Fil-Am war uniform query

[cristinac]

Hello! I wonder if anybody can shed light on this?

I'm currently redrawing an old comic and this amerian officer's uniform boggles my mind,
I found the soldiers blue/kahaki (or blue/blue) ones but I can't pin point this uniform.

I scanned all the uniforms within this era (spanish american war) and figured its something like this:
www.ushist.com/spanish-american-war_uniforms_us_saw_f.shtml

can anybody knowledgable clear this for me?

[frank]

Perhaps the artist was trying to impart a shade of the uniform an not a pattern.

Unless it is supposed to represent the Katipunan Army /Spanish Rayadillo cloth.
Which is woven in in blue and white stripes.

Looking forward to seeing your work.

[faustino]

With the shoulder boards the artist is definately trying to depict an American officer. In the tropics an American officer would be wearing the cotton kahki or white uniform... in rare cases such as photo-ops or other special occasions he would be wearing the beloved blue wool uniform.

The late 1890s to 1910 was a transitional period for the US army away from the blue wool and black leather accoutrements of their fathers and grandfathers who fought in the Civil War.

At the start of the Fil/Am War most of the American soldiers would be wearing the dark brown felt calvary hat, blue wool/flannel pull-over shirt, cotton-duck kahki (in various shades) pants, ankle boots, with knee-hi dark kahki gaiters, and equiped with a kahki or blue Mills ammo belt, a kahki haversack (with a tin cup hanging off the side) recycled Civil War canteen w/ Kahki covering, a long socket bayonet that fit upon the muzzle of their 1873 Springfield Trapdoor carbine.

From about 1900 on most troops would have been all kahki and cotton and sporting a Krag Jorgensen rifle with it's fancy-pants smokeless 30/40 bullets.

if you need any more info regarding the uniforms used by the invaders or Filipinos please ask..... there are a lot of uniformologists who hang out in this forum ;D

[cristinac]

Hello! thank you both for your time

frank faustino
yes, there are a few drawn like this:


Currently, I am rendering the officer's uniforms like this:

(possibly too many pockets?) I am hoping to keep it simple but relatively accurate. I am grateful for your reply, faustino. Thank you for the interesting information. I'll be sure to keep those details in mind while I work on this. I am not sure why everyone is always in dress uniform in this comic though. maybe I'll sneak in field uniforms in the future!

[faustino]

hey! nice work!

yeah, you can keep it simple and make your officers uniform more authentic at the same time, eliminate all 4 pockets, instead of the light blue line down the center of his tunic use a thicker black line, (see the officers dress uniform in the link you posted earlier)to make his uniform even more distinctive add a dash of color on his shoulder boards then outlined in yellow.

Branch of service colors that were on the shoulder boards were:

Artillery - Red

Cavalry - 1872-1886 Lemon Yellow / 1887-1898 Dark Yellow

Chaplain - Black w/Cross or Shepherd's Crook

Engineer - Black w/E.C.

Infantry - 1872-1884 Sky Blue / 1885-1898 White

Medical, Quartermaster, Signal Corps - Black

Staff, including ALL Generals - Black.

[cristinac]

what a pleasant surprise!
I'm sorry I just saw this now

I worked on correcting the uniform immediately, (I'll try experimenting with the white uniform too)
added "u.s." pins to the collar

thank you once again, sir!

[faustino]

wow!

That is awesome! seeing your work really inspires me.

Hey, if you ever need any more historical info or pictures for your projects please let us know, I'm certain that one of us will have what you are looking for.