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Army Issued USMC Field Hats 1899 to 1917


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1912 USMC Field Hat

Photo No. 26: I don’t have any specific details as to when the USMC 1912 Field Hat was adopted or when it was first issued. While similar to its Army counterpart, the basic characteristics of a regulation USMC 1912 Field Hat are:

  • That it had three ventilation eyelets on the crown – not four.
  • That there was no ventilation eyelet at the back of the hat.
  • That the front eyelet was used to accommodate the threaded post of the EGA cap badge.
  • That a 1 inch wide silk ribbon, the same color as the hat encircled the base of the crown.
  • That the brim of the hat was 3 inches wide
  • That the outer edge of the brim was folded under and secured by two rows of stitching.
  • That there were two slits at the base of the crown, through which either a braided tying cord or a leather chinstrap passed.

Here a 1912 USMC Field hat is shown next to a Marine circa 1917 wearing a similar hat with a Montana Peak.

 

Marine photo courtesy of the John Adam-Graf collection

Hat photo courtesy of Bay State Militaria

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world war I nerd

Photo No. 27: Bottom of a 1912 USMC Field Hat showing the folded brim, leather sweatband, and chinstrap slits next to a Marine wearing his field hat with a fore and aft crease.

 

Marine photo courtesy of the John Adam-Graf collection

Hat photo courtesy of Bay State Militaria

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world war I nerd

Photo No. 28: The back of a 1912 USMC Field Hat without a rear ventilation eyelet (left), next to the back of an Army officer’s campaign hat showing the fourth ventilation eyelet that was found on all U.S. Army issued campaign hats.

 

Photo of the USMC hat courtesy of Bay State Militaria

Photo of the Army hat courtesy of Advance Guard Militaria.com

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world war I nerd

Photo No. 29: Marines in Mexico circa 1914, wearing what are probably USMC issued 1912 Field Hats. Note the wide variety of shapes, creases and peaks in which the hats have been individually formed.

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world war I nerd

Photo No. 31: USMC officers 1912 Field Hat with USMC red and gold hat cord next to an officer wearing a similar field hat.

 

Photo of the USMC hat courtesy of Bay State Militaria

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world war I nerd

Photo No. 32: Only two colors of hat cords were authorized for wear on USMC 1912 Field Hats. A gold bullion hat cord (right) was prescribed for all ‘flag’ or general officers. A red and gold bullion hat cord (left) was worn by all USMC commissioned officers, and by all USMC warrant officers. USMC enlisted men were not authorized to wear a hat cord of any color.

 

Hat cords & EGA emblem photos courtesy of Bay State Militaria

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world war I nerd

Photo No. 33: A dull bronze finish ‘Corps device’ or EGA Cap badge was prescribed for wear on the 1912 Field Hat for all ranks. Cap badges were to be positioned on the front, center line of the hat, two inches above the base of the crown. An officer’s cap badge is shown at left, next to an enlisted man’s cap badge.

 

Photos courtesy of Bay State Militaria

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world war I nerd

Photo No. 34: Regimental and battalion numbers, as well as company letters (or numbers) were worn on the front of the field hat, below the EGA ‘Corps device” when appropriate. Three examples are shown below.

 

Right hand image courtesy of Portraits of War.com

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world war I nerd

Photo No. 35: An example of brass numerals that were made in France. This style of numeral was popular with the Marines who served overseas with the AEF during WW I.

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world war I nerd

Photo No. 36: USMC musician’s badges worn below the regulation EGA cap badge on the USMC 1912 Field Hat.

 

Center image courtesy of Portraits of War.com

End of post … Thanks for looking … Don’t forget to add photos and comments

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mattsmilitary

Holy WOW!!! Your wealth of knowledge of wwi is amazing. I use these threads you post as reference and they come in handy!

 

You are a wonderful asset to our community!

 

Thanks again for another great reference world war i nerd!

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WWI Nerd, Long overdue. Thank you for this reference, it is excellent. If I may offer, I think on the first hats worn in Span Am, there needs to be some consideration given to the possibility that the snowflake pattern army hat was worn prior to the screen vent. In fact, I believe the first cache of hats issued to Marines in Huntington's Battalion were in fact the snow flake pattern, and quite possibly the hats shown on the Marines in China depicted in your photo 04 are in fact the snowflake vent pattern. You can clearly see in that photo, there is no evidence of a screen vent present. In fact it is my theory that hats worn by the Marines with the ega on the side are likely snowflake vents, the ega moved to the front by the time they were wearing both the screen vent and star vent patterns. The army, including of course the famous Rough Riders, were all wearing the snowflake pattern in Cuba in 1898. It would only make sense this would be the first hat also issued to Marines over there as well. There is another thread on the campaign hat in general somewhere here on the forum, I will see if I can reference that later tonight.

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Okay a few further thoughts and one wrench in things. Once again, I am so grateful for this post as I have also been researching campaign hats worn by Marines for a while. So let me offer this-according to the excellent reference Hats Off Head Dress of the US Army 1872-1912 by Langellier, we first must properly identify these hats by their model (and corresponding issue) dates. The snowflake pattern used so widely by the Army in the Span Am War is properly referred to as the model 1889. The screen vent hat as the model 1899. The first star vent is the model 1902. For me, the Marine use of the screen vent was the missing link here, I did not know prior to yesterday, that they used it. In fact had I known, I would have purchased the one depicted and offered by Bay State a while back. Photo 04 in this thread as previously stated shows Marines in the Boxer rebellion in China. This photo is dated 1900 in several other references. Clearly they are not wearing the screen vent. It is impossible to see whether the punched holes are a snowflake pattern or star pattern, but since it is 1900 and the star pattern was developed in 1902, at least by model number, is it safe to say these are in fact the snowflake pattern? So I proposed this as a theory:

 

Marines prior to the issue of the screen vent hat around late 1900 and prior, wore the 1889 snowflake vent hat with the ega on the side. They transitioned first to the screen vent. The ega was moved from the side to the front not only to make it more visible as previously thought, but simply because the screen vent now occupied that space. They then moved on to the 1902 hat with again the ega remaining on front. Just food for thought. Kevin

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world war I nerd

Kevin, Thanks for setting the record straight regarding the 1899 hat. Based on what I know i also agree with your timeline in respect to the USMC use of Army campaign hats. When I was putting the post together, I was vacillating whether to include the 1899 Campaign hat or not ... Now I wished I had.

 

Thanks to all for looking and commenting.

 

Brian

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world war I nerd

1889 Campaign-Field Hat

Photo No. 37: The 1889 Campaign Hat, Specification No. 251, adopted by the Army on February 8, 1889, replaced the 1883 pattern Campaign Hat. The hat’s specifications decreed that it was:

  • To be “drab shade of standard sample”.
  • To be 5.75 inches tall at the center of the crown’s “tip”.
  • To have a sweatband that was 2.25 inches wide.
  • To have a brim that was 2.75 inches wide at the front and the back, and 3 inches wide on both sides.
  • To be reinforced with three rows of stitching on the unfolded outer edge of the brim.
  • To be ventilated on each side of the crown by small punched holes arranged in a snowflake pattern.

This 1889 Campaign Hat recently sold by Advance Guard Militaria bears a gold bullion and black Army officer’s hat cord, and an enameled Army Corps badge. Note how long the ties of the bow on the hatband’s ribbon are. The insets show the snowflake pattern of the ventilation holes and the two rows of stitching on the outer edge of this particular hat’s brim.

 

Photos courtesy of Advance Guard Militaria

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world war I nerd

Photo No. 39: Another example of the 1889 Campaign Hat, which also has two, not three rows of stitching on the outer edge of the brim. Note that the ribbon’s ties have been neatly folded and tucked under the matching hatband.

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Once again WWInerd, what a wonderful service you offer here to the Forum Members. Thank you!! I would love to hear from Alec on this topic. It has been said that all Marine campaign hats issued in the Span Am war were of the star vent variety. I would be most interested to know if there is any documentation, contract agreements, etc., that might illustrate this. There have been several star vent campaign hats sold in the last couple years with the ega mounted on the side. There is one pretty well known photograph depicted in one book on the history of the Marine Corps that shows a contemporary studio shot of what appears to be an unissued star vent hat with an ega on the side along with a gorgeous Marine Corps officers patrol jacket. To be clear, this is not a period in wear photo, but a relatively recent color picture of these two items as collectibles. You can barely make out the star vent on the hat in this photo under a loupe. It is readily available in a google search, so I might post it later this evening. The point here of course is that in reality, the ega may have never been posted on the side of a star vent campaign hat during the era they were worn, despite the fact that today, many are displayed and sold that way!

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This is a very interesting and educational post. Thank you very much for taking the time to do it. Is it possible that this could be pinned?

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Okay, here is the photo I referred to earlier. It pops up under a google search for USMC patrol jacket. I don't know who the image belongs to or who owns these collectibles so have no way to give credit. Anyway, I have looked closely at this hat under a loupe and you can clearly see the star vent pattern and the felt washer on the chinstrap hole. Once again this just adds to the importance of a post like this, as in all reality, I now doubt this pattern hat was actually worn with an ega on the side.

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US Victory Museum

I love the post, Brian!

 

Although I have four 1889 type campaign hats, I have no reason to believe that any

were used by the USMC; therefore, I consider them outside the scope of this topic

and shall not include them.

 

I have a list of campaign (service) hats compiled from data provided by Jon Prost;

however, this information comes from the USQMD and may not include those hats

adopted by the USMC.

 

Shown below are a pair of WWI era USMC campaign hats. The lighter colored one

has a 1918 contract date inked under the leather sweat band. It uses the early string

ties. Both hats lack the rear grommet and have the brim turned under and sewn with

two concentric rows of thread.

 

The 2nd more red/brown colored hat has a damaged insignia - one wing is missing,

as well as the flukes of the anchor. Its contract date has faded beyond the ability to

be read.

 

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