Again, the more I look at the insignia, the more I'm convinced he's a Lieutenant Colonel - those aren't stars, they're oak leaves. The rank insignia haven't changed much in 150 years, and we still use the same oak leaf design for Majors (in gold) and Lieutenant Colonels (in silver). The rank insignia on his shoulders are too blob-ish to be stars, and too close to the ends of the epaulets.
[QUOTE=jon koss;867810]I have been trolling the uncharted recesses of my photo collection and dredged up this photo CDV of what appears to be a two star general. I have never been able to identify him. Does anyone have any ideas on his identity or even possible sources of information about same?
Thanks in advance,
******
Jon, Flying Crane has a point worth pursuing. If you will send the file you uploaded to APUG to me as a PM at JayKhill@aol.com I will send it on to a grad school friend who is a museum curator specializing in such uniforms. He is also interested in historical photographs. Please send the original file; not one schrunched down to be uploadable to APUG.
Again, the more I look at the insignia, the more I'm convinced he's a Lieutenant Colonel - those aren't stars, they're oak leaves. The rank insignia haven't changed much in 150 years, and we still use the same oak leaf design for Majors (in gold) and Lieutenant Colonels (in silver). The rank insignia on his shoulders are too blob-ish to be stars, and too close to the ends of the epaulets.
i think you are right,
if you look at them carefully they are leaves, not stars ...
I must politely suggest that there are five visible points on the items in question.
The spacing between the edge of the star(leaf) to the edge may be slightly different but at that time I don't think these guys just buzzed down to the PX to get their insignia. I don't know if these were machine made or hand made to a pattern but without the consistency of programed technology I could understand some variation in spacing or size.
The illustration in the civil war site indicates a much smaller star than in the picture and the leaf tapers from a rounded base to a rounded point away from the ends.
A motorcyclist is the only one who understands why a dog rides with it's head out the window.
"I had an idea once, it died of loneliness"--George
Brady closed his New York Gallery in 1872. In 1890 he opened his last Washington gallery (his fifth). In 1895 he broke his leg in a traffic accident and never fully recovered. He died in 1896 so I'd say he closed his Washington Gallery sometime in between 1895 and 1896. Robert
Thanks for the nudge TFC. You really had my curiosity up! So I looked at the original under a 4x loupe and it is pretty clear to my eyes that they are stars, as opposed to oak leaves as shown below. Are the oak leaves shown what you had in mind? They are from the uniform of a Lt. Colonel.
Thanks,
J
Originally Posted by TheFlyingCamera
Again, the more I look at the insignia, the more I'm convinced he's a Lieutenant Colonel - those aren't stars, they're oak leaves. The rank insignia haven't changed much in 150 years, and we still use the same oak leaf design for Majors (in gold) and Lieutenant Colonels (in silver). The rank insignia on his shoulders are too blob-ish to be stars, and too close to the ends of the epaulets.
jon, check with the Center for Military History they may be able to help. For one they have extensive research that has already been completed and more important to you and them (and all of us) they have an ongoing project to scan and identify photographs of all soldiers. It is the considered opinion that every member of the military has been photographed (in uniform) since the Civil War. Good Luck, let us know what you find.
I'm adding this as a reasoning. The current mess dress shoulderboards for officers use a similar layout to the normal shoulderboards of the Civil War era up until about WWI for normal wear. These resemble the shoulderboards of a General, and not a Lt. Colonel.
Besides, in the photo, you can see the points on the stars. There are not enough for oak leaves.
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Originally Posted by TheFlyingCamera
