Louisiana FARBS!?

[rebjeb04]

Check out these fellas of the Crescent Blues identified as David McKay and W. H. Seaman. The Crescent Blues Company was formed from the New Orleans Fire Dept. In the spring of 1862, McKay was mustered in and served with the Crescent Regiment, but Seaman did not enlist. McKay remained with the "Crescent Regiment" until 1863, and was probably discharged probably for having a wooden leg as listed in the company's roster. However, the handicap McKay had obviously did not halt him from serving under Gen. Alfred Mouton during the fighting along the Teche.

Would these boys be laughed off the field today? Uniforms complete with sgt's stripes, and quite the dandys if you ask me. Don Smith brought the image to my attention as we looked through the book cited below, looking at the fit of Confederate frockcoats.

The image of David McKay and W. H. Seaman is a carte-de-visite taken by Clarke, 151 Canal St. New Orleans. Information and image comes from pg. 181, Portraits of Conflict, Photographic History of Louisiana in the Civil War, by Moneyhon and Roberts. These books are great, and would suggest anyone in the hobby to have a few for photographic reference. So far southern states of Louisiana, Mississippi, Georgia, Arkansas, Texas, and North Carolina have been published. I think the come in hard and paperback.

Enjoy,

[Bivouac_of_the_Dead]

Would these boys be laughed off the field today? Uniforms complete with sgt's stripes, and quite the dandys if you ask me.

Of particular interest is the fact that the man of the right has wider Sgt stripes than his comrade. Would this indicate a Sgt of higher rank/seniority or is it just the result of a capricious manufacturer or maybe a little personalized tailoring? We may never know for sure, but interesting to ponder.

[Rob Weber]

Of particular interest is the fact that the man of the right has wider Sgt stripes than his comrade. Would this indicate a Sgt of higher rank/seniority or is it just the result of a capricious manufacturer or maybe a little personalized tailoring? We may never know for sure, but interesting to ponder.

The stripes on the man to the left are not even consistant. And for that matter the other guys stripes look a little odd as well. Something tells me that these stripes were hand painted onto the image. The ends of the stripes look to be tell tale of a brush stroke, rounded and irregular.

Rob Weber

[Charles Heath]

Would these boys be laughed off the field today? Uniforms complete with sgt's stripes, and quite the dandys if you ask me.

Stumbling across random images and posting those with peculiarities is en vogue these days. Moreover, pointing out some period oddity and screeching "farb, farb...they had farbs back then!" is missing the forest for the trees. Were these fellows farbs? While they may have been Jonahs, we'll never truly know, but in my curmudgeonly opinion a certain amount of disrespect is heaped on these veterans when folks obviously unfamiliar with the vagaries of early war impressions stop to point and mock those things they do not understand.

Both of those young men have uniform and equipment items well worth discussing in detail, and if you thing these fellows are dandies, go view some early Washington Artillery of New Orleans images.

For the folks who hit the report button with these very sentiments, we thank you.

Charles Heath
With Mod Hat On