Army and Navy Uniforms and Insignia / How to Know Rank, Corps and Service in the Military and Naval Forces of the United States and Foreign Countries

by Dion Williams

As time went by the leaders in command of the land forces perceived the necessity for some mark or badge to designate the members of their forces and to distinguish them from the foe. This resulted in the use of various distinctive badges, such as plumes of a certain color to be worn upon the helmet, initials, numbers or devices in the nature of a coat of arms to be worn upon the front of the helmet, on the breast plate of armor, on the tops of the shoulders or upon the shield, a custom which still prevails in the armies of to-day.

When Gustavus Adolphus, “the Whirlwind of the North,” swept down over Europe with his victorious army of Sweden, he marked the brigades of his army with sashes worn diagonally across the body from one shoulder, a distinctive color for each brigade, and as a result history records the valorous deeds of the “Red Brigade” or the “Green Brigade” of that wonderful army. This species of uniform survives in the General’s sash for the dress uniforms of the present time.

Early in the seventeenth century the King of France by royal decree established a uniform dress for his army and regulations were issued prescribing the color and style of the various articles of dress for officers and men and the occasions on which they were to be worn. At that time in England various princes and lords had armed forces of retainers and each such force was dressed and armed according to the individual taste of its overlord.

When the Great Rebellion in England resulted in the establishment of the Commonwealth under Cromwell as Protector in 1653, the New Model army was established as a national force and, while this force was clothed in the style of the day, distinctive colors were ordered so that the whole force was uniform in appearance. The hat of the period was the high crowned, wide brimmed felt “slouch” hat, and in its various shapes this head dress has been retained down to the present. First its brim was pinned up on one side by a rosette of the colors of the government of the date, then to add to its jauntiness it was pinned up in three places resulting in the three-cornered “cocked hat” of the American Revolutionary period, and to-day we see it again almost in its original form in the modern “field hat” of the United States Army and Marine Corps, a head dress which is also worn by the British Colonial troops from Australia, Canada and New Zealand.

The wide brimmed hat was not suitable for wear at sea as it “carried too much sail in a gale,” and the naval officers fastened it up against the crown on both sides and crushed the crown together in a “fore and aft” line. In this form the erstwhile “slouch hat” now appears as the chapeau or cocked hat worn with dress uniforms by the officers of all modern navies and by the general officers of the United States Army with full dress uniform.

Cords of various colors were worn around the base of the crown of the “slouch hat” when it was first adopted, and for ornamentation these cords had tassels at the ends, while the different colors of the hat cords indicated the regiment, corps or service of the wearer. These cords in various colors, depending upon the service or corps of the wearer, are now worn on the field hats of officers and men in the United States Army and Marine Corps, as described later in this book, and the tradition of the hat cord tassels is still kept in the cocked hat of the naval officer by the gold bullion tassels at the front and rear peaks. Likewise the influence of the original loop strap and button for fastening up the brim of the original “slouch hat” is seen in the United States naval officer’s cocked hat in the shape of the gold lace strap and gilt button on the side of the crown.

When the Restoration in England brought Charles II to the throne in 1660 a royal army was organized in England, this action being due to the fact that the success of the revolutionists under Cromwell had proved the unreliability of the previous system. The standard colors chosen by the king for his soldiers were red and blue, the colors of the royal livery, and these colors survive to-day in the British infantry full dress uniforms of red with blue facings.

As time went by various regiments of foot and horse were raised, the men from any given regiment coming as a rule from one locality or county. The officers of these troops were practically all drawn from the nobility and upper classes, and it became common for the colonelcy to be conferred upon the head of the local noble house. These colonels chose many slight variations in uniform for their men in accordance with their tastes in dress and style, in deference to some local habits of dress or as might be limited by the length of their purse.

These regiments came to be known by the name of the county or city from which they were recruited; a custom which still prevails in the British service, and which to a great extent has been followed in the army of the United States, especially with the volunteers of our former wars.

In England this brought about a condition as to uniform that was apparently directly the opposite of uniform, as each territorial regiment had its own distinctive dress and decorations. Gradually, however, with the consolidation of all of the armed forces of the United Kingdom into one national army, the regulars forming the first line and the militia or “Territorials” forming the second line, or reserve, a universal service uniform was adopted for active service and came to be known as a “field” uniform. The older distinctive colors and styles of regimental uniforms were preserved in the full dress uniforms and reserved for peace time parade.