Item Description
Original Item. Only One Available. Much like our European cousins in the 1880s, the U.S. Army started to adopt spiked pith helmets, often in white, with all brass mounts and occasionally plumes. These saw active service in the Spanish American War of 1898 especially in the tropical climate in Cuba.
The helmet is marked Size 7⅛ on the sweatband. This is not the type of helmet that was worn in the field, but instead one intended for use with the "dress" uniform for ceremonial occasions. It is beautifully made from cork covered with black fabric, and the sweatband is interestingly boiled gray leather. Due to the fragility of the sweatband, we can not check underneath for a maker or date.
The Helmet plate displays the Great Seal of the United States, with the American Eagle with a banner in its beak stating: E PLURIBUS UNUM. Atop the shield is the number 19, for the 19th Infantry Regiment. Helmet plate is in excellent condition, with all three attachment hooks present. The side cockades over the ears are of crossed Rifles for an Infantry Soldier. There is a great yellow cord wrapped around the helmet, and the original chinstrap is still retained, covered with gold rings. The top has a lovely white plume, which would indicate which unit the soldier was a member of. The liner is also in great shape, with a lovely cream color.
Very nice, great condition for age, ready to display.
The Nineteenth Infantry was organized in conformity with the President's proclamation of May 4, 1861, and the officers were assigned to the regiment in pursuance of General Order No. 33, A. G. O., dated June 18, 1861, and revised by G. O. No. 65 of the same series. One colonel, one lieutenant-colonel, three majors, sixteen captains, twenty-two first lieutenants and two second lieutenants, were named as the officers of the regiment. Seven of them were officers of the regular service, and were transferred to the Nineteenth with an advancement of one grade; ten were from the volunteers; twenty-six from civil life and two,—second lieutenants,—from the ranks of the regular service.
In June, 1874, the regiment was transferred to the Department of the Missouri. The headquarters and two companies went to Fort Lyon, Colorado, and the other companies to the Indian Territory and Kansas.
In the spring of this year the Indians of the Indian Territory went on the war path. The regiment arrived in the Department too late to enter into the active campaign, but the companies of Camp Supply and Fort Dodge were kept on the road most of the time escorting supply trains to the troops in the field under the command of General Miles. Companies A and K were engaged in guarding the railroad and in scouting in central Kansas, and in January, 1875, a detachment of Company K, while returning to Fort Wallace, Kansas, after a successful pursuit and capture of Indians, was caught in a blizzard and had great difficulty in reaching the post.
In the following April, Lieutenant Hewitt and a detachment of Company K were with Troop H, 6th Cavalry, when, in an engagement on Sappa Creek, Kansas, a whole band of Indians was exterminated.
In the fall of 1878, the Indians of Dull Knife's band broke away from the agency in the Indian Territory and attempted to make their way north to the Sioux and Cheyennes in Dakota. Lieut.-Col. Lewis, 19th Infantry, who was then commanding Fort Dodge, Kansas, organized a force to intercept them. The Indians succeeded in crossing the Arkansas River west of Fort Dodge, and Colonel Lewis, with four troops of the 4th Cavalry, Company G, and detachments of Companies D and F, 19th infantry, with Captain Bradford and Lieutenant Gardener, went in pursuit. The Indians were overtaken after a two days' march, and in an engagement which took place Colonel Lewis received a wound which severed his femoral artery and from which he died the next day. In the death of Colonel Lewis the regiment met with an irreparable loss. He possessed in a remarkable degree the most valuable traits of a model soldier. He commanded with sternness, but was always just and was honored and respected by all the officers and men who knew him.
In October, 1879, Company G, mounted, was ordered to New Mexico to take the field against a hostile tribe of Indians, and participated in the campaigns under Colonel Hatch, 9th Cavalry, and Colonel Buell, 15th Infantry. Colonel Buell, in relieving this company from duty with his command, complimented Captain Bradford and Lieut. Gardener in orders.
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