Kentucky Militia and KSG Uniform and Equipment Descriptions

[JordanRicketts]

Kentucky State Guard

KSG Special Order # 120, May 13, 1861 (Kentucky Military Museum)

• I. W. H. Stokes, Louisville is contracted to make knapsacks and other articles.
• II. Ordered kettles for 1000 men.
• III. Shelter tents like in Gilham’s Manual page 641. But of cotton cloth of the lightest texture.

KSG Special Order # 123 (Kentucky Military Museum)

• I. KSG will supply mess pans for 1000 men.
• II. In Special Order #120 III. Will now have 12 made.
• III. KSG will be supplied with 40 tents same style as in 60.
• IV. 1000 haversacks will be made after the model in the Inspector General office.
• V. 1000 black leather body belts.

KSG Special Order # 125 (Kentucky Military Museum)

• The knapsacks ordered in Special Order 120 I. are like those of the Citizen Guards of Louisville. 1000 ordered.

• Staff

• July 18, 1860 order No. 5 was published, defining the styles and color of the uniform. The full-dress coat being a frock of “cadet” gray cloth, trousers same cloth, and patterned after those if the French infantry of the line. The epaulette was not to be worn, but in its place a shoulder strap was adopted, thus doing away with the square-shouldered appearance, caused by the epaulette, and allowing the symmetrical bend and form of the shoulder be seen. The fatigue dress is exactly similar to that of the French Chasseurs a Pied. (The Camp Boone – Encampment of the Kentucky State Guard, August 23, 1860 – August 29, 1860)

• Lexington Chasseurs

• July 4, 1860, blue frock coat, scarlet pants trimmed with gold lace, and modern military hat with white and red plume, -- and there arm, Minnie rifle with saber bayonet. (Louisville Daily Courier, July 10, 1860, The “Fourth” at Lexington, A Graphic Account)

• Bedford Rifles

• Blue pants, with yellow stripe, navy blue frock coats, cadet pattern; blue cloth caps with red plush plumes. (Louisville Daily Journal, June 18, 1860, Military)

• Marion Rifles

• In fatigue dress, consisting of military cap, dark jacket and pants, striped with green velvet, edged with gold; their arms – as the name imports – that famous weapon, the Western rifle. (Louisville Daily Courier, February 23, 1858, The Military)

• Citizen Guards

• Gray cap and coat, and pants striped with gold lace, although of great simplicity is an exceedingly tasty dress. (Louisville Daily Courier, February 23, 1858, The Military)

• Silver Creek Rangers

• Requisition Form (Library and Archives, Magoffin Box 6)

• Requested, June 17, 1861

• 44 Sabers
• 44 Saber belts & plates
• 44 Carbines
• 88 Cavalry Pistols

• Received, June 17, 1861

• 44 Sabers
• 44 Carbines
• 88 Pistols with Accoutrements

• National Greys

• Requisition Form (Kentucky Military Museum)

• Requested, March 22, 1861

• 50 Cartridge boxes
• 50 Cartridge box belts
• 50 Bayonet Scabbards
• 50 Knapsacks
• 50 Haversacks
• 50 cap boxes

• Received, May 27, 1861

• 35 Knapsacks
• 35 Waist Belts
• 35 Bayonet Frogs
• 35 Cartridge boxes
• 35 Cap boxes

• Armstrong Guards

• Requisition Form (Kentucky Military Museum)

• Requested, May 27, 1861

• 60 Knapsacks
• 60 Haversacks
• 60 Cap Boxes
• 60 Bayonet Scabbards
• 60 Cartridge Boxes
• 60 Waist Belts
• 60 Waist Belt Plates

• Received, May 27, 1861

• 60 Knapsacks
• 60 Cap Boxes
• 60 Bayonet Frogs
• 60 Cartridge Boxes
• 60 Waist Belts

• Clay Chausses

• Requisition Form (Kentucky Military Museum)

• Requested, April 20, 1861

• 60 Knapsacks
• 60 Cap Boxes

• Received, May 20, 1861

• 60 Cartridge Boxes
• 60 Cartridge Box Belt

• Louisville Zouaves

• Receipt, June 17, 1861. (Kentucky Military Museum)

40 Knapsacks
40 Cap Boxes
40 Cartridge Boxes
40 Waist Belts

• Hunt Guards

• Requisition Form (Kentucky Military Museum)

• Requested, January 10, 1861

• 50 Knapsacks

• Received, May 27, 1861

• 50 Knapsacks

• Jackson Guards

• Requisition Form (Kentucky Military Museum)

• Requested, May 24, 1861

• 40 Cartridge Box Belts
• 40 Knapsacks
• 40 Cap Boxes
• 40 Haversacks

• Received, May 27, 1861

• 40 Cartridge Box Belts
• 40 Knapsacks
• 40 Cap Boxes

• Johnston Rifles

• Requisition Form (Kentucky Military Museum)

• Requested, May 18, 1861

• 40 Cap boxes
• 40 knapsacks

• Received, May 23, 1861

• 40 Cap boxes
• 40 knapsacks

• Louisville Life Guards

• Receipt, May 21, 1861. (Kentucky Military Museum)

• 40 Knapsacks

• Magoffin Grays

• Requisition Form (Kentucky Military Museum)

• Requested, April 22, 1861

• 50 Cap boxes
• 50 knapsacks

• Received, May 20, 1861

• 50 Cap boxes
• 50 knapsacks

• Newcomb Greys

• Requisition Form (Kentucky Military Museum)

• Requested, May 14, 1861

• 40 Cap boxes
• 40 knapsacks

• Received, June 3, 1861

• 30 Cap boxes
• 30 knapsacks

• Preston Greys

• Requisition Form (Kentucky Military Museum)

• Requested, April 26, 1861

• 60 Cartridge Box Belts
• 1 Bayonet Scabbard
• 60 Cap Boxes
• 60 Knapsacks

• Received, May 20, 1861

• 60 Cartridge Box Belts
• 1 Bayonet Scabbard
• 60 Cap Boxes
• 60 Knapsacks

• National Blues

• Requisition Form (Kentucky Military Museum)

• Requested, May 5, 1861

• 75 Knapsacks

• Received, May 20, 1861

• 75 Knapsacks

• Washington Rifles

• Requisition Form (Kentucky Military Museum)

• Requested, September 3, 1860

• 42 Cartridge Box Belts
• 42 Bayonet Scabbards
• 42 Waist Belt and Plates
• 2 Gun Slings
• 42 Knapsacks
• 42 Cap Boxes
• 42 Blankets
• Tents

• Received, May 27, 1861

• 42 Waist Belt and Plates
• 42 Knapsacks
• 42 Cap Boxes

• Bullitt Rifles

• 80 Austrian rifles & Accoutrements. (Weapons issued by the State, Kentucky Military Museum)

• Louisville Guards

• 80 Harpers Ferry Rifles. (Weapons issued by the State, Kentucky Military Museum)

• Helm Guards

• 80 Enfield Rifles. (Weapons issued by the State, Kentucky Military Museum)

• Madison Guards

• Gray pants, blue coat, infantry hat. (Louisville Daily Courier, July 4, 1857, Madison Guards)
• 60 Harpers Ferry Muskets. (Weapons issued by the State, Kentucky Military Museum)

• Thomas Zouaves (Louisville Zouaves) Capt. was Thomas W. Thompson

• 80 Harpers Ferry Rifles. (Weapons issued by the State, Kentucky Military Museum)

• States Company, Nicholasville

• 60 Belgium Rifles (Weapons issued by the State, Kentucky Military Museum)

• Hanley Company, Nicholasville

• 60 Ballard Musketoons (Weapons issued by the State, Kentucky Military Museum)

• Valley Rifles

• 50 Breach loading Muskets (Weapons issued by the State, Kentucky Military Museum)

• Woodford Rifles

• 60 breach loading Rifle Muskets (Weapons issued by the State, Kentucky Military Museum)

• Bardstown Guards

• 60 Breach loading Rifle Muskets. (Weapons issued by the State, Kentucky Military Museum)

• Harrod Guards

• 120 Breach loading Rifle Muskets. (Weapons issued by the State, Kentucky Military Museum)

• Ashland Rifles

• 60 Breach loading Rifle Muskets. (Weapons issued by the State, Kentucky Military Museum)

• Citizen Guards, Lexington

• 60 Breach loading Rifle Muskets. (Weapons issued by the State, Kentucky Military Museum)

• Militia Company, Lancaster

• 60 Altered Percussion Muskets. (Weapons issued by the State, Kentucky Military Museum)

• Forest Rangers, Bryants Station

• 60 Ballard Musketoons. (Weapons issued by the State, Kentucky Military Museum)

• Elkhorn Rangers

• 50 Ballard Rifles. (Weapons issued by the State, Kentucky Military Museum)

• Frogtown Guards

• 60 Ballard Carbines (Weapons issued by the State, Kentucky Military Museum)

• McCann’s Company, Fayette County

• 50 Ballard Musketoons. (Weapons issued by the State, Kentucky Military Museum)

• Foxtown Rangers

• 60 Ballard Carbines. (Weapons issued by the State, Kentucky Military Museum)

• Scott Rifles, Georgetown

• 60 Breach Loading Rifle Muskets. (Weapons issued by the State, Kentucky Military Museum)

• Woodford Guards

• 80 Ballard Musketoons. (Weapons issued by the State, Kentucky Military Museum)

Kentucky Militia Units

• Falls City Guard, of Louisville

• Deep blue pants and coats. (Louisville Daily Courier, July 7, 1857, The Fourth at Lexington)

• In full dress uniform, blue military hat, topped with falling plume of white and yellow, and blue cloth coat and pants, with military stripe. (Louisville Daily Courier, February 23, 1858, The Military)

Out of State Militia Units

• Indianapolis Guards

• Deep blue coat and pant, light blue trimmed hat and plume. (Louisville Daily Courier, July 7, 1857, The Fourth at Lexington)

• The Fulton Guard of Liberty, of Cincinnati

• Dressed in the old continental Uniform; a brown continental coat, yellow nankeen pants, cockade, with red plume, tipped with white. (Louisville Daily Courier, July 7, 1857, The Fourth at Lexington)

• City Guard, of Baltimore

• Blue coats and pants, and plume. (Louisville Daily Courier, July 7, 1857, The Fourth at Lexington)

• Guthrie Greys, of Cincinnati

Grey coats, white pants, infantry hat, with a yellow plume tipped in white. (Louisville Daily Courier, July 7, 1857, The Fourth at Lexington)

• National Guards, of St. Louis

• Red coat and sash, white pants, and black ehachet. (Louisville Daily Courier, July 7, 1857, The Fourth at Lexington)

Jordan Ricketts

[Fenianboy]

Jordan, would the assumption be that the "pistols" were m1842 single shots or coversions of an earlier model horse pistol? Bud Scully 13th NJ and 69th NY

[JordanRicketts]

Bud,

Can't really make any assumptions on the information that is there… Unless invoices can be found to know exactly what the state purchased. From the verity of rifles/muskets you see it could be about anything. But one thing to note is companies were issued similar arm, not a miss match of fire arms in a company.

Jordan Ricketts

[Micah Trent]

Jordan,
Do you know if the Scott Rifles from Georgetown were tied in or not with the Western Military Institute in Georgetown or possibly the Kentucky Military Institue, which was just down the road from Georgetown in Farmdale?

[markj]

Interesting stuff, Jordan. Thanks for sharing it.

The "Indianapolis Guards" are undoubtedly the "Indianapolis National Guards," which organized in 1856. The ING later became entered active service, in April 1861, as one of the companies in Lew Wallace's 11th (Zouave) Indiana Volunteer Infantry. During the 1850's, the ING was one of the two main independent militia companies in Indianapolis. The other large company was the "Indianapolis City Greys," which initially organized in July 1857--quite possibly in response to the appearance of the ING at Louisville that same month. The "Greys" were also folded into Lew Wallace's regiment in April 1861. I've discovered a very detailed description of its uniform (complete with bearskin shako) in the Indianapolis papers.

Since you're interested in Kentucky uniforms, you might enjoy seeing an 1860 bill of sale, which I acquired a few years back. This came from a Cincinnati hat firm, which provided gray, gold-trimmed caps to a Kentucky militia (State Guard?) unit based in, as I recall, Covington.

If you'd like to see this, let me know and I'll try to scan the document as soon as possible.

Regards,

Mark Jaeger

[Enfield]

Jordan,

Were there any dates shown for the weapons issues (esp. the Enfields)?

Break ... @Mark ... Was that Covington company the Kentucky Grays, Buckner Guards, or Marion Artillery? Those are the ca. 1860 KSG companies that I know of, from Covington.

Thanks,

Geoff Walden

[markj]

Originally Posted by Enfield

Jordan,

Were there any dates shown for the weapons issues (esp. the Enfields)?

Break ... @Mark ... Was that Covington company the Kentucky Grays, Buckner Guards, or Marion Artillery? Those are the ca. 1860 KSG companies that I know of, from Covington.

Thanks,

Geoff Walden

My mistake, Geoff. I was working from memory. As shown in the attached image, the caps were purchased by M. Mullins, Captain of the "Pendleton Grays" of Falmouth, Pendleton County (about 41 miles due south of Cincinnati). The "Grays" were indeed a KSG unit, as evidenced by the following info:

Pendleton Greys, Falmouth, Kentucky, commissioned on September 6, 1860. Officers were: M. Mullins, Captain; James Hudnall, 1st Lieutenant; A. J. Hall, 2nd Lieutenant; and W. C. Hall, 3rd Lieutenant.http://members.aol.com/jweaver302/CW/kystgrd.htm

At this point, I don't know if the Pendleton Grays [or "Greys"] were eventually folded into a Confederate unit. However, I did find this intriguing article in the Frankfort Commonwealth, which indicates the company was still active as of mid-May 1861:

FRANKFORT [KY] COMMONWEALTH, May 28, 1861, p. 3, c. 3

Flag Presentation in Pendleton County

Falmouth, Ky., May 18, 1861.
The Falmouth Union Home Guards met to-day for the election of officers, having previously met and adopted a constitution, embodying the sentiment that we owe paramount allegiance to the Constitution of the United States, and the supreme laws of the land made in accordance therewith, and also duties to the State of Kentucky, and pledging ourselves to the mutual protection of ourselves, our country, and property, and the supremacy of the laws; also requiring each member to take the oath prescribed by the Constitution of the United States and that of Kentucky as a member of the Federal Union as a test of membership in the company.
About one hundred members having enrolled their names, and taken the oath of allegiance, and having listened to patriotic and eloquent speeches by S. T. Hauser, Esq., and Hon. S. F. Swope, on motion, the company proceeded to the election of officers, with the following result:
Captain W. A. Warner; First Lieutenant W. R. Risk; Second Lieutenant, B. F. Robbins; Third Lieutenant, John Delaney.
The company being informed that the ladies of Falmouth were awaiting its pleasure to present it with a stand of colors, the company was formed in the court house yard, supported by Capt. Mullen’s company of State Guards, the Pendleton Grays, when it was presented with an elegant and handsome United States flag as ever floated over a company.
Miss Nora Robbins presented the colors in behalf of the ladies, in a feeling and eloquent style, as follows:
“GENTLEMEN OF THE UNION HOME GUARDS—In behalf of the ladies of Falmouth, I present to you this elegant and beautiful flag.
“It has always been emblematical of our national greatness. Its stars are typical of the thirty-four States that once formed our great, free and prosperous Union. Little did we anticipate six months ago that our political sky would now be overcast with the dark clouds of disunion and of civil war, and that this time-honored insignia of our national freedom and greatness would be trampeled [sic] in the dust, and insulted in any portion of our free and happy country. Little did we anticipate that an insane effort would be made by any part of our beloved country to substitute another flag with but seven stars, as a badge of revolution, treating the stars and stripes as the banner of a foreign government. But such is the sad reality which we are called upon to witness, and the reflection would not be so gloomy did we not witness in our beloved and chivalrous State, which has always been loyal to the Union, a concerted design on the part of many, to trail the flag of the Union in the dust, and to rear in its place the flag of a Southern Confederacy. It is this unfortunate tendency which has led to your present organization. You feel it to be your duty, in this hour of peril and threatened ruin, to take a bold stand for your common country, and for the welfare of your beloved Kentucky. May you never falter until all enemies are subdued from whatever quarter they may come! And in the midst of your greatest trials and difficulties, ever bear with you the recollection that the hearts of the ladies of Falmouth are with you. Their hearts fondly cling to the Union—the whole Union. They, therefore, expect every Union man to do his duty. They never expect to hear of this flag being sullied by a traitors hands, but they look for it long to display its folds to the gentle breeze—over freedom’s soil—inspiring from the depths of every patriot’s heart the sentiment
“May our Star Spangled Banner forever wave
O’er the land of the free and the home of the brave.”
Col. John E. Records received the colors in behalf of the company, as follows:
“Miss Robbins—I have been selected by the Union Home Guards to receive from your hands, in behalf of the ladies of Falmouth, this elegant, beautiful and magnificent flag. It is impossible for me to find words adequate to express my feelings or the feelings of those for whom I act. You must look more to our actions than to our words for a full expression of the emotions of our hearts. Well have you said that a few short months ago we could not have anticipated that to-day our beloved and once free and prosperous country, would now be darkened and prostrated by the clouds and hideous tempest of disunion and civil war; little did we anticipate that his noble flag, which has floated in triumph over so many battlefields, and which has ever commanded the respect and admiration of the civilized world, would now be trailed in the dust, and insulted by a portion of that country which owes its present greatness and influence to the very flag it now wantonly insults. Well may you, in common with us, feel a profound interest in this subject. In no country in the world are your rights more fully recognized and protected, than in the United States—by the legislative, judicial, and every social department. This has been the result of the high privileges, and the pure liberty we have enjoyed, and their results a high degree of chivalry and civilized refinement.
“You are, therefore, deeply interested as well as we, in whatever tends to destroy this liberty and this civilization, and to give us a retrograde step into barbarism. We fully reciprocate your feelings of attachment to the Union, and we will heed your admonitions to do our duty, (though it is now in fearful danger,) yet we will not yield it up until the last plank of hope is wrested from us.—Wherever we are, and by whatever circumstances surrounded, whether in the calm sunshine of liberty, peace, and prosperity, or amid the din and clangor of arms, we will ever look back to this scene, and to this banner, and, recollecting the source whence it eminated [sic], and there will gush up from the depths of our every heart one deep fountain of sentiment and patriotism which can have vent only through the beautiful language of the poet—
“Flag of the free, hearts only home!
By angel hands to valor given;
Thy stars have lit this welkin dome,
And all thy hues were born in heaven.
Forever float that standard sheet!
Where breathes the foe but falls before us,
With freedoms soil beneath our feet
And freedom’s banner waving o’er us!”
The exercises were concluded by the ladies singing in good style the star spangled banner, when the two companies formed into line, and marched through the village. On returning to the court-house a vote of thanks was unanimously tendered the ladies.
On motion the Secretary was instructed to furnish the Cincinnati Enquirer and Frankfort Commonwealth copies of the proceedings, and request them to publish, and the other Union papers to copy them.

A. L. Burke, Secretary.


Regards,

Mark Jaeger
markj@purdue.edu