Imperial Brazilian Uniforms
During the War of
the Triple Alliance

Part 4: General Staff and Engineers

Figure 9-12

By C. A. Norman


FIGURE 9: "Cabo de Esquadra" (Squad Corporal), Battalion of Engineers, Service, c.1865: Dark blue kepi with black band and chinstrap, the vertical seams also appear to be piped black, but this is not entirely clear, dark blue tunic with black collar and cuff flaps (the cuffs appear to be without piping), brass buttons, yellow (metal) collar badge, dark blue epaulets edged white with large woollen crescents, 2 black rank stripes piped white on the lower left sleeve. Dark blue trousers, black gaiters, belts and pouch, the cartridge pouch on the front of the waistbelt suggests he might be armed with a musketoon on campaign.

FIGURE 10: Engineer, Battalion of Engineers, Campaign, c.1866-70: Kepi in white cover, dark blue tunic with black collar, cuffs flaps and cuff piping, brass buttons and collar badge, epaulets as for the last figure, white trousers, black belts and equipment, the brown cowhide pack has some sort of black cloth hanging down on the left side, the large dark blue roll on the top appears to be wrapped in black oilcloth, light brown bread-bag on the right hip, a dark grey or black waterbottle on the left. Armament consists of a short musketoon and a sabre-bayonet, needle and brush hanging from a black strap on the left breast. About the only visible wartime change is the abolition of the gaiters. The "Barroso" plates are rather sketchy about the placement of piping on certain elements of the uniform, the cuffs, for instance, the vertical seams of the kepi, possibly even the front opening of the tunic. Presumably this is due primarily to the lack of contrast between the dark blue base colour and the black facings. Whether the variations in the figures depicted mirror reality, or are due to sloppy colouring, or simply a lack of precision in the source material is problematic.

FIGURE 11: Engineer, Working Dress, c.1866-70: From a background sketch depicting 2 engineers apparently digging a trench, one wears a plain light brown working uniform with dark buttons and no other trim, the other has a lightish grey uniform of almost identical cut with brass buttons (possibly a pre-war working uniform). Both wear "tropical" barracks caps with white tops, plain dark blue turn-ups and black tassels, one having a white neck covering hanging down.

FIGURE 12: Artificer, "Second Uniform", c.1865: Entirely dark blue kepi trimmed with red piping, white chinstrap , dark blue tunic with dark blue collar and cuffs piped red, red cuff flaps and front piping, black collar patches piped red, brass buttons and red epaulets piped dark blue with black woollen crescents. White summer trousers over black gaiters, white belts and right breast straps for the brush and picker.

Uniform Plates


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