items occupy in history. This same principle of accurately describing the item is as applicable to the largest siege gun as it is to the captain’s shoulder straps.