"Round hats continentals, militia which side looped up?" Topic

So for my 28mm AWI project back in 2023, for the plastic Perry Continentals I followed the British standard of the slouch hats being looped up on the LEFT side for my Continentals as well, with the small round hat being looped up on the LEFT side with or without the cockade.

I'm talking about the Perry plastics where as you know the hats are provided seperately so you can choose between the tricorne and the looped slouch hat with cockade, or in the case of the Continentals the tricorne or the small round hat.

But tonight I was doing a follow up additional continental/militia regiment in plastic, sort of a generic regiment out of Perry plastics. And without thinking I glued all the small round hats on their heads with the hat looped up on the RIGHT side.

Was there any sort of regulation to that in the Continental army? I would imagine many soldiers wore them looped on either side since a lot of them were civilian/farming/work hats put into service for military use. Most of the modeling I saw online had the round hats glued with the loop on the left side.

I also know that there is the musket issue where a hat was looped up to keep it from interfering with drill and marching positions for the musket.

But the round hats that come with the Continentals are a fair deal smaller than the larger British slouch hats on the Perry metals and the Perry plastics.

I found that regardless of which side I glued the loop, I was able to glue the musket in the shoulder firelock position without the hat interfering with it.

Any way, just curious if anyone had insights into this, to calm my historical modeling OCD, lol.

I would think it had more to do with which shoulder carried the musket. But I am not an expert.

You are begging the question that any Continental unit were uniform in their hats. They wore whatever was available.
MAYBE there was a bit of uniformity whenever uniforms were issued, but you could justify just about any type of hat.
I would only be a stickler with designated Light Infantry. And certainly no grenadier or fusilier caps, nor dragoon caps.

Don't forget that hats were shipped in barrels, uncocked and unslouched. Upon issue, a skilled man or men in the regiment had the tools and skill to cock or slouch them. It was done with heat or steam, and the Sergeant certainly didn't want some clod setting the wool felt on fire!

As John points out, hats were shipped unlocked.
Terminology may differ among commenters. I refer to wide brim hats uncooked as slouch hats. The round hat had a small brim. I would think that any side cocked may depend on the preference of the regimental commander who may have bought them. Or the company commander.

I'm with John and TimePortal. Don't expect uniformity from the Americans. It was rare even among Continental units, more so with the Militia. None of my Militia have uniforms. Some may wear part of a uniform because they were former Continentals who returned home and joined the militia. The British uniforms were in flux throughout the war. But at least they mostly wore red.

My Southern Campaign British Guards are wearing floppy round hats and look scruffy. We played a game where the Guard Lights were in line with no flag and in front of them were American Militia Cavalry. The Cavalry decided to charge this scruffy looking battalion and was he ever surprised.

link

Very few Loyalist regiments are reported as having round hats. Most wore tricorns or militia hats which was different styles.
The Royal North Carolina Regiment had black round hats with black plumes. I am checking to see if they are wide or narrow brim.
Several Loyalist Regiments wore cocked hats in the north but wore white wide brim hats in the south.

"Terminology may differ among commenters. I refer to wide brim hats uncooked as slouch hats."

'The first known use of slouch hat was in 1837.'
Just sayin'

Several Loyalist Regiments wore cocked hats in the north but wore white wide brim hats in the south.

I believe the white hats first appeared in Mollo, with no proof.
It was later copied in other uniform books. Also, later, maybe, perhaps debunked. 🤷
I painted a full 18 figure Hinchliffe deLancey battalion with white hats. I would not do that now, but I never go back and "correct mistakes". Besides, I sold them. 😄

There is one original "round hat" at the CT. Historical Society that was worn by Phineas Meigs (I think that's his name), that is cocked up in back. The brim in front is about 2 1/2" wide and 4" in the rear. It had been a regular cocked hat, the holes from the previous cocking can be found, it is unlaced. The is also a bullet hole in the crown…

@Major Bloodnok,

Indeed, good example. That was one of the examples I too found during my research.

Looking at that hat, a thought just occurred to me.

These hats seem to be so generic in design and nature, one could envision that a civilian or soldier could wear a hat with the looped up side on any side they want!

As you point out, this hat is looped up in the back. But what was to stop the same individual to simply spin the hat on their head to put the loop on another side? There doesn't seem to be any distinguishing feature on these hats that would indicate a distinct "front" or "back" or "left" or "right" side for that matter. Although admittedly if you wore the hat for a length of time your head would begin to shape it, so there's that factor.

And also of course if you had some sort of emblem or badge on a definite front.

There seems to be nothing but the hat cord that might indicate or front or back.

Something to think about…

You will also see "round hats" that are not cocked up at all and have 2 1/2" +/- brim.

Using the above photo as an example, it was quite common for troops to use the set-up illustrated to shield their eyes (ie with the "unlooped" portion of the brim in front) in bright sunlight to make aiming easier.

I have no evidence to support this, but I have long suspected that the British used a "left-hand cock" only in order to give a distinctive silhouette for low visibility operations where troops would be identifiable by their outline. As I say, no supporting evidence whatsoever, but interesting that Howe's Main Army in 1777 all had a set "pattern" to the cocking of their hats.

As @rustymusket suggested, the hat cocked up on the left may simply have been avoiding interference when carrying arms at the shoulder, conforming with the angle at which the regulation hat was worn.
There does appear to be a general tendency to wear headgear tipped to the right- when not required to be worn straight. This may simply reflect the majority of individuals being right handed.