Speaking of buttons, whats the origin of those confounded ornamental buttons on the sleeves of some uniforms?
Several sources agree that the original purpose of ornamental buttons was to keep soldiers (or homesick midshipmen on their first cruise) from wiping their nose on the sleeves of their dress uniforms. The first uniforms that could be called such in the present sense of the word were those fitted for the household troops of Louis XIV (seventeenth century). By 1700 almost all soldiers in Europe wore uniforms. Prior to the seventeenth century, soldiers conformed to the civilian dress of the time and were distinguished only by their military arms and equipment. The armies of the old Roman Empire did not wear a true uniform. They did, however, present a somewhat uniform appearance by virtue of having helmets, body armor, shields and weapons of a more or less standard design. Did you know commissioned officers wore chevrons long before noncommissioned officers did? Inverted gold chevrons were used by the British Army up until 1830. Their use in the U.S. Army appears to have come into vogue a
