Hats issued

[bcatgrappler]

One thing that I still do not understand is was each soldier issued a Forage cap and a Dress hat? If so, what did he do with a hat while wearing the other? I was also wondering the same about the dress coat and sack coat?

Thank you,

Mike Ray
Ruff n' Readys

[hireddutchcutthroat]

Re: Hats issued

Well yes and no. What the soldier was supposed to recieve was a dress hat, dress coat, fatigue cap and fatigue blouse. However with wartime demands some units recieved only what was available. For example, a dress hat (trimmed or untrimmed) with a fatigue blouse or a fatigue cap with a dress coat. In some cases units recieved both. With units that had both, they simply put there caps in their knapsacks and wore their hats. (As per 2nd CA. Inf. march from Benicia to Ft Tejon, OR vol. 50)

[hendrickms24]

Re: Hats issued

One thing that I still do not understand is was each soldier issued a Forage cap and a Dress hat? If so, what did he do with a hat while wearing the other? I was also wondering the same about the dress coat and sack coat?

I am in the middle of reading Four years with the Iron Brigade. William Ray ( I think William was his name), the person who wrote the journal said that when they where issued the Dress coat that he and other members of his company were not happy about having to carry the extra weight. Pvt. Ray did say he was going to ship it home so he would not have to carry it but he never did say if he did. I believe that this was must likely a rarity to be issued both the Frock and sack coat and just mark that up to General Gibbon. Also Pvt. Ray said that they were issued the Dress Hat but never mentioned if he had a forage cap.

Still read this great book and recommend the book to all reenactors,

[1stMaine]

Re: Hats issued

Comrades,
The 3rd maine Infantry was issued both dress coats and fatigue blouses, according to the list in the Maine AG reports. Other Maine regimental histories note both being issued as well. Likewise, some regiments receive both dress hats and forage caps, while others receive one or the other.
It is documented that many regiments, and even brigades, both federal and Confederate maintained storage facilities for their surplas equipment. The Texas Brigade maintained a warehouse in Richmond, as just one example. Overcoats, extra blankets, and most likely dress coats would have been sent for storage there. I am pretty certain that the US regulars followed this practice, as the overwhelming majority of images of US regulars in the field show them with caps and blouses, and that would make sense, since the cap and blouse is intended for field service, and the hat and coat for dress occasions and garrisson, etc.
It would have been relatively easy to place the forage cap in the knapsack, or even the blanket roll if required, and wear the hat. I do suspect however that the choice of cap or hat was more according to the desires of the commanding officer than the supply situation, since both articles were manufactured in quantity throughout our period.
respects,

[markj]

Re: Hats issued

Hi,

Another example of "switching over" is furnished in the case of the Pennsylvania and Massachusetts units that were issued the French chasseur a pied (light infantry) uniforms first ordered by the War Department in July 1861. These uniforms included tall, distinctive caps.
Available evidence indicates the French uniforms were left behind in storage when the above units deployed for McClellan's Peninsula Campaign, although at least one source suggests that one of the regiments did wear them briefly in the field.

In any event, by the end of the Peninsula Campaign all of the above units had largely, or completely, replaced their fancy French duds for, as Richard Nixon might have put it, "Republican cloth coats" and standard issue- or privately-acquired headgear.

As for the hat vs. cap question, there is a report that during A. E. Burnside's Hatteras Expedition (Jan-Feb 62), some of his troops hated their issue army hats so much they literally "deep-sixed" them; they simply pitched their hats over the sides of the boats on which they were embarked. Burnside's boys presumably switched to "lids" that were more comfortable and practical....

Regards,

Mark Jaeger

[Pvt Schnapps]

Re: Hats issued

Don't know if I've posted this before, but it's a poignant reference to excess clothing stored at the beginning of a campaign. It comes from The Civil War Notebook of Daniel Chisholm (Ballantine, NY, 1989):

"Monday, Novr 7th [1864] Our overcoats came up to day that we had left at Brandy Station April 20th. I went over and took charge of Co 'K's' boxes. I opened them and took out 68 overcoats, some dress Coats, shirts, Drawers, &c., and we have only 17 men left here in Co K to take them and some of them did not send coats to the rear. 70 men killed, wounded, sick and missing since May 3rd. It makes me sad to read over the names & know so many of them will never say here or present again."

One should note that a soldier had a financial incentive not to draw the dress coat or hat, as the value would be commuted to him in cash at the end of his enlistment, if he hadn't overdrawn his allowance elsewhere.

Soldier's didn't always have that option, as Mark indicates from his reading of Ray's diary. In the Iron Brigade, Hardees were de riguer.

[hireddutchcutthroat]

Re: Hats issued

I. Each soldier will carry one greatcoat, one blanket, one forage cap, one woolen shirt, on pair of drawers, one pair stockings, one towel, two handkerchiefs, one fine and one course comb, one sewing kit, one piece of soap, one toothbrush.

II. Each soldier will wear his uniform hat without trimmings, one blouse, one pair trousers, one pair stockings, one woolen shirt, one pair drawers, and may wear a cravat in lieu of the leather stock.

III. Each soldier, whether of cavalry or infantry, will have one canteen, one haversack, one tin cup. In his haversack he will carry one fork, spoon, and plate. He will wear a good sheath knife.

IV. Each company, whether of cavalry or infantry, will have only enough mess pans and camp kettles (in nests) for absolute requirements; also a few short-handled frying pans, some large tin pans in which to mix bread, one or two strong coffee-mills, a 6-gallon keg of vinegar, a few pounds of black-grained pepper, four axes, four camp hatchets, six spades, six shovels.

V. Officers will not take mess-chests, or trunks, or mattresses on the march. It is suggested that each mess of officers of not less than three be provided with to champagne baskets covered with painted canvas for their mess furniture. These can be packed on a mule. Their necessary clothing can be carried in a small hand-valise, or pair of saddlebags.

General Orders No. 3, Headquarters District of Southern California, dated February 11, 1862. General Carleton

[Curt Schmidt]

Re: Hats issued

Hallo Kameraden!

As was the same for the green dress coats and blue fatigue blouses for Berdan's Sharpshooters- the dress coats cycling in and out by going into storage for the warmer season.

Not to over simplify, or over-generalize, but I believe the "vision" of the U.S. "preWar" standing army was more of a "garrisoned" concept with limited "field" campaigns and battles so the soldier was often viewed in dress coat and dress hat except when detailed for fatigue duties.
The sheer size and mass of the opening of the Civil War, as well as the four years of warfare in the field changed many a notion and practice.

Curt-Heinrich Schmidt