Bizzarro NCO Stripes

[GreencoatCross]

I found these in the digitized collection of the Minnesota Historical Society. The first image below is Principal Musician Lucien Allen of the 3rd Minnesota Infantry. Not quite sure what's up with those chevrons. The second image is QM Sergeant Hugh Donaldson of the same regiment...with a weird open-bottom "figure 8" above the chevrons.

Can anyone shed any light on these interesting stripes??

Bonus: Miniature chevrons! Unknown soldier, backmark F. Mowrey Rutland, VT, from the Francis Guber collection.

[Shockoe Hill Cats]

Re: Bizzarro NCO Stripes

Isn't the third image the most obvious, Brian?

Air force.

[csabugler]

Re: Bizzarro NCO Stripes

PM Allen's are unique. Typically there would be a star in the center on SGM's pattern for a musician.

[ScottCross]

Re: Bizzarro NCO Stripes

We have an example of a soldier wearing miniature chevrons in our collection:

http://www.oshkoshmuseum.org/Virtual/exhibit3/e30016a.htm

They seem quite rare, but they did exist.

[Johnny Lloyd]

Re: Bizzarro NCO Stripes

Interesting... does anyone have a reason (other than style-choice by individual or unit) as to why these were used. An educated guess might be that having small cheverons on would help prevent enemy sighting of them at distance. Perhaps they served some actual survivability function, much like the collar-disk officer insignia...?

All the best- Johnny Lloyd:wink_smil

[Secesh]

Re: Bizzarro NCO Stripes

The first image seems to almost be a stylized version of the diamond above the 1st Sgt chevrons....

[Hoosier]

Re: Bizzarro NCO Stripes

Many of these soldiers appear to be wearing commercially made uniforms...perhaps they bought their stripes from the clothing company who made their uniforms.

[ScottCross]

Re: Bizzarro NCO Stripes

Interesting... does anyone have a reason (other than style-choice by individual or unit) as to why these were used. An educated guess might be that having small cheverons on would help prevent enemy sighting of them at distance. Perhaps they served some actual survivability function, much like the collar-disk officer insignia...?

All the best- Johnny Lloyd:wink_smil

Johnny,

My educated guess is that the choice to wear miniature chevrons (and only on one arm) was similar to the officers who wore miniature rank insignia on shoulders or collars. This was authorized for officers late in the war, to avoid them being picked off by sharpshooters. It doesn't seem surprising that NCOs would take a page from that book.

[Johnny Lloyd]

Re: Bizzarro NCO Stripes

Many of these soldiers appear to be wearing commercially made uniforms...perhaps they bought their stripes from the clothing company who made their uniforms.

Building upon that... the practice could have come from a certain manufacturer making chevrons in that particular style. Does anyone have any evidence of this?

I know from being a modern military logisticial officer, the practice of getting in-stock various lots of different qualities/colors/sizings of supplies can be affected greatly by the particular manufacturer the item came from. Now, I know not always do modern military practices translate into the 1860s period, but the idea of differences in military contractors making different styles/sizes of goods (but within government contractual specs) was done then as it is still today in the military.

Quartermaster's credo: 'If we got it in the warehouse, issue it...'

All the best- Johnny Lloyd:wink_smil

[jessejames70]

Re: Bizzarro NCO Stripes

Have you tried contacting the MN state archives or historical society? They may be able to answer your question.