4th Michigan (canada hat )

[lukegilly13]

Re: 4th Michigan (canada hat )

How long would it take dark blue wool yarn to fade? Being on top of the fez it would be exposed to direct sunlight and all the elements! Also, due to the nature of the tassel, all sides of the yarn might at different times be exposed.

[Beaner]

Re: 4th Michigan (canada hat )

Shaun,
Great to hear from you. I know you have researched the 4th. Company G of the 4th Mustered in as Zouies. Harrison Daniel's Diary confirms this. Your imput is greatly appreciated. These pictures are close to what the 4th had. We have seen more than one color tintype of soldiers with the hats. The tassel is definitely sky blue. The top of hat is stiff. The fold of the bim is varied. Most of the pictures show it to be approximately halfway to the top. The tassel falls to at least the bottom of the inner ear. The color of the hat is medium maroon. Anyone willing to manufacture these will be greatly appreciated. There at least 20 individuals interested in these hats. There are other projects in the offing where they will needed.

Please help us,
Dave Prince

[Secesh]

Re: 4th Michigan (canada hat )

Has anyone thought to contact Greg Starbuck...??

[zouavecampaigner]

Re: 4th Michigan (canada hat )

The top of hat is stiff. The fold of the bim is varied. Most of the pictures show it to be approximately halfway to the top. The tassel falls to at least the bottom of the inner ear. The color of the hat is medium maroon.

Dave,
call me a doubting Elmer, but it sounds to me like you're talking about a red fez with dark blue tassel. I've seen them tinted maroon on photos, when they're, in reality, scarlet. Also, how do you know that the top is stiff? Again, sounds like a wool felt fez. An (in)famous period painting of 2 of White's Tigers in camp show a "stiff topped-fez", but when you compare it to drawings and paintings done in the same style in France or the Crimea, etc. of French Zouaves, they show the same "stiff-top" to the fez, and yet, we know that their chechia (as, in the rest of the world, "fezzes" were worn by Arabs, and were stiff, and "chechias" were worn by the Zouaves, Turcos, Chasseurs, etc., and were not stiffened) was NOT like that at all, even though multiple artists show it that way. I've got an original chechia, as well. Also, there are tinted images, for example, showing the 114th PA with a red sash, or the 5th NY with a sky blue tassel, and some others I've experienced over the years. Alas, not all tinters were Troianis.

I would put one of my fezzes on and get a tintype to try it out, but mine all fit right, so that I don't have to roll the end up to make them tighter :)

Luke,
As for the tassel fading, I'm sure it would have some fading, but the original fire zouave one at the MOC is nice and dark blue. Also, the originals I've handled in the GNMP collection show little sign of fading at all, let alone a change from dark blue to sky blue. Also, we know the 4th had forage caps as well as fez caps/canadien caps, and from personal experience, I would venture a guess that the fezzes were put away in inclement weather/scorching sun. I've worn a fez in the hot sun for 3 days, and I had burn blisters on my forehead, nose, and cheeks, and looked like someone from the burn unit. It was not something I ever, EVER want to do again.


Regards,
Shaun

[zouavecampaigner]

Re: 4th Michigan (canada hat )

Dave,



Me as a French Zouave (4th Zouaves, Siege of Paris), with a chechia imported from Europe. It's a maroon red with dark blue tassel. Check out how it photographed.



And now, here I am as a member of the 74th NY Zouaves, OR the Philadelphia Zouave Corps, OR the Avegno Zouaves, among others (confusing, ain't it?). Anyway, it's a Dirty Billy fez, which is maroon with a yellow tassel. Note how the colours photograph. I had another glass plate taken in this same uniform a few years ago, and the jacket's trim came out dark (seemingly red, rather than the yellow it actually is). It's all in the process, I guess! Heck, in one of our earliest 114th PA photos of 5 of us, all in dirty billy fezzes, 3 yellow tassels came out "dark", and 2 came out "light". Talk about a HUH moment!

(Both images by Rob Gibson)

Regards,
Shaun Grenan

[kent miller]

Re: 4th Michigan (canada hat )

Steve: 4th Michigan Company C in of the ACWHRS in Ontario might have the answer. I know two contacts in our organization who might be resources. I will forward email addresses later today.:)

[tomarch]

Re: 4th Michigan (canada hat )

This is going to sound crazy, but if the hat is called a "canada hat" and I assume the 4th contained a large number of lumberjacks, wouldn't the hat be a knit cap w/ a tassel (like a touque) insead of wool felt like a zouave fez? I looked a a few photos in my copy of Millers Photographic History and that's what they suggest to me..

[erik]

Re: 4th Michigan (canada hat )

I suspect that there might have been a few canadian lumberjacks in the 4th, but that's okay. That part of Canada West ( as it was known then) was pretty settled and produced more farmers, laborers and clerks.
The Canada cap seems to be an adaptation of the Voyageur's cap widely seen during the opening of the North West. This, IMO, derives from the French peasant cap commonly worn as a work hat in France and Quebec. It bears similarities to the French Bonnet de Police or forage cap.
Made of wool with a turn up all round and a tassle.
The resemblance to the fez is of course a ready assumption as when the hat is made more comfortable / stylish to the American or Canadian recruit it takes on this aspect.
I shall take a look at Voyageur articles and National Historic Sites to see what cultural background would inspire such a cap.
I do not think it was a knitted cap after looking at the photographs.
Just my 1.05 cents worth.

Erik Simundson

[recruiter4thmichigan]

Re: 4th Michigan (canada hat )

I agree with Erik on what this hat was made of , it is felt (wool)for the largest mass of them , some photos do look like they may have been knitted, But what we want made is a felt hat with a wool tassle, everyone may speculate on what they are or were but from the things we know right now we are trying to get these hats made , I think we know as much as we are going to know for the time being until someone finds one of these hats! I wish some one did have one then all our questions would be answered.

[zouavecampaigner]

Re: 4th Michigan (canada hat )

Steve, Dave, and others,

here is some more food for thought. I love the 4th MI website, btw guys, bang up job! Here are 2 fez-wearers from the 4th, as on your site:




NOW, take a look at these 2 23rd PA Zouaves in their fezzes. The one's even got a badge on the front of his dark blue fez. Compare that to the 4th MI fellow with a badge on the front of his headwear.




Regards,
Shaun

[erik]

Re: 4th Michigan (canada hat )

I have taken a look at the various resources describing the head wear of Voyageurs and found an interesting document which describes the Canadian Cap.
It is not a fez, but a distinctive hat worn in Canada. The cap is depicted as having a fur band which in our use is discarded. I think that there are other versions of this hat commonly worn during the 18th and 19th centuries. I shall continue my hunt for authentic references which connect with the 4th, but I believe this to be the smoking gun which ties it together. Change the cloth to Maroon, put a sky blue tassle on it, lose the fur and you have the Canadian Cap under discussion.
It is not a fez.
Here is a copy of the pertinent page.

"Canadian Cap


B. Moore, We Proceeded On, 2001.

Wool Canadian Caps with their fur bands have been around since at least the middle 1700s. These are nice looking warm hats and they are easily constructed. The cap is made from four or more wedge shaped pieces of wool or blanket material sewn into a beanie. These pieces can be doubled and/or lined with linen, fustian or cotton. You can take your measurements from the segments of a favorite baseball cap. Either a separate band, about 3” wide, can be sewn around the bottom, or your “football” sections can be lengthened and then turned up on the sides about 3”. Fur is sewed on this band and it forms a large fur band around the cap.




The Canada Cap is well documented for use in the 18th and into the 19th century. The artist F. VonGermann depicts the cap being worn circa 1766 by a British soldier at Michilimackinac. Two decades earlier, celebrated English artist William Hogarth, wearing a Canada cap, captures himself in a self-portrait. From before the French and Indian War through the Revolutionary War the Canada cap is evident. It is said Benjamin Franklin himself donned one and wore it when he lived in Paris.
Another example can be seen in the Eastman Johnson painting Washington Crossing the Delaware (1851). Later, in the 1860s another celebrated artist, cartoonist Thomas Nast, established the look of “Santa Claus”. Santa may be the most popular wearer of the Canada cap (Koster, Grand Portage National Monument).


When the bottom fur band is pulled down the band forms earflaps with the fur next to the skin. Fox and raccoon were common, but coyote also makes a good fur band. Many times the cap had a fur “pom,” tassel, wool pompom, feather(s) or tail on top in the center. These are easy simple caps to make and The Book of Buckskinning II, the Manuel for Interpreting Lewis & Clark, and Beth Gilgun’s Tidings From The 18th Century all give details on how to make a Canadian Cap."

The original article is well cited and I feel serious research has happened here.
I shall see if I can convince the Company laundress to replicate one for me. I may have some difficulty with the sky blue tassle as they appear to be of the wieght and size of the tassle on an officer's sash. Let us see where I go with this.

Erik Simundson
Company C

[2nd Lt. Samuel Teague]

Re: 4th Michigan (canada hat )

Boy that picture has a lot going on in it...camp shoes, leggings, this canada hat. What an awesome unit to impersonate. Just a thought, couldn't you order hawkin's zouave fezes and just flip them up? I have a 5th NY fez and the flipping process isn't difficult if you break your hat in. Just my two cents...

Matt Wood
Formerly of the 26th NC

[zouavecampaigner]

Re: 4th Michigan (canada hat )

Erik,

one man's fez is another's Canadien cap? :tounge_sm

But seriously, we don't even have overwhelming documentation of the color of the hat and tassel, as, personally, I don't believe a tinted tintype is enough documentation to identify the proper colour of an item. Scarlet or even Madder Red items are seen tinted maroon in photographs, but that doesn't mean they were maroon, it just means that's what they were coloured that in an image.

Regards,
Shaun

[erik]

Re: 4th Michigan (canada hat )

Well the shape and construction of the hat seem to have been accepted as a traditional pattern, low crown, wool felt, turn up, braided or not braided, with a large tassel coming to the ear bottom or middle of the ear.
The color (whoops almost typed colour) seems to be the sticking point.
The reference to the Adrian Guards and mimicing Ellesworth's zouaves could be a good direction to pursue. If no other evidence is available it could come down to a best option.
The Adrian Guards wore a red cap, other companies copied Ellesworth zouaves, the 4th Michigan wore a low crown cap based upon a style familiar in Canada West and Michigan with a turn up, tassle of a different color than the cap, tinted tintypes show a red or dark red cap with a sky blue tassle and an approved vendor has expressed an interest in making one.
I would say that with out a reference in text or a credible artifact linked to the 4th as to color then you give it up or have a sample made and see how it looks and how it photographs.
It is regrettable that the soldiers of the time did not record pertinent details such "we were all issued Canada caps in dark red ( actually maroon) wool made with six/four pieces of cloth with a 3" band topped with a sky blue tassle that hung 1/2" above the ear lobe. Each cap was lined with natural colored linen which makes them cool in the summer heat. All the boys were proud to wear such distinctive cap and were saddened when Brigade Order number 6582 issued on July 30th, 1861 forbid the wearing of the Canada cap substituting the issue forage cap type 1."
They didn't. That is why these things after much searching and referencing are called impressions.
If we want the cap then somebody has to make a decision.
Just my 2.12 cents ( the dollar dropped ).
Erik Simundson

[lukegilly13]

Re: 4th Michigan (canada hat )

To me, the first image I posted appears to have a seam up the middle on top.....but to me, his hat seems to be knitted. Other images however do not appear to have a seem. Could there of been both? Is there any reason to believe that these soldiers chose their headgear by personal preference of design?