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PATTERN 1898 CAVALRY ENLISTED MAN’S TROPICAL
UNIFORM BLOUSE SHOULDER TABS – EARLY KHAKI UNIFORM
TRIMMINGS IN VERY GOOD CONDITION: This pair of
Pattern 1898Enlisted Man’s Uniform Blouse Shoulder Tabs
are part of the evolution of khaki uniforms developed as
the troops as the army was deployed overseas for service
in the tropics around the world.
At the start of the Spanish American War, khaki colored,
cotton uniforms were adopted with the issue of General
Order No. 39 on May 9, 1898 and were to be trimmed with
the color of the branch of service (G.O. 51, May 23,
1898) - dark blue for the staff departments and general
staff, yellow for cavalry, red for artillery, and sky
blue for infantry. The blouses for the enlisted men had
the trim colors on the collar, shoulder straps, breast
pocket flaps and cuffs, and the officer blouses were
trimmed in the branch color on the collar, shoulder
straps and cuffs. While the colored trim provided an
attractive and distinctive uniform for each branch, the
concept proved to be “one of those good ideas that
didn’t work” for more than one reason.
The immediate problem became apparent when the colored
trim panels - especially the blue for infantry and red
for artillery – suffered from the severe tropical sun
and faded to some fairly unattractive anemic hues.
Additionally, as the uniforms were subjected to the
rigors of the field, the army quickly discovered that
the wear out period for cavalry and infantry uniforms
was considerably shorter than it was for artillery and
staff department uniforms. This resulted in a serious
shortage of replacement uniforms for the mounted and
foot troops, while an overabundance of artillery and
staff uniforms sat unissued in storage. Due to the way
in which this pattern of coat was trimmed, changing the
color of the facings in order to meet the need for
uniforms was not practical.
As a result, less than two months later, on July 15,
1898, the Secretary of War issued a circular directing
that while the design of the uniform blouse would remain
the same, the colored facings would be eliminated and
replaced with these colored detachable shoulder tabs
that would be issued with the later pattern all-khaki
coats in the appropriate color for the soldier’s
particular branch of service – in this case, the
cavalry.
The next phase in the evolution of a tropical weight
cotton khaki uniform occurred the following year with
the introduction of the Pattern 1899 Tropical Uniform
which included these colored shoulder tabs, designed to
be removable - easily replaced by the soldier and not
requiring the talents of a tailor. Like the Second
Pattern 1898 Blouse, the Pattern 1899 Blouse could be
issued to a soldier in any branch of the service with
the appropriate color shoulder tabs, and this amounted
to a substantial cost savings.
This pair of shoulder tabs retains
their vivid yellow color, the integral wire hooks are
present, the material shows no indication of heavy use
or wear, and both tabs are
complete with the original
General Service buttons.
(0431) $40 per pair
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