The Winter 2020 Military Collector & Historian Cover from the Journal of the Company of Military Historicans highlights the the 1870 Fenian Green Regulation Uniform. The description is written by Rene Chartand and drawn by Ron Volstad, courtesy the History and Heritage Directore, Department of National Defence, Ottawa.
This article is a good primer on who the Fenians were, their regulation uniform as well as buttons, worn by Fenians within the enlisted ranks. One thing different in this drawing is the odd blue miltary hat, with a dark band and red and white piping which has not normally been seen before, nor described in any newspapers. This certainly is not a Fenian regulation cap. It looks more like a Canadian or European shako style hat with visor & piping. There also is an ornament on the front of the hat, likely a company letter or regimental number.
Fenian cap regulation of 1866 stated the irish Harp should be on the front and a company letter. We have covered the Fenian uniform before here in other posts, where the regulation hat was a blue cap (patterned after the US Civil War model), with a 1 1/2 inch green felt band around the bottom. This design was likely chosen because it could be pick up cheaply in large quantites from Civil War Federal supply surplus and be easily modified with the green felt around the band.
This hat shown here in this drawing was what was reportedly captured with the green Fenian Cavalry jacket in 1870 and now on display at the National Historic Sites, Parks Canada, however has now been lost. Forunately it was documented and used with this Fenian figure.
In these photos, the Fenian’s uniform jacket appears almost dark blue, however it is dark green when one shifts the hues and looks more closely.
You can read the entire quarterly Military Collector & Historian Journal by following this link.
I would recommend any serious student of Military History become a member of the Company of Military Historians and checking out their website: https://military-historians.org/
Above is the captured Fenian jacket which is referred to in this article.
American Fenians 