New-York tribune., 1900-04-05
THE PASSING THRONG.

Last week. while the military tournament in
progress the Madison Square Garden" said
retired officer Of the Army yestcr-
WAY TO day. Il was asked dozens of ques-
TELL AN tions as to what this that the
OFFICERS other marking insignia on the
RANK. uniforms meant. 1t may there
fore, not be without interest to de-
scribe the difference In the various uniforms and
what those differences signify. To begin with
officer may be distinguished by his shoulderstraps
and the marking within that shoulderstrap will tell
you what his rank s. general has an eagle be-
tween two stars; Heuenantg general one large star,
ianked by two smaller ones; major general two
stars; brigadler general one star colonel silver
eagle: Iieutenant-colonel. two silver oak leaves;
major. two golden oak leaves; captain. two bars
either end of the shoulderstrap first lieutenant,
a single. bar at either end Of the shouderstrap;
marking. Then come the non-commissioned oni-
termed T Their rank Is desisnated by the snevrons
on their sleeves follows: Sergeant major of a
regimsnta or Sn'
nn hee epa bars tG and G hospa
three bars and an arc OF one bar incosng red
two bars.
The different branches of the service to which
the men belong" continued the officer. ARE shown
by the insignia the officers
AND HIS headgear and collars, and by
BRANCH OF tho relieving colors of their uni
SERVICE forms. The artillery is red which
in the case Of the officers shows
In the field of the shouderstraps. in the stripe on
the trousers and the lining Of the cloak their In
sigma is the crossed cannons; the cavalry Is yellow
their insignia crossed swords: the infantry
white the insignia the crossed rifles the engineers
red. the insignia the cestle the signal corps or
ange the insignia the crossed flags. and the medi-
cal corps green, the insignia the Maltese cross.
''Chaplains wear shoulderstraps showing a cross
on black field These markings and insignia
refer only to what is known the line. In the
staff the prevailing is dark blue. stripes
worn on the trousers and the field of the shout
derstraps is dark blue. The departments 10 which
the markings on the collars of their coats In adj
dtton 10 these various means of distinguishing
uniforms. there are differences in the arrangement
of the buttons their coats. the braiding their
sleeves ana the style OF their headsear and the
If you Will follow what have told you you
tel the rank and to what branch of the service
almost any officer YOU may run across belongs.
"Epigrammatic, breezy and with an intuition that
leads them TO straight TO the point. said r. W.
Crothers. of San Francisco yester
ADVER- day the Hotel Imperial. such
TISING IN A Bret Harte has taught us is the
MINING language of the Western miner
CAMP. and frOntiersman, and while Harte
wrote himself into fame-I would
could also say fortune-through depicting life in
California in the sixties and fftes do think
the terse style that he made famous has by any
means been done away with. The other day
camp in which | interested which I think
proves what say 1t reads follows:
"'FELIOw PILGRIMS
In order to benefit humanity and myself I will
insert advertisements Of any line of business
pying about the space of this "ad'-