JEB Stuart's hat

[rider]

Hi. I'm seeking anybody that can tell me more about the hats that JEB Stuart wore during the war, especially the colors they were, any insignia on them, and what they looked like overall. I've seen the one in the Museum of the Confederacy, and they list it as originally being grey in color and now faded to tan. I've also read accounts of him wearing a light brown one, a "whitish" one, a "fawn colored" one, a grey one, and a black Hardee hat style. I've tried to research as many primary sources as I can. I was wondering if anyone knew more about the one he lost at Verdiersville, the one he wore at the Brandy Station review (which has conflicting eyewitness accounts), and anything else anyone may know. My apologies if this has been asked already, but I searched the forums and couldn't find anything. I also understand that nobody was sitting around doing an inventory of what everyone wore Thanks in advance for any help.

 

[7th Mississippi Infantry]

Welcome rider.

Great questions. I'm looking forward to the responses.

 

[diane]

Hi! Welcome aboard. I'm not an expert on Stuart's hats but the one he lost at Verdiersville was a grey one with a plume - think it was ostrich. It was from his friend on the Union side, Samuel Crawford, who lost a bet with Jeb. When it was lost, Stuart told his wife, "I intend to make the Yankees pay for that hat." But before he did, he had to put up with his men sniping at him - "Whar's yer hat?" and wearing a bandanna!

 

[Nathanb1]

Hi. I'm seeking anybody that can tell me more about the hats that JEB Stuart wore during the war, especially the colors they were, any insignia on them, and what they looked like overall. I've seen the one in the Museum of the Confederacy, and they list it as originally being grey in color and now faded to tan. I've also read accounts of him wearing a light brown one, a "whitish" one, a "fawn colored" one, a grey one, and a black Hardee hat style. I've tried to research as many primary sources as I can. I was wondering if anyone knew more about the one he lost at Verdiersville, the one he wore at the Brandy Station review (which has conflicting eyewitness accounts), and anything else anyone may know. My apologies if this has been asked already, but I searched the forums and couldn't find anything. I also understand that nobody was sitting around doing an inventory of what everyone wore Thanks in advance for any help.

I bet we have a member who could help you with that, if she happens to show up. Barring @KHale popping in, there may be more......so please have patience. I'll drop her a PM to see if she has anything in particular on it.

 

[Nathanb1]

I thought I'd see how many photos I could find with a hat....

 

[Nathanb1]

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And probably the most commonly seen one....

 

[Vicksburger]

I thought I'd see how many photos I could find with a hat....

Going slightly off-topic, but I saw this picture somewhere recently, isn't this photo clearly a fake? That is not J.E.B., don't you think?

 

[Vicksburger]

Here is the hat in the MOC at Richmond.

 

[marinegrunt]

Everyone's always talking about his hats, but man that is some beard he wore. Woulda drove me up a wall.

 

[Nathanb1]

Going slightly off-topic, but I saw this picture somewhere recently, isn't this photo clearly a fake? That is not J.E.B., don't you think?

I hadn't seen it before. I have no idea!

 

[Nathanb1]

Everyone's always talking about his hats, but man that is some beard he wore. Woulda drove me up a wall.

 

[CMWinkler]

Welcome. Great questions.

 

[Lnwlf]

I bet we have a member who could help you with that, if she happens to show up. Barring @KHale popping in, there may be more......so please have patience. I'll drop her a PM to see if she has anything in particular on it.

Good call Nate! KHale is to JEB Stuart what you are to That Guy! (Not forgetting Diane for both men) Founts of knowledge on the subjects!

 

[TinCan]

marinegrunt,
Could you imagine that thing in summer!

 

[rider]

I bet we have a member who could help you with that, if she happens to show up. Barring @KHale popping in, there may be more......so please have patience. I'll drop her a PM to see if she has anything in particular on it.

Thanks. Glad to see there's some interest in the topic out there. I thought I might have been the only one!

 

[Nathanb1]

Thanks. Glad to see there's some interest in the topic out there. I thought I might have been the only one!

No, we're into totally useless trivia here. It's what we live for.

 

[rider]

I thought I'd see how many photos I could find with a hat....

This is my favorite Stuart photo. This is one I've looked at pretty extensively as far as his hat goes. Here's what I've come up with. Looking at his left arm, you can see what appears to be a black band around his sleeve. I'm told that this was a mourning band worn after Jackson's death at Chancellorsville. If that's true, that means this photo was taken somewhere between May 1863 and May 1864. You can also see that this hat has crossed sabers on the front of it if you look closely. The hat also appears lighter than his uniform. From all that I believe that this hat is the one that ended up in the MOC. At some point, the crossed sabers on it were removed. One person I've talked to swears that he's held the MOC hat and can see holes from the stitching in it, even though the sabers are no longer on it. It also seems that the crown has the same type of creasing that the MOC hat does. I suppose it's possible that Stuart, or someone else, later added the pointy crease in the front, as seen in the MOC hat. Thoughts?

 

[rider]

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And probably the most commonly seen one....

Wow, that's the best quality picture I've ever seen of this particular photo. I think this photo was taken very early in the war. It appears that he still has the dark blue federal pants on here, where he had grey ones later on from what I'm aware of. The hat certainly looks to be pinned up on one side by a Jeff Davis-type device, instead of the palmetto star he talked about later. That's all I can really get from this photo as far as his hat goes.

 

[rider]

Going slightly off-topic, but I saw this picture somewhere recently, isn't this photo clearly a fake? That is not J.E.B., don't you think?

I've never heard of anyone claiming this to be a fake. That would sure throw a wrench in things if true...

 

[rider]

Everyone's always talking about his hats, but man that is some beard he wore. Woulda drove me up a wall.

Haha. I'm trying to grow one out before I have photos taken later this year in Gettysburg. Something tells me it's going to be hard to achieve that level of beard in time lol.