Uniforms Union Artillery Kepis

[peacefulanimalguy7]

Something that I have noticed online is a variant of the union kepi used by artillery being sold at sutlers and even on Roblox. However, I haven't found any evidence it existed in regulations or originals. Did it really exist?

 

[RedRover]

Something that I have noticed online is a variant of the union kepi used by artillery being sold at sutlers and even on Roblox. However, I haven't found any evidence it existed in regulations or originals. Did it really exist?
View attachment 521129

Make believe, or imaginative reenactors' sutler-row costumery. Generally the US Army from 1861 provided forage caps of a singular pattern to all branches of the army. The only branch insignia would be where the soldiers placed the uniform hat branch insignia on their forage caps....

 

[HatEnjoyer]

I believe it's been widely agreed upon that this type of kepi never existed during the war. As Redrover pointed out, Federal troops would have had devices on their hats to show what branch there were a part of. I think someone simply decided one day that it'd be cool to make a Federal version of a Confederate artillery kepi, and then a bunch of other people got in on the action.

 

[SethJ]

I thought I recalled old regulations where Forage cap welts were red to denote they were apart of the artillery... But, that was later revoked.

As far as the Yankee artillery kepi... No amount of research has lead me to find one to recreate.
Which, to me is a shame because the red and blue makes a beautiful cap imo.

 

[Package4]

There actually is some loose precedent here, both the M1851 and M1857 shakos had the branch color in red or the reed/welt covered in the branch color. Keep in mind that the hat in question is a kepi and all kepis in the US Army during the war were private purchase, to my knowledge to date we have not seen an issuance of kepis for the US Army.

I would imagine that somewhere down the line this particular kepi actually did exist in some fashion, was it prevalent or mainstream absolutely not.

 

[SethJ]

I see... so perhaps 1 in every 100 reenactors with a red band Kepi wouldn't be all to Farb

As long as it's 1 in every 100 or so... maybe...

 

[major bill]

I see... so perhaps 1 in every 100 reenactors with a red band Kepi wouldn't be all to Farb

As long as it's 1 in every 100 or so... maybe...

I would have to say yes it is Farb, unless it was an early Civil War state unit or militia unit

 

[Package4]

I see... so perhaps 1 in every 100 reenactors with a red band Kepi wouldn't be all to Farb

As long as it's 1 in every 100 or so... maybe...

The entire gun section or battery would need to be attired so, this would have been a state adaptation, if any ever existed. I will say this, in over 30 years of collecting ACW headgear, the most deviation from the norm has been in the artillery.

 

[major bill]

An early War Zouave unit wearing these is a possible. A mid to late War Union artillery, probably not.

 

[gc45]

So how many origional civil war caps are still with us? one side or both. I would think them very collectable if in their origional state and not altered. Any guesses??

 

[HatEnjoyer]

So how many origional civil war caps are still with us? one side or both. I would think them very collectable if in their origional state and not altered. Any guesses??

I don't know exact numbers, but based off of the selling history of reputable vendors such as Horse Soldier, there seems to be quite a few original forage caps circulating around in private collections. Of course they aren't common and are definitely not cheap, but they do still exist in decently sized quantity. I believe Horse Soldier is currently selling a Union Forage Cap for ~$2600

 

[RedRover]

Bannerman's was still selling 1860s forage caps well into the 20th Century.

I wouldn't know, but I have been informed by some that their opinion is a large proportion of the surviving US Army garments from the war are from the Bannerman's surplus lots.

 

[RedRover]

I'm pretty sure I've found the uniform for these replica forage caps...

The Union's "9th Bearded Infantry" at Fort Springfield in May, 1864 according to an episode of the television cartoon, "The Simpsons":

 

[Cato3rd]

I'm pretty sure I've found the uniform for these replica forage caps...

View attachment 523170
The Union's "9th Bearded Infantry" at Fort Springfield in May, 1864 according to an episode of the television cartoon, "The Simpsons":

View attachment 523169

A cap worn by many in the 2nd battle of Springfield from the north, south, and east

 

[gc45]

Thanks for this info; in my time have seen only one civil war hat that was said to be original; we don't get much to see out west from that war. My one real war treasure is my grandfather's WWI hat and sidearm, he was an artillery officer fighting in Europe.

 

[RedRover]

Thanks for this info; in my time have seen only one civil war hat that was said to be original; we don't get much to see out west from that war. My one real war treasure is my grandfather's WWI hat and sidearm, he was an artillery officer fighting in Europe.

 

[HatEnjoyer]

That's some great footage. I'm primarily a WWI US collector, so it's always cool to see some items I own in action.