Topping Off The Cap
by Philip Katcher
Away from the busy campaign season is a good time to do those minor things
that make an average kit an exceptional one. Not the least of these is improving
the bought sutler's cap, even those made by the best sutlers.
Start with the brim. Take a look at pretty much any original cap. The first
thing you'll notice is that there were two basic styles. The so-called McDowell
cap had a deeply curved visor that came low down in front over the eyes
something like the caps worn in the modern British Army. These caps, which
also featured a tall crown that toppled over to the front were common, especially
among Confederates through 1862, but not at all as common as the Federal
issue M1858 forage cap style for Union enlisted men (virtually never worn
in a Confederate version), and the McClellan cap or kepi for Union officers
and all ranks of Confederates. This cap had an almost flat, or at best only
slightly curved visor. It avoided that crushed side, baseball cap visor
effect that is so common today (take a look at the really dreadful cap worn
by the actor who played "Moxley Sorrel" in the movie Gettysburg
to see to what an extreme this has been taken.) The curved on either side,
baseball cap visor style is a dead giveaway of a modern reenactor.
If the cap you have has one of these unfortunate deep curves to it, try
flattening it as best you can. One way of doing this is to get the leather
thoroughly wet and then press it between two flat, heavy objects while letting
it slowly dry.
The next thing you'll notice is that surface of the brim of almost any original
cap you look at is now usually quite covered with dozens of tiny cracks,
often looking it had been painted dozens of times. Today's caps, including
those made by the best cap makers, generally have simple black dyed leather
brims. But back then they painted the brims top and bottom with a mixture
of various chemicals such as varnish and lamp black rather than simply dye
the leather black. The result was a very shiny, patent leather effect that
was also water proof.
Since your cap brim has already been dyed black you don't have to bother
with all the original mixture used. Instead, pick up a can of clear varnish
at your local hardware or paint store. Give the brim two thin coats, waiting
for the first to dry before applying the second. Paint it both top and bottom,
although the rough side of the leather so often seen on the bottom will
not take the shine well. You may trying putting a heavy coat of black shoe
polish on the bottom before painting it.
Now you'll have the original shiny painted look. But don't put away that
varnish yet.
Take off the chin strap. If you're doing a Southern cap, notice that just
about no Confederate caps have those nice small, useless brass buckles found
on Union caps. I don't know why sutlers put them on Confederate caps since
they do cost something but don't add anything but an error to the impression.
Anyway, take that chin strap buckle off your Confederate cap's chin strap
and put it away. You might give it to a Federal friend who could put it
on his cap's chin strap, since a number of period photographs exist showing
two and even more of these buckles on Union soldiers' chin straps.
If you're doing the chin strap on a Federal issue cap, don't necessarily
put the buckle back in the very center of the strap. While many did wear
their buckles this way, many more wore it shoved over to one side or another.
Since most reenactors wear it in the middle of the chin strap, wearing it
to a side provides an authentic variety.
As well, there are photographs of some soldiers with the small brass numbers
and letters that indicate their organization worn on the chin strap. One
in my collection has the markings "50 PVI," for 50th Pennsylvania
Volunteer Infantry, on his chin strap. On the whole, however, I'd like to
suggest that "less is best" in terms of brass worn on cap tops
or sides. I don't think there were as many soldiers who wore brass harps
in the entire two million man strong U.S. armed forces as reenactors who
wear them today.
Some Confederate caps had other than leather chin straps. Several examples
have gold braid not unlike that worn on modern U.S. Armed Forces officers'
caps. You can find old braid like this on fraternal order trappings that
turn up at flea markets. If you've got a fancy laced cap, consider replacing
the leather chin strap with such braid. One enlisted man's cap uses a cloth
chin strap; that would be easy to replicate.
If you stay with the leather, look at the ends of your replica chin strap.
Original chin straps were simply rectangular pieces of leather; many modern
chin straps have rounded ends. Clip off the ends to give it a squared off
appearance and then paint the whole strap with the same varnish as the brim
before putting the strap back on the cap.
Then look at the side buttons. The most common Confederate cap side buttons
were U.S. Army buttons, either general service or staff officers', with
plain civilian, often ball, buttons being also common. I recently put a
pair of brightcut brass civilian buttons on a McDowell type Confederate
forage cap, one like that worn by Stonewall Jackson. The least common side
buttons are Southern military, so be guided accordingly.
Often enlisted men cut out the lining on the sides of their caps to use
as gun patches, leaving only the top lined. This is an easy enough thing
to do.
Finally, consider pasting a copy of an original cap label on the inside
top. To do this, look in some volume such as the Confederate Echos of Glory
and copy one on your computer.
Once this has all been done you'll see that that C grade cap you had has
now become at least a B grade or perhaps even better-and with very little
effort spending time on a long winter night preparing for the upcoming season.