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Need help Confederate kepi???


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Here is the story....I recently retired and a co-worker friend of mine has a daughter living in Texas. My friend has seen my collection and has had his daughter out looking for a retirement gift. The daughter called me a couple weeks stating she had located a Confederate kepi from a dealer at a gun show in Texas. I immediately thought "oh no, I hope she didn't buy it!" (thinking she would want to be reimbursed because they had indicated at one time they would play the part of pickers for me). I explained that Confederate material especially uniform articles were exceptionally rare and very valuable, adding that it is also heavily faked. She responded by stating they wanted to get me a retirement gift, and that her husband felt the kepi was real. She asked for my address and said she would ship it and reiterated it was a gift.

 

I had almost forgotten about the conversation until a package arrived yesterday. Now I have been around long enough to of course have serious doubts with the authenticity of this piece, and personally, would not have purchased it myself as an authentic Confederate kepi. However, having said that, I was a bit surprised by this. The hat does show what I believe is real age and legitimate wear. Some aspects of its construction seem to be close to what I have seen in references, but other aspects I don't like. The wear to the wool in general, the oilskin sweat band, the heat crazed bill, (some of that tarring has affixed itself to the front of the cap), both hand stitching and machine stitching, etc. all surprised me. The cap is a very small size as well, maybe 6-6 1/2. What I am definitely suspicious of is the black lining, which shows very little wear at all with the exception it has torn loose from the cap body near the front. The lining is loosely hand stitched though and I am not sure if it was added or replaced at some time. I am also not keen on the white card stock stiffener for the top of the hat. This is seen under the black lining near the front where the lining has become detached from the cap. This stiffener has broken into a couple of different pieces. The white card stock is pretty clean though, and I guess I would have expected an oil cloth type stiffener here. I was also put off by the construction at the corner of the bill, where the wool forms a triangle and was stitched down. I have never seen that before....until yesterday, when examining the beautiful original Union late war kepi posted here in this forum. I noticed that the construction of that cap in regards to this feature was almost exact.  I would have expected to see a chin strap on the front of this cap mounted with two brass buttons. I can't determine for certain buttons were ever present, I don't believe they were, but there is no definitely no evidence of wear or discoloration to the front of the cap from a chin strap. I am leaning toward there never was one. The brass "Q" on the front has a pretty mustard colored mellow patina to it. Did any Confederate unit ever use a Q? 

 

So in the end, of course I am extremely grateful for this kind and thoughtful gift from a good friend and his family and don't really have a lot of expectations here.  Let me hear it....what do I have? An old veteran piece from the turn of the century? An old movie prop? Maybe a tourists souvenir from Gettysburg in the 1930's? A carefully crafted cap intended to deceive? I cant escape once again what appears to be legitimate age on this piece and some features of older construction. If it was recently made and intended to deceive, there sure was a lot of thought and effort put into it. 

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skypilot6670

That is great present. I hope it’s a period confederate Kepi . I know very little about confederate uniforms . I like it’s look and thanks for posting.  Mike

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wartimecollectables.com

Interesting piece. I would say by the construction of the brim that it's post Civil War.  I think there is a very good chance it's from a late 1800's Southern military school. I'm lost on what the Q is and could have been added even if years ago.

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I would say early UCV (United Confederate Veterans) piece. The machine stitching is a bit to clean and strait for a period piece and I am unsure if southern clothing depots even had access to sewing machines in large numbers. Wartime Confederate kepi's are about as scarce as original tac marked M2 helmets and about as expensive, more so with positive attribution. 

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16 hours ago, ludwigh1980 said:

I would say early UCV (United Confederate Veterans) piece. The machine stitching is a bit to clean and strait for a period piece and I am unsure if southern clothing depots even had access to sewing machines in large numbers. Wartime Confederate kepi's are about as scarce as original tac marked M2 helmets and about as expensive, more so with positive attribution. 

Thank you all very much for your input. It’s nice to think it might be a UCV piece. I couldn't agree more with your statement about wartime Confedeate Kepi’s being so rare and expensive, exactly why I was so doubtful when she said she bought one. As stated, a very nice and thoughtful gift that will still look nice next on display next to my Union kepi in the collection. Thanks again, good to have a better understanding of what this might be. 

 

On a final note, I was speaking to a collector/historian friend of mine who used to re-enact Civil War. He said the “Q Company” moniker in both the Union and Confederate armies was a bit of a joke, meant to suggest that derelicts and screw ups were in “Q Company”. Has anyone else heard that before? Any Q Companies used legitimately in Southern forces? Curious...thanks again, Kevin

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Company Q appears in the song “Regular Army O”. I agree with the collector who said it was for misfits or those who needed additional training. By the way this lyric is song in John Wayne’s movie Fort Apache.
 

“There was Sergeant John McCaffery and Captain Donahue
Oh they made us march and toe the mark in gallant company Q
Well the drums would roll upon me soul this is the style we go
Forty miles a day on beans and hay in the Regular Army O”

 

While there may have been an actual “Company Q”, if this was a UCV cap, the vet may have just been having some fun.

 

Doing a quick search, I did find this mention of Company Q.

 

“Fort Delaware was also a place to which Union army prisoners convicted by an army court-martial elsewhere were sent to undergo their sentence to hard labor. They were derisively called Company "Q", a bit of old army slang for slackers and shirkers.”

 

http://www.fortdelaware.org/Union Units.htm

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