Hi Gang
Since July 19 is the 139th anniversary of the beginning of the 1870-71 Franco-German War, I thought some might enjoy a few pictures of our M1860 French Infantry Shako. It is entirely made of leather with a removable brass eagle plate with the regiment number 48 below. This was more or less a universal pattern (as far as I know) for foot troops with different brass helmet plates for different branches, pioneers, light infantry and so on. Interestingly many of the helmet plates that I have examined tend to be dated on the reverse as this example is. I believe the pompom is the correct pattern for this Shako but I'm not sure. Hopefully some of our French colleagues could shed some light on this question.
By the time of the declaration of war in July of 1870 the French Army had adopted another pattern of shako, however it is quite probable that many of this pattern saw service during that conflict, they certainly did during the Mexican Campaign of 1862-1866. As handsome as they are they were quite unpopular with the troops, with the men prefering the much more comfortable Kepi for wear.
On a final note, during the American Civil War 1861-1865, we imported around 10,000 of these for wear by various state troops, an example would be the 83rd Pennsylvania Infantry. They weren't popular here either. After the war Francis Bannerman bought the remainder as surplus and sold them through his business for many years. They are readily available today on the collectors market, albeit with an American eagle front plate, no French issue tags inside (ours is dated 1864) and a reversing of the colors on the cockade.
One of our favorite pieces of heardgear..the last image shows young French soldier posed with his 1860 pattern shako.
Larry
Since July 19 is the 139th anniversary of the beginning of the 1870-71 Franco-German War, I thought some might enjoy a few pictures of our M1860 French Infantry Shako. It is entirely made of leather with a removable brass eagle plate with the regiment number 48 below. This was more or less a universal pattern (as far as I know) for foot troops with different brass helmet plates for different branches, pioneers, light infantry and so on. Interestingly many of the helmet plates that I have examined tend to be dated on the reverse as this example is. I believe the pompom is the correct pattern for this Shako but I'm not sure. Hopefully some of our French colleagues could shed some light on this question.
By the time of the declaration of war in July of 1870 the French Army had adopted another pattern of shako, however it is quite probable that many of this pattern saw service during that conflict, they certainly did during the Mexican Campaign of 1862-1866. As handsome as they are they were quite unpopular with the troops, with the men prefering the much more comfortable Kepi for wear.
On a final note, during the American Civil War 1861-1865, we imported around 10,000 of these for wear by various state troops, an example would be the 83rd Pennsylvania Infantry. They weren't popular here either. After the war Francis Bannerman bought the remainder as surplus and sold them through his business for many years. They are readily available today on the collectors market, albeit with an American eagle front plate, no French issue tags inside (ours is dated 1864) and a reversing of the colors on the cockade.
One of our favorite pieces of heardgear..the last image shows young French soldier posed with his 1860 pattern shako.
Larry
