Tie on Shoulder Boards

[Redcoat Surgeon]

I know that I have seen them before and for the life of me do not remember who was carrying them. They are Union Officer's shoulder boards that you were able to tie onto your frock coat via small holes in the garment. If anyone knows who was making them, it would be appreciated.

Thanks,
John Ferrannini
Asst Surgeon, 1st Lt.
67th NY

[Co D-1st FL]

Sekela has pin on Boards now.

[PMB1861]

I know that I have seen them before and for the life of me do not remember who was carrying them. They are Union Officer's shoulder boards that you were able to tie onto your frock coat via small holes in the garment. If anyone knows who was making them, it would be appreciated.

John, you can make them yourself. Take four foot long lengths of 1/4 or 3/8 inch wide black cotton or wool tape, center one piece underneath the long sides of each shoulder board, whip stitch them in place and you have a pair of removable shoulder boards.

Putting the holes in the frock coat is harder.

[Redcoat Surgeon]

Thanks for the info. My question now is when do you wear the shoulder strap -v- the epaulette? Would an officer have had two frock coats, one for the shoulder straps and the one with the epaulette hardware attached? Or would it just be one frock coat with the hardware already attached and provision for the "tie-on" or "pin-on" shoulder straps?

YHS,
John Ferrannini
Asst Surgeon, 1st Lt.
67th NY

[Boyd Miles]

That would depend upon your financial situation, if you could afford to have a full dress uniform that you kept put away for those rare occasions you need one then you would have more than one coat. This also gets into where and when you are, working in a hospital or on somebody's staff in Washington or Richmond in 1861 is a different world than somewhere northwest of Atlanta in 1864 and would have different clothing requirements. You are asking about facts in isolation when there is an ecosystem of sorts that you need to adapt to, can't advise what to wear when we don't know what the occasion is.

[ScottWashburn]

I've had tie-on shoulder boards for my frock coat for years. For the ties I just use shoe laces I've seen some original boards and the ties look almost exactly like shoe laces. As noted, the tricky part is putting the holes in the coat for the ties to go through. I'd suggest getting a tailor to put in some stitched eyelets--but be darn sure you know where you want them first! I sewed the ties onto the shoulder straps first and then stuck the shoulder boards on the coat using pins and then carefully marked exactly where the ties would go through the coat. And there's no problem with having the full-dress epaulets on the same coat. The one attachment will go right where the shoulder boards go so they cover it up when you are wearing them. The other attachment is by the collar and isn't very noticeable when you aren't wearing the epaulets.