Military War Eagles

Military War Eagles

A short History of Colonel Rank and War Eagles

This article deals with the rank insignia of United States' Colonel's.

The method of identifying colonels was initially established by General George Washington on July 23, 1775 when he stated: "…the field officers may have red or pink colored cockades in their hats, …". Although there is evidence that colonels wore the eagle as rank insignia in 1829 when they transferred the gold or gilt eagles that decorated their hat cockades to their collars. In 1832, gold eagles were authorized for infantry colonels because they were placed on silver epaulettes and silver eagles to be placed on gold epaulettes were authorized for all other colonels.

In 1851, the silver epaulettes for infantry was abolished and all epaulettes became gold. As a result, all colonel insignia of grade became silver. The 1851 regulation included illustrations which show the embroidered eagle on the shoulder strap faced the arrows while the eagle worn on the epaulettes faced the olive branch. Apparently due to the lack of specifications, the direction of the eagle’s head depended upon the manufacturer.