"Hats of the 54th Ohio at Shiloh" Topic

I'm hoping somebody can help me. I'm trying to find a good image of the caps the 54th Ohio wore at Shiloh. Their colonel E. Kirby Smith wrote a detailed description of the 54th's uniform to his wife, and it appears they wore both this hat/cap and fezzes during the battle. I'm looking for a good image of this type of cap from different angles and colors. Even what the name of the cap would be. Any help would be appreciated.

I know there are quite a few reenactors on the page too, so maybe you all have some insight too.

"Their uniform is very handsome, though not as fantastic as the Zouaves you have seen about New York. They have dark-blue jackets, reaching to the hips, trimmed with red ; light blue trousers with red stripes down the sides, and white gaiters, reaching some three inches above the ankle. Gray felt hats, low-crowned, and looped at the side with bright red tassels ; some of them wear very fancy hats or caps, without vizor or brim, which with the streaming tassel makes them very picturesque."

Oops. Meant T. Kilby Smith.

It appears that this unusual hat is a slouch-type hat with the brim fastened to the crown at various places with buttons, doesn't it? I would think though, the design would be awkward in the field, especially when it rained, and the hat filled with water; Unless the brim could be unbuttoned, that is.

You've seen the Troiani print showing the rather stiff, "Shriner-like" fez, I'm sure.

You have to wonder though, with all the rain, mud, and general miasma of Shiloh/Corinth/Iuka, how long such exotic headgear would have been worn. A soaking wet fez channeling water down your face and back would have to be miserable.

It is a soft hat with the brim pinned/buttoned back to the crown with a sash/plume/feather wrapped around the hatband and draped down one side. A creative decorative adaptation of the standard soft/slouch hat.

Also, the quote says "some of" not all of, which would indicate a personal as opposed to a standard uniform. Certainly unique.

some of them wear very fancy hats or caps, without vizor or brim, which with the streaming tassel makes them very picturesque.

Sounds like a fez as seen by someone who never saw a fez before,

I was able to find a nice, top down image. It looks like it is a broad rimmed had and the brim is pinned up on four sides. Can you imagine the water that got caught up there in the rain?

Now how to scratch build this in 15mm.

link

I agree it looks like a slouch hat was pinned up. The top down view almost looks like someone put a brim on a fez.

The statement that 'some' wore it could also mean different companies had different headgear.

That's entirely possible.

Looks like a practical bit of headgear. One problem with wide-brimmed hats is that with certain positions in the manual of arms, like 'Right Shoulder Shift Arms', the musket will bump into the brim. I've seen reenactors literally knock their hats off when shifting their musket around. With a hat like this you could pin up the brims for drill, but then let the brims down again for a march in the bright sun or rain.

These all look like pictures from a professional studio, is it possible it's the same hat in all three pictures? When I first saw it I thought it was a Chinese hat. Also, is the musket backwards in the middle picture?

All three pictures are reversed. The only reason why the third one does not appear reversed is someone later "improved" the picture by drawing US on the belt buckle.(look at the position of the bayonet scabbard, it's on the "wrong" side).

Nothing odd about the reversed pictures, these appear to be tintypes which gave a reversed image.