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Civil War Officer's Kepi?


tsgalloway
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tsgalloway

This kepi has been in my collection for about 15 years. I purchased it as a Civil War Kepi. In my opinion, it conforms to 1860s construction. The part that baffles me are the letters on the cap. Could this have actually been from a militia unit, military school or from the Indian Wars? Anyone have any thoughts?

 

http://www.flickr.com/photos/79481628@N02/...57629928526328/

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My first instinct when looking at it is perhaps 1870s. It is definitely a kepi......it has a bound visor, recessed crown, etc. The letters are from the CW era....I suspect it was for a military school or a militia unit.

 

Either way it's still a nice piece of headgear!

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My first instinct when looking at it is perhaps 1870s. It is definitely a kepi......it has a bound visor, recessed crown, etc. The letters are from the CW era....I suspect it was for a military school or a militia unit.

 

Either way it's still a nice piece of headgear!

 

 

Agree, 1870-80 period, Ray

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tsgalloway

Good, good. It would be nice to know what the letters indicate, but that's a lot to hope for. Thanks for the replies...

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Good, good. It would be nice to know what the letters indicate, but that's a lot to hope for. Thanks for the replies...

In the past month I believe we had a relevant thread here which ended up in a consensus that a kepi with that wreath form was more probably a GAR piece. If my memory has not totally failed...

 

Found the link:

http://www.usmilitariaforum.com/forums/ind...howtopic=143163

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  • 2 weeks later...

Definitely post-war. More than likely had a brown, polished cotton fabric lining the crown (check under the sweatband and see if you can see any remnants of such). A GAR cap.

 

Melanie

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Definitely post-war. More than likely had a brown, polished cotton fabric lining the crown (check under the sweatband and see if you can see any remnants of such). A GAR cap.

 

Melanie

Agree, a GAR cap. Interesting thing, they were making Repros of this stuff back then, although it was made by the same folks that made the originals, and were sold to gar members. Many Navy G

AR members wore flat hats with hat ribbons of the ships they served on during the war. These were produced for the GAR market. Sadley, that has led to the mistaken belief that during the ACW, Sailors of the USN (and CSN) wore cap ribbons all the time. This is false, as they were not a prescribed uniform item. Those that did exsist were hand painted by the Sailors (some were printed commercially for sale) and worn on their liberty caps. Also, they did not carry the prefix USS (or CSS) until the regulations of 1866.

 

Any way, there are now very old cap ribbons with USS on them that people swear are "Civil War" which are in fact GAR. Just an aside. Sorry

 

Steve Hesson

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Agree, a GAR cap. Interesting thing, they were making Repros of this stuff back then, although it was made by the same folks that made the originals, and were sold to gar members. Many Navy G

AR members wore flat hats with hat ribbons of the ships they served on during the war. These were produced for the GAR market. Sadley, that has led to the mistaken belief that during the ACW, Sailors of the USN (and CSN) wore cap ribbons all the time. This is false, as they were not a prescribed uniform item. Those that did exsist were hand painted by the Sailors (some were printed commercially for sale) and worn on their liberty caps. Also, they did not carry the prefix USS (or CSS) until the regulations of 1866.

 

Any way, there are now very old cap ribbons with USS on them that people swear are "Civil War" which are in fact GAR. Just an aside. Sorry

 

Steve Hesson

 

Thanks for the insight!

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