Col. Meares' hat

[Bruce Vail]

The North Carolina Museum of History has this hat in its collection. According to the Museum, it belonged to Col. William Gaston Meares, commanding officer of the 3rd NC State Troops.

Meares was from Wilmington, N.C. and a veteran of the War with Mexico. He was appointed Col. in May 1861, when the regiment was first formed. He commanded the 3rd during its training and initial deployment with the Army of Northern Virginia, and was at the head of his troops in their first battle, at Beaver Dam Creek (or Mechanicsville) at the end of June 1862.

He was killed July 1, 1862 at the Battle of Malvern Hill. According to the official regimental history, he had mounted a bank by the side of the road to survey the enemy positions, and was killed instantly by artillery fire.

 

[Bruce Vail]

Expired Image Removed

William Gaston Meares 1821-1862

 

[AUG]

A nice, comfortable looking slouch hat there.

Here's another slouch worn by a North Carolinian - Colonel (and later Brigadier) William R. Cox of the 2nd North Carolina Infantry.

Artifact courtesy of the North Carolina State Museum collection.

 

[Bruce Vail]

UPDATE: The Meares hat (and other items) have apparently been turned over to the Cape Fear Museum.

This from theior blog in 2014:



Getting Gaston's Hat and Sword

Two of the earliest additions to the U.D.C.'s collection belonged to Confederate Colonel Gaston Meares.

Colonel Gaston Meares, about 1861
Gaston Meares was born in Wilmington. He attended West Point briefly and served in the Mexican-American War in the 1840s. Meares married Catherine (also known as Kate) Douglass DeRosset in 1850, and the couple moved to New York in 1855. They were still living in the North in 1860. By the Spring of 1861, the family was back in Wilmington, and Gaston, aged 39, was commissioned into the Field and Staff of the 3rdRegiment N.C. Troops.

Colonel Meares was killed during the battle at Malvern Hill on July 1, 1862.

In 1898, Colonel Gaston Meares' sword and hat were donated to the U.D.C by his widow. In an article entitled "The New Museum" from April 23, 1898, the Wilmington Morning Star reported "Mrs Kate DeRosset Meares, widow of the late Col. Gaston Meares, presented to the museum her husband's military hat which he wore during the Mexican war and for some time during the civil war, before he fell, a martyr in protection of his country's honor. Accompanying the hat was also Col. Meares' sword."


According to a 17 July 1862 in the letter in the Southern Historical Collection from Ann ClaypoleMeares to Catherine Douglass DeRosset Meares, Gaston had both hat and sword with him when he died: "... he was standing with his hat in his hand, & his sword under his arm, & was walking back & forth in a little prominence, from when his men had begged him to come down. & he had once done so, & taken a seat, but feeling anxious went up again. when turning his head a little back, the ball struck his him just above the left eye I think, & fractured the skull, he was immediately removed by two men & carefully attended to, no one heard him say any thing..."

Both the hat and the sword were not returned to Wilmington in 1929.

The sword came back to Wilmington in the early 1980s.

In 1979, then Museum Director Janet Seapker began to campaign to get items back. This effort yielded some results. In the early 1980s, a number of items were returned to Wilmington and the Museum, and one of those items was Gaston Meares' sword.

The hat was another story.

It was only returned to the Museum in 2010, as a part of the Museum's most recent efforts to reclaim items from the founding collection. That effort yielded Meares' hat, as well as a number of other items.

Gaston Meares' hat

This gavel was also returned in 2010. It was made out of flooring from t

 

[UCVRelics]

I'm glad to see these items returned to NC, Great post Thanks for sharing.