The Yager Guards a.k.a. The Yagers (Detroit, Wayne County) was formed by a group of local German-American citizens. They elected A. Lingeman captain and he served as such from 1853 to 1865. They maintained an armory on Gratiot Road. They wore ‘very tasteful’ uniforms of green coats and blue pants. The headgear was a
helmet with a long feather. Another report indicates that their jackets were rifle green and the men wore ‘Roman’ helmets and were armed with rifles and daggers. Several newspaper articles provide additional uniform information.
During the summer of 1858, they wore white pants. Their uniforms were said to be exceedingly handsome. Another report from this period calls their uniforms “full dress’ uniforms. The Detroit Daily Free Press on June 14 1859 also described them as wearing dress uniforms. These reports may indicate that their uniforms were rather showy. Maybe they wore green frock coats with elaborate trim. Perhaps they wore green coatees Another interpretation is that they also had fatigue uniforms or wore their uniforms in a less ‘full dress’ manner.
In 1859, they returned their State owned muskets and withdrew from the Michigan Uniformed Militia. Thereafter, they continued as an independent militia company. This action should not be misconstrued as a lack of commitment or an indication of poor performance. In 1859, they and other Michigan Militia companies of German heritage sever their relationship with the Michigan Uniformed Militia due to their belief that the state was discriminating against companies of German heritage.
During the Civil War, the Yager Guards functioned as a home guard company. The company met the first Wednesday of each month and was rather active, marching in parades, providing crowd control, and other such activities. Whether they continued to wear their pre-war green jacket uniforms or adopted a new style is not known.
They had their own band, which was call the Yager Brass Band. No information on the band’s uniforms has yet been discovered.
The Lafayette Guard a.k.a. la Garde Lafayette du Detroit (Detroit, Wayne County) was formed by citizens of French decent in 1861. They do not appear to have had any connection to the Lafayette Guard of Detroit, which had been active from 1847 to 1850. It does not appear that this company survived for too long as a militia company. After a few weeks, the local newspapers soon stopped running news articles about them. They do not appear to have joined an active regiment as a group and they very likely disappeared because the members were joining active regiments individually.
Being of French heritage, they opted to adopted uniforms that were based on French infantry uniforms. This included French style blue frock coats and red trousers, “the uniform shall be like he present infantry of France- red pant, blue frock coat; in fact all a la Francaise.” The Detroit Daily Tribune said their uniforms would be similar to that of the French Line infantry.