Help Wanted for uniforms from1880

Dear ladies and gentlemen,

my name is Andreas Völcker and I live in Hannover / Germany.I am 45 years old and would like to portray a representation of a USMC Captain from 1880 as a reenecment.So I hope to get some help from you. I need image and text proof of the uniform of a USMC officer (Kaptain) from the period 1870 to 1890. I would be very happy if you could help me, as I would like to reproduce this representation true to the original. About contact I would be very happy under:first_rescue@web.de

Many thanks, A. Völcker

Andreas,

My research into a 1880 era Marine Captain's uniform has been rather fruitless. It appears the 1880 era uniforms fall into a category somewhere between 1859 and 1890 and I haven't found anything specific to 1880.

I suggest that you email the Marine Corps History Division http://www.history.usmc.mil/

They should either be able to help you or be able to direct you someplace that can.

I know that Marines, including officers, wore the same uniforms as the US Army during the 1860s, except for differences in emblems, and other little details. This time frame coincides with the US Civil War. I'm pretty certain that the uniforms changed after the Civil War. I know that Marine officers went back to carrying the Mameluke sword (similar to that used today) and that NCOs were authorized the former officer's sword (the 1859 US Army Foot Officer's Sword) and with some detail changes, still used today.

Hopefully, the History Division will be able to help you out.

Thanks for thinking about us Leathernecks, Semper Fi.

Chris

Hello Chris,First, I apologize for my bad English. Had always been enough in Germany :-)In fact, the images are always around 1865 or only around 1900. The texts vary depending on the source.Therefore, I thank you first for the source, where I can continue to ask.The Mameluk sword is definitely available to an officer. Unfortunately, the comments are in dispute over the headgear and type of pants.Therefore I will write to the named contact once. Thank you,very much for the help.Greetings Andreas</pre>

Andreas,

Your English is a lot better than my German. I took German in high school, but that was a long time ago. While I have visited Germany for a couple of short periods in the 1980s (military trips), I didn't get to improve my spoken German that much as so many Germans spoke excellent English. I was at Bitburg then later at Ramstein. Beautiful country. I enjoyed my time there.

My oldest daughter spent 13-months deployed to Ramstein herself. She came home speaking reasonably good German (I thought so anyway).

I spent much more time in Asia than Europe.

Good luck getting the info you need. Please let me know if you were successful.

Chris

Hi,
many Englishmen were stationed here. They did not bother to speak German. So you had to speak English. Lovingly called island monkeys :-)
I am amazed that it is so hard to learn anything about the marine around 1880. However, the page history.usmc.mil does not exist. Try to learn something about the site usmc.mil. I keep you informed.
Greetings Andreas

Island Monkeys. That's funny. :-) Hey, wait a minute, my ancestry is English. Oh well, people acting like jerks deserve what they get.

I always tried to learn some of the language everywhere I was stationed. I was not too bad with Japanese after a year there. I had some Vietnamese and Thai, later Italian, Arabic, and of course, some German. My ex-wife was Cuban so I know some Spanish too (and from being stationed in California).

I made it a point to at least learn the please and thank you's, hello, goodbye, yes, no, where is the toilet? Seems to me to be only the polite thing to do. I taught my oldest daughter to do that when she enlisted in the Air Force. Aside from German, she learned a little Pashto and Dari when she was in Afghanistan.

I think the main problem with finding information on 1880 era Marines is it was a pretty peaceful time for Marines then. Yes, the US Army was busy fighting American Indians then (whatever you think of that), but Marines weren't involved.

I checked on that email address. Apparently the website server for history.usmc.mil is out of service. They're fixing it, but it isn't known when it will be back up. I doubt it will be down for very long. The Marine Corps is rather proud about it's history and they love telling about it.

Chris

I like that. Basic concepts to be able to testify to respect for the host country. Of course it is also a challenge when you are in many countries.
In the Indian wars I found nothing (politically or emotionally I can not and will not comment on that, everyone has a dark period).
I stay with the side on the ball. Have also written the Usmc Museum in Triangel. I am hopeful.
Greats, Andreas

Hallo Andreas!

I sent what I have. I hope it helps.

Hello Darryl,

Many thanks for the data.Here you can see again how the uniform can change in just 20 years. The soldier between 1892 and 1900 in Khaki, however, is in China in the Boxer Rebellion. There is the uniform climate adapted. However, the officer still has a Prussian helmet around 1880 and a Chappo in 1998. Interesting would be the pants. Is this blue, like the US Army or blue with red stripes. Or is she even white again?So I'm a step ahead, but still need help.I already thank you for that.

Greats, Andreas

I only have the two pages of information that I sent, and it does not have pictures of pants. It just says blue or white. Even the one item from the Marine Corps does not have any pictures, but I did not read it to see if it described anything about pants.

Hello,Thanks anyway