UNITED STATES ARMY OFFICERS’ UNIFORMS
Commissioned officers of the Army are required to have complete outfits of service uniform (woolen olive-drab for temperate and cold weather and cotton olive-drab or “khaki” for the tropics and hot weather), dress uniform, full dress uniform, white uniform and special evening dress uniform, and for wear on certain occasions in the evening a mess dress uniform of blue and one of white is optional.
The occasions upon which these uniforms are usually worn are given in the regulations as follows:
Throughout the military and naval services of the United States when officers of the Army, Navy and Marine Corps appear together in uniform upon occasions of ceremony the following are the uniforms designated for each of the three services:
| Designation of Uniform | Composition of Uniforms for | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Army | Navy | Marine Corps | |
| Uniform A | Full dress | Special full dress, or white special full dress. | Special full dress (with full dress trousers if in line with troops), or white special full dress. |
| Uniform B | Dress | Undress, or white undress. | Undress or white undress. |
| Uniform C | Full dress or evening dress. | Full dress or Evening full dress; or evening full dress without swords or belts, and with blue caps; or dinner dress. | Special full dress, or mess dress. |
The service uniform consists of a single-breasted sack coat extending to one-third of the distance from the point of the hip to the knee, fitting tightly at the waist, with a standing collar, buttoned down the front with a row of five army buttons of dull finish bronze, having four patch pockets closed by pocket flaps buttoned with small size army buttons of bronze, one pocket on each breast and one on each side of the front below the waist, the shoulders having straps of the same material as the coat extending from the shoulder seam to the base of the collar secured with a small size bronze button at the collar end (the insignia of rank are worn on these straps), and the sleeves being trimmed with one row of half-inch braid three inches above the end of the sleeve, the braid being black for officers of the General Staff Corps and brown for all other officers; breeches of the same color and material as the coat; tan leather shoes and tan leather strap puttee leggings; the service hat, commonly known as the “campaign hat,” a wide brimmed drab felt hat worn to a peak at the center of the crown and having the officers’ hat cord around the base of the crown; or the service cap, a bell-crowned cap of the same material as the coat with a sloping visor of tan leather and a one-half inch tan leather chin strap above the visor secured by a bronze button at each end of the visor. Olive-drab woolen gloves are worn with this uniform when required. For garrison wear a white shirt, collar and cuffs are worn with this uniform, but in the field a flannel olive-drab shirt is worn.
Copyright, Harris & Ewing, Washington, D. C.
U. S. Army officer
Olive-drab service uniform
Copyright, Harris & Ewing, Washington, D. C.
U. S. Army. Officer, full dress uniform
Rank: Major, indicated by the three stripes in the sleeve decorations
Corps: Coast Artillery, indicated by the Corps insignia on the sleeves below the knot decoration
In garrison the saber is worn suspended by tan leather slings from a tan leather waist-belt, but for war service in the field the saber is worn with a wide tan leather belt having a suspender strap of tan leather worn from the right shoulder diagonally across the body to rings in the belt in front and in rear of the left hip. This belt was recently adopted from the British Army and is known as the “Sam Browne” belt. In the trenches and on ordinary duty in the field, officers of the Army wear the pistol belt on which the service automatic pistol is carried in a leather or webbing holster.
Insignia of dull bronze metal indicating the arm of the service or the staff corps to which the wearer belongs are worn upon both sides of the collar of the service coat and the insignia of rank in bright metal, silver or gold according to rank are worn upon each shoulder strap of the coat.
For certain drills and for service in the field the coat may be dispensed with, in which case the olive-drab flannel shirt is worn and the corps insignia and insignia of rank are then worn upon the collar of the shirt.
The hat cord worn on the service hat by General Officers is a double cord of gold bullion with acorns of the same material at the ends, and that worn by other commissioned officers is the same except that it has black silk intermixed with the gold.
Army Field Clerks and Field Clerks Quartermaster Corps wear hat cords made of black and silver twisted strands.
Members of the Officers Training Corps undergoing training in the camps provided for that purpose wear a hat cord made of red, white and blue twisted strands.
The overcoat is worn with the service uniform when necessary.
Mounted officers wear tan boots, spurs and drab leather riding gloves with the service uniform.
The dress uniform consists of a dark blue cloth, single-breasted coat extending to one-third of the distance from the point of the hip to the knee; blue cloth trousers (the shade depending upon the rank and corps of the wearer as later described); a bell-crowned cap, of dark blue cloth having the coat of arms of the United States embroidered in gold on the front of the crown at the center, with a sloping visor of black patent leather and a chin strap of gold braid three-eighths of an inch in width and eight inches long attached above the visor by a small gilt Army button at each end of the visor; black shoes; white shirt, collar and cuffs; and white gloves.
The dress coat for General officers (officers of the rank of General, Lieutenant General, Major General and Brigadier General) is double breasted with a standing and falling collar, two rows of buttons down the front as follows: for a General twelve buttons in each row arranged in three groups of four, for a Lieutenant General ten in each row arranged in three groups, the upper and lower groups of three and the central group of four, for a Major General nine in each row arranged in three groups of three each, and for a Brigadier General eight in each row arranged in groups of two; and the cuffs trimmed with three small size gilt army buttons on each back seam. The collar has on each side the proper insignia indicating staff corps, and on each shoulder there is a shoulder strap four inches long and one and seven-eighths inches wide with a border of raised gold embroidery three-eighths of an inch wide, the field of the strap being of dark blue cloth and bearing the stars indicating the rank of the General officer. These shoulder straps are worn with one of the sides touching the shoulder seam of the sleeve.
The dress coat for all other officers is a single-breasted sack coat of dark blue cloth, with a standing collar, closed in front by buttons or hooks concealed by a fly, having a vertical opening on each side at the hip six inches high, the collar, front edges, bottom edge of the coat and the vertical side openings being trimmed with lustrous black mohair braid one and one-half inches wide. On each shoulder a shoulder strap of the same size as that described for General officers is worn, the field of the strap being the distinctive color of the arm of the service to which the wearer belongs and having the insignia of rank embroidered upon it. On each side of the collar the corps insignia are worn to indicate the corps or branch of the service to which the wearer belongs.
The dress trousers for General officers (except Chief of Coast Artillery, Chief of Engineers, Quartermaster General and General Officers of the Quartermaster Corps) are made of dark blue cloth without stripes or other trimming. For the General officers excepted in the last sentence the trousers are of dark blue cloth trimmed down the outer leg seams with stripes as follows:
Chief of Coast Artillery.—Stripes of scarlet cloth one and one-half inches wide.
Chief of Engineers.—Stripes of scarlet cloth one and one-half inches wide with a one-eighth inch piping of white cloth in the center of each stripe.
Quartermaster General and General Officers of the Quartermaster Corps.—Stripes of buff cloth one and one-half inches wide.
For officers below the rank of Brigadier General the dress trousers are of blue cloth with stripes of cloth one and one-half inches wide down the outer leg seams, the color of the cloth for the trousers and stripes depending upon the corps of the officer as follows:
Officers having permanent appointments in the Staff Corps and Departments (except Engineer and Quartermaster officers), dark blue cloth without any stripes.
Officers of the Engineer Corps.—Dark blue cloth with scarlet stripes having a one-eighth inch piping of white through the center of each stripe.
Officers holding permanent appointments in the Quartermaster Corps.—Dark blue cloth with buff stripes.
Officers of cavalry.—Sky-blue cloth with stripes of yellow.
Officers of Artillery.—Sky-blue cloth with stripes of scarlet.
Officers of Infantry.—Sky-blue cloth with stripes of white.
The dress cap for General officers (except the Quartermaster General, Brigadier Generals of the Quartermaster Corps and the Chief of Coast Artillery) has a band of blue-black velvet one and three-quarters inches wide, upon which is embroidered in gold a design of oak leaves, and upon the visor there are two sprays of oak leaves embroidered in gold. The dress caps for the Quartermaster General and Brigadier Generals of the Quartermaster Corps and for the Chief of Coast Artillery are the same as for other General officers except that the cap for the Chief of Coast Artillery has the band of scarlet velvet and that for the Quartermaster General and Brigadier Generals of the Quartermaster Corps have the band of buff velvet.
The dress cap for Field officers (Colonels, Lieutenant Colonels and Majors) of all branches is the same as that for General officers, except that the band is decorated with two bands of gold lace braid one-half an inch wide, one at the top and one at the bottom of the band with a strip of cloth three-quarters of an inch in width between the two gold bands, the color of the cloth being the distinctive color of the arm of the service or staff corps to which the wearer belongs, these distinctive colors being the same as those for the “facings” of the uniforms.
When the saber is worn with the dress uniform the belt is worn under the coat, with full dress slings.
The overcoat is worn with the dress uniform when necessary, and the cloak, or blue cape, may be worn when the officer is not on duty with troops under arms.
When mounted officers in dress uniform wear dress breeches of cloth of the same color as their dress trousers and with the same stripes, black boots, white leather gloves and spurs.
The full dress uniform consists of a double-breasted coat of dark blue cloth extending to about three-fourths of the distance from the point of the hip to the knee, with a standing collar, two rows of large gilt buttons down the front between the line of the collar and the waist; epaulets or shoulder knots, as ordered, for General officers and shoulder knots for all other officers; dark blue cloth trousers for General officers, chaplains and officers holding permanent appointments in the Staff Corps (except officers of the Quartermaster Corps), and the same as dress trousers for all other officers; a chapeau or the dress cap for General officers and the dress cap for all other officers; black shoes; white shirt, collar and cuffs; white gloves; full dress belt and saber.
The full dress coat for General officers (except the Chief of Engineers, the Quartermaster General and the Brigadier Generals of the Quartermaster Corps) has collar and cuffs of blue-black velvet, the collar being ornamented with a band of oak leaves embroidered in gold, and the cuffs having a band of oak leaves embroidered in gold near the top. The full dress coat for the Chief of Engineers has a narrow piping of scarlet velvet down the front, that for the General officers of the Quartermaster Corps has buff collars and cuffs. The rank of the General officer is indicated by the insignia of rank (the appropriate number of stars) upon the cuffs.
The buttons on the front of the full dress coat for General officers are arranged in groups as described for the dress coat.
Copyright, 1908, by Brig. Gen. J. B. Aleshire, Qr.-Master General, U. S. A.
U. S. Army.
Officers’ winter uniforms
U. S. Army Officers
| 1. | Insignia worn on caps |
| 2. | Full dress belt clasp |
| 3. | Service buttons (Except for Engineers) |
| 4. | Service buttons, Engineers |
The full dress coat for all officers below the rank of Brigadier General (except officers of Engineers and officers holding permanent appointments in the Quartermaster Corps) has two rows of large size gilt army buttons down the front, nine in each row equally spaced, two rows of one-half inch gold lace braid around the collar, one at the top and one at the bottom, with the distinctive color of the “facings” of the corps, department or arm of the service filling the space between the two rows. Officers of Engineers have a narrow piping of scarlet cloth down the front of the full dress coat and officers holding permanent appointments in the Quartermaster Corps have this piping of buff cloth and also cuffs of buff cloth two and one-half inches deep. For all officers below the rank of Brigadier General the full dress coat has one row of one-half inch gold lace braid around the sleeve two and one-half inches from the bottom and above this the gold braided designs indicating the rank of the wearer. These ornamentations are in the form of three loops, one large vertical loop with two smaller horizontal loops below it. The insignia indicating the corps, department or arm of the service to which the wearer belongs are worn in the angle at the bottom of the knot.
These knots are made up of from one to five rows of gold soutache braid one-eighth of an inch wide, the number of rows of braid indicating the rank of the wearer.
When mounted all officers wear the breeches described for dress uniform, black boots, white leather gloves and spurs.
The white uniform consists of a single-breasted sack coat of white duck of the same general design as the blue dress coat but trimmed with white braid and having straps of the same material as the coat upon the shoulders reaching from the shoulder seams to the base of the collar, white trousers and a white cap. The insignia indicating the corps, department or arm of service are worn upon the collar of the coat in bright metal and the insignia of rank are worn upon the shoulder straps. The white cap is of the same design and description as the dress cap except that the crown is made of white duck and the band is of white braid.
The special evening dress uniform consists of a dark blue cloth coat cut on the lines of the civilian evening dress coat, having regulation gilt buttons and the sleeves decorated as described for the full dress coat; trousers of dark blue cloth for officers of cavalry, artillery and infantry and full dress trousers for all other officers; white shirt, collar and cuffs; black silk necktie; white evening dress waistcoat with regulation gilt buttons; the dress cap; and black shoes.
The blue mess uniform consists of a dark blue mess jacket cut like the special evening dress coat but without tails, the collar and lapels being faced with silk of the color of the “facings” prescribed for the corps, department or arm of the service and the sleeves trimmed as described for the full dress coat; dress trousers for officers of infantry, cavalry, artillery, quartermaster corps and engineers, and full dress trousers for all other officers; white or blue waistcoat with small regulation gilt buttons; dress cap; white shirt, collar and cuffs; black silk necktie; and black shoes.
The white mess uniform consists of a white mess jacket cut on the same design as the blue mess jacket but with the sleeve trimmings of white braid; white waistcoat; white trousers; white shirt, collar and cuffs; the white cap; and white shoes.
The overcoat for officers is a double-breasted ulster of olive-drab cloth extending to about ten inches below the knee (overcoats reaching to the knee only are authorized for field service), with pleated back and a wide rolling collar, buttoning to the neck, with two rows of large flat horn buttons of the same color as the coat, five in each row, having a pocket with vertical opening on each side at the waist. The rank of the wearer is indicated by the trimmings on the sleeves. The overcoat for General officers has a band of black mohair braid one and one-quarter inches wide around the sleeve two and one-half inches above the end and another band of black mohair braid one-half of an inch wide placed one and one-half inches above the lower band. The overcoats for officers below the rank of Brigadier General have the ornamentations indicating rank as shown by the accompanying illustrations. For officers of the General Staff Corps the bands of black braid below the sleeve knot are seven-eighths of an inch wide.
U. S. Army. Officers’ overcoat sleeve braiding (in black) indicating rank
| 1. | All General Officers | 2. | Colonel |
| 3. | Lieutenant Colonel | 4. | Major |
U. S. Army. Officers’ overcoat sleeve braiding indicating rank
Black braid for all except Second Lieutenant
| 1. | Captain | 2. | First Lieutenant |
| Second Lieutenant (brown braid) | |||
| 3. | Field clerk | 4. | Lieutenant Colonel, General Staff Corps |
The cape for officers is of dark blue cloth, extending to the knee, with a blue-black velvet rolling collar, lined with cloth depending upon the corps or arm of the service as follows:
| General officers and officers of the Staff Corps and Departments | |
| (except Quartermaster General) | Dark blue. |
| Officers of the Quartermaster Corps | Buff. |
| Officers of Infantry | Light blue. |
| Officers of Artillery | Scarlet. |
| Officers of Cavalry | Yellow. |
| Chaplains | Black. |
The chapeau for General officers is a cocked hat of black silk plush, having on the right side a rosette of black silk five inches long and three inches wide with a strip of gold lace in the center, the coat of arms of the United States being embroidered upon the upper end of the strip. Over the center of the chapeau two black ostrich plumes extend from front to rear, and there are gold bullion tassels at the front and back.
Aiguilettes of braided gold cord three-sixteenths of an inch in diameter are worn by officers of the General Staff Corps, officers of the Adjutant General’s and Inspector General’s Departments, officers of the Bureau of Insular Affairs, aides-de-camp, regimental adjutants, adjutants of Artillery Districts, the Adjutant of the Military Academy at West Point, and Military Attaches at American Embassies and Legations in foreign countries.
Full dress belts for Major Generals are of red Russia leather with three stripes of gold embroidery, for Brigadier Generals of black webbing, for Field Officers (Colonels, Lieutenant Colonels and Majors) of black enamel leather with one wide stripe of gold lace, for officers holding permanent appointments in the staff corps and departments below the rank of major (except Engineers) of black enamel leather covered with a wide stripe of gold lace interwoven with three narrow stripes of black silk, for officers of Engineers the same but with gold stripes interwoven with three narrow stripes of scarlet silk, and for officers of cavalry, infantry and artillery below the rank of major the same but with the gold stripes interwoven with three narrow stripes of silk of the distinctive color of the arm of the service, cavalry yellow, infantry light blue and artillery scarlet.
A sash of buff silk is worn by General officers, the one for Brigadier Generals being worn around the waist over the belt and the ones for all Generals of higher rank being worn across the right shoulder under the epaulet or shoulder knot and diagonally across the body to the left side at the waist and terminating in heavy tassels which hang below the belt.
Epaulets, worn by General officers with full dress uniform, are of gold with heavy gold fringe. On the top is the coat of arms of the United States and the stars indicating rank.
Shoulder knots worn by all officers with full dress uniforms are five and one-half inches long and two and one-half inches wide, made of plaited gold cord and bearing the insignia of rank upon the upper surface.
The sword for officers of the Army is a saber with a slightly curved bright steel blade, a half-basket hilt with the guard of bright steel, and an ebony grip. The scabbard is of bright steel with two plain bands and rings for attaching the saber to the slings.
The saber knot worn on the hilt of the saber for attaching the sword to the wrist, for wear with full dress uniform is of heavy gilt cord ending in a gilt braided acorn for General officers and for other officers a strap of flat gold braid with a row of black silk interwoven in it near each edge; and for wear with service uniform it is made of plaited leather cord ending in a leather tassel.