AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
281 
Fig. 23. 
ECjcjpIaEjatioti of War Terms... .No. Eli. 
How to distinguish the Rank of any Officer in the 
Army, by his Dress or Equipments. 
Wc thought enough had been said on this subject, 
but a large number of our readers write that the 
plain descriptions and illustrations we have given, 
are just what is needed by the mass of people, and 
the call is for more.-Perhaps nothing will inter¬ 
est our younger readers more, than to be told ho w 
to know the rank of different officers they meet with, 
by simply looking at their uniform.-The uni¬ 
form, or dress of soldiers, is one of the most attract¬ 
ive features of the military equipment. To carry a 
gun, is a passion with most boys from infancy al¬ 
most ; but the sight of the long rows of men with 
coats and pants and caps all alike, and with their 
feathers, belts, and epaulets, has much to do with 
drawing men into 
an army : the tin¬ 
sel, the glitter, and 
! the bright colors 
catch and please 
the eye. But these 
decorations are 
useful as well as 
ornamental. An 
army is a machine 
to be hurled against 
an enemy, and to 
be effective, all its 
parts must be per¬ 
fect. The officers 
are guide wheels, 
so to speak, and their uniform serves to distinguish 
them, and to mark their rank and authority. 
The regular army, that is the soldiers kept in 
time of peace, is divided into different corps 'or 
classes—the Artillery, or soldiers using cannons; the 
Cavalry or mounted troops ; and the Infantry or 
foot soldiers, armed with muskets or rifles, and bay¬ 
onets. All the men in any one of these classes dress 
alike iu the regular army. 
Volunteers , that is those enlisted for the duration 
of any war, wear a variety of uniforms, each regi¬ 
ment being governed by fancy, or by the garments 
chancing to be supplied to them by the State which 
equips them. Some have light blue coats, and red 
pantaloons • 
others wear 
yellow and 
blue; others 
gray, and so 
on through 
every varie- 
ty and com- 
b i nation. 
Gray cloth¬ 
ing is doubt¬ 
less the best 
for wear and 
for safety , as a man dressed in gray is not a very 
conspicuous object for an enemy to fire at. The 
Officers, however, both of the regulars and vol¬ 
unteers, all wear certain badges by which their rank 
caa be known at a glance. These badges consist 
mainly of marks upon the shoulders or sleeves. The 
following explanation will show' the essential marks. 
Fig. 26. 
Fig. 27. 
Fig. 22, is a picture of the (acting) Commander in 
Chief. His rank is shown by the three silver stars 
on his epaulet, the middle star being the largest. 
The stars may be on a simple strap on the shoul¬ 
der. No other officer wears three silver stars. The 
epaulet or strap is edged with silver lace. 
Fig. 23 shows the distinguishing mark of a Major 
General, who is next in rank to the Commander in 
Chief. Two silver stars are worn on a simple strap 
on the shoulder, or on the epaulet, if that be worn. 
Fig. 24, marks the Brigadier General who com¬ 
mands a brigade, consisting of two or more regi¬ 
ments. This officer wears one silver star on his 
shoulder, either on an epaulet, or on a cloth strap. 
The above marks belong to general officers of a 
large army. The next live belong to the general or 
staff officers of a regiment; and as regiments (of 
about 1000 men) arc being raised all over the coun¬ 
try, most persons w'ill be able to see many of 
the officers wearing them. 
In fig. 29 you have a Colonel, the highest officer of 
a regiment. His distinguishing mark is a silver 
spread eagle on each shoulder, either upon the 
epaulets, or on a cloth strap over each shoulder. 
Fig. 25, marks the Lieutenant Colonel , who is next 
Fig. 29. 
in rank, to the Colonel. He has a silver leaf upon 
each end of the shoulder strap or epaulet, that 
is, two silver leaves upon each shoulder. The 
Major of a Regiment wears similar leaves, but 
they are worked in gold lace instead of silver.—The 
above are commissioned officers. There are three 
officers of a Regi¬ 
ment who have no 
shoulder marks, 
but are distin¬ 
guished by stripes 
or marks on the 
sleeve of the coat 
as follows : Fig. 
20, the Sergeant 
Major, wears on 
the sleeve below 
the shoulder three 
bars or stripes of 
silk, running down 
to a point or angle, 
mm 
ill 
ii * 
Fig. 30. 
Fig. 31 
] 
Fig. 32. 
with three curved cross stripes above them. 
Fig. 27, the Quartermaster's Sergeant wears similar 
bars of silk, but the cross bars at the top are straight, 
and not curved like those of the Sergeant Major. 
Fig. 28, the Ordnance Sergeant, wears three angu¬ 
lar stripes of worsted, and instead of the three cross¬ 
bars, he has a star worked in worsted. -We now 
come to officers of a Company, which consists of 100 
men or less. You will remember that usually 
there are ten companies in a regiment, which are de¬ 
signated by letters of the alphabet from A to K, 
omitting J, thus: Company A, Company B, etc. 
Fig. 30, shows the mark of a Captain, the highest 
officer of a Company. It is a shoulder piece of 
cloth, worked with a gold embroidered edge, and 
has two gold bars on each end. One of these straps 
is worn on each shoulder. 
Fig. 31, marks the 1st Lieutenant of a company, 
who is next under the Captain, 
are like those of 
the Captain, ex¬ 
cepting that they 
have only one gold¬ 
en cross bar in¬ 
stead of two. Four 
regimental offi¬ 
cers, viz., the Sur¬ 
geon, Quartermas¬ 
ter,Paymaster, and 
Commissary , have 
the rank of Lieu¬ 
tenant, and each 
wears the strap 
Ills shoulder straps 
Fig. 33. 
Fig. 35. 
with the gold cross bar at 
each end, and in addition, gold embroidered letters 
designating his department. The Surgeon’s strap 
has the letters M. S., which stand for Medical 
Staff. The strap of the Quartermaster is marked 
Q. I)., for Quartermaster’s Department; the Pay¬ 
master’s is marked P. D., for Paymaster’s Depart¬ 
ment, and the Commissary’s, C. J)., meaning Com¬ 
missary Department. 
Fig. 32, marks the 2nd Lieutenant of a Company. 
It is a simple strap like that of a captain, but has 
no cross bars. The Captain, and 1st and 2nd Lieu¬ 
tenants are “ Commissioned Officers,” and you will 
note that all officers holding commissions from the 
government have the distinguishing marks uqoon 
the shoulders, while the non-commissioned officers 
both of regiments and companies wear their dis¬ 
tinguishing badges upon the arm. 
Fig. 33, marks the First Sergeant, (or Orderly Ser¬ 
geant) of a company. He wears on his arms three 
angular stripes of worsted, with a lozenge or diamond 
above them. (Note that in figures 26 and 27, the 
stripes are of silk). 
Fig. 34, distinguishes the simple Sei’geants of a 
company. There are usually five of these sergeants 
in a company, each one having charge of a platoon 
of about 20 men. The badge consists of three angular 
stripes of worsted, with no mark above. 
Fig. 35, is the badge of a Corporal, the lowest 
officer of a company. This consists of two angular 
worsted stripes worn on the arm. 
The officers and men of the different branches of 
service are further designated by making the straps 
of different colors: Thus the officers, attached to 
the staff of a general have dark blue shoulder straps ; 
those of Artillery officers ar a scarlet : Infantry offi¬ 
cers wear light blue ; Riflemen, are distinguished by 
green badges, and Cavalry by orange. 
Recapitulation. 
Fig. 22—3 silver stars, Commander in Chief 
Fig. 23—2 silver stars, Major General. 
Fig. 24—1 silver star, Brigadier General. 
Fig. 29—silver spread eagle, Colonel. 
Fig. 25—silver leaves, Lieutenant Colonel —Leaves 
in gold, mark the Major. 
Fig. 26—silk bars and curved stripes, Sergeant Major. 
Fig. 27—silk bars and straight cross stripes, Quarter¬ 
master's Sergeant. 
Fig. 28—three angular worsted stripes, and star, 
Ordnance Sergeant. 
Fig 30—two gold bars on each end of strap, Captain 
Fig. 31—one gold bar, First Lieutenant. —One gold 
bar and letters, mark the Surgeon, Quarter¬ 
master, Paymaster, and Commissary. 
Fig. 32—plain gold edged strap, Second Lieutenant. 
Fig. 33—three angular worsted stripes and lozenge 
on arms, Orderly Sergeant. 
Fig. 34—three angular plain worsted stripes, Sergeant. 
Fig. 35—two angular plain worsted stripes, Corporal. 
Problems. 
No. 18 —Elustrated Rebus, suited to the Times. 
This problem was published last month, but as 
only one correct answer has been received, wc 
