This surgeon’s frock coat was worn by Lieutenant Ferdinand Brother, 8th Missouri State Militia Cavalry, and is complete with belt, buckle, shoulder straps and sash. The green sash indicates that the wearer was an officer in the medical department. A red sash was worn by company and field grade officers of the Union infantry, cavalry and artillery branches, and a buff sash designated general officers.
Brother, born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania in 1833, graduated from McDowell Medical College in St. Louis in 1862. He was mustered into the regiment as an assistant surgeon in May 1862. He was the post surgeon at Lebanon, Missouri, for a time in 1863, and was mustered out in May 1865. After the war, he moved to Beatrice, Nebraska and continued to practice medicine. He was a member of the Grand Army of the Republic, and died on December 7, 1920 in Beatrice.
Image Courtesy Wilson’s Creek National Battlefield; WICR 30624
