Techically the term "Constitutional Army" is something of a misnomer, as Huerta retained the old Federal Army until his .Lall from power in July, 1914. 111is successor, Venustiano Carranza, finally disbanded the Federal Army on his accession and raised a new government army which, for political reasons, he referred to as the "Constitutional Army", though, in fact, the new Mexican constitution was not to be adopted until 1917. For that matter, the various rebel armies also claimed to be "Constitutional Armies", at least in the sense that they were fighting for a new constitution. I use the term here simply as a convenient label to cover the various forces using the new uniforms adopted in 1913-14.
In 1913 President Huerta promulgated a new "Reglamento de Uniformes para Generales, Jefes, Oficiales, Cadetes y Tropas del Ejercito Nacional", accompanied by a folio of 115 colour plates illustrating the new uniforms (which is said to be magnificent, though, unfortunately, I've never seen them]. Unfortunately, this work of art was subsequently found to contain numerous errors and omissions, so a revised and corrected edition was issued in April, 1914. The uniforms described and illustrated in these two works are frequently referred to as the "Model 1914" uniforms. These new uniforms were in the process of coming into use when the Huerta regime was overthrown in July of that year, and were subsequently to be adopted as the basis for the uniforms of the new "Constitutional Army" through the rest of the war.
They were not adopted in their entirety, however, and limited resources, con-Fusion and lack of centralized control led to a good deal of variation in the items actually used. In some cases there was so much variation that it becomes difficult [if not impossible] to determine exactly which was the "regulation" item or practice.
The 1913-14 regulations were designed to get rid of all the "Prussian frippery" of the old 1905 uniforms, abolishing the expensive spiked helmets, plumes, epaulets,sashes, etc. and replacing them with a more sober "revolutionary" uniform [which continued to retain a rather "Germanic" look!. The full dress uniforms prescribed by the 1913-14 regulations were never in fact adopted [which probably explains why senior officers of the Huerta regime were frequently photographed wearing the old 1898 and 1905 full dress uniforms for ceremonial occasions].It was not to be until the dress regulations of 1919 that a new full dress uniform was actually adopted.
The uniforms actually adopted and worn were the "dark blue" Service and Garrison uniform [this doubled as a full dress uniform if required], and the campaign uniform. The service uniform was actually a blue-black [so dark it was to be officially designated as "black" by the 1919 dress regulations] with branch of service coloured facings: "garance" red for infantry and gendarmerie, a lightish blue [known as "hussar blue"] for the cavalry and Presidential Guards, crimson for artillery and general staff, cobalt blue for engineers, etc.
The regulation headgear was a blue-black service cap of rather germanic style, with band and top piping of branch of service colour. Officers continued to wear the metallic lace rank stripes circling the cuff, but their epaulets were to be replaced by "straps" running transversely across the lower end of the shoulder [based on those worn in the U.S. Army during the latter half of the 19th century]. N.C.O.s were now officially authorized branch-coloured stripes circling the lower sleeve to indicate rank [as mentioned in part 1 of this article, these may have been already in use by 1913-14].
The campaign uniform was to be similar in cut to the service uniform. it was officially described in the 1913 and 1914 dress regulations as "lead grey", though, in fact, the colour finally adopted was khaki, generally of an olive or greenish shade [but not before many officers had already had "lead grey" uniforms made, some of whom continued to wear them until they wore out!. The campaign uniform was not to have any coloured trim [apart from N.C.O.s rank stripes and musicians "Golpes"]; instead branch of service was to be indicated by a branch badge worn on the front of the headgear [crossed rifles with a vertical bugle superimposed for infantry crossed sabres for cavalry, crossed cannon with a small flaming bomb above the point of cross for artillery, the gabion on crossed pick and shovel for engineers, etc].
Officers rank insignia on the campaign dress was officially to be displayed only on the transverse shoulder "straps", and [apparently] on the front of the cap band. Headgear could be either the khaki peaked service cap [identical in form to the blue- black model or a khaki-covered sun helmet. For tropical wear there was to be a white cotton or sailcloth version of the campaign uniform, to be worn with one or the other of the khaki headgear.
Uniforms of the Mexican Army: Constitutional Army 1913-1917
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