Upvote:6
IMHO, that it is an imitation of the cavalry uniform. Reasons:
A cheap imitation of a uniform could exist in the later Confederation, (But the hat needs a special legend) or simply a theatre imitation. By the way, the theater imitation could explain why somebody in the 19th century wanted to be expensively photoed in such cheap and disordered clothes. Normally, any sergeant would punish a private so untidy.
Oh! It could also be an imitation especially for photographing. Then the photo could be made not so far ago, really - everywhen.
I would say, they wanted to imitate something as the third or the eleventh person here:
Upvote:17
The uniform here is a musicians uniform, civil war era.
A picture at the Library of Congress shows an individual wearing a similar uniform.
The image has the label (emphasis mine)
[Private George V. Capron, bugler, of Co. G, 2nd Connecticut Heavy Artillery Regiment in uniform]
Another LOC image shows another musician, this one with sword.
Caption reads (emphasis again mine):
[Two unidentified soldiers in Union uniforms, one wearing musician's uniform and holding Model 1840 musician's sword, the other holding Colt Model 1851 Navy revolver]
The sword on his belt in the OPs image is a better match for the 1840 NCO sword however, not the expected 1840 musicians sword. You can see both side by side at this web site: