"Prussian Tricorne Worn Oblique/Cocked" Topic

From a recent thread on Prussian artists, a point was raised about Prussian infantry wearing their tricornes angled obliquely over the left eye to keep the left corner out of the way of the musket when marching, etc.

This image of a British foot soldier, 1770 also shows the hat cocked low on the right, higher on the left. Thanks to Thomas Mante for providing the link to the image in the Prussian Artists thread.

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Is this how the Prussian infantry wore their tricornes? And did this practice include officers and other command figures? Similarly, did it extend to cavalry and artillery (for fashion-sense rather than need)?

And what 18thC sources actually show this?

Cheers

I don't believe it for a minute. There may have been a regulation stated as an 'ideal' but on the march to and on the battlefield itself, hats were worn at any angle so long as they stayed on the head.

Frederick was also a pragmatist. He expected huge things from his men and I doubt the angle of a tricorne was high up on his worry list in the heat of battle. And most of us are showing our soldiers in the heat of battle not standing around guarding a palace or schloss.

:)

Funnily enough, I don't believe the knee-to-knee 3ft frontage per cuirassier much either. Where did I read that again? Try galloping that close to your mates beside you – good luck with that!

But I digress . . .

We now return you to the oblique/cocked tricorne thread.

Cheers

That's because at "shouldered fire lock" the barrel would fit in that space on your shoulder and the "notch" of your hat. And that's the position you should be in most of the time anyway

Yes, but are you saying that the hat was turned slightly to the left to further increase the natural 'notch'? And similarly, was the hat also cocked higher on the left side for the same reason?

As far as I know yes, I did a fair bit of living history over the years and at time line events always hung around the the rely war camps when I wasn't busy doing federal infantry drill.

I'd like to see something from the period showing/accounting for Prussians doing this. I've read and seen it for the Austrians, but not yet the Prussians. I imagine if one lot did it, it's likely the rest did something similar, but I'd like some evidence.

Cheers

Being simply general practice, it's the kind of thing that might not be remarked upon at all by contemporaries. Although I dimly remember reading that the Prussians took it one step further for parades, by having the men wear an extra curl of hair on the left to compensate for the angle of the hat…

Musketier, I remember reading that, but I don't remember where

There's a reference in Osprey's 'Frederick the Great's Army: Infantry' p.13 about the hat being angled/cocked to the right to accommodate an extra curl on the left side. But this is all I've found so far.

Cheers

My Hohrath set (The Uniforms of the Prussian Army under Frederick the Great) just arrived. Now we're cooking with gas!

Contemporary series of illustrations (1757-8) for infantry, cuirassiers and dragoons all show tricornes turned obliquely over the left eye, and most illustrations show the hat cocked higher on the left side (low on the right). Only one illustration shows an officer, and his hat is also turned to point over the left eye. The 1750 series of wax figures of infantry officers all have the hat centred – but this may just be a design feature of those models.

Sorted. :)

Tricornes were worn slightly cocked to the right to accommodate the musket at shouler-arms. Less so in the earlier periods, because the hat was more triangular. Towards the 1760's the hat became wider and not as sharply angled so the angle of cocking to the right ( ie. centre point over left eye) becomes more noticeable.

Towards the 1760's the hat became wider and not as sharply angled

Do you have a reference for this?

Not really, but I've worn good reproductions of tricornes from both eras, and the British SYW version is much closer to an equilateral triangle than the AWI version. The felt blanks are essentially the same, but the rear of the AWI tricorne is much wider.

"Tricornes were worn slightly cocked to the right to accommodate the musket at shouler-arms. Less so in the earlier periods, because the hat was more triangular. Towards the 1760's the hat became wider and not as sharply angled so the angle of cocking to the right ( ie. centre point over left eye) becomes more noticeable."

I agree, when the brim got lager and not so sharply angled, the more it had to be cocked, and eventually it had to be worn almost fore and aft – afterwise it wouldn't be possible to shoulder arms withtout knocking off the hat.

Here is a painting from 1771 which shows the 25th on Minorca with the hats worn to accommodate drill with the firelock.

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and here is a Morier painting of some Free Companies (here queried as Austrian but somewhere I have seen it suggested they may be Dutch). These are from the late 1740s and the asymmetry in how the hat was worn is not to pronounced but it can be made out on both the left hand and centre figures.

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A bit more C18th 'evidence'. Here are some drawings by de Loutherberg, studies for a work on Warley Camp 1778 from the collection of the Anne S K Browne collection (you can zoom in on the image):

Private from the front at 'recover'

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Worcestershire Militia ramming home cartridge

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A kneeling grenadier in a cocked hat

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A kneeling private at present

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A standing grenadier in a cocked hat

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Even Royal Artillery officers seem to be doing the same thing.

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All British I am afraid and from the 1770s but they show how the hat was worn.

Now some American examples. This time a view of a Continental Army private from the Yorktown Campaign by J B A de Verger

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This extract from the famous 'Take Notice' recruiting poster (actually dating from the 1790s not 1776)

Thanks for those Thomas – excellent finds. Special thanks for the Morier one – I only had a small b&w version of that one. :)

Cheers

Finally a view from the 1742 Clothing Book again showing how the hat was worn

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And finally from 1780s Hessian Infantry; Regiment von Bose

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So there seems to be a lot of evidence from contemporary works that the hat was not worn straight on but slightly askew to facilitate the manual exercise. Apologies if the evidence is a bit anglo-centric but that is just the stuff I have any inkling about.

Snowcat you are welcome and at last a Prussian – dated as 1760-1761 in the Vinkuizen collection in NYPL. Looks to be in the style of Johann Christian Becher

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Thanks again. :)

Cheers