Zouave cap or camp cap?

[major bill]

At a small local museum in Michigan. The let me look this image over. The off color band is what is bothering me. So Zouave or not?

 

[Kurtlg]

I vote camp cap

 

[Kurtlg]

I don't recall any zouave caps with a wide band and there is usually a long chord connected to the tassel

 

[major bill]

I vote camp cap

I tend to agree. I do not recall a Zouave cap with a different color band. The museum does not know if this is a Michigan soldier or how the museum came by the image.

 

[R. Porter]

Perhaps it was a cap sewn by mom or "the wife" for casual wear, sleeping, or those times when the soldier had to perform "Elf Duty." The soldier had his picture taken with it to send home to show that he had actually worn it and unfortunately for him that's the picture that survived the war. I remember a particular mint green suit my son's grandma sent for him to wear at Easter. He was very young and I didn't want him to suffer childhood trauma so we dressed him in it, I took a few snapshots to send to his grandma and he never wore it again.

 

[major bill]

With him wearing his overcoat, I wondered if it was a cap from home intended to keep his ears warm. Before and during the Civil War era these types of 'Canadian caps' were popular in Michigan with lumbermen and others who worked out side in the cold.