In the June [2013] issue of the Civil War News, Craig L. Barry discussed the use of Hat Insignia in his article “Less is More: Hat Insignias. (http://www.civilwarnews.com/watchdog/wd_061001.html). He includes the image, at right, which is labeled “Union infantryman with brass insignia on forage cap. (Library of Congress)”.

In the article, Craig Barry states, “Hat hardware has been and con-tinues to be one of the most over-done aspects of mainstream Civil War reenacting. Hat insignia was found in use during the war, just not nearly to the extent it is in use now. The photo shows a Union infantry private with the generally accepted placement of the brass insignia on a forage cap. His infantry horn insig-nia is odd, and it appears to be one of the so-called “false metallic” horns with tassels at the bottom which were for officers. Enlisted men’s branch insignia were stamped in brass and made to be worn on the front of the 1858 enlisted dress hat, the Hardee hat, sometimes called the Jefferson Davis hat. The style of the forage cap made it difficult to affix the insignia to the front of the cap above the brim. It was a practice of some soldiers to affix brass insignia on the top of a forage cap as seen above. However, this was not pre-scribed by U.S. Army regulations. Regulations stated that forage caps were only to have “…yellow metal letters in front to designate compa-nies.” The brass infantry horn, regimental number and company letter were intended for the enlisted dress hat only. ” Regarding the statement that hat brass is “… one of the most over-done aspects of mainstream Civil War reenacting”, there are a num-

ber of similar statements on reen-actor forums, some contributors to the forums call it “farby.” I found an interesting discus-sion on one such forum at: http://www.cwreenactors.com/forum/archive/index.php/t-17347.html. Like any online forum, you find on this one some innocent ques-tions, opinions, sarcastic remarks, some bashing, and some useful information. During that discussion thread, there were a number of statements about what “the regulations” did and didn’t allow. Eventually, one participant (lincolnsguard) asked what the regulations said about hat brass. The response from an-other participant (Army30th) was: “To answer his question, US Army Regulations of 1862, Army Regu-lation 1493 states that a forage cap is to have "yellow metal letters in front to designate companies". The Black Felt hats (dress hat), looks like this: 1487. For Officers of Infantry--the same as for the General Staff,

except the ornament in front, which will be a gold-embroidered bugle, on black velvet ground with the number of the regiment in silver within the bend. 1488. For Enlisted Men, except companies of Light Artillery--the same as for officers of the respective corps, except that there will be but one feather, the cord will be of worsted, of the same color as that of the facings of the corps, three-sixteenths of an inch in diameter, running three times through a slide of the same material, and termi-nating with two tassels, not less than two inches long, on the side of the hat opposite the feather. The insignia of corps, in brass, in front of the hat, correspond-ing with those prescribed for officers, with the number of regiment, five-eighths of an inch long, in brass, and letter of company, one inch, in brass, arranged over the insignia.” There are numerous period images available on the Library of Congress web site that show Union infantry soldiers with forage caps that have hat brass. Some with the Infantry horn and Company designator Reference the following images: Unidentified soldier in Union corporal's uniform, infantry kepi, and U.S. belt plate with musket and cartridge box: http://www.loc.gov/pictures/resource/ppmsca.32095/?co=lilj Unidentified soldier in Union greatcoat holding kepi with In-fantry Company A insignia: http://www.loc.gov/pictures/resource/ppmsca.37101/?co=lilj Unidentified soldier in Union corporal's uniform with 1858 Army hat of Company H, 4th

(Continued on page 2)

By 1st Sgt. Steve Giovannini

Infantry Regiment: http://www.loc.gov/pictures/resource/ppmsca.37086/?co=lilj Unidentified soldier in Union corporal's uniform holding Com-pany B, 15th New Hampshire Volunteers kepi: http://www.loc.gov/pictures/resource/ppmsca.36864/?co=lilj Unidentified soldier: http://lcweb2.loc.gov/service/pnp/ppmsca/27200/27282v.jpg Notice that some of the refer-enced images are reversed, so you may need to look at the image in a mirror to discern the Regiment Number and Company Letter, such as the image of the member of Company B, New Hampshire Volunteers NHV. Although there is period evi-dence that units wore on their forage caps the hat brass which by “the regulations” is reserved for the garrison hat, the ques-tions we have to ask ourselves, which are asked in various ways in the referenced forum, are: What is appropriate for the Company and Regiment you are a member of, and repre-sent?

What is appropriate for the impression you are portraying at a reenactment?

Let’s talk about the second question first. The 7th Regi-ment of Maryland Volunteer infantry fought in very few of the Civil War battles, that we participate in as reenactors. The 7th didn’t exist until Au-gust of 1862, and only joined the 1st Corps of the Army of the Potomac in July 1863, after the

(Continued from page 1) battle of Gettysburg. The Mary-land Brigade, of which the 7th was a Regiment, was attached to the 1st Corps 3rd Division. For most of the reenactments we par-ticipate in, we are stand-ins for some other unit. At these reen-actments, we are rarely told the identity of the unit we will be “portraying,” let alone how that unit was uniformed at that time in history. Now let’s talk about the first question. What is the appropri-ate hat adornment for the 7th Maryland Reenactor? Do we have any evidence that the 7th wore hat brass, and if so, how much? We do have evidence that at least one member of the 7th wore hat brass sometime during the years 1862-1865. That asser-tion is based on a study of the image of Pvt. James W. Shelton, Company B, 7th MD Volunteer

Infantry, appearing on our Com-pany website. (Below.) (Reference: http://7thmaryland.com Bios_of_7th_Marylanders.php) and replicated here. It is important to note that this is not a post war image. Accord-ing to the official Roster of the 7th MD, (https://archive.org/details/historyrosterofm01mary) Private Shelton enlisted or was mustered in to Company B, 7th Regiment Maryland Volunteer Infantry on 16 Aug 1862 and was killed in battle on 1 April 1865. Therefore the image of Pvt. Shel-ton had to be made while he was in service during the war. I have no additional information about the image to help identify the year in which it was made. It is obvious that Pvt. Shelton has some form of adornment on his forage cap. But what is it? One must be careful not to

jump to the conclusion that it is necessarily hat brass. There are images in which white Corps badges stand out prominently on forage caps of the unit photo-graphed. Check out the image of a Company of the 139th PA. http://www.loc.gov/pictures/resource/ppmsca.34550/ That Company definitely has something on the top of their forage caps, but it is only on close inspection of the image that you can dis-tinguish the white Greek Cross corps badge of the Second Division of the VI Corps. According to the Regi-mental History of the 139th PA, the company was trans-ferred from the Third Divi-sion to the Second Division of the Sixth Corps in March 1864.

(Reference: http://quod.lib.umich.edu/m/moa/aby3439.0004.001/394?page=root;sid=778308149b189f58bf191421757c33c6;size=100;view=image;q1=One+Hundred+And+Thirty-Ninth+Regiment). So what does Private Shelton have on top of his forage cap? After carefully studying the posi-tion of the top of his forage cap, considering both the slope to the front and slope to the side, I am confident he has an Infantry horn on his cap. The 7th Mary-land was part of the Third Divi-sion 1st Corps from July 1863 through March 1864. The Corps

Badge of Third Division First Corps is a blue circle. A blue circle would not stand out like the item appearing in Shelton’s image. In March 1864, the 7th MD was merged along with the rest of the Maryland Brigade into the Second Division of the Fifth Corps and remained in the Sec-ond Division Fifth Corps until it mustered out in April 1865, (reference

(Continued from page 2) http://7thmaryland.com/7th_Md_Reg_t_History.php). The Corps Badge of Second Division Fifth Corps is a white cross pattée, the straight-edged variant of the Maltese Cross (reference http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/V_Corps_%28Union_Army%29). In keeping with the convention used by most of the Union Corps, red designated the 1st Division, white the 2nd Division, and blue the 3rd Division. So the 1st Corps 3rd Division, and the V Corps 2nd Division badges that might have appeared on a 7th MD forage cap

would look something like the following (location and size might vary): Although the symbol of the Second Division Fifth Corps is a white ‘Cross Pattee’, an infantry-man’s corps badge is made from wool felt or other cloth and therefore has minimal thickness to it. The brass Infantry insignia (Hunter’s Horn) on the other hand has thickness in addition to its shape. Unlike the image of the corps badge that appears on the forage caps of the members of 139th PA, the item on Shelton’s hat has depth, shadow and a sheen. I assert that we have historic evidence to support wearing not only hat brass on our forage caps, but the Infantry Insignia as part

(Continued on page 4)

of that brass. However, at this point in time, we have no infor-mation to in-form us under what conditions Private Shelton wore this adorned hat. Was it worn in battle, or only in garrison? In conclusion, unless and until additional facts are discovered, I recommend that we only wear hats adorned with hat brass un-

(Continued from page 3) der the following conditions: At Company events where we

portray the 7th Maryland Vol-unteer Infan-try. At reenact-ments, but only after we have quit the

reenacting field and returned to our impression as members of the 7th Maryland. Appropriate hat brass combina-tions would be:

Option 1: 1 inch brass Company Letter: ‘A’

Option 2:

1 inch brass Company Letter: ‘A’ plus

5/8 inch brass Regiment Numeral: ‘7’

Option 3:

1 inch brass Company Letter: ‘A’ plus

5/8 inch brass Regiment Numeral: ‘7’ plus brass 1858 Enlisted Hat

Insignia: hunting horn. Note the horn is sized such that a single 5/8 inch Regiment numeral can be placed within the circular bend of the horn.

Compare the Shelton image, top right, to a couple pictures I took using a reproduction forage cap with hat brass using the Company A letter vice Shelton’s Company B. Given the

fact that I did not replicate the exact shape hat, lighting conditions, photography technique, nor distance of the photograph, the images are similar.