Musician's caps.

[major bill]

Saw this a few days ago at the Michigan History Museum.

I have seen this nice cap before. I do not believe that there were uniform regulations for musicians, but the regulations were not ridgedly enforced.

The Michigan History Museum will be upgrading the Civil War room soon and I wonder if this cap will go into storage. I am assuming that there will be an attempt to tell the Civil War story in a more modern way and I am not sure this cap will help tell the updated Civil War story. I believe that at one time the information card stated this cap was from an Illinois unit.

 

[Package4]

Saw this a few days ago at the Michigan History Museum.

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I have seen this nice cap before. I do not believe that there were uniform regulations for musicians, but the regulations were not ridgedly enforced.

The Michigan History Museum will be upgrading the Civil War room soon and I wonder if this cap will go into storage. I am assuming that there will be an attempt to tell the Civil War story in a more modern way and I am not sure this cap will help tell the updated Civil War story. I believe that at one time the information card stated this cap was from an Illinois unit.

A couple of things here and not completely definitive: 1) The braid is a cotton mixture which is usually post war, most war date caps have metallic woven braid (there are a few examples of cotton that have proven to be war date) 2) The Musicians insignia appears to be woven into the cap fabric, if this is so, it is almost assuredly a post war piece given the "braid". The interior lining would give a more definitive picture of period.

 

[major bill]

The museum could be mistaken about being Civil War. I would assume thar some Civil War musicians may well have purchased new caps so they could look better in annual parades after the Civil War. Because it is in a glass case in a museum, one would need to go through a lot to look at the lining.