appt. BG

[colkriz]

Hello to everyone,
I have a slight dilemma, that I hope I can get some help with.
The persona I am portraying was a colonel, that was a brigade commander( Krzyzanowski ,2nd. brigade, 3rd. div,11th corps). He was appointed brigadier general in 1862, but was not confirmed by the senate in the relevant session( Gen. Schurz was quoted as saying it was because nobody in the senate could pronounce his name) Eventually he was confirmed by Pres. Lincoln in Dec. 1864.
In a lot of correspondence, both military reports, and newspaper articles, he is always referred to as "general", from 1862 onwards.
Here is the problem for me. In one photo he is wearing a colonels uniform, with obvious sky blue pants, black leather belt etc. In another, much clearer, and apparently the more recent, his uniform consists of a colonels frock coat, but with a generals sword belt, and a generals forage cap. It is almost impossible to see his shoulder boards, to see if he in fact had the single star or the eagle. His trousers also look to be dark blue with a light blue stripe.
My question is this, do I dress exactly as the second photo would indicate, in which case I would probably have to carry a copy of the photo to prove the authenticity of the uniform, or do I dress as a colonel, with no general regalia. The third alternate is, was this photo taken before he had the chance to get his generals coat, and if so, should I just dress in BG uniform.
I await your knowledgeable and much neede comments.
Rom Muszynski/ Col. Krzyzanowski

[paulcalloway]

Re: appt. BG

Out of curiosity - are you doing this under the auspices of a field command in a reenacting organization, or are you a brigadeless brigade commander at events?

[colkriz]

Re: appt. BG

At the moment, I am entirely brigadeless, which situation will change in time, at least I sincerely hope so.
My aim at this point is to tell the personal story, as I have researched, of the much maligned 2nd.brigade. Or at least to shed some light on the common misconceptions of the behaviour of this unit, and the 11th. corps as a whole.
Rom Muszynski

[47thNYReb]

Re: appt. BG

Paul, You have such a wonderful way of always asking what we are all thinking.

[Hank Trent]

Re: appt. BG

To help the more knowledgeable folks who'll come along (since I don't have a clue about officers' uniforms), what time during the war are you portraying him? Or is this like a stand-alone living history presentation to Civil War round tables or something, where the specific time doesn't matter, and you just want to portray him wearing his most typical uniform?

Hank Trent
hanktrent@voyager.net

[colkriz]

Re: appt. BG

Sorry, forgot to put my name at the bottom of the reply.
Anyhow, I am portraying him in the time period from Chancellorsville to Gettysburg.

Rom Muszynski

[paulcalloway]

Re: appt. BG

At the moment, I am entirely brigadeless, which situation will change in time, at least I sincerely hope so.
My aim at this point is to tell the personal story, as I have researched, of the much maligned 2nd.brigade. Or at least to shed some light on the common misconceptions of the behaviour of this unit, and the 11th. corps as a whole.
Rom Muszynski

Ok Rom, just want to inform you if you aren't already aware - even in the mainstream, you're going to have to work your way up through the ranks. The chances of a brigade level organization walking up to you and saying "hey you look like a commander, care to command us?" ... well there is no chance of that ever happening.

And if that won't ever happen in the mainstream, I promise you, it'll never happen about three times as much in the c/p/h hobby.

[WestTN_reb]

Re: appt. BG

Paul and others,

Ease up on the guy. There's a fellow here in Tennessee who is the state's "official" David Crockett. What this guy is attempting may be just as simple. By the sound of his post, it sounds more like he's putting together this impression for interpretation purposes. That being the case, his questions are entirely legit. Try not to pass judgement, you'll feel less like a fool when you find out you jumped to the wrong conclusion.

Just a friendly suggestion.... Off my stump now.

[paulcalloway]

Re: appt. BG

Paul and others,

Ease up on the guy. There's a fellow here in Tennessee who is the state's "official" David Crockett. What this guy is attempting may be just as simple. By the sound of his post, it sounds more like he's putting together this impression for interpretation purposes. That being the case, his questions are entirely legit. Try not to pass judgement, you'll feel less like a fool when you find out you jumped to the wrong conclusion.

Just a friendly suggestion.... Off my stump now.

I've been exceedingly kind to the fellow and my posts are free of invective. I'm not passing judgement here or jumping to conclusions.

[WestTN_reb]

Re: appt. BG

Fair enough. No harm in constructive criticism, but we must be careful that it's not taken the wrong way.

[BrianHicks]

Re: appt. BG

Mr. Muszynski,

So that we can better understand what you are looking for. Are you preparing this impression for a specific historic site, such as the individuals place of birth? Or perhaps for a specific Living History or as Hank Trent as offered, perhaps a presentation to organizations such CW Round Tables? Or are you looking towards bringing this impression to reenacting events?

The many events promoted on this site are time, location and unit specific.

[colkriz]

Re: appt. BG

gentlemen,
To answer some of your questions, both stated and implied. I am aware that to be this rank among seasoned campaigners, that I would have to " go through the ranks" and I am also quite cognizant of the fact that no existing unit, or units, would just have me step in and start bossing them about. Both those situations will be explored and addressed in due course.
At this time, I am portraying this individual at a specific time period, namely Chancellorsville to Gettysburg, and I intend to portray him at those same locations, both at historic venues and at general times when time will permit.
I am trying to portray this individual as closely as possible, hence the original query about the uniform. It was never my intent to "horn in" and grab the attention from more deserving living historians, merely to honor this person, and by association the men that were with him, by both dressing as he would, and speaking on his behalf, basically to anyone interested in listening.
I understand that the members of this board have invested much time and effort, not to say finance, in the pursuit of authenticity and preservation for posterity of this most important of periods for our country. This is why I came here with my questions, not to be aggrandizing, but to seek input to a situation that I do so want to get right.
If I have offended, then I do truly apologize for the inconvenience, and I will not persue the matter further.
As a postscript, I do feel as strongly as most of you about this period, time and other considerations have prevented me from acting in the past, and it is only now that I am finally in a position where I can participate.
Thankyou all for your time, and effort.
Rom Muszynski

[1stOVIGuard]

Re: appt. BG

Hey man, I personally wish you the best of luck with your endeavors and no matter what anyone says negatively, never quit pursuing it. I would personally suggest from my experience always carry necessary documentation in a box or something that can be got to, especially in authentic campaigning there is always some nitpicker out there trying to question you especially if you want to step outside the flow and reenact. Just do your best and screw what the others have to say against your personal efforts because there will most likely be serious opposition from the nitpickers they speak loudest, (they are a lot like liberals). On the main subject of which to wear, I would go ahead and wear the General accouterments if it was more for living history versus field use, and wear the other if you were planning on more field use. Best of luck to you man, I hope this was helpful.

[Csayankee]

Re: appt. BG

Rom,

The first step I would do is see if you can narrow down the date of the photos. This may give you a little better view of when the uniform changed. I would dig deeper if possible before deciding on a uniform only to find out it was wrong.

[Jim Moffet]

Re: appt. BG

The photos can be viewed at http://www.generalsandbrevets.com/ngk/krzy.htm

Though a higher resolution photo would be useful, there seems to be a fair amount of 'silver' on the boards of the standing shot. Though inconclusive, I would bet they are colonel's boards. The trimmed kepi could certainly have been worn by a colonel, as well as a general.

Since his commission was rejected twice by the senate, and he was not formally promoted to BG until 1865, I would estimate that he wore eagles, not stars. Barring better documentation, I would doubt that he wore stars until authorized.

Jim Moffet