# Help identifying a uniform **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [May 11, 2008, 5:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-identifying-a-uniform/448938 "2008-05-11T17:41:15Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![NinetyWt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/cc9497/32.png) [@NinetyWt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NinetyWt)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2008, 5:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-identifying-a-uniform/448938/1 "2008-05-11T17:41:15Z")
Can anyone identify the uniforms in this [photo](http://i70.photobucket.com/albums/i84/NinetyWt/scan-2.jpg)? There is a brief [inscription](http://i70.photobucket.com/albums/i84/NinetyWt/scan0001-1.jpg) on the back. This could possibly be in West Virginia, Ohio, or Kentucky. Thanks in advance. ---
**Author:** ![mks57](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b9bd4f/32.png) [@mks57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mks57)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2008, 7:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-identifying-a-uniform/448938/2 "2008-05-11T19:54:31Z")
It looks like a generic band uniform. ---
**Author:** ![NinetyWt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/cc9497/32.png) [@NinetyWt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NinetyWt)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2008, 2:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-identifying-a-uniform/448938/3 "2008-05-12T14:18:34Z")
So far I’ve found out that the “Ed” in the photo is my grandmother’s dad. She was born in 1909. ---
**Author:** ![Paul\_in\_Qatar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ccd318/32.png) [@Paul\_in\_Qatar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Paul_in_Qatar)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2008, 2:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-identifying-a-uniform/448938/4 "2008-05-12T14:24:50Z")
Darn fine photo. I think it is a band of the Grand Army of the Republic, the association of Union veterans or the American Civil War. The three-letter cap badges seemed a sure clue. But then the inscription of 1860 makes that unlikely. On the other hand, photos from before the ACW tended to be more primitive Darugotypes (or however you spell it). This seems to be a modern photo, taken after the 1860s. My money is on the GAR. ---
**Author:** ![NinetyWt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/cc9497/32.png) [@NinetyWt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NinetyWt)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2008, 2:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-identifying-a-uniform/448938/5 "2008-05-12T14:45:12Z")
[QUOTE=Paul in Saudi] Darn fine photo. I think it is a band of the Grand Army of the Republic, the association of Union veterans or the American Civil War. The three-letter cap badges seemed a sure clue. But then the inscription of 1860 makes that unlikely. [/QUOTE] Ah ha! I was unable to make out the letters, even after looking at the photo under a magnifying lamp. I’m inclined to disregard the “1860” on the back as being the year of the photo - it could mean anything. As grandmother was born in 1909, Grandfather Ed would have been rather old at her birth to have been in his 20’s in 1860, as the photo would lead one to believe. Off to search for GAR uniform links. Thanks! ---
**Author:** ![Paul\_in\_Qatar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ccd318/32.png) [@Paul\_in\_Qatar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Paul_in_Qatar)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2008, 3:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-identifying-a-uniform/448938/6 "2008-05-12T15:07:20Z")
I dunno. If Ed was born in '09, he could not have been a member of the GAR. Only actual veterans could join, and so the group slowly faded away. (A hauntingly beautiful idea to my mind.) Perhaps this band was modeled on the GAR or a group from one one the Sons-of the-GAR groups that sprung up here and there. ---
**Author:** ![yabob](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yabob/32/2821_2.png) [@yabob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yabob)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2008, 3:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-identifying-a-uniform/448938/7 "2008-05-12T15:30:19Z")
BTW, at the time of the Civil War, the Daguerreotype process had been largely supplanted by the wet plate collodion process, which came in during the 1850s. Pictures were shot on glass negatives, and albumin paper prints could be made from them. A paper photograph can come from that era, though I’m not at all saying that that particular one does. They also made Ambrotypes and tintypes from the glass collodion negatives. ---
**Author:** ![Slithy\_Tove](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slithy_tove/32/18248_2.png) [@Slithy\_Tove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slithy_Tove)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2008, 3:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-identifying-a-uniform/448938/8 "2008-05-12T15:45:08Z")
A couple of details that may indicate that the bandsmen may not necessarily be in the army: The rose pinned onto the French horn player. Most militaries don’t allow individual uniform adornments. Looking closely at the ground, it isn’t a flower bed, but long grass and weeds, too. Most military posts keep things trimmed, if for no other reason to give the guys something to do. ---
**Author:** ![emmaliminal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7bcc69/32.png) [@emmaliminal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/emmaliminal)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2008, 4:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-identifying-a-uniform/448938/9 "2008-05-12T16:00:18Z")
[QUOTE=Paul in Saudi] I dunno. If Ed was born in '09… [/QUOTE] **NinetyWt** ’s grandmother, which is to say Ed’s daughter, not Ed himself, was born in '09. See? [QUOTE=NinetyWt] So far I’ve found out that the “Ed” in the photo is my grandmother’s dad. She was born in 1909. [/QUOTE] Right? So it’s possible Ed could have been old enough to be in the GAR. ---
**Author:** ![Paul\_in\_Qatar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ccd318/32.png) [@Paul\_in\_Qatar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Paul_in_Qatar)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2008, 4:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-identifying-a-uniform/448938/10 "2008-05-12T16:17:02Z")
If Ed had a daughter in 1909 at age 20, that means he would have been born in 1889. To make him a ACW vet, his daughter would have to have been born when he was 60 or so (so he would have been born in 1849, making him sixteen or seventeen by the end of the war. Possible of course, but not too common. ---
**Author:** ![NinetyWt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/cc9497/32.png) [@NinetyWt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NinetyWt)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2008, 5:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-identifying-a-uniform/448938/11 "2008-05-12T17:17:39Z")
[QUOTE=Paul in Saudi] If Ed had a daughter in 1909 at age 20, that means he would have been born in 1889. To make him a ACW vet, his daughter would have to have been born when he was 60 or so (so he would have been born in 1849, making him sixteen or seventeen by the end of the war. Possible of course, but not too common. [/QUOTE] I read that many boys signed up for the Union: > [@](#): > > Over 100,000 boys younger than 15 enlisted in the Union Army, there were even 300 boys younger than 13. Tommy Hubler may have been the youngest member of the Union Army. He was only 9 years old when he enlisted with his father. It still doesn’t seem to be the right timeline, though. I have a photo of Ed from the 20’s and he seems to be about 40. I’m leaning towards son-of-GAR type thing. **Slithy Tove** I noticed that too, but if not military why so glum-looking? Do those stand-up white collars date this in any way? ---
**Author:** ![Who\_me\_1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/958977/32.png) [@Who\_me\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Who_me_1)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2008, 12:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-identifying-a-uniform/448938/12 "2008-05-13T00:04:50Z")
Okay, a long shot… The only reference I got out of Google for The Grand Army of the Republic Band, was the Medina (Ohio) Grand Army of the Republic Band. The OP mentions West Virginia, Kentucky, and Ohio as locations. The site I found was [http://groups.msn.com/medinacommunitybandohio/bandhistory.msnw](http://groups.msn.com/medinacommunitybandohio/bandhistory.msnw) If you want to spend your time, [here’s](http://www.harrogate.co.uk/harrogate-band/vbbp-us3.htm) a site that has vintage photos of old bands (or old pictures of vintage bands) ;).