Richard: Thanks again for the info. There's a third reference out there in cyberspace that I just can't find. Found it years ago; it was a lady's reminiscence of old New Orleans, in which, among other things, she described the Violet Guards' uniform. For what it's worth, a wonderful seamstress/lady artillerist friend of mine from Fenner's LA Battery (CS) is actually making me a violet frock, trimmed in indigo blue, as a generic version (not having additional details) of the Violet Guards' uniform. I also have a white leather "fireman's parade hat," as I found a post-war description of the Irad Ferry Fire Company's parade hats. I'm about to try to paint the plain white hat with the company's known hat text: "Irad Ferry Fire Co. No. 12" and (in reference to the heroic Irad Ferry, who died in 1837 while saving a little girl from a burning building in New Orleans) "Our Name, Our Example) and "1839" (the year of the company's formation. The hats look like a top hat. On the flat top I'm going to try to paint "Violet Guards, 6th La. Inf. Vols, Co. K" in order to give the hat some sort of war-era decor. Can't wait to fall in on a Confederate memorial service rifle squad firing line with some of my more conservative Southron friends in my violet coat and white top hat! They may shoot me! -- Jim Huffman, Gainesville Vols, SCV Camp 373, Pearl River County, MS