An Officer’s 1901 Artillery Corps Dress Uniform Knots and Helmet

 By LTC (Ret) William K. Emerson

             Congress, by its Act of February 2, 1901, discontinued the United States Army’s artillery arm and constituted and designated it as the Artillery Corps.[i]  The initial officers’ insignia for this short-lived corps came into existence in July 1901 when the army announced the device as a pair of crossed cannons with a plain red oval at the intersection.[ii]  Officers wore these insignia on the collar of their undress coats and on their dress uniform shoulder knots.  In 1902 the army added a projectile to the red oval for officers of the coast artillery and a wheel to the field artillery insignia, thus ending use of the plain red oval at the cannon’s intersection.[iii]

            In addition to the unique insignia, Artillery Corps officers’ dress helmets changed for 1902.  The US Army introduced dress helmets for the army in 1872 for horse mounted soldiers, and then in 1881, changed the pattern.  Between 1881 and 1903 virtually all officers and enlisted men wore these dress helmets, shown in figure one, in an official contemporary lithograph.

Figure One.  This 1885 US Army lithograph shows enlisted men wearing the 1881-1903 dress helmet.  Officers wore similar helmets.  Mounted troops replaced the gilt spike with a horse hair plume.

            The 1901 officers’ artillery helmet insignia are unique to this period.  A set of both the scarce Artillery Corps dress uniform knots and the Artillery Corps dress helmet that belonged to Joseph Wheeler, Jr., survive at Pond Spring, the family home in Wheeler, Alabama.

            Joseph Wheeler, Jr., entered West Point in June of 1891 after having studied mathematics for a year each at the University of Virginia and Lehigh University.  Upon graduation in 1895 he joined the artillery and served until his retirement in February 1927.  In 1898 he was briefly his father’s aide in Cuba, when the senior Wheeler, a former Confederate lieutenant general and a US Congressman, became a major general of US Volunteers.  The younger Wheeler then became a major in the volunteers in ordnance and then a major in the 34^th US Volunteer Infantry.  After subsequent service in the Philippines, the he returned to the US in 1901.[iv]  It was at this time that Wheeler bought the knots and modified his dress helmet to meet the new uniform regulations.

            During the tumultuous years “Joe Junior” served, the United States artillery underwent several changes, from a reexamination of the role of coastal artillery, to a revolution in steel and propellants.  Because of both the technological changes of cannons and projectiles and the internal scrutiny caused by both the Spanish-American and the First World Wars, the artillery underwent several rapid reorganizations.  These reorganizations were reflected in the insignia and uniforms of the time, including “Joe Junior’s.”

            The 1872 officers’ dress uniforms showed rank and branch through the ornate gold trimmed knots or “paddles” worn on the coat shoulders.  Officers of the three arms: infantry, cavalry, and artillery, showed their branch by the color of the knots’ background cloth; white, yellow, or red, respectively.  In the center of the colored pad at the knot’s outer end went the officer’s regimental number.  Staff officers wore dark blue cloth to show their staff assignment, and these men added branch insignia at the same place as the regimental numbers for officers of the line.  Small embroidered rank insignia usually went on either side of the regimental number or the staff device.[v]

Figure Two.  This lithograph shows two army officers in their 1885 pattern dress uniforms, with cadets at West Point.  Officers wore paddles or knots of the type shown on the shoulder until about 1903.

            The 1901 Artillery Corps shoulder knot design was unique in that it had background pad colors for an arm of the line – red, and also a branch insignia like staff officers.  The army used the branch insignia since the 1901 Artillery Corps organizations did away with artillery regiments.[vi]  On paper, these shoulder knots lasted only about 2 years since President Roosevelt directed a uniform change that was announced in 1902 and became effective in 1903.[vii]  Officers anticipated the change well in advance, so although the details were not known, officers realized that a major uniform change was coming in 1902.  (Initially issued in July 1902, the army published another version in December 1902 and this was fully in effect by July 1903.)  It is probable that this accounts for the fact that few of the 1901 Artillery Corps knots exist.  Most officers continued to wear their old knots with regimental numbers, awaiting the uniform change, but those who were promoted had to buy the knots so they would have something to wear.  Wheeler fit this category.  He was reassigned to the regular artillery in April 1901, and was promoted in July 1901, just as the army announced the new Artillery Corps insignia.[viii]

            Wheeler’s knots are in pristine condition.  They have been kept wrapped in the original tarnish prevention paper, so 100 years after purchase, the gold cord looks brand new.  Each knot is wrapped in a piece of original acid free paper 28 x 20 inches that was folded in half making a sheet 14 x 20.  The two wrapped knots have been kept in their original metal box that also still holds an original paper tag or note.

            The unmarked tin box, painted black, has some minor damage and rusting, but it has well served its purpose of protecting the knots.  The box is 8 x 5 inches and 3-3/4 inches deep.  It, and a loose paper note, 4-1/4 x 2-1/2 inches, normally kept inside the box, are shown in figure three.  The paper tag has the message:

_________________________________________

CAUTION!

Do not pack or keep with rubber

goods or anything bleached or manufactured

with sulphur.

HENRY V. ALLEN & CO.

734 Broadway, New York

_________________________________________

Figure Three.  The Japaned tin box and paper tag that accompany the 1901 Joseph Wheeler, Jr., Artillery Corps shoulder knots.

             One of the Wheeler knots is shown in figure four.  At the neck end is the prescribed artillery button: an eagle with an A on the shield.  At the shoulder end is a gold embroidered 1901 Artillery Corps insignia containing a red wool center.  On either side of the insignia are silver embroidered captain’s bars, with alternating bright and dead bullion.

Figure four.  One of Joseph Wheeler’s scarce 1901 Artillery Corps shoulder knots.

             Between 1881 and early 1903 the prescribed US Army dress uniform included a cork helmet covered with black felt or wool and ornamented with brass or gold colored trim.  For the majority of the artillery, decorations included a metal spike on the top and an eagle on the front.  The history of these helmets that are reminiscent of Prussian or English Horse Guard headgear has been covered in Gordon Chappell’s pioneering works such as Brass Spikes and Horsehair Plumes, Summer Helments of the US Army 1875-1910, and The Search for the Well-Dressed Soldier, 1865-1890.  A more recent work on the US Army dress helmets of the late 19^th Century is Mark Kasal and Don Moore’s A Guide Book to U.S. Army Dress Helmets 1872-1904.  Even with so much published, it is interesting to examine one of these helmets, especially a biographical piece, such as the one owned by Joseph Wheeler, Jr.

            In the Wheeler home at Pond Spring, Alabama, is the helmet that Lieutenant Wheeler bought when he finished the Military Academy and that he wore for several years.  The dress helmet was originally stored in a black Japanned oval tin container, 11-1/4 inches high and 11-1/4 inches at the longest horizontal dimension.  The tin, shown in figure five, is hinged at the back with a carrying handle on the top and a metal locking clasp in the front.  On the top is a metal oval label, 1-3/4 by 1-1/4 inches, with raised wording, “RIADBOCK & CO.  141 GRAND STREET, NEW YORK.”  The lid is 1-7/8 inches high.  While the outside finish has deteriorated a bit, especially the top, as one might expect of a metal container over 100 years old, the inside of the helmet box is still bright and black.  Inside remains some of the tarnish free paper that originally protected the gilt trim from darkening.

Figure Five.  Wheeler’s dress helmet carrying and storage container, open.  The paper around the container is some of the original acid free paper that keeps the gilt fixtures on the helmet from tarnishing.

             The helmet is extremely well preserved.  The white satin lining still clearly bears the Ridabock & Co. gold stamped trademark in the crown.  The helmet body itself is covered with four quadrants of wool cloth.  The tops of the visor and back “bill” or back cape are each covered by a piece of black wool.  The under side of each is apparently a textured leather similar to paten leather with only medium shine, unlike typical paten leather.

            Inside the helmet is a brown leather sweatband, 2-1/4 inches deep.  One edge of the sweatband is sewn into the lower edge of the helmet.  The other edge is threaded with a white silk drawstring that ends in a bow in the helmet’s rear.

            Trim on the helmet is as one might expect.  The majority of the 1895 artillery was not horse mounted.  In each of the seven Spanish-American War period artillery regiments two batteries were light units that used horses to pull cannons in the field to accompany infantry and cavalry.  Other artillery units were stationed on the US coast and protected the country against sea-born invasion.  In these units only a few officers such as adjutants were horse mounted.  Most officers and men in these foot organizations adorned their helmets with a bright gilt spike on the top, while the mounted soldiers used red plumes.  Wheeler’s spike has a rich gilt color to it.  The spike is surrounded by a base that represents 8 oak leaves and this base it is considerably thicker than the typical stamped brass base used by enlisted men.  This gold plated base is one of several known designs.

            Across the helmet front is a metal chinstrap composed of the standard interlocking rings, each having been bent slightly so the chain will lay flat.  Under this chain is a leather strip to which the chain is sewn, to protect the helmet itself.  This interlocking gilt chain starts at the left side button, runs across the top of the front visor to the right side button, and then continues to run half way from the right button to the helmet’s rear.  At this half way point, the loops change to a simpler design and continue to the upper portion of the helmet’s rear seam, where it is hooked to a small US shield.  The two side buttons are embossed with crossed cannons, as expected for artillery helmets.  Each button has a hook extending from it.  At the left button, where the chain starts, the button is rotated 90° since the chain pulls the hook towards the helmet front.  The right button is nearly upside down, since the hook acts to keep the chain from riding up as the end climbs to attach to the rear hook.  Around the helmet rear, just above the back “bill” is a 1/2inch wide wool cloth strap.

            Prior to 1901, artillery officers displayed their regimental number, in silver, on the helmet eagle’s shield.[ix]  After Wheeler’s discharge from the US Volunteers in 1901, he was reassigned to the 4^th Artillery, his home regiment prior to his time in Cuba and the Philippines.[x]  Accordingly his helmet would have carried a silver 4.  Artillery Corps officers wore their helmet eagle without any number.  Wheeler’s dress helmet was modified to meet the 1901 Artillery Corps guidance.  No number is present, but the two holes that previously held the 4 have been filled in and are visible on the shield.

Figure Six.  Captain Joseph Wheeler’s 1901-1902 Artillery Corps helmet.

             The helmet is size 7-1/8 and a small tag to that effect is on the underside of the bill.  The tag is black to match the bill, and the printed numerals are nearly black, making it almost impossible for the causal observer to notice.

            Due to their short use during late 1901 to early 1903, these US Artillery Corps dress shoulder knots and dress helmets are relatively scarce.  Most officers simply waited for the 1902 uniform changes to be announced then went from the 1900 uniform to the 1902-3 pattern.  As a newly promoted captain, Joseph Wheeler, Jr., did not have that option.  It is fortunate his heirs preserved his uniforms so that today we have such examples of these short-lived uniform accoutrements.