@@markneuman9795 The image is reversed so what looks to us like his right side is actually his left. You can confirm this from the belt buckle. If it was just upside down the letter order would be SU.
Reverse, yes but not upside down. To have one part of an image upside down then all of the image must be upside down. You cannot separate one tiny part of an image.
@@crawford323 - the image is right side up. But the belt buckle is upside down in real life. Mirrors reverse things left- right, but not up-down. Mirrors are weird that way.
As a long time CW reenactor, some of our Confederate reenactors would wear a Union belt buckle upside down and claim it stood for "Southern Union" when asked. Actually we Confederate reenactors wore and used lots of Union articles as did the original Confederate soldier at times. Tom Boyte GySgt. USMC, retired Vietnam 1965-66/1970-71 Bronze Star, Purple Heart
There were a great many soldiers at the outset of the war that had served in the U.S. Army but found themselves suddenly in the Confederate Army due to a plethora of reasons, not least of which being where they and their family were from. In the early days of the war there was a severe shortage of uniforms on the Confederate side and so often the Union uniforms would be worn with the buckle flipped upside down to indicate Southern Nation along with other identifying marks to distinguish themselves from Union soldiers. It wasn't until late in the war that the iconic gray and tan uniforms ubiquitous with the Confederacy came into more common use, but even in the height of their use less than 60% of all Confederate soldiers had been issued the grey uniforms, many still using Union uniforms or civilian clothes.
There's no photographic evidence that Southerners did that except for a single dead Confederate from NC at the Battle of Spotsylvania Court House. The book "State Troops and Volunteers" by Gregg Mast shows many pictures of Confederates wearing US buckles and none of them are upsidedown.
The picture is flipped front to back. The lock on the rifle should be on the right side of the rifle. The buckle is upside down because the soldier is Left-handed. Flipping the belt keeps him from snagging on the loose end of the belt when he reaches for his cartridges. The design of the buckle does not allow the belt to be attached to opposite way, so it must be flipped.
That doesnt make sense to me. If it was a mittor image the U.S. would appear S.U ..... backwards not upside down. Also, even though the belt couldnt be attatched to the other side of the buckle, the whole belt could be flipped upside down and fed through the belt loops stzrting on the rightside of the body instead of the left.
That was the first thing I thought about. There were a lot of situations where the ability to doff your equipment with your weak hand or nor snag clothing on something was the difference between life or death. If we assume that this individual was left-handed, and the buckle was manufactured for a right-handed person, then it would be upside down when the soldier had his gear set for his own comfort and ease of use.
The lock is on the wrong side of the rifle which proves the image is right to left inverted. This happens with all these old photos in the source image. The upside down of the belt may have been simply preference of the wearer since the hook is always on one side of the buckle. The owner may have wanted it on the other side; flipping the belt upside-down is the way to fix that problem. In the CW era people didn't tend to go for little meaningless signals like we do today, they were real people solving real problems...
@@rarebear1166It’s a mirror image. In reality, his lower hand is actually his left hand not his right. I’ve had my picture taken by period photographers and this is how the image comes out.
@@stopspammandm You are correct. The musket is reversed left for right, but not inverted. However, the buckle is both inverted and reversed, which is why the inverted U and the inverted S are in the correct order.
The mirror effect was responsible for the belief that Billy the kid was left handed, to the point that a movie about him is the left handed gun. When in fact he was right handed ,this was only realized fairly recently when a gun expert noticed that the loading gate on the rifle was on the wrong side of the receiver. Thus a reverse image.
Appreciate the interpretation from a historian. As a retired military member, I figured that he had just swapped his belt around for convenience...we often did this for gear in the field to make sure our stuff was kitted on the side we wanted, like in his case a holster or sword and the belt unlatched on the side wanted, not the way originally designed.
It makes complete sense in modern times, but all the rifles, equipment and weapons drills were made for right hand shooters. Even a lot changes were done in the field as soldiers on campaign always did, some would have made fighting in formation nearly impossible. At least it would have be dangerous to the comrades of such a guy.
I am of the opinion that this individual may have been used to cinching up his belt this way in civilian life, for whatever reason, before his military service, and either carried on the way he always had, and/or did it because of convenience as you stated. Further, I would have to say that if civilians didn't care if their images were reversed, it was probably cheaper for the photographer to not buy the reversing lens. When more people in uniform began getting photographed, the lower ranking soldiers probably were photographed by someone who hadn't upgraded his equipment so therefore charged less. The simplest explanation which adheres to all the known facts is probably the correct one.
Here’s another possibility. I’m left handed, so that my natural tendency is to feed my belt through the loops from left to right. This places the buckle upside down. The soldier in the photo is apparently holding his rifle in a right handed fashion, but if the image is reversed then he is actually holding it left handed. So… the soldier is left handed, and a comparatively new recruit, who hasn’t yet got his head around the need to thread his belt from right to left!…?
Here’s another possibility. I’m left handed, so that my natural tendency is to feed my belt through the loops from left to right. This places the buckle upside down. The soldier in the photo is apparently holding his rifle in a right handed fashion, but if the image is reversed then he is actually holding it left handed. So… the soldier is left handed, and a comparatively new recruit, who hasn’t yet got his head around the need to thread his belt from right to left!…?
That is my thought exactly. This is the actual definition of a dragoon, a mounted soldier trained in infantry tactics who was highly mobile because of the horse. If you look to his left rear (picture right) it looks like saber straps hanging down from a belt. The high boots are another giveaway. Riding boots would be highly impractical to wear on a foot march. In fact many cavalry men carried an extra pair of brogans just for when they would be on foot for comfort and to save their expensive riding boots from being ruined.
Hi Ron, your explanation may be true but, the more likely reason for the upside down buckle is that the wearer is left handed. The manner in which those buckles fasten make orientation dependant on the direction the belt is threaded through the belt loops. It's a matter of habit and convenience. Try putting your belt on backwards and you'll understand.
This is a curious image, which is garnering some even more curious comments. Here is my 2 cents worth. The image is not "flipped front to back," which really is impossible. The musket shows the "reverse" side of the stock, as opposed to the lock side, because a soldier would have held it, as pictured, with the wrist of the stock in his right hand, and the muzzle of the weapon raised upward to the left. In order to approximate this pose, our man had to hold the musket reversed in his left hand, and elevate it with his right hand, in order to get it right. Confused yet? Well tighten yur reins, you haven't heard nuttin yet! Our soldier is wearing a frock coat, as opposed to a four button blouse, or shell jacket, which makes it difficult to determine if he was infantry or cavalry. Given the gauntlets and high top boots, but coupled with a full length Model '42 musket, I am thinking Mounted Rifles. Finally, there is the matter of the cartridge box and sling. The sling is being worn over his right shoulder, in order to make it appear as correct, with the cartridge box appearing to be hanging on his "right" hip, which is actually his left. I can not tell if this cartridge box set-up is a photographer's prop or not, because the eagle plate is not clear enough in my viewing of the image. Many times, studios provided reversed equipments in order to overcome the mirror effect of the technology of the period. These observations all progress from a thirty year history of having my image struck, sometimes "in company," and sometimes "solo" by modern collodion artists. If one was fortunate enough to find a patient photographer, he would help us all in our attemps to figure out how to recreate the pose found in an original work that we wished to recreate. thanks for taking the time to read this little epistle. Major William Hibbs, 43rd Virginia Partisan Rangers.
This image is reversed horizontally, When flipped this appears to be a left-handed man holding the musket in a conventional pose, but in reverse. This may support a much simpler answer to the lettering on the belt buckle. As a left-handed person myself there are many things that I instinctively reverse from the way a right-handed person would do them. If this soldier was careless as to the lettering on the buckle and put on his belt unthinkingly as a left-handed person would the buckle would be turned upside down. Not totally convincing I know, but sometimes the simplest explanations are, in fact, the correct ones.
One of the main reasons why people liked the paper photographs was that it required a plate glass negative from which the paper prints were made not only did this you eliminate the reversal as you talk about in in this excellent episode it also was repeatable A tin type or one of the other hard photos that you were talking about are a one off whereas the paper photographs as I mentioned used a glass negative and the photo could be printed over and over and over and over again as many times as you wished as long as the glass plate wasn't broken this was the main reason for the popularity of the paper print.
He may have been making a statement. They all had their own opinions as well. Southern Illinois had a few regiments with more than a few Soldiers who wore pennies on their jackets. They were copperheads. They still did their duty, but they had their own opinions. This country has always been extremely complex. Civil War is never clean. Reverse photo or not, he is wearing the belt upside down.
His statement was that he was left handed and holding his gun left handed. He threaded his belt left handed and that flipped the buckle upside down. If he had any statement at all it would have been, why don't they give me a left handed gun?
A brief Geometry lesson. If a proper belt buckle reading "US" from left to right were reflected across a vertical axis, as described here, the letters would still be upright but read "SU" (with the S backward) from left to right. If reflected across a horizontal axis, you would get both letters upside down, but with the S appearing rotated (with the soldier upside down too). This is most likely the result of a buckle manufacturer doing a shoddy job and producing an "SU" and a soldier making the best of a ridiculous situation. I remember reading a letter by an Ohio commander complaining that his men had been issued pairs of right boots. It's the Army supply train, gotta love it.
This would make sense if the buckle was a mirror image not upside. The simple explanation is that the soldier is left-handed. He puts his belt on left to right going around his waist counterclockwise. Every left-handed person, like me, knows this.
Years ago I heard a kid ask some fellow (that seemed to have some expertise) why it is you saw so many stern facial expressions in photographs of that time period. The gentleman responded with telling the lad how photography was a rather new phenomenon at that juncture in history. Like most cases when a new technology comes along, in those days getting your photograph was a big deal and quite costly. One can only guess that at the dawn of this new technology probably only the wealthy and affluent could afford to get their photos taken. If you were someone with prestige you wanted people to take you seriously, not only in that time period, but also when people saw your image long after you were dead and gone. The idea was that you didn't want to smile because people would think you are not a very serious person. They may even think you were some lunatic or fool that went around smiling with no cause all day and of course if you were a prominent figure, a military man, a political figure, a captain of industry, you couldn't have that. Is there any merit to this claim behind the stern facial expressions in photos of that time period? I also find that claim quite interesting because if you see some of the photos of Confederate and Union soldiers of the Civil War time period, some seem quite playful and like they are really having fun with the camera. In some photos you see some kind of silly facial expressions. I guess with such serious times and so much hardship you had to find a way to have a little fun to keep your sanity. And of course these soldiers were often young men, boys even, boys will be boys.
@@toejam503 yes I have two pic of my GGGMa Freedom. Both r tintype. One was taken in 1844 when she had good teeth She was smiling. The other was taken 20 yr later no smile b/c she had no teeth. Know this b/c we know she wore false teeth form 1860 onward.
Nope. The reason is that the exposure times were so long it was easier to hold a stern face still longer than to hold a smiling face. Any movement would blur the image. So in some photos, you can see supports to hold the subject head still. Or they are seated or leaning on a short pillar for the same purpose to keep your body as still as possible during the exposure. Depending on the light, this could be 30 seconds or longer.
@hitomiuri4029 That makes sense. I have heard about that longer exposure time and having to stay perfectly still, the blur if you didn't. Even as late as the 1980s, with much more modern cameras, getting portraits and family portraits in particular was a big deal. And how many of us kids back in the day got in hot water with Dad for not sitting still and not cooperating when getting portraits taken lol? I could only imagine photographing children and animals in those times with those cameras! It does still make sense what that guy said about affluent and important people not wanting others of their time or people in the future to think they were smiling simpletons though.
I used to do Civil War reenacting and learn during the war when Confederates captured Union supplies Confederate soldiers would take whatever they could use. I remember doning a reenactment where I played a Confederate soldiers wearing a captured Union uniform, I was told to put my US Buckle upside down so as not to confused the other rebel soldiers fighting alone side us, of of course this could been all made up. We joked around saying it stood for Southern Nation or my favorite one was a Southern Nut
The simplest explanation is that the belt is a studio prop (like the gloves etc) and was put on inverted in the photographer's haste to take as many pictures as possible.
Your comments concerning the reversal of the photo ant and the of the belt buckle is further verified with the musket. You will notice that the hammer of the musket appears on the left side of the weapon instead of the right side which only happen if the soldier was left handed.
This is a mirror image photograph. The soldier is left handed. The belt is easier to adjust for a left handed person if it is flipped over. End of story.
@mmistered 1907 is correct about the lock being on the wrong side. That means he is left handed. Would a left handed person turn his belt around so he could fasten his belt in a manner he was more comfortable with? It would be interesting to see more upside down buckle photos to see if they were left handed too.
The lock on the “wrong” side is due to the image being flipped due to the photographic process used, similar to how words on a t-shirt are backwards when you take a selfie. There were no left handed firearms issued to regular line troops and left handed firing was not allowed when your are standing in a line of battle with your shoulder inches away from the person beside you.
It was never said that the rifle was made for left handed shooters. Holding the image to a mirror will show the image as it was suppose to be. I was wrong in stating that the belt was flipped to be used by a left handed person. The tail end of the belt was hanging on the left side. In order to do this, the loop and hook on the under side of the buckle would have to be reversed. If you just turned the buckle around the tail would come out on the right side. Reverse the photo and holding this type of buckle makes this easier to understand.
As a left-hander I feed my belt into the right-side loop, opposite to what right-handers do. This soldier is apparently left-handed (appearing as if right-handed in the reversed image) and if he did the same as I with his belt, I imagine that would account for the upside-down buckle.
The buckle could be upside down because it is a early dragoon buckle. (Kerksis figure 23) It clearly shows a reversed hook configuration. Your cap box needs to be on side the belt plate to keep it from sliding off when unbuckled.
Before listening to your thoughts on this, I'd say that the soldier has flipped his accouterments to the opposite (left) hip in order to give them the appearance of being worn (correctly) on the right hip in this mirror imaged photo. EDIT: On second thought, that doesn't make a lot of sense now that I think about it. The waistbelt, if flipped upside down would ostensibly dump the contents of the cap pouch and the bayonet would fall out of it's scabbard!! The cartridge box was easily swapped over to the left hip though, however the breastplate would be on his back if that was the case. It makes me wonder if the photographer didn't have a set of "reversed" accouterments that he used as props for his subjects or is his m1842 pumpkin slinger a one-off lefthanded model?. 😂
My first thought Was that it may have been a signal that the country was broken. But after reading comments, I believe that it was a matter of convenience.
How does a mirror image magically show the backside of the rifle (that wouldn’t have been in the photo, and make the buckle upside down? Nothing else is obviously reversed/upside down.
The hammer system on his rifle should be on the right side and in this is pictured on the left. So he switched the grasp of his rifle to his left hand, so he would still appear right handed. 🙏
The weapon and it's lock are reversed as the soldier was holding it over his right shoulder and the photo process reversed it. The up and down orientation would also be reversed and the photo is simply flipped to a heads up position. The orientation of the buckle to the soldiers body wouldn't change. For whatever reason he chose to wear it that way.
You might be correct but I'm not buying it. The soldier has his pipe, gloves and boots. The rifle and leather are probably a photographer's props.. I suggest his dress speaks he is a cavalryman.... he uses the photographer's props to look more martial.. (A common thing with photographers ) The photographer probably doesn't have any cavalry weapons or lanyard. The buckle is upside down...not just reversed... but notice his bayonet scabbard is in the correct location.. left side.. this means to me the soldier put the scabbard on his right side so it would be in the correct position when the image was reversed by the photograph. The issue belt has a leather keeper ( a loop) this loop makes it hard to remove the bayonet so it is easier to pull it off the belt from the buckle end. The scabbard has to be taken off because it slopes backward and would be pointing to the front unless it is reversed. This also means the crossbelt that is for the cartridge belt has to be slung over the right sholder in order for it to appear that it is in the correct position in the finished photo. This also means the only way to make the waist belt to appear in the correct position is to turn it upside down. The photos of the time reversed everything.. this ment people had to get clever if they wanted to appear closer to reality. This reverse image is why Billy the Kid was thought to be left handed for a long time. I'm sure many people like me saw the evidence that he wasn't ..the ejection port of his rifle ( not a Winchester .. forgot what) is on the wrong side proving the image is reversed. .. but like me .. they never wrote an article about it. I do like you magazine . Keep it up.
The left-handed soldier might answer the question. I had a buckle like this and you can't turn it upside down without wearing the belt backwards. So perhaps, functionally, this soldier wanted items on his belt attached differently or possible just preferred buckling his belt for his dominant left hand.
Yes, well the hammer on his gun is on the right side. So the photo is reversed and he is left handed ( his left hand is holding the gun just behind the trigger which puts the hammer next to his left thumb. As is common to left handed men, he is wearing the belt in the opposite way a right handed man does - so he tugs the belt tight to the left when buckling the belt.
my only argument with your theory is the shoulder strap crossing the belt buckle. As a photographer for many years, I have seen this before for different reasons, mostly from an upside-down negative, but never verticle like this one. I agree with @beedtlefang's theory because I did the same thing when I was in the military.
It also appears that his cartridge box is worn on the "incorrect" side. It should sit on his right hip, which it *appears* to in the photo. However, the musket's lock plate is clearly on the "wrong" side in the photo. In other words, he intentionally put the cartridge box on his left hip, so it would appear on his right in the photo (this would also mean reversing the strap--easy to do).
@@srgmiller340No, but it supports the idea mentioned in the video that the soldier intentionally "reversed" his equipment to appear "un-reversed" in the image.
@@srgmiller340 yes, clearly. As the video explained, the soldier apparently wanted the "U" to come first, upside down or not. He was "un-reversing" himself.
I would point to the fact that it is not only upside down but it is a reversed image. This man is therefore Left handed and is probably just threading his belt on from the left side making it end up upside down. Left handed people feed the belt from Left to Right... He looks right handed only because this is a backward image from a tin plate.
The image is reversed, as was correctly explained. The entire belt, buckle and all is upside down. The Person in the photo is left-handed. Lefties often thread their belt in the opposite direction of righties, so they can cinch the belt with their dominant hand.
I would have to guess it was so that the "U.S." would not be backwards in the final image.... although it doesn't read, "U.S.", at least the characters were in the right order....?
You are grasping. It was reversed if the person was left-handed, or for some, reversed to stand for Southern Nation. The U being on the right side made no difference if the U was upside down. Info has been passed down in my family since the Civil War.
Individual soldiers in all of history have ways of making their own statement of sentiment, of the times, known, to those paying attention. Remember the "Hawaiian good luck sign"
1. Yes, the image is reversed (looking at the buckle upside down shows it is reversed). 2. The soldier is left handed. Once reversed back you can see only a lefty would hold his rifle with his left hand by the trigger. If ever there was a case for diversity, this is it. Every lefty has had to adapt to something built for a right handed world and they would see that in the belt, quickly. Righties seemed to be befuddled by something so simple.
When trouser buttons are handled new recruits need reminders that civilian life been suspended. It is less punishing than other Non-Commissioned Officer urges.
I Shot left handed because I cant close my left eye by itself. I can tell u he is holding his weapon right handed but with his cartage box on the side it is he shouts left. By the way I may be left handed but I dont miss. As a kid Da made me buy my own ammo I learn not to miss with a kids 22 from a moving tractor shouting rabbits and woodchucks while mowing, raking hay or baling hay. Used just one hand my left no sights. When zero in weapon in basic training Apr 68 I got three round to fire. Put each one right in the meddle in a neat little triangle about 1-1/2 in one each side. The Sgt came up and said low to me. so u can shout gave me three more now zero ur weapon trainee. Five day later I amazed him again by hitting all 81 target when we shot to qualify. I did same with all weapons i qualified with. I dont miss.
I’m not sure I buy this (still plausible) explanation as the most likely read the belt plate is upside down. Perhaps the solder was illiterate and didn’t know it was upside down. Or perhaps he’s wearing photographers’ prop gear and wasn’t careful about how he put them on in the studio.
It has everything to do with the functions of a camera. All photographic cameras (even modern ones) produce a NEGATIVE IMAGE. Even the human eyes produces a negative image on the back of eyeball. That means, when viewed through a camera lens, that up is down and right is left. Dagruerrotypes (on silver) , Ambrotypes (on glass) and Ferrotypes or Tintypes (on metal) are all negative images because they are direct exposures by the camera lens. True positive images require the use of a negative. Ambrotypes are true negatives where the darkest areas of the photo are clear and the whitest areas are cloudy. That is why they are backed with black paper or paint to make the image viable. By taking an Ambrotype style of image, a positive image can be exposed onto photographic paper. The area that receive the greatest light (clear area) turns dark and the cloudy areas get less light and say white. That is why even modern negatives have the emulsion side on the exposure side and are transparent so light can pass through transparent non-emulsion side to create a positive image. You will find many images where soldiers held their muskets on the left side, worn their cartridge boxes, bayonets, and cap boxes on the opposite sides because of the negative effect. This makes the image look more correct, but it is obvious that it is an negative image. You can also tell negative images by the way men and women shirts/coats are buttoned (Right over left for men, left over right for women). Modern photographers using old and reproduction camera still take tintypes of modern re-exactors which almost impossible to tell apart from old tintypes. I have three 1/9th wet plate images of myself from 40 years ago. The three images were taken at the same time using a camera that had 3 lens to produce all the images at the same time. I believe the photographer was using an original camera to do this. It was an easy way to make a few copies for loved ones.
Try this. Write "US" on a piece of pager. Turn it upside down, then look at the backside of the paper while holding it to a light. It appears just as in the photo. The soldier simply had the buckle upside down for some reason.
Your explaination is wasted on 90% of the commentators. They simply cannot grasp that the picture is a solid opaque image. It cannot be viewed from behind which is how a colour slide or a negative is seen, we looked through the reverse side of the modern image! The surface with the image emulsion faces away from the viewer.
You dont even know his name. You have no idea why he wore his belt upside down. Self-proclaimed experts are amazing in how they overestimate how little they actually know. Anyone can see that we dont have a government from, for, and by the people as intended. It is clearly upside down a government over the people like any other.
The belt buckle is upside down because the soldier is left-handed and the belt is looped through the right side, not the left.
Then why is he wearing the cartridge box to his right?
@@markneuman9795 The image is reversed so what looks to us like his right side is actually his left. You can confirm this from the belt buckle. If it was just upside down the letter order would be SU.
@@bryandoehler8962- the rifles cock is also on the left side…
Reverse, yes but not upside down. To have one part of an image upside down then all of the image must be upside down. You cannot separate one tiny part of an image.
@@crawford323 - the image is right side up. But the belt buckle is upside down in real life.
Mirrors reverse things left- right, but not up-down. Mirrors are weird that way.
As a long time CW reenactor, some of our Confederate reenactors would wear a Union belt buckle upside down and claim it stood for "Southern Union" when asked. Actually we Confederate reenactors wore and used lots of Union articles as did the original Confederate soldier at times.
Tom Boyte
GySgt. USMC, retired
Vietnam 1965-66/1970-71
Bronze Star, Purple Heart
You said it gunny. Thank you for your service
We always said that it stood for "Southern Nation" as the inverted U favored the letter n.
There were a great many soldiers at the outset of the war that had served in the U.S. Army but found themselves suddenly in the Confederate Army due to a plethora of reasons, not least of which being where they and their family were from. In the early days of the war there was a severe shortage of uniforms on the Confederate side and so often the Union uniforms would be worn with the buckle flipped upside down to indicate Southern Nation along with other identifying marks to distinguish themselves from Union soldiers. It wasn't until late in the war that the iconic gray and tan uniforms ubiquitous with the Confederacy came into more common use, but even in the height of their use less than 60% of all Confederate soldiers had been issued the grey uniforms, many still using Union uniforms or civilian clothes.
There's no photographic evidence that Southerners did that except for a single dead Confederate from NC at the Battle of Spotsylvania Court House. The book "State Troops and Volunteers" by Gregg Mast shows many pictures of Confederates wearing US buckles and none of them are upsidedown.
The picture is flipped front to back. The lock on the rifle should be on the right side of the rifle. The buckle is upside down because the soldier is Left-handed. Flipping the belt keeps him from snagging on the loose end of the belt when he reaches for his cartridges. The design of the buckle does not allow the belt to be attached to opposite way, so it must be flipped.
Good catch! Sargeant 2nd KY Cavalry, Company B, CSA. RET
That doesnt make sense to me. If it was a mittor image the U.S. would appear S.U ..... backwards not upside down. Also, even though the belt couldnt be attatched to the other side of the buckle, the whole belt could be flipped upside down and fed through the belt loops stzrting on the rightside of the body instead of the left.
The US buckle was worn upside down by CS troops. It's that simple.
But it's only flipped vertically.
If you just turned it over it'd read "SU".
That was the first thing I thought about. There were a lot of situations where the ability to doff your equipment with your weak hand or nor snag clothing on something was the difference between life or death. If we assume that this individual was left-handed, and the buckle was manufactured for a right-handed person, then it would be upside down when the soldier had his gear set for his own comfort and ease of use.
The lock is on the wrong side of the rifle which proves the image is right to left inverted. This happens with all these old photos in the source image. The upside down of the belt may have been simply preference of the wearer since the hook is always on one side of the buckle. The owner may have wanted it on the other side; flipping the belt upside-down is the way to fix that problem. In the CW era people didn't tend to go for little meaningless signals like we do today, they were real people solving real problems...
Why they can't reverse to the correct way, when they reproduce those old photos in documentaries beats me, it's obvious to anyone who is in the know.
@@rarebear1166It’s a mirror image. In reality, his lower hand is actually his left hand not his right. I’ve had my picture taken by period photographers and this is how the image comes out.
@@stopspammandm You are correct. The musket is reversed left for right, but not inverted. However, the buckle is both inverted and reversed, which is why the inverted U and the inverted S are in the correct order.
Yep. The US is mirror imaged as well as the buckle being upside down.
@@glennwhitehead6484 Because they're presenting the image as it would have been presented at the time.
The mirror effect was responsible for the belief that Billy the kid was left handed, to the point that a movie about him is the left handed gun. When in fact he was right handed ,this was only realized fairly recently when a gun expert noticed that the loading gate on the rifle was on the wrong side of the receiver. Thus a reverse image.
Spot on! Thanks.
Appreciate the interpretation from a historian. As a retired military member, I figured that he had just swapped his belt around for convenience...we often did this for gear in the field to make sure our stuff was kitted on the side we wanted, like in his case a holster or sword and the belt unlatched on the side wanted, not the way originally designed.
Before listening, I thought more or less as you did. I thought he was left-handed so putting his belt on the other way would invert the buckle.
It makes complete sense in modern times, but all the rifles, equipment and weapons drills were made for right hand shooters. Even a lot changes were done in the field as soldiers on campaign always did, some would have made fighting in formation nearly impossible. At least it would have be dangerous to the comrades of such a guy.
I am of the opinion that this individual may have been used to cinching up his belt this way in civilian life, for whatever reason, before his military service, and either carried on the way he always had, and/or did it because of convenience as you stated.
Further, I would have to say that if civilians didn't care if their images were reversed, it was probably cheaper for the photographer to not buy the reversing lens. When more people in uniform began getting photographed, the lower ranking soldiers probably were photographed by someone who hadn't upgraded his equipment so therefore charged less. The simplest explanation which adheres to all the known facts is probably the correct one.
Here’s another possibility. I’m left handed, so that my natural tendency is to feed my belt through the loops from left to right. This places the buckle upside down. The soldier in the photo is apparently holding his rifle in a right handed fashion, but if the image is reversed then he is actually holding it left handed. So… the soldier is left handed, and a comparatively new recruit, who hasn’t yet got his head around the need to thread his belt from right to left!…?
Here’s another possibility. I’m left handed, so that my natural tendency is to feed my belt through the loops from left to right. This places the buckle upside down. The soldier in the photo is apparently holding his rifle in a right handed fashion, but if the image is reversed then he is actually holding it left handed. So… the soldier is left handed, and a comparatively new recruit, who hasn’t yet got his head around the need to thread his belt from right to left!…?
This guy may have been a mounted infantryman, explaining the gloves and boots.
That is my thought exactly. This is the actual definition of a dragoon, a mounted soldier trained in infantry tactics who was highly mobile because of the horse. If you look to his left rear (picture right) it looks like saber straps hanging down from a belt. The high boots are another giveaway. Riding boots would be highly impractical to wear on a foot march. In fact many cavalry men carried an extra pair of brogans just for when they would be on foot for comfort and to save their expensive riding boots from being ruined.
Hi Ron, your explanation may be true but, the more likely reason for the upside down buckle is that the wearer is left handed. The manner in which those buckles fasten make orientation dependant on the direction the belt is threaded through the belt loops. It's a matter of habit and convenience. Try putting your belt on backwards and you'll understand.
This is a curious image, which is garnering some even more curious comments.
Here is my 2 cents worth. The image is not "flipped front to back," which really is impossible. The musket shows the "reverse" side of the stock, as opposed to the lock side, because a soldier would have held it, as pictured, with the wrist of the stock in his right hand, and the muzzle of the weapon raised upward to the left. In order to approximate this pose, our man had to hold the musket reversed in his left hand, and elevate it with his right hand, in order to get it right. Confused yet? Well tighten yur reins, you haven't heard nuttin yet! Our soldier is wearing a frock coat, as opposed to a four button blouse, or shell jacket, which makes it difficult to determine if he was infantry or cavalry. Given the gauntlets and high top boots, but coupled with a full length Model '42 musket, I am thinking Mounted Rifles. Finally, there is the matter of the cartridge box and sling. The sling is being worn over his right shoulder, in order to make it appear as correct, with the cartridge box appearing to be hanging on his "right" hip, which is actually his left. I can not tell if this cartridge box set-up is a photographer's prop or not, because the eagle plate is not clear enough in my viewing of the image. Many times, studios provided reversed equipments in order to overcome the mirror effect of the technology of the period. These observations all progress from a thirty year history of having my image struck, sometimes "in company," and sometimes "solo" by modern collodion artists. If one was fortunate enough to find a patient photographer, he would help us all in our attemps to figure out how to recreate the pose found in an original work that we wished to recreate. thanks for taking the time to read this little epistle. Major William Hibbs, 43rd Virginia Partisan Rangers.
This image is reversed horizontally, When flipped this appears to be a left-handed man holding the musket in a conventional pose, but in reverse. This may support a much simpler answer to the lettering on the belt buckle. As a left-handed person myself there are many things that I instinctively reverse from the way a right-handed person would do them. If this soldier was careless as to the lettering on the buckle and put on his belt unthinkingly as a left-handed person would the buckle would be turned upside down. Not totally convincing I know, but sometimes the simplest explanations are, in fact, the correct ones.
Men of arms (men who carry arms daily) often wore their belts there belts in this fashion. I still do to this day.
I second the theory that this soldier was a "lefty"- everything makes sense down to the cartridge box this way.
I saw right away that not only is the buckle upside down it is backwards.
One of the main reasons why people liked the paper photographs was that it required a plate glass negative from which the paper prints were made not only did this you eliminate the reversal as you talk about in in this excellent episode it also was repeatable A tin type or one of the other hard photos that you were talking about are a one off whereas the paper photographs as I mentioned used a glass negative and the photo could be printed over and over and over and over again as many times as you wished as long as the glass plate wasn't broken this was the main reason for the popularity of the paper print.
Your the BEST! thank you for all your amazing content. Keep up the epic work bru.
Ron, if I'm not mistaken the Bushwhackers of Missouri would also turn the US buckles upside down when they went dressed as union soldiers undercover.
He may have been making a statement. They all had their own opinions as well. Southern Illinois had a few regiments with more than a few Soldiers who wore pennies on their jackets. They were copperheads. They still did their duty, but they had their own opinions. This country has always been extremely complex. Civil War is never clean. Reverse photo or not, he is wearing the belt upside down.
His statement was that he was left handed and holding his gun left handed. He threaded his belt left handed and that flipped the buckle upside down. If he had any statement at all it would have been, why don't they give me a left handed gun?
He's infantry, so obviously he's wearing it that way so he can read it.
A brief Geometry lesson. If a proper belt buckle reading "US" from left to right were reflected across a vertical axis, as described here, the letters would still be upright but read "SU" (with the S backward) from left to right. If reflected across a horizontal axis, you would get both letters upside down, but with the S appearing rotated (with the soldier upside down too). This is most likely the result of a buckle manufacturer doing a shoddy job and producing an "SU" and a soldier making the best of a ridiculous situation.
I remember reading a letter by an Ohio commander complaining that his men had been issued pairs of right boots. It's the Army supply train, gotta love it.
Once again, I learn something every time! I will start looking for upside down belt buckles! Thank you!
1:08 Great timing on the ad. "Here is what I can tell you." Then the ad
He’s left handed. I wear a generic belt and wear it upside down to make it easier to undo my pants
This would make sense if the buckle was a mirror image not upside. The simple explanation is that the soldier is left-handed. He puts his belt on left to right going around his waist counterclockwise. Every left-handed person, like me, knows this.
Years ago I heard a kid ask some fellow (that seemed to have some expertise) why it is you saw so many stern facial expressions in photographs of that time period.
The gentleman responded with telling the lad how photography was a rather new phenomenon at that juncture in history. Like most cases when a new technology comes along, in those days getting your photograph was a big deal and quite costly. One can only guess that at the dawn of this new technology probably only the wealthy and affluent could afford to get their photos taken. If you were someone with prestige you wanted people to take you seriously, not only in that time period, but also when people saw your image long after you were dead and gone. The idea was that you didn't want to smile because people would think you are not a very serious person. They may even think you were some lunatic or fool that went around smiling with no cause all day and of course if you were a prominent figure, a military man, a political figure, a captain of industry, you couldn't have that. Is there any merit to this claim behind the stern facial expressions in photos of that time period?
I also find that claim quite interesting because if you see some of the photos of Confederate and Union soldiers of the Civil War time period, some seem quite playful and like they are really having fun with the camera. In some photos you see some kind of silly facial expressions. I guess with such serious times and so much hardship you had to find a way to have a little fun to keep your sanity. And of course these soldiers were often young men, boys even, boys will be boys.
Most didn't smile because they had bad teeth.
@@toejam503 yes I have two pic of my GGGMa Freedom. Both r tintype. One was taken in 1844 when she had good teeth She was smiling. The other was taken 20 yr later no smile b/c she had no teeth. Know this b/c we know she wore false teeth form 1860 onward.
Nope. The reason is that the exposure times were so long it was easier to hold a stern face still longer than to hold a smiling face. Any movement would blur the image. So in some photos, you can see supports to hold the subject head still. Or they are seated or leaning on a short pillar for the same purpose to keep your body as still as possible during the exposure. Depending on the light, this could be 30 seconds or longer.
@hitomiuri4029 That makes sense. I have heard about that longer exposure time and having to stay perfectly still, the blur if you didn't.
Even as late as the 1980s, with much more modern cameras, getting portraits and family portraits in particular was a big deal. And how many of us kids back in the day got in hot water with Dad for not sitting still and not cooperating when getting portraits taken lol? I could only imagine photographing children and animals in those times with those cameras!
It does still make sense what that guy said about affluent and important people not wanting others of their time or people in the future to think they were smiling simpletons though.
Really interesting thanx mate
I used to do Civil War reenacting and learn during the war when Confederates captured Union supplies Confederate soldiers would take whatever they could use. I remember doning a reenactment where I played a Confederate soldiers wearing a captured Union uniform, I was told to put my US Buckle upside down so as not to confused the other rebel soldiers fighting alone side us, of of course this could been all made up. We joked around saying it stood for Southern Nation or my favorite one was a Southern Nut
The simplest explanation is that the belt is a studio prop (like the gloves etc) and was put on inverted in the photographer's haste to take as many pictures as possible.
Your comments concerning the reversal of the photo ant and the of the belt buckle is further verified with the musket. You will notice that the hammer of the musket appears on the left side of the weapon instead of the right side which only happen if the soldier was left handed.
I just seen something else. It is reversed. The lock on the musket is in the left side
This is a mirror image photograph. The soldier is left handed. The belt is easier to adjust for a left handed person if it is flipped over. End of story.
The soldier may have flipped the belt if they were off handed so everything would be in the right spot
Did anyone notice, if the buckle is turned upright, it wou read SU??
Also you have to reverse your belt frequently to prevent the middle of the belt - the back side - from stretching unevenly over time and sagging.
@mmistered 1907 is correct about the lock being on the wrong side. That means he is left handed. Would a left handed person turn his belt around so he could fasten his belt in a manner he was more comfortable with? It would be interesting to see more upside down buckle photos to see if they were left handed too.
The lock on the “wrong” side is due to the image being flipped due to the photographic process used, similar to how words on a t-shirt are backwards when you take a selfie. There were no left handed firearms issued to regular line troops and left handed firing was not allowed when your are standing in a line of battle with your shoulder inches away from the person beside you.
It was never said that the rifle was made for left handed shooters. Holding the image to a mirror will show the image as it was suppose to be. I was wrong in stating that the belt was flipped to be used by a left handed person. The tail end of the belt was hanging on the left side. In order to do this, the loop and hook on the under side of the buckle would have to be reversed. If you just turned the buckle around the tail would come out on the right side. Reverse the photo and holding this type of buckle makes this easier to understand.
As a left-hander I feed my belt into the right-side loop, opposite to what right-handers do. This soldier is apparently left-handed (appearing as if right-handed in the reversed image) and if he did the same as I with his belt, I imagine that would account for the upside-down buckle.
Johnny Ringo's belt buckle was upside down when he was found shot to death in the 1880s.
The image is also "mirrored" backwards too!
I am wondering if the 1842 Musket, the gauntlets, and over the knee boots are photographer props ?
The buckle could be upside down because it is a early dragoon buckle. (Kerksis figure 23) It clearly shows a reversed hook configuration.
Your cap box needs to be on side the belt plate to keep it from sliding off when unbuckled.
The slide needed to be flipped. As shown the buckle reads SU when turned up.
Before listening to your thoughts on this, I'd say that the soldier has flipped his accouterments to the opposite (left) hip in order to give them the appearance of being worn (correctly) on the right hip in this mirror imaged photo.
EDIT: On second thought, that doesn't make a lot of sense now that I think about it. The waistbelt, if flipped upside down would ostensibly dump the contents of the cap pouch and the bayonet would fall out of it's scabbard!! The cartridge box was easily swapped over to the left hip though, however the breastplate would be on his back if that was the case. It makes me wonder if the photographer didn't have a set of "reversed" accouterments that he used as props for his subjects or is his m1842 pumpkin slinger a one-off lefthanded model?. 😂
It's not just upside down, but the letters are also reversed.
My first thought Was that it may have been a signal that the country was broken. But after reading comments, I believe that it was a matter of convenience.
I cound tell this image was mirrored immediately just by the musket lock being on the wrong side
How does a mirror image magically show the backside of the rifle (that wouldn’t have been in the photo, and make the buckle upside down? Nothing else is obviously reversed/upside down.
The hammer system on his rifle should be on the right side and in this is pictured on the left. So he switched the grasp of his rifle to his left hand, so he would still appear right handed. 🙏
He's left handed
The weapon and it's lock are reversed as the soldier was holding it over his right shoulder and the photo process reversed it. The up and down orientation would also be reversed and the photo is simply flipped to a heads up position. The orientation of the buckle to the soldiers body wouldn't change. For whatever reason he chose to wear it that way.
Ya ever heard of
"Upside Down an Backwards" ???
That's these early pictures !!!
His rifle's lock is on the left side, too. They did not have left handed locks on these muskets. :)
Looks like sharps rifle looks like light Cauvery Soldier due to gloves & boots !
You might be correct but I'm not buying it. The soldier has his pipe, gloves and boots. The rifle and leather are probably a photographer's props.. I suggest his dress speaks he is a cavalryman.... he uses the photographer's props to look more martial.. (A common thing with photographers ) The photographer probably doesn't have any cavalry weapons or lanyard. The buckle is upside down...not just reversed... but notice his bayonet scabbard is in the correct location.. left side.. this means to me the soldier put the scabbard on his right side so it would be in the correct position when the image was reversed by the photograph. The issue belt has a leather keeper ( a loop) this loop makes it hard to remove the bayonet so it is easier to pull it off the belt from the buckle end. The scabbard has to be taken off because it slopes backward and would be pointing to the front unless it is reversed. This also means the crossbelt that is for the cartridge belt has to be slung over the right sholder in order for it to appear that it is in the correct position in the finished photo. This also means the only way to make the waist belt to appear in the correct position is to turn it upside down. The photos of the time reversed everything.. this ment people had to get clever if they wanted to appear closer to reality. This reverse image is why Billy the Kid was thought to be left handed for a long time. I'm sure many people like me saw the evidence that he wasn't ..the ejection port of his rifle ( not a Winchester .. forgot what) is on the wrong side proving the image is reversed. .. but like me .. they never wrote an article about it. I do like you magazine . Keep it up.
The left-handed soldier might answer the question. I had a buckle like this and you can't turn it upside down without wearing the belt backwards. So perhaps, functionally, this soldier wanted items on his belt attached differently or possible just preferred buckling his belt for his dominant left hand.
Not only is the buckle upside down but the image is reversed. SU vs US.
why have a complete video, on this....just give an answer...
Yes, well the hammer on his gun is on the right side. So the photo is reversed and he is left handed ( his left hand is holding the gun just behind the trigger which puts the hammer next to his left thumb. As is common to left handed men, he is wearing the belt in the opposite way a right handed man does - so he tugs the belt tight to the left when buckling the belt.
I note that the hammer on the rifle is on the left side, not the right side of the firearm.
my only argument with your theory is the shoulder strap crossing the belt buckle. As a photographer for many years, I have seen this before for different reasons, mostly from an upside-down negative, but never verticle like this one. I agree with @beedtlefang's theory because I did the same thing when I was in the military.
It also appears that his cartridge box is worn on the "incorrect" side. It should sit on his right hip, which it *appears* to in the photo. However, the musket's lock plate is clearly on the "wrong" side in the photo. In other words, he intentionally put the cartridge box on his left hip, so it would appear on his right in the photo (this would also mean reversing the strap--easy to do).
That would not make the buckle the right way up
@@srgmiller340No, but it supports the idea mentioned in the video that the soldier intentionally "reversed" his equipment to appear "un-reversed" in the image.
@@davidfrench12 No it does not the belt buckle is clearly upside down and not just reversed
@@srgmiller340 yes, clearly. As the video explained, the soldier apparently wanted the "U" to come first, upside down or not. He was "un-reversing" himself.
@@davidfrench12 Well it did not work as he is not unreversed as can clearly be seen
Maybe the reason people didn't choose to reverse the original photo is just that there would have been an extra cost for this process.
The Confederates would often do this with captured belts/buckles.
Seen photos of it.
He's a warrior by the look of him.
mounted infantry
I would point to the fact that it is not only upside down but it is a reversed image. This man is therefore Left handed and is probably just threading his belt on from the left side making it end up upside down. Left handed people feed the belt from Left to Right... He looks right handed only because this is a backward image from a tin plate.
The image is reversed, as was correctly explained. The entire belt, buckle and all is upside down. The Person in the photo is left-handed. Lefties often thread their belt in the opposite direction of righties, so they can cinch the belt with their dominant hand.
I would have to guess it was so that the "U.S." would not be backwards in the final image.... although it doesn't read, "U.S.", at least the characters were in the right order....?
He could be left handed, just easier to buckle up.
Alot of folks simply couldn't read
Maybe the soldiers could not read to know which way to wear the belt?
He could be cavalry. Just holding a prop rifle.
You are grasping. It was reversed if the person was left-handed, or for some, reversed to stand for Southern Nation. The U being on the right side made no difference if the U was upside down. Info has been passed down in my family since the Civil War.
Boots and gauntlet gloves tel me calvary
Rifle lock backwRds
Individual soldiers in all of history have ways of making their own statement of sentiment, of the times, known, to those paying attention. Remember the "Hawaiian good luck sign"
1. Yes, the image is reversed (looking at the buckle upside down shows it is reversed). 2. The soldier is left handed. Once reversed back you can see only a lefty would hold his rifle with his left hand by the trigger. If ever there was a case for diversity, this is it. Every lefty has had to adapt to something built for a right handed world and they would see that in the belt, quickly. Righties seemed to be befuddled by something so simple.
When trouser buttons are handled new recruits need reminders that civilian life been suspended.
It is less punishing than other Non-Commissioned Officer urges.
Mounted infantry
maybe he's left handed
I Shot left handed because I cant close my left eye by itself. I can tell u he is holding his weapon right handed but with his cartage box on the side it is he shouts left.
By the way I may be left handed but I dont miss. As a kid Da made me buy my own ammo
I learn not to miss with a kids 22 from a moving tractor shouting rabbits and woodchucks while mowing, raking hay or baling hay. Used just one hand my left no sights.
When zero in weapon in basic training Apr 68 I got three round to fire. Put each one right in the meddle in a neat little triangle about 1-1/2 in one each side. The Sgt came up and said low to me. so u can shout gave me three more now zero ur weapon trainee. Five day later I amazed him again by hitting all 81 target when we shot to qualify. I did same with all weapons i qualified with. I dont miss.
I’m not sure I buy this (still plausible) explanation as the most likely read the belt plate is upside down. Perhaps the solder was illiterate and didn’t know it was upside down. Or perhaps he’s wearing photographers’ prop gear and wasn’t careful about how he put them on in the studio.
It has everything to do with the functions of a camera. All photographic cameras (even modern ones) produce a NEGATIVE IMAGE. Even the human eyes produces a negative image on the back of eyeball. That means, when viewed through a camera lens, that up is down and right is left. Dagruerrotypes (on silver) , Ambrotypes (on glass) and Ferrotypes or Tintypes (on metal) are all negative images because they are direct exposures by the camera lens.
True positive images require the use of a negative. Ambrotypes are true negatives where the darkest areas of the photo are clear and the whitest areas are cloudy. That is why they are backed with black paper or paint to make the image viable. By taking an Ambrotype style of image, a positive image can be exposed onto photographic paper. The area that receive the greatest light (clear area) turns dark and the cloudy areas get less light and say white. That is why even modern negatives have the emulsion side on the exposure side and are transparent so light can pass through transparent non-emulsion side to create a positive image.
You will find many images where soldiers held their muskets on the left side, worn their cartridge boxes, bayonets, and cap boxes on the opposite sides because of the negative effect. This makes the image look more correct, but it is obvious that it is an negative image. You can also tell negative images by the way men and women shirts/coats are buttoned (Right over left for men, left over right for women).
Modern photographers using old and reproduction camera still take tintypes of modern re-exactors which almost impossible to tell apart from old tintypes. I have three 1/9th wet plate images of myself from 40 years ago. The three images were taken at the same time using a camera that had 3 lens to produce all the images at the same time. I believe the photographer was using an original camera to do this. It was an easy way to make a few copies for loved ones.
Or...he put the belt on upside down by mistake.
It can't be upside down because if it were right side up it would show SU
and not US
I assumed that it meant that that soldier turned his buckle upside down when he went South of the Mason-Dixon line or into confederate territory.
The photo must also be reversed, or the letter "U" woul be on the other side.
Try this. Write "US" on a piece of pager. Turn it upside down, then look at the backside of the paper while holding it to a light. It appears just as in the photo. The soldier simply had the buckle upside down for some reason.
It's not upside down because if you flipped it, it would be SU
Looks like they wanted to be represented as the Northern States not the fed. Upside down it looks like ns , maybe northern states?
Your explaination is wasted on 90% of the commentators. They simply cannot grasp that the picture is a solid opaque image. It cannot be viewed from behind which is how a colour slide or a negative is seen, we looked through the reverse side of the modern image! The surface with the image emulsion faces away from the viewer.
Because he didn't have a pineapple?
You dont even know his name. You have no idea why he wore his belt upside down. Self-proclaimed experts are amazing in how they overestimate how little they actually know. Anyone can see that we dont have a government from, for, and by the people as intended. It is clearly upside down a government over the people like any other.
The subject was upside down belt buckle. Too long winded and strayed from topic.
Illiterate Soldiers?
Billy the kid is right handed. Not. Left the photo is reversed .........reversed. Is not upside down .....
When in a bit of hard time I've done no different.
He is left handed....with the image reversed he would have his left finger on the trigger
He's left handed.
HE IS LEFT HANDED. Figure it out.
Left handed maybe ?
This guy doesn't know what he is talking about.
Southern nation a confederate would ware what they could find .although this soilder is a union fellow
Could it be that many of these soldiers were illiterate so the initials meant little to them &/or they were left handers