Spanish-American War 1898 (Brassey's History of Uniforms)

Rating:
Summary: Definitive Study for its Period
Review: This book covers more than just uniforms, it covers all the items carried or worn by the individual soldiers in this disease-ridden war. Congratulations to the author and the illustrator. This is a valuable compendium, of a size larger than octavo so that the plates are clear, and well constructed. I have been researching the U.S. arms, uniforms, and accoutrements of this period for some forty years now. It takes much more than a slew of pictures and a few gee whizzy captions to impress me. This work does--not only does it cover the details of the uniforms, it also covers the accoutrements and arms of the contending soldiers of both nations. I can vouch for the accuracy of the U.S. portion of the book. The detail shown herein on the Spanish forces, as far as I know, has not been readily available in English at all. Though I have not pursued detailed research on Spanish arms, clothing, and accoutrements, I have kept my eyes out for published materials, and I have not seen it. As much of the non-metallic materiel of this period was subject to hard usage in the field, and because the U.S. soldiers' clothing and equipments were burned for sanitary purposes upon the troops' return home, the cloth and leather of this period that actually saw service in campaign is extremely rare. What is now available is mostly web belts sold off as surplus and firearms and edged weapons the same.