First piece of headgear?

[csabugler]

Re: First piece of headgear?

My brother went out west back in 1978. He got me a 3X beaver felt black "cowboy" style hat for $35 in Jackson Hole, Wyoming 12 years later when I got into the hobby, I took the vinyl band off it , did some reshaping, and still have it today. Along with about 6 others now including a Starbuck and a Joe Blundt two self made ones

[burke69nyv]

Re: First piece of headgear?

Mine was a federal kepi purchased at a local irish shop, it was used for one event only! When I look back, I don't know why I even wasted the money. The only item I still have from my original kit is the haversack.

[weed]

Re: First piece of headgear?

I can remember my first hat was the blue felt kepi with the vinyl visor & strap. It had the crossed rifles and the Union shield sticker (which, even as a child, I knew was wrong and quickly peeled off!). I think I wore that thing everywhere until it just gave up the ghost and crumbled to pieces. Looking back, that was when it probably looked the most authentic!

Ron Hopkins
Unity Lodge #130....

I started with one of those also. Didn't we all?

The first 'real hats" were a Hardee Hat and a Federal forge cap from S&S Firearms, 1973

Thank goodness for being good friends with Don Radamaker "Artifakes"
(we did copy the the label from my original to make the labels for the repros)

[Lee Ragan]

Re: First piece of headgear?

Mine was a second hand wool Confederate forage cap. Don't know who made it, but the cloth was pretty tin and the visor was thick leather. It looked like crap and was uncomfortable to wear. I soon handed it down to someone new to the hobby.

[DaveGink]

Re: First piece of headgear?

Still have it actually (Photo attached). A federal Kepi I bought when I was about 15 in 1976. It has a short, fake-leather brim, black silk lining, modern leather sweat band, and wire support holding up the back of the disk. Don't remember what I paid but thought it was super "realistic" at the time. ;)

By the way, I also had one of those cheap, felt kepis as a kid. My Dad bought it for me in the early 70s from a street vendor outside of a Zoo. That very same day it blew off my head into a swimming pool and basically dissolved. I was crushed.

[9thmocav]

Re: First piece of headgear?

My first hat was a jean wool kepi baught at a sutler when i was watching the 150th of Lexington, MO. My comader made fun of me for it so after my first reenactment with it i got a hat from Clearwater Hat Co.
Will Watson

[DougCooper]

Re: First piece of headgear?

Paul Smith forage cap...fortunately. It was minefield back then.

[hireddutchcutthroat]

Re: First piece of headgear?

1989 I had a Jarnigan forage cap covered in Cal 100 hat brass.

[GreencoatCross]

Re: First piece of headgear?

I started as a headgear person and I am still a headgear person nearly 17 years later. When I started out with the 12th Ohio Vol. Infantry at the age of 15 I made a point to get both a cap and a hat.

My forage cap came from Fair Oaks Sutler and I decked it out with the regulation brass that I had seen in a photograph of an original member of the 12th OVI, and over the course of my first year as a reenactor I removed the bugle, then the company letter, but kept the numerals. At some point I put a 2nd Div. Ninth Corps badge on it but learned that they didn't wear those in 1862 during the Antietam campaign so I tried to take it off. Alas, it was one of those sticky-back felt badges and the felt pulled off leaving the paper which I had to peel off in strips, which left the sticky gunk, so I threw away the cap.

My hat was an original given to me by an officer of the company who himself wore an original frock...the hat was just a battered and browned pile of felt so I steamed/stretched it back into shape and had a hatter in downtown Cincinnati add a leather sweatband and cotton lining. For reasons I can't fully explain, once I got that hat on my head I didn't care to sleep in an a-tent, or carry a lot of extra baggage with me, so I began to live out of my haversack and knapsack a little more often. A few years later I took a break from the hobby and began researching the material culture aspect of the CW era soldier/civilian...all because of the hat my affable captain had given me. Wish I still had it.

Somewhere towards the end of my time with the 12th OVI I had purchased a green sharpshooter's forage cap because I thought it looked cool. I had no idea what the green meant either. A month later I read Capt. Chas. Stevens regimental history of Berdan's Sharpshooters and that forever ensured their place as the special focus of my research and collecting efforts for almost half of my lifetime.

[Pelikan]

First piece of headgear?

A sutler row kepi that I still have somewhere. That was followed by a gawdawful wool thrift store "slouch" hat, little more than a blank really. My unit leader (and great friend) took it away from me, reblocked it, lined it, put in a leather sweatband, but a good ribbon on it, shellacked it, and generally un-f'd it.
It has served me well for years and is now thoroughly disreputable.

[CS Ensign]

Re: First piece of headgear?

I guess the slouch wasn't too bad (though it did have a wire brim), but the Sears cotton work shirt and trousers with blue trim were badder. I still have that shirt too. This is 1974.

[sodapop63]

Re: First piece of headgear?

First hat was a Union kepi from Regimental Quartermaster in Gettysburg in 2009 (I'm still "new" to the hobby). It still looks great (but is also the only hat I've ever purchased from a "sutler"...the rest of my ever-growing headgear collection comes from hatmakers, with the lions share coming from Dirty Billys).

[Marine Mike]

Re: First piece of headgear?

First one was included in a sutler kit. It allowed me to get going with minimal expense. Got the bug. All since then have been from quality makers.

[duke1861]

Re: First piece of headgear?

Mine was a federal forage cap from Regt. QM. I've since upgraded to a Dirty Billy.

[traveler1863]

Re: First piece of headgear?

A gray hat I made from a hat blank with the front folded up and a turkey feather in the leather shoe string band. No trim around the brim, no sweat band or lining. Wore it to a few events and instantly knew I needed something better. Next came a brown hat with a proper looking band and trim on the brim I added. No lining or sweat band. It did look somewhat like a farmer hat, but that was the early 90s.

Gordon Morey