A Soldier with an Unusual Hat...Illinois or Indiana Origin

midwestjoe

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Joined
Dec 24, 2015
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There is absolutely NOTHING "unusual" about his hat - except possibly that it's civilian rather than military, and there's certainly nothing unusual about that either. A close-up look at any crowd scenes like those @JPK Huson 1863 often provides us with will reveal plenty of them, especially in urban settings like Washington, D.C. or New York City.
 
I'd love to know more about him. He's interesting looking. Into the man file with him, methinks. It looks like a hat one of Mosby's men is wearing.
Plenty of civilian styles here in this photo of Mosby and members of his Maryland company taken sometime soon after the war:

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I'll add that unlike the group photo of Mosby's Raiders above I believe the subject in the OP is the "real deal" - that is, a genuine wartime image. I've seen the flared bell crown in photos and prints from the 1850's and ca. 1860 but think that by the end of the war that feature had become passé, as the group photo seems to demonstrate.
 
Of course Mosby's men had the need to blend back in to the civilian population after a 'mission', making it far more feasible to be attired with less conspicuous wear.
Lubliner.
 
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