sleep caps as regular caps

[pvtben]

Hey guys

As always i am gona go through yall. I have seen it on movies and such but was never sure if it was authentic and i think it would be cool to know. Would a sleep cap be worn as a regualr cap if the soldier did not have a hat. I was woundering i have aways woundered that and you guys always have the awnser.

thanks
ben jenkins

[dusty27]

Re: sleep caps as regular caps

Ben,

This is not an answer to your current question but I would like to ask, are you a member of a mess, company, or other re-enacting organization. The reason I ask is that most times, when a group gets a new member, the group tends to be the ones that the new guy contacts with questions like the ones you have been asking this forum.

While I don't want to discourage you from asking questions, many of the questions you have been asking could be answered by doing some rudimentary research at a local library or online.

For example, your sleeping cap question could be answered either by knowing a little about 19th century material culture or by looking at a selection of period pictures. My educated guess is that soldiers wore hats only during the day and if they lost their hats, they would procure a new one.

I have even heard a story of new troops arriving by train at a station and veteran troops knocked the hats off the newbies who were excitedly hanging their heads out the train windows.

[BrianHicks]

Re: sleep caps as regular caps

Hmmm... let's think this one through.

Why do peolpe wear hats? I can think of three primary reasons.
1. To protect you from the elements. I.e. rain/snow and the sun.
2. To keep your body heat in.
3. Being stylish.

Now... the sleep cap.
It keeps you warm. That's the primary reason they are worn.
It doesn't do well at keeping the sun or rain out of your face.
Stylish? Perhaps in Marakesh? Like the Fez's of the Zouves, styish, but not what I would consider very functional ?

I have never seen any evidence of the sleep cap being worn as a regular/daily head covering during the Civil War.

[Yankeeboy]

Re: sleep caps as regular caps

Sir:

I would think not as mostly they were just that sleep caps > also just as today the army did have its Standards for uniforms . Yes I know they were aloud to wearing Civilain hats :)

[Stonewall_Greyfox]

Re: sleep caps as regular caps

OK...here's my take on it...sometimes early war especially some styles of "sleeping caps" "smoker's caps" may have been worn into battle....This was far from the norm, but is even mentioned in the famed Echoes of Glory the Confederacy one. Some of these caps were styled after french and italian revolution caps and were worn into battle, sometimes on their own and sometimes on regular headwear. Helpful recomendations are always nice...but some people even in doing personal research may not find all their answers. And sometimes units may not meet the level of authenticity that I believe we are all striving for.

Thanks,

Paul B. Boulden Jr.

RAH VA MIL '04

[Alamo Guard]

Re: sleep caps as regular caps

Would you wear your pajamas into battle in todays battlefield? Sleeping caps were just that for sleeping. They were worn not only for warmth but worn by the average person for another reason. Their were alot of oils and such worn on hairs, the sleeping caps were used to keep these oils off the bed linens. Now I know the men in the field didnt have sheets and pillow cases but they still had the oils even bear grease was used as hair dressing.

[pvtben]

Re: sleep caps as regular caps

Tanks and i will try not to ask so many questions.

thanks
ben jenkins

[lanebr@aol.com]

Re: sleep caps as regular caps

Hello my name is ben also, I have been re-enacting since feb 1990, i started when I was 15, and some folks know me others do not but let me tell you something never ever be afraid to ask anyone a question, this knowledge we share as re-enactors is not privledged information.

1. Sleeping caps are a relatively new fad in re-enacting, I use one because
sleeping on the ground usually stops my head up and I get a sinus "headacke"
bad spelling, in the morning.

2. If you ain't got nuttin and and you need something on yor head put it on, and if yur sargent, or officer yells at you and tells you to take it off take it off you don't need any heat from him. But the point is ben this hooby isn't scripted, do what you gotta do do get by and the authenticity will work itself out. Now I am not telling you to srap a cooler to your back and march into camp, or carry a roll of toilet paper on your bayonet, just have a good heart and have a good time and learn as you go. Occasionally when i am dragging in the morning I have to run and fall in with my scivies on, and I get yelled at good by my sargent, but I gotta get to role call. sure it was not probabally excepted in the 19th century, but I get hollared at like I was in the 19th century and thats pretty authentic.

3. doing your own research is important but also use your head, and remembersometimes these accounts we read were written well after the war was over and sometimes the writewr might tend to spice it up a bit or make his ordeal seem harder than it might actually have been in a particular situatioin, and is not always to incorparate those things into your impression.

but i have gone on long enough, if you have questions ask,

well maybe i will meet you in the field some time

Your pard,
Ben

Ben, you have broken two forum rules here. Please review post below- Mike Chapman

http://www.authentic-campaigner.com/...ead.php?t=1034

[KathyBradford]

Re: sleep caps as regular caps

From Rule #3 of the recommended thread:
"The "Be Nice" rule originated a couple years ago when the AC and some of it's moderators were by my judgement becoming too confrontational. The purpose of this website was always to share the resources of the authentic community with all who had an interest - regardless of their personal level of authenticity. The purpose was to make authenticity the mainstream."

Ben Jenkins,

Please continue to ask questions. There are good people here willing to share sound research and well thought out answers. The one you asked was the same one I had just this week.

On page 159 of the Confederate EOG:
"Lt. J. Kent Ewing
4th Virginia

Ewing - mortally wounded at Gettysburg - sports and Italian-style fatigue cap cover intended for off-duty wear."

He is posing to have his likeness made in the item he chose to wear. He is not sleeping, not in his pajamas, and not in a uniform.

There are many who can interpret this portrait well, and I hope they will. I realize that one portrait and one original item does not justify widespread use of anything. It only opens the door for more research.

Some of us belong to units where individual research is a fairly new concept. In the past, "Because the Captain said so" was enough documentation for too many of the things our unit did. That is changing, partly due to the tremendous contributions of members here.

Personally, my sons and husband have appreciated their cotton-lined wool sleeping caps at very cold events. When the air was so cold it hurt to breathe, they pulled them down over their faces and slept well. Unlike forage caps and slouch hats, sleeping caps covered their ears.

At living history events, they are useful tools to pull out of a pack and draw visitors into a conversation. Everyone can relate to cold ears, and it helps visitors begin to understand some of the hardships and sacrifices through which our ancestors served. They then can talk about how the Ladies' Aid Society or their dear mother sent it to them from back home. That leads into conversation about a soldier's life, life on the home front (backed up with letters)...

Ben, one suggestion would be to write out your question in a word-processing program and spell check it before posting. Then, when you copy your well thought out question into the forum, you present something easier to understand. Your enthusiasm is a valuable asset to this community.

A hearty thank you to all who have asked good questions and given sound answers. Thank you, too, for recommended resources. It is this sharing of research and sources that encourages those of us who realize we can never know it all to keep looking. Those "aha" moments when things come together to make sense lead to new questions and the beginning of understanding.

With much appreciation,

[Hank Trent]

Re: sleep caps as regular caps

Ewing - mortally wounded at Gettysburg - sports and Italian-style fatigue cap cover intended for off-duty wear."

I don't have the photo for reference, but I wonder if we're talking about two different things here--nightcaps (like Scrooge is usually pictured in, for example) and smoking caps (known by various other names, fancy enough to look stylish, and also to keep the head warm on cold evenings indoors).

I've got one of each, and in an indoor civilian situation, it would never occur to me to switch their functions. The smoking cap is black velvet with fancy braiding, and I put it on for sitting around reading by the fire on winter days. The nightcap is red wool flannel with a tassel on top, and it goes on when my nightshirt goes on, right before bed. I'd feel foolish doing the reverse. Don't know if that's modern habit I've developed, or if there was that much difference in mindset in the period as well.

Hank Trent
hanktrent@voyager.net

[KathyBradford]

Re: sleep caps as regular caps

I don't have the photo for reference, but I wonder if we're talking about two different things here--nightcaps (like Scrooge is usually pictured in, for example) and smoking caps (known by various other names, fancy enough to look stylish, and also to keep the head warm on cold evenings indoors).

Hi, Hank,

It's Scrooge-type, flopped over, with a rather sparse, dark tassel resting on his shoulder. It appears to be light colored with ~1/4" dark trim about 1" from the opening edge.

Adjoining, there's a photo credited to the MOC collection. It appears shorter and looks like there may have once been a tassel. It's indigo with what looks like a red 1/2"-3/4" wool "hem braid" trim very close to the edge. The caption says, "The cotton fatigue cap cover below was found in Captain O. J. Wise's haversack."

I sent an e-mail to Linda's address.

Thank you, and congratulations on the increasing success of your profession!

[dusty27]

Re: sleep caps as regular caps

From Rule #3 of the recommended thread:
"The "Be Nice" rule originated a couple years ago when the AC and some of it's moderators were by my judgement becoming too confrontational. The purpose of this website was always to share the resources of the authentic community with all who had an interest - regardless of their personal level of authenticity. The purpose was to make authenticity the mainstream."

Kathy, I'm assuming this is aimed at me but I don't see where I am discouraging the asking of questions by saying,

"While I don't want to discourage you from asking questions, many of the questions you have been asking could be answered by doing some rudimentary research at a local library or online."

On page 159 of the Confederate EOG:
"Lt. J. Kent Ewing
4th Virginia

Ewing - mortally wounded at Gettysburg - sports and Italian-style fatigue cap cover intended for off-duty wear."

He is posing to have his likeness made in the item he chose to wear. He is not sleeping, not in his pajamas, and not in a uniform.

I read Ben's question to read "in the field". Most of us use sleeping caps at night in camp, off duty. But if someone shows up in ranks with a sleeping cap, they are disciplined.

[KathyBradford]

Re: sleep caps as regular caps

Dusty,

Please forgive me if it seemed to be the case, but the quote was definitely not aimed at you. Although I quoted the the beginning sentence to preserve context, the part that hit home for me was, "The purpose of this website was always to share the resources of the authentic community with all who had an interest - regardless of their personal level of authenticity."

In the past, this young man has been chided for the frequency of his questions. Perhaps some of them seemed elementary to those more experienced, but he definitely has demonstrated an interest. He might have visited his library and found the EOG page. However, our local library wouldn't have answered that question or much of anything else. Here, when the libraries are renovated, the best books disappear, never to return. Everything published before 1990 is an endangered species.

He may view this forum as his most reliable online source. Simple questions answered here may free his time to read more in depth on a different topic. Until he learns where else to look - and there are many here who can point him in the right direction - I sincerely hope he continues to ask.

What do you recommend as the top 10 starter resources, online or in print?

Please accept my sincere thanks for all the answers and for all the time you have invested in preservation.

[KarinTimour]

Clarification of Hat in the Ewing Picture

Dear Kathy and Hank:

Kathy -- I don't know if I'm interpreting this picture the way you are, but one of the things I always wondered about this picture was whether he had it taken wearing all the stuff his mother/grandmother/the folks from home had just sent him -- the hat, the shirt, and whatever those things are hanging off the front of his shirt. One looks to me like it could be a watch chain perhaps made of his sweetheart's hair? I'd enjoy hearing opinions of what those gizmos hanging off his buttons are, if anyone could speak to that challenge. Again, I have no idea, but it strikes me that this is just the kind of thing a young man might do and include a copy of the picture in the letters to each of the makers thanking them for the shirt, hat, etc. Which would also explain why he had the picture made without his uniform jacket. Or perhaps he was recovering from a wound recieved earlier than Gettysburg when he had the picture taken and had lost his jacket or took it off to show the folks "hey his shoulder looks just like new...."?

Hank:
The picture Kathy is talking about is of a young man in what we would consider a "stocking cap" shaped like the "Scrooge night cap" you were talking about, with a tail that hangs to just below his shoulder over one ear, with a tassle on the end of it. I think that the reference to "Italian-influenced" is a reference to Garibaldi's troops that were fighting for the independence (?) of Italy. I don't know a lot about Garibaldi and what he was fighting for, someone correct me if I"m off track with his goals. Things "Garibaldi" inspired were also very popular in our time period -- the white blouses that young fashionable women over 25 wore in our time period were known as "Garibaldi blouses" or "Garibaldi shirts" as a reference to the same guy. The one in the picture looks knitted to me.

At the same time that the Garibaldi/Italian freedom fighter trend was hot, there was a separate, parallel trend of fascination with things "Turkish" or "Eastern/Ottoman". The smoking hats that Hank is referencing usually had flat sides that went straight up about four inches all the way around your head, and then had a flat top. To visualize the shape, think of those cookies that they sell in round tin boxes with lids. Put one upside down and you've got the basic shape of the hat. It was supposed to be the Victorian idea of a fez, if that helps to get the shape clarified. They were often made of velvet or velveteen, had a tassle attached to the middle of the top of your head, sort of like the tassle on a modern graduation mortarboard, that you flip from one side to the other after graduation. The flat sides were covered with either fancy braidwork sewn on in swirls or lots of multicolored embroidery. These were called "smoking hats" and ladies magazines of the period were full of directions for the swirly braiding to fasten on the side and make your husband one to wear around the house. You were supposed to be a sort of "pasha" or "sultan" of your household, sporting your Turkish hat, smoking your Turkish cigar, padding around in your Turkish slippers (lots of patterns for these in ladies magazines as well) or reclining on your Turkish ottoman in your smoking room (or at the kitchen table in your shirtsleeves, depending on your class status). Supposedly the smoking hat "protected" your hair from picking up the smell of all those cigars.

The hats I've seen are meant to perch at a rakish angle on your head as you read the paper with a cigar in your teeth. Don't know how well they would stay on your head when you lay down if you were to attempt sleeping in them. Most of the sleeping hats I've seen, whether sewn or knitted are made to hug the wearer's head, cover his ears and help trap the heat that he'd lose if he were sleeping without one.

Hope that's helpful,
Karin Timour
Atlantic Guard Soldiers' Aid Society
Email: Ktimour@aol.com

[JCbluegrassrifles]

Re: sleep caps as regular caps

I would think that in the period, sleeping caps would fall under the category of an undergarment, so to speak. Shirts were seen as under garments if they were not covered by a vest, coat or jacket. It may have happened, but my guess is that sleeping caps were not too often worn during the day. Hats were a primary aspect of a man's appearance in this period. EVERY man in the country sported some type of hat. So, having stated that, chances are that the majority of soldiers had a hat. In today's perspective, it would be like not having a telphone or a car.