PIATT ZOUAVE, 34th OHIO, WITH TASSELED EDMANDS HAT, SHORT JACKET, GAITERS AND FIELD GEAR!

PIATT ZOUAVE, 34th OHIO, WITH TASSELED EDMANDS HAT, SHORT JACKET, GAITERS AND FIELD GEAR!

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$650.00 ON HOLD

Quantity Available: 1

Item Code: 2021-785

This soldier is no-nonsense and ready for the march or campaign. He is posed in front of a plain backdrop in this sixth-plate tintype, looking straight at the camera and with his arms down at his sides. He wears a tasseled version of the Edmands cap, a standard issue knapsack strapped over his shoulders, canteen and white haversack, bayonet showing in a scabbard on his waist belt, and pair of practical gaiters gathering in his pant cuffs.

Our man is almost certainly a Piatt Zouave, 34th Ohio. The hat was the brainchild of a Massachusetts militia general and sold by the clothing firm of Haughton and Sawyer as the “new hat for service in warm climates.” They could be turned up as four-corner or three-corner affairs and show up in photos of the 4th Mass Volunteer Militia, the 6th Mass, and several other Massachusetts units, but they also put appear on the heads of some Ohio troops, particularly members of the 34th Ohio, the Piatt Zouaves, sometimes in photos next to more conventional zouave fezes worn by another member of the unit, the common element apparently being the red tassel, which seems not to show up in the Massachusetts photos, but would have been a nod to the zouave identity of the 34th.

Other elements support the identification. The white haversack is often thought to be a Massachusetts style, but the small Massachusetts versions are likely late and the larger ones identified to Massachusetts soldiers likely came from the Cincinnati Depot when their regiments saw western service. We would add the short jacket worn by our man is typically Ohio and the gaiters show up in photos of Piatts as well. Images of Piatts with these details can be found in the Library of Congress, the Historical Image Databank, and elsewhere.

As a member of the 34th, our man likely saw a good deal of service. CWData lists 40 points at which the unit suffered casualties of some sort, losing 10 officers and 120 enlisted men in killed or mortally wounded alone in engagements such as Cloyd's Mountain, Cove Mountain, Lynchburg, Berryville, Opequan, Winchester, Fisher's Hill, and Cedar Creek.

The image has some spotting and rubs to the plate, but very few touch the figure and those that do are not consequential. This is a great looking Civil War soldier in an unusual uniform that was worn in the field and the details of his gear draw one’s eye. The image is glassed, matted and framed in the lower half of a leatherette case.  [sr][ph:m/L]

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