United States Army Headgear 1855-1902 - Libreria Militare Ares

NUMBER 30 67to be sent to Washington together with specificationsfor the same.*"' It should be noted here thatbecause of the confusion over the samples, whichwas to increase over the next several weeks, thespecifications were not drafted until much later,finally being published in May after a number ofchanges had been made. On 14 January, Rogerswrote Meigs for information as to the officers' helmetsand asked that the models that had beenadopted be sent to him."" Meigs replied in a ratherinvolved letter that, as will be seen, served to confusethe Philadelphia Depot even more. The QuartermasterGeneral stated that he was returning thesix helmets recommended by the Miles Board, twoof which had been adopted for officers (that forfield and mounted officers and the officer's summerhelmet), and made the point that Sherman particularlydesired that the helmets be uniform inshape. He inclosed a set of the helmet photographs.***The confusion became complete with the publicationof the 22 January issue of the United StatesArmy and Navy Journal, which carried a featurearticle, including illustrations made from six of theseven photographs of the approved patterns. Evena cursory glance indicates the confusion: The approvedpatterns were not all of one shape; the selectionincluded helmets both from the MilesBoard samples and the four furnished by Rogers;and the brass trimmings differed between officers'and enlisted models and between foot and mountedofficers. The pattern for enlisted men, althoughquite similar to that selected by the Miles Board(as shown in the drawings), was apparently patternedon one of Rogers' four models in that itcarried a pin-wheel ventilator on either side, inaddition to crossed cannon without an eagle for afront plate, plus a spike base taken from the 1872helmet (Figures 46, 47) .*" It should be noted, however,that the side buttons carried the branch ofservice device as in the Miles Board drawings. Thatfor foot officers was from the Rogers models as opposedto the Miles Board helmets in that the shapewas distinctly different, the spike base was againFIGURE 46.—Officers' helmets: a, officers of foot troops(note shape and model 1872 spike base); b, field officers'helmet with spike (note shape and "tiger head" side buttons); c, summer helmet (note shape and "tiger head" sidebuttons).