White Gloves on the Avenue

[Pvt Schnapps]

Every once in a while I see a post about white gloves, usually accompanied by questions about their authenticity. They aren't an issue item, but occasionally one sees photos of troops on parade wearing them. Here's another spotting of them in a somewhat different context. It comes from the diary of Horatio Nelson Taft (available on the Library of Congress website), in an entry for December 14, 1864, on the bustling crowds of Pennsylvania Avenue in Washington City:

"But these characters have diverted our attention from the great moveing throng on the "Ave." Here comes the Patrol guard, a dozen or so of well dressed soldiers with white gloves and polished shoes, and bright muskets. A Lieut is a little a head and stops the guard before a Hotel while he enters and addresses himself to all "shoulder straps," who must show their "passes." The same with all soldiers on the street."

[Regular3]

Every once in a while I see a post about white gloves, usually accompanied by questions about their authenticity. They aren't an issue item, but occasionally one sees photos of troops on parade wearing them. Here's another spotting of them in a somewhat different context. It comes from the diary of Horatio Nelson Taft (available on the Library of Congress website), in an entry for December 14, 1864, on the bustling crowds of Pennsylvania Avenue in Washington City:

"But these characters have diverted our attention from the great moveing throng on the "Ave." Here comes the Patrol guard, a dozen or so of well dressed soldiers with white gloves and polished shoes, and bright muskets. A Lieut is a little a head and stops the guard before a Hotel while he enters and addresses himself to all "shoulder straps," who must show their "passes." The same with all soldiers on the street."I bet that was a detail of the Third Infantry - They were a major part of the city guard at that time ... And Captain John A. Wilkins being the man he was, I can see him putting them in white gloves (polished shoes, goes without saying - they were Regulars after all).