Headgear
The Confederate War Department ordered on 19 April 1861 that foragecaps (110colour given) would be issued to members of its regular army. On 6 June 1861 this was elaborated, and the caps were described as being similar to French kepis, with branch-of-service coloured pompons worn in front—red for artillery, light blue for infantry, and yellow for cavalry. On 24 January 1862 this was revised; the pompons disappeared, and hencefor
ward the caps were lo have dark blue bands, with sides and crowns in branch-of-service colours.
Moreover, the caps were to have markings that would indicate commissioned ranks: three gold stripes on the front, back, and sides for field officers, two for captains, and one for lieutenants. The same number of gold braids were to form a quatrefoil knot on the crown of the cap. Enlisted men were to wear their regimental numbers on the cap front. White duck or linen 'havelocks'—sun covers like those popularly associated with the French Foreign Legion—were to be worn in summer, and oil-cloth covers in bad weather, according to an order issued 24january 1862. Neither of these two items seem to have been worn in any great numbers after the very early months of the war.
Such caps as were worn appear to have differed from the regulations. Many had peaks made of cardboard covered with black-painted cloth, and black-painted cloth sweatbands. One such cap, worn by an enlisted man in the Richmond Howitzers, had dark blue-grey wool sides and a red cotton/wool mixed band and crown. Grey caps with branch-of-service coloured bands appear to have been fairly common; even more so were plain grey caps. A 4th Texas Infantry Regiment private even recalled making his own cap out of a woollen shirt, with a peak made from a 'generous slice of stirrup leather'.
According to Army of Northern Virginia veteran Frank H. Foote, 'Our hats and caps were taken from "our friends, the enemy", and you could see all styles, shapes and makes, generally ornamented with letters denoting the command of the owner. The "alpine hat" or "Excelsior" of New York was the most common, and was preferred to all others. Caps were not sought after, as they neither turned sun nor rain. Slouch hats are peculiar to the South, and were affected a great deal. We also had palmetto, pine straw and quilted cloth hats.'
Indeed, most veterans agreed that caps were not the preferred field wear. A study of photographs of
- The official tailor's plate from the Confederate Army's dress regulations as published in 1862. It shows the different pieces of woollen cloth used in making the frock coat. The jacket was cut the same way, with the skirts omitted.
Confederate enlisted men in the field taken after 1862 indicated that out of 225 men who could be seen clearly enough to reveal the type of hat being worn, only 26 per cent wore peaked caps. The rest wore the preferred slouch hats. Of those in slouch hats, 59 percent wore light-coloured hats, either tan or grey, while the rest were dark, either black or dark brown.
Surviving soldiers' hats have brims between 2§ ins. and 4 ins. wide, with a narrow silk ribbon running around the band. A typical one in the
Starke's Brigade of Louisiana troops, out of ammunition, holds ofTFederal troops with stones at Second Manassas, 1862. Note the short jacket worn by the officer on the bottom right.
(Hattles & leaders of the Civil War)
Museum of the Confederacy has a 4I in.-tall crown. Straw hats, old or copied US Army M1839 forage caps, captured Union Army hats, and all manner of civilian hats were also worn.
Most hats were apparently worn without badges or cords, though two officers' hats in the Confederate Museum have US Army-type hat cords. Orders called for a regimental number to be worn, however, and it docs appear that many men did wear some sort of regimental cap badge. One soldier was photographed in May 1864 wearing a slouch hat turned up with a white badge marked 'A1 4', suggesting the 4th Alabama Infantry Regiment, which did serve in the area where the photograph was made. Other sources noted seeing soldiers
Starke's Brigade of Louisiana troops, out of ammunition, holds ofTFederal troops with stones at Second Manassas, 1862. Note the short jacket worn by the officer on the bottom right.
(Hattles & leaders of the Civil War)
wearing the insignia of the 18th and 21st Georgia Infantry Regiments and the 11th North Carolina Infantry Regiment, apparently in some form of hat badges.
At least one officer was photographed wearing a cap badge of the letters 'CSA' within a laurel wreath. Other officer photographs show US Army officers' branch-of-service cap badges being worn; this practice, however, was not common.
Another fashion of 1861 was the wearing of blue 'secession cockades' on hats. In 1862 a soldier in Kentucky 'saw what I had long forgotten—a "cockade". The Kentucky girls made cockades for us, and almost every soldier had one pinned on his hat." These cockades were also often worn on the left breast of the coat.
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