US Civil War Glengarry

[BoldHighlander]

I thought it sounded familiar ! There's a 79th re-enactor on this forum, isn't there ?

Yes indeed....I had emailed Rachel to let her know she might be interested to take a peak at this thread

[OC Richard]

I was drawn to the title of this thread "US Civil War Glengarry" but, as usual, it's yet another Civil War reenactor wearing a modern civilian Glengarry.

These guys spend so much time and money getting every button on their uniform correct, then slap a modern civilian Glengarry on their head to top it off.

As people can see in that painting and elsewhere, the Glengarry worn by the 79th New York before the war and in the early years of the war was unique in that it had only two rows of dicing.

Prior to the war, 1858-1861, the 79th had two uniforms, one dress, the other service. Both can be seen here. It was the service dress uniform with kepi and trews, worn by the man seated in the middle, which was worn once the war commenced.



A couple more photos of the 1858-1861 full dress:






The 79th's trews gave way to white canvas trousers and ordinary sky blue wool trousers as the war progressed, and the distinctive tunics gave way to ordinary sack coats. The same tunic was worn in Full Dress and Service Dress. There are photos of prisoners taken at First Bull Run, and a painting of a man in hospital, which prove that this Service Dress uniform of dress tunic, kepi, and trews was worn by the 79th in combat in the first part of the war.

After the war a different full dress uniform was adopted. Here it is, in 1872. You'll see that an Argyll & Sutherland style Glengarry has replaced the distinctive unique prewar 79th NY Glengarry. The man on the right is still wearing the prewar sporran (though with a badge stuck on it), the rest are wearing the postwar style. Sadly, it's the postwar sporran which has been chosen for replication by L&M and also in India. The man on the right also seems to be wearing the prewar two-row Glengarry. Spats were not worn until after the war.

[Seanmhair]

The depth of knowledge and the resources of this group continue to amaze me. Thanks for the historical and documented article