United States Army Headgear 1855-1902 - Libreria Militare Ares

NUMBER 30 26broad, securely soldered on back of eagle, to pass throughthe cap and hold the lower end of plume stick.Cord and tassle for light artillery caps,—to be made ofscarlet worsted braided cord, (with cotton filling inside ofcordj) and braided on a carrier machine, about guage [sic] 5or 3-16 [%6] inch thick; two plaits, with about 2}4 inchcord between them; the one for front of cap 14 inches long,and the one for back of cap 17 inches long; from each plaitis 6 feet of cord, with a round plaque, 2Ys inches in diameter,(made of 3 gimps,) and a tassel, attached to end ofeach cord; these two cords pass through a tassel and twosmall slides, and about 4 inches above the plaques; to havea small loop netted on, by which to attach and suspend theplaques and tassels, from a button on the breast of the coat.The tassels (three in number,) are to be of solid worsted,with a netted head, about 2/2 inches long, including head;the skirt or fringe of tassels, composed of from 80 to 90 endsof bullions; the cord and tassels to weigh about 3/2 ounces.Scroll and ring, for light artillery caps.—^The scroll to bea circle, sheet brass, No. 28, 1 inch in diameter, corrugated,convex J4 inch: a hole in the centre in which is inserted adouble loop of brass wire 54 inch long, projecting J4 inchon outside and 5/2 inch inside, strongly soldered on inside ofscroll; a double ring of stout brass wire, J/a inch diameter,passed through the outer loop, from which to hand thetassel cord.Several caps in the National Collections (Figure12) that carry the maker's label in the crown"W. C. Dare/Manufacturer/21 North Second St./Phila." conform to these specifications with tolerancesof no more than i/^ inch. And the Schuyler,Hartley & Graham catalog of 1864 illustrates a verysimilar pattern with a sunken tip as "Artillery Cap,"albeit with incorrect insignia.^*" Then again, the socalledofficial quartermaster uniform photographs,originally believed to have been made in 1862, butnow known to have been taken in 1866, very clearlyillustrate the Dare cap form with the insignia ascalled for in the 1865 Quartermaster Manualquoted above.'"Throughout the remainder of the war, there weresmall issues of light artillery caps but only tomounted batteries or to units previously providedwith them, and never to recruits. In fact, the issuesmade during the period were confined to units ingarrison at established posts."^ Whether or notthese issues included examples of the "old" or 1851-1854 pattern is unknown, but probably so, sincethere were stocks of the "old" on hand as of 30June 1865. As of that date, there were a total of3398 light artillery caps on hand at the variousdepots throughout the country. Of these, more thanhalf had to be of the earlier model as the Dare contractwas the only such made during the calendaryear 1864 or fiscal year 1865.'"°In the reorganization of the regular establishmentfollowing the war, the artillery strength wasset at five regiments of twelve companies each, twocompanies in each regiment to be mounted with aspecial strength of 122 enlisted men each.'"" Threeyears later the number of mounted companies wascut to one per regiment, for a total of five.'"Soon after the regulars went into occupation inthe south or into garrison, there were numerousrequisitions for and issues of light artillery caps,albeit only to the mounted companies.'*'Fortunately there are several contemporary illustrationsshowing the cap in use. Two photo-FiGURE 12.—Light artillery cap, 1864.