"Blue Hats?" Topic

I've seen a few people mention blue hats in other hat topics, but wondering if they really knew of such a thing? I'm not talking about kepis or forage caps, but civilian type slouch hats that are blue in color. I have never heard of or seen such a thing before. Were they really made in blue?

FWIW, I've never seen an original in blue, nor a mention of one amongst collectors, and that's from some 40 years of interest in the period.

Almost every shade of brown & grey, plus black and the occasional whitish-tan palmetto hat or other woven hit, but not blue.

I have no hard data either way, but if you can make tunics, jackets, trousers and so on of dark blue material, I don't see why hats are excluded! Maybe some more informed person can shed light on this. As TK says, the evidence available is not very positive, but it does not rule out the likely use of blue as a hat color either. Maybe there is a reason to exclude blue (like bad dyes) that someone else knows about!

Same as TK. I've never seen an original in blue.

I have never seen one, read of one from a primary source, or heard any collector talk of one. The only references I have seen have been by painters with no factual citations, just supposition.

Admittedly hats could have been made of blue cloth, but a mere possiblity does not provide historical evidence that it did happen. They could have been made of red cloth too. (In fact fezes were). But there being not one iota of evidence (to my knowledge or apparently not to anyone's knowledge who has posted on this thread) that blue cloth was used for hats is, to me, good enough to convince me they were not. (Boy, is that a good run on sentence)!

Having said that, the one hat might exist. I am sure a number of you have seen the photo of the CSA cavalryman (a Texan if I remember correctly) in leopard skin vest and chaps. In my cavalry reenacting days I kept expecting to see a reenactor show up like that with a copy of the photo to prove it was authentic.

Tom

During my career as a museum curator and my years of costume research for reenacting, I have never seen or heard of blue hats for men during the Civil War era. Not that it couldn't be done, but there was no tradition of wearing blue hats -- or green, purple or pink for that matter. Just too unmanly, I suspect.

The ONLY time I saw a blue slouch hat was when I first went to Gettysburg in 1973 and they were selling those blue felt ones for kids! :-)
I got the grey one BTW!

Bob

I seriously doubt the existence of blue hats for men in the 1860s US. I would bet that black was the favorite color, followed by dark gray and dark brown.

The only blue ACW hat I know of was worn by the 76th PA Zouaves--a blue fez.

Oops, just checked "Echoes of Glory" Union equipment: the 11 NY infantry also apparently had blue fezzes.

Only other blue hats (caps, actually) I can think of were the flat mushroom-like caps of the Union Navy.

I believe 95thRegt is right. The only blue slouch hats I've ever seen or heard of are the modern souvenir ones made for kids.

I've seen blue mechanics caps, and the occasional Mexican war survivor (Wheel hat) but thats it. Some of the quilted hats could also have been made using blue, these hats look pretty similar to a regular slouch at a few feet.

Sean

Could it be from bad die vat's of Black Slouch Hats fading from the weather (Rain, Sun)?

Black slouch hats fade but they turn more burnt unber than any blue color.

Thank you all. I thought it sounded ridiculous, but it was posted by a few members on here, so I was just curious if I might be ignorant on the subject. The only blue slouch hats I've ever heard of or seen are the cheap tourists reproductions sold here in gettysburg.

So it seems that the general view is that it was possible, but very highly unlikely. Close enough!