First sergeant’s chevrons are rare for any branch of service: there was only one per company or battery, in which they functioned as the chief non-commissioned officer. These would be appropriate for a heavy artilleryman, someone in the light or field artillery, or even the chief NCO of a battery of horse-artillery, which operated with cavalry units. Kautz’s Customs of Service stressed the First Sergeant was to be appointed according to ability not seniority of rank, and outlines their many duties and responsibilities. These embraced the immediate supervision of the company, from performing roll call to conveying orders passed down from the officers and seeing they are carried out, making details, filling out rosters and reports, keeping track of company property, supervising all the other non-commissioned officers in the company, and a plethora of other responsibilities.

This is a regulation, matching pair, likely government issue rather than private purchase or tailor-made by simply applying the stripes directly to a coat or jacket sleeve. The stripes and the diamond (or “lozenge”) are made a red-dyed ribbed tape sewn to a dark blue background to match the color of the uniform. The thread shows as brown on the reverse from oxidation and on the face more white, though not obtrusively so, from oxidation and exposure to light. The condition overall is excellent, with no moth damage and very good color.

This pattern of chevron, using separate stripes of the appropriate branch of service color on a blue background was changed in 1872 to a cheaper style using a background patch of the branch of service color with stripes indicated simply by black chain-stitched border lines. The pattern offered here is often seen in Civil War photos, sometimes worn by newly promoted NCOs who did not have time to have them sewn on before visiting the photographer’s studio and merely pinned them in place, as was done also in the well-known US Quartermaster photos. We show one of those images with the government model attired as a first sergeant of heavy artillery and a Library of Congress image of a sergeant in the light or field artillery (despite carrying a cavalry saber.)  [sr] [ph:m]

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