Uniforms Another Richmond Depot Kepi

[SethJ]

@Package4 's comment on the known amount of Richmond Depot Kepi's.
(To see the thread, click on the image)
​

While looking at the Facebook Group "Caps and Kepis", a member posted this image of what appears to be a Richmond Deport Artillery Kepi. Their story is clear if you read it.
It looks awful authentic, but I can't be sure if this is another Kepi to the list of remaining Richmond Depot Kepi's, or one that has already been apart of the list.

Should it be another one added to the list, I'm sure it'll be quite the find for those who study caps.
Should it be part of the list, I'm personally happy I found it.

The posters name and picture have been removed for their privacy. Though if you go and take a look at the group, I'm sure you'll find it.

Another find,
-Seth

 

[Bentonville]

I have a book on the 9th Tennessee and their comutation uniforms made them look like early war cavalry. BRIGHT yellow facings.

I dig the kepi though. Has style to it, artillery or infantry.

 

[captaindrew]

A colonel wearing an enlisted issued artillery cap would be highly unlikely. Officers had to supply their own uniforms and probably wouldn't have something issued to an enlisted man. It is very possible for an enlisted infantryman to be wearing an issued garment with another branch's trim. If a unit needed clothing sometimes they got what was available regardless of trim color. So it could still be a family possession but I doubt the colonel wore it.

 

[Package4]

@Package4 's comment on the known amount of Richmond Depot Kepi's.
(To see the thread, click on the image)
View attachment 503937​

While looking at the Facebook Group "Caps and Kepis", a member posted this image of what appears to be a Richmond Deport Artillery Kepi. Their story is clear if you read it.
It looks awful authentic, but I can't be sure if this is another Kepi to the list of remaining Richmond Depot Kepi's, or one that has already been apart of the list.

View attachment 503936

Should it be another one added to the list, I'm sure it'll be quite the find for those who study caps.
Should it be part of the list, I'm personally happy I found it.

The posters name and picture have been removed for their privacy. Though if you go and take a look at the group, I'm sure you'll find it.

Another find,
-Seth

Family histories are usually very unreliable due to the passage of time and unintentional embellishments. My grandmother (maiden name Harrison) used to regale us with stories of being descendants of William Harrison etc of Berkeley Plantation and presidential fame. The Berkeley was correct, but West Virginia…… I was later given the genealogy she worked on in the 50s and 60s, she was convinced we were descendants, but not so, when I used Ancestory.com it proved otherwise.

Using genealogy software may help more than familial recollection. The soldier would not even need to be artillery as caps were issued based upon immediate need.

Nice find and it appears dead real, I have asked some of the best to recreate mine and the cloth (red) is almost impossible to obtain as it is almost a velour. I had to settle on a red wool from Greg Starbuck, who in my estimation is the best at CS kepi recreation.

 

[RetiredCanuck]

@Package4 's comment on the known amount of Richmond Depot Kepi's.
(To see the thread, click on the image)
View attachment 503937​

While looking at the Facebook Group "Caps and Kepis", a member posted this image of what appears to be a Richmond Deport Artillery Kepi. Their story is clear if you read it.
It looks awful authentic, but I can't be sure if this is another Kepi to the list of remaining Richmond Depot Kepi's, or one that has already been apart of the list.

View attachment 503936

Should it be another one added to the list, I'm sure it'll be quite the find for those who study caps.
Should it be part of the list, I'm personally happy I found it.

The posters name and picture have been removed for their privacy. Though if you go and take a look at the group, I'm sure you'll find it.

Another find,
-Seth

Weird coincidence. I posted a few photos of the 18th Miss uniform (early war) today. In one of those photos I'm wearing a kepi just like this.
Red body with blue crown and band.

 

[observator]

By regulation,,,red was for artillery; Yellowfor cavalry; blue for infantry; black for engineers...however CS armies became well known for prefering to wear non regulation uniforms (i.E homespun garments from their families) hence General Bragg remark that on one regiment as "The Pound Cake Regiment"; general William extra Billy SMith wore a top hat with his unifrom while Ben McCulloch wore Texas Ranger clouthing...so if a Colonel wore a red trimmed Kepi...example one of the best uniformed of the CS regiments was Rutledges Tennessee Artillery
Yet some officers wear Kepi and some dont

File:The Photographic History of The Civil War Volume 05 Page 071.jpg - Wikimedia Commons

commons.wikimedia.org

 

[SethJ]

By regulation,,,red was for artillery; Yellowfor cavalry; blue for infantry; black for engineers...however CS armies became well known for prefering to wear non regulation uniforms (i.E homespun garments from their families) hence General Bragg remark that on one regiment as "The Pound Cake Regiment"; general William extra Billy SMith wore a top hat with his unifrom while Ben McCulloch wore Texas Ranger clouthing...so if a Colonel wore a red trimmed Kepi...example one of the best uniformed of the CS regiments was Rutledges Tennessee Artillery
Yet some officers wear Kepi and some dont

File:The Photographic History of The Civil War Volume 05 Page 071.jpg - Wikimedia Commons

commons.wikimedia.org

I don't see the confederacy mid, or in even some cases in early war being able to stick to regulation very well.

And besides, who wouldn't want a snazzy red and blue Kepi if they could get their hands on it!

 

[Package4]

Weird coincidence. I posted a few photos of the 18th Miss uniform (early war) today. In one of those photos I'm wearing a kepi just like this.
Red body with blue crown and band.

In actuality the red body was a velour/shammie and the other color is not blue, but British Army Cloth which is a dark gray. There were earlier artillery kepis made from wool broadcloth that had a red body with a navy blue band.

The Richmond Depot kepis are almost all made from imported BAC.

 

[Package4]

By regulation,,,red was for artillery; Yellowfor cavalry; blue for infantry; black for engineers...however CS armies became well known for prefering to wear non regulation uniforms (i.E homespun garments from their families) hence General Bragg remark that on one regiment as "The Pound Cake Regiment"; general William extra Billy SMith wore a top hat with his unifrom while Ben McCulloch wore Texas Ranger clouthing...so if a Colonel wore a red trimmed Kepi...example one of the best uniformed of the CS regiments was Rutledges Tennessee Artillery
Yet some officers wear Kepi and some dont

File:The Photographic History of The Civil War Volume 05 Page 071.jpg - Wikimedia Commons

commons.wikimedia.org

Mostly this had nothing to do with preference, but what was available as the war went on, there were actually plenty of stock, but getting the material to the troops during active campaign was extremely difficult. The prevalence of the slouch hat over the kepi could be one of preference, but most likely the ready availability of such wear in the civilian world. Passing through a town, the army would not find military kepis stocked on store shelves, but slouch hats were to be had. Additionally some stores would simply stock wool or felt blanks that could readily be sized and pressed into a cheap slouch hat, for a farmer's use.

 

[RedRover]

A colonel wearing an enlisted issued artillery cap would be highly unlikely. Officers had to supply their own uniforms and probably wouldn't have something issued to an enlisted man. It is very possible for an enlisted infantryman to be wearing an issued garment with another branch's trim. If a unit needed clothing sometimes they got what was available regardless of trim color. So it could still be a family possession but I doubt the colonel wore it.

 

[Package4]

View attachment 505031

I believe the distinction here is between line and field, though it most likely happened, it would be quite rare for a field grade officer to wear an enlisted cap. Per your highlighted excerpt it was OK for "officers of the line".

 

[Package4]

Researching this a little more, if the cap belonged to Colonel John McCausland, it is conceivable that this was a cap given to him post war as a remembrance of his 3 month's service with the Rockbridge Artillery. He would not have been issued this particular kepi as, at the time of his artillery service, the Richmond Depot was not making kepis with English Army Cloth (EAC) (4/21/1861)