United States Army Headgear 1855-1902 - Libreria Militare Ares

NUMBER 30 13"the desired modifications" so that it might be forwardedto the Quartermaster General as a pattern."Delafield passed the job on to Donelson, who hadtwo cloth caps of the "chasseur pattern" made,which he forwarded to Washington. One of thesehad a low crown and one a high crown, which hesaid could be furnished by the maker at |1.00 and$.871/2 each by the hundred, respectively, withoutcover or insignia. The cap with the higher crownwas selected and forwarded to Jesup as a patternwith the request that procurement and issue bemade according to it. Jesup in turn forwarded thepattern to the Philadelphia depot with instructionsto have 150 made with a supply to be kept alwayson hand.^" These caps were made at SchuylkillArsenal rather than on outside contract.^'Although there is no specific mention of insigniain the endorsements of his proposal, Donelson, inhis letter to Totten of 26 June, stated that "if eitherof the cloth caps were adopted, the supposition isthat it would be worn always with the castle,"^'while Totten in his endorsement of the originalproposal did speak of the price of "caps and trimmings."''^Thus, the surmise must be made that theengineer castle was to be worn on the cap, probablythat prescribed for the 1851-1854 cap, which wouldhave been suitable as to size. The first listed issuewas in January 1858 to engineer troops at FortLeavenworth, Kansas, "74 forage caps, 74 cap covers,"the latter an item not heretofore mentioned."The exact design of this cap is somewhat uncertain,for as will be seen below, there is somedoubt that this pattern was that selected for issueto the whole Army in 1858. The two caps that hesent to Washington Donelson called "cloth or chasseur."^The dress of the French Chasseurs a Pied,or foot rifles, the elite of the French Army in thisperiod, enjoyed quite a vogue with American officers,both regular and militia, in the 1850s, soneither the design nor the designation was particularlyunusual. Actually, almost the entire Frencharmy had gone into a bonnet de police a visiere, orvisored forage cap, in the mid-1840s, very similarin design and dimensions, if not in trim, to thatadopted for the U. S. Army in 1858.'° Again, theAlbany [New York] Burgesses Corps, one of thebetter known and more affluent of the nation's volunteermilitia organizations, as early as April of1857 was wearing a forage cap very similar to the1858 pattern."Perhaps more to the point, Capt. George B. Mc­Clellan, on his return in 1856 from an inspectiontour of the European armies, had been assigned toWest Point where he supervised the constructionof mortar and seige batteries.** While stationed atthe academy, he must have worked on his officialreport, which contained comments on the uniformsand headgear of all European armies, and possiblywith some help from Lt. Donelson,'" who couldwell have been influenced in regard to the designof forage caps that he submitted to Washington.Although in his report, McClellan recommended avisorless forage cap that could be folded and carriedin pack or saddle bag, he did speak in some detailof the French forage cap, describing it as having alarge straight visor and a loose conical top.""The closest thing we have to a description of thecap is a list of the materials used in its manufacture:%g yards of cap cloth, sweat leather, visor, two vestbuttons, black muslin, fullers board, chin strap andbuckle."^Nothing further appears in the record in regardto forage caps until the following summer. In AugustBrevet Major William H. French, CommandingOfficer at Fort McHenry, Maryland, and ofLight Company K, 1st Artillery stationed there,wrote the Adjutant General:I send four fatigue caps of a pattern for service in garrison.It is light, comfortable, military, and cheap. It looksbetter as a dress cap than the old cloth cap.My men were in the habit of taking out the stiffening oftheir old caps, to wear them on fatigue, wh'ch looked sobadly that seeing one of these worn by a bugler, I told themen that if all would wear them when at work or at stablesthey might get them for that purpose.In respectfully asking permission for my men to wearthem I would add that the high stiff cap & the hat with abrim are not as well adapted for stable duty when groominghorses from the liability of touching the horse and beingknocked off.I send four caps for artillery, cavalry, infantry, and staff.""This letter, which was received by the AdjutantGeneral on 12 August, carries no endorsements, indicatingthat it was not seen by anyone outside thereceiving office and it was not acknowledged, ahighly irregular practice in the Adjutant General'sOffice."" Yet, as will be seen below, Jesup was insome way apprised of French's request and necessarilybrought into the picture, for on 12 Novemberhe wrote Col. Thomas, the Assistant QuartermasterGeneral in Philadelphia: "The Secretary of