Help with ID of Military Photo

Hi all,

First time posting here but I usually hang out in the cointalk forum that is a sister to this site.

We bought an old needlepoint sampler from 1881 from eBay from a seller in Texas.

My wife cleaned the needlepoint and found it wrapped around this old photo, which is way cooler than the needlepoint.

I think it’s US Infantry, but can’t determine year, location, or any other info. I’m surprise that there is no regiment info on the uniforms.

Any help with any info you can ascertain would be great.

 

Ps - there is no writing in the margins of the photo and it is glued down to a sheet. We don’t want to harm it by trying to separate it.

 

JMHO. could be Scottish. broad rank stripes and cap with L/H sign

 

Certainly not American. With Glengarry bonnets, a Scottish regiment most likely. Here's a list of them, present and past, from both Scotland and colonies. You should be able to identify by cap badge.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scottish_regiment

Debora

 

According to this, two regiments -- The Black Watch and Queen's Own Cameron Highlanders -- wear glengarries without dicing. You might want to start there.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glengarry

Debora

 

Thanks for all the help. We’ll do some further investigation and keep this thread posted.

 

Welcome to Antiquers, @frankjg75 --

Nice photo... Any handwriting on this, or other marks? I assume not because most likely you would have mentioned it. But asking just in case.

 

Nope, no writing what-so-ever

 

....just an idea...

 

I'd love to see the sampler. Just because I like that sort of thing.

 

For those with tired necks...

 

Here you go

It’s in rough shape but didn’t cost a lot. And now we have a mystery to solve

 

I checked out some info on the regiment online. I though it could be them too, however, the badge on the hat is not the same as in our picture.

 

I can't make it out, can you read what it says?

 

Sorry, meant to post what it says.

A. Lee 186(4?) AD (can’t make out the rest)

 

needlepoint...not sure that qualifies as a sampler though..

 

Update on the photo

My wife heard back from the Scottish Military Research Group through Facebook. They said that the soldiers are not Scottish and that they don’t recognize the hat badge.

We are now looking at British rifle brigades since the badges appear to match.

http://www.britishmilitarybadges.co...prince-consorts-own-regiment-cap-badge-3.html

More to come

 

I would call it a sampler. Plus, I'm betting it will clean up fairly well.

That said, a name like "A. Lee" is so disappointing from a research perspective.

 

You have the picture in hand, I do not... but I'm not convinced that badge is a match. You may have already done this, but I would do separate highest-possible resolutions of a sample of the hats (individual scan for each). These are the ones I'd pick...

 

I’m using my jewelers loop and hand magnifier (for coins) and it the badge really looks like a cross in a wreath with a knob (crown?) on top. Just my opinion though.

A little more investigation shows that this regiment did wear Glengarrys starting in 1864.

We reached out to the regimental museum to see what they think.