1872 officer's dress coat: A photo survey, The

Military Images, Jan/Feb 2003 by Neville, David M

Stylish, popular, and very different from its predecessor, the regulation 1872 officer's dress uniform coat was worn for three decades by officers of the United States Army.

The 1872 dress coat for officers had its genesis in Special Orders No. 260, Headquarters of the Army, dated July 3, 1871, which ordered the assembly of a board of officers whose primary duty was to be the revision of current army regulations. In addition to this duty, the board was also asked to look into the matter of army clothing and uniforms, and to make recommendations for changes if they found them warranted.

Headed by Brigadier

General Randolph Marcy, this board of five distinguished officers took up the question of a change in uniform design, spending all of May and most of June 1872 on this matter alone. What resulted was a completely redesigned uniform for both enlisted men and officers.

On June 27, 1872, the board's recommendation for a change in uniform design was approved by President U.S. Grant, followed by that of the Secretary of War who issued General Orders No. 76, dated July 29, 1872, which laid out the specifics. All enlisted men and officers, it said, were to be clothed in the new uniform by December. That date was found to be impractical, due mainly to procurement and manufacturing roblems. It would be 1873 before the new uniforms would be in common use throughout the army, the new garments proving to be immensely popular with the rank and file.

Through the use of period images, this article examines many of the design features and characteristics of the 1872 dress uniform coat as worn by company and field grade officers up through 1903 when its use was discontinued. Also examined are many of the uniform accessories such as headgear, trousers, sword belts and plates, and rank insignia, most of which are distinctive to this uniform coat alone.

(All images in the author's collection)

David A. Lyle

The 1872 dress uniform coat for officers was readily distinguished from its predecessor being double-breasted with two rows of buttons - all company grade officers (lieutenants and captains) wearing coats ornamented with seven buttons per row and field grade officers (majors through colonels), nine per row.

In this 1873 image Second Lieutenant David Alexander Lyle, 2nd U.S. Artillery, wears the 14-- button dress coat made of dark blue broadcloth prescribed for company grade officers. Lyle prominently displays many of the regulation accessories that went along with the uniform coat, including the Model 1860 staff and field officer's sword with bullion tasseled sword knot and 1872 dress cap, complete with scarlet plume as prescribed for officers serving in the foot or heavy artillery.

An 1869 graduate of West Point (number 12 in a class of 39), Lyle returned to the academy to serve as an assistant professor from 1872 to 1875. In 1874 he was promoted to first lieutenant and transferred to the Ordnance Department. He was named a captain in 1881 and a major in 1899. He also received a degree from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and was noted as a scientist. He retired as a colonel in 1909 and died in 1937.

Unidentified Staff Officer

Regulations read that "all officers shall wear a doublebreasted frock coat of dark blue cloth, the skirt to extend from one-half to three-fourths the distance from the hip joint to the bend of the knee."

This early 1890s image of an unidentified staff officer is a good example of the length and cut of the 1872 dress coat. As headgear for dress occasions, staff officers could wear a chapeau, a type of hat worn only by generals and officers of the general staff and staff corps, as seen here. Dark blue rather than sky blue trousers complete the uniform of a staff or staff corps officer.

William P. Duvall

Unlike enlisted men, who received a clothing allowance, officers had to buy all uniforms and accessories. Because of this all 1872 officers' dress coats were tailor-made by commercial firms, thus fitting their wearers perfectly. Common features of these coats include a "padded and quilted chest area" and a "lining made of black sateen."

Second Lieutenant William Penn Duvall wears two uniform items prescribed by the 1872 regulations, dress shoulder knots and officers' trousers. His gold cord shoulder knots of the "Russian pattern" with padded covered inserts on the ends are scarlet, identifying him an an artillery officer, while the silver embroidered number five reflects his membership in the 5th U.S. Artillery. The absence of rank insignia within the cloth field of the shoulder knot pad means that he is a second lieutenant.

Trousers for regiments officers of all branches were sky blue with stripes one and one-half inches wide, welted at the edges; the color of the stripes to be yellow for cavalry, scarlet for artillery, and dark blue for infantry. Duvall's stripes are scarlet.

Duvall was graduated from West Point in 1869, saw ordnance service, and retired as a major general in 1911.

William E Kingsbury

One very distinctive design element of the dress coat was the cuff ornamentation.