Ackermann’s small series of 44 prints includes this officer of the 79th Highlanders at no.42, published on 25 May 1853. The jacket is the pre-Crimean style which is waist-length at the front with small turn-back tails at the back. It was scarlet with green facings, double breasted and laced with gold on the collar, cuffs and tails. The gold epaulettes identify the officer as belonging to a battalion company. The kilt is in the tartan of Cameron of Erracht and has a fine sporran of goat hair with six gold tassels. The cantle is a richly decorated gilt shape with 79 in the centre. His steel-hilted broadsword is suspended from a white shoulder belt having a belt-plate in the centre. The crimson officer’s sash is worn on the left shoulder, over the white belt. A fly plaid on the back of his left shoulder can just be seen behind him. The green and red hose are worn with buckled shoes in review order; at other times white spats were worn. The feather bonnet is made of six black ostrich feathers, 14 inches deep, having a diced head-band of red, green and white squares, and a silver badge at the base of the 8 inch hackle made of vulture feathers.
