Edmands unique Civil War hat did not catch on with troops.

By Ron Field

The first few months of the Civil War were a period of experimentation with military hats and caps, particularly in the Northern states. One pattern used extensively in Massachusetts and Ohio was advertised as “the famous Military Hat.”

The producer of this unique headgear, the firm of Haughton, Sawyer & Co., suppliers of “Army Equipments,” operated out of Pearl Street in Boston, Astor House in New York City, Continental House in Philadelphia, Briggs House in Chicago, and Neil House in Columbus, Ohio.

This hat was described in the Salem Register of May 2, 1861, as “a style of head dress … combining several suggestions of practical men who have seen service in warm latitudes, [and] has been prepared and offered to our State authorities by General B.F. Edmands. It is in appearance a combination of the old continental, the army and the Kossuth hats, and is designed to afford the best means of protecting the head from the sun’s rays and consequently sunstroke. Messrs. Haughton, Sawyer & Co. have contracted to furnish hats of this style to our State authorities.”

William W. Smith of the Taunton Light Infantry, Company G, 4th M.V.M., wears the company letter on the strip of red trim on the front of his hat. Smith mustered into the 4th on April 22, 1861. He re-enlisted for nine-months’ service in September 1862 as a sergeant in Company K. Ninth-plate ambrotype by an unidentified photographer. The Liljenquist Family Collection at the Library of Congress. — William W. Smith of the Taunton Light Infantry, Company G, 4th M.V.M., wears the company letter on the strip of red trim on the front of his hat. Smith mustered into the 4th on April 22, 1861. He re-enlisted for nine-months’ service in September 1862 as a sergeant in Company K. *Ninth-plate ambrotype by an unidentified photographer. The Liljenquist Family Collection at the Library of Congress.*

Designed by Benjamin Franklin Edmands (1807-1874), major general and commander of the First Division, Massachusetts Volunteer Militia (M.V.M.), during the 1850s and member of the Boston Committee on Military Supplies in 1861, it consisted of gray felt looped up on four sides, although some evidence suggests they were looped on three sides, which may indicate that the supplier contracted the work out to various hatters with differing interpretations of the design. For example, when the Wightman Rifles enlisted in the 4th Massachusetts Volunteer Militia as Company M, the Edmands-pattern headgear they received was described as “three-cornered gray felt hats trimmed with red,” which also refers to the strips of vertical red tape trim sewn around each button hole by which the brim was looped up and fastened to the crown.

According to the Massachusetts state “Report of the Military Committee of the Council, December 27, 1861,” Haughton, Sawyer & Co. produced 4,704 of these hats, while S.G. Taylor received payment for “coloring, trimming and repairing” a further 24,130 hats. Based on written and photographic evidence, Massachusetts regiments issued with the Edmands-pattern hat included the 3rd, 4th and 6th M.V.M., the 10th Massachusetts Volunteers, also known as the “Western Regiment,” and the 11th Massachusetts Volunteers, or “Boston Volunteers.”

This enlisted man of the 34th or 54th Ohio wears the Ohio version of the hat with red wool tassel attached to the crown. Ninth-plate ambrotype by an unidentified photographer. Author’s collection.

In Ohio, the Edmands-pattern hat was also acquired during July 1861 for issue to the 34th and 54th Ohio infantries, probably through the Columbus branch of Haughton, Sawyer & Co.

The 34th, originally known as the Piatt Zouaves, or the 1st Zouaves, enlisted for three years. The organizer of the regiment, newspaper editor and politician Abraham Sanders Piatt, planned to recruit a brigade of Ohio zouaves. Claiming he had the personal backing of President Abraham Lincoln and Secretary of the Treasury Salmon P. Chase, Piatt requested from Gov. William Dennison, Jr., the best clothing, equipment and weapons for what he originally called the “Chase Zouaves” of the “Dennison Brigade.” Piatt received 1,000 hats of the same pattern worn by Massachusetts troops, the only difference being the addition of a red wool tassel or plume attached to the left-hand side of the crown.

The 54th, also known as the 2nd Zouaves, became fully enlisted in mid-February, 1862. They received the Edmands-pattern hats before joining the Army of Tennessee.

Christian H. Cook enlisted for three-months’ service in the 20th Ohio Infantry, and re-enlisted in the 54th Ohio on October 9, 1861. The red wool tassel hangs from his hat. He also wears an example of the chasseur-pattern jacket made for the 34th and 54th Ohio by clothiers Heidelbach, Seasongood & Co., of New York City. He holds a U.S. Model 1817 Flintlock Rifle, also known as the Model 1817 “Common” Rifle. Sixth-plate ambrotype by an unidentified photographer. The Liljenquist Family Collection at the Library of Congress. — Christian H. Cook enlisted for three-months’ service in the 20th Ohio Infantry, and re-enlisted in the 54th Ohio on October 9, 1861. The red wool tassel hangs from his hat. He also wears an example of the chasseur-pattern jacket made for the 34th and 54th Ohio by clothiers Heidelbach, Seasongood & Co., of New York City. He holds a U.S. Model 1817 Flintlock Rifle, also known as the Model 1817 “Common” Rifle. Sixth-plate ambrotype by an unidentified photographer. *The Liljenquist Family Collection at the Library of Congress.*

The Edmands “famous Military Hat” did not catch on with the troops. After his regiment received them during the last week in June 1861, 1st Lt. Joseph K. Newell of the 10th Massachusetts Infantry wrote in his diary, “Hats, ‘what hats!’ of unmentionable dirty, light drab color, that were discarded as soon as caps could be obtained.”

Photographed on a cold New England spring day in 1861, this volunteer belonging to the 4th M.V.M. wears his hat with his gray state-issue, single-breasted infantry overcoat. Sixth-plate ambrotype by Benson C. Hazleton of Boston, Mass. Author’s collection. — **Photographed on a cold New England spring day in 1861, this volunteer belonging to the 4th M.V.M. wears his hat with his gray state-issue, single-breasted infantry overcoat.** *Sixth-plate ambrotype by Benson C. Hazleton of Boston, Mass. Author’s collection.*

The Edmands quickly disappeared, joining other experimental headgear such as the Whipple, Purinton and Ham, Loomis and Pascal.

References: Salem Register, Salem, Mass.; “Correspondence to the Governor and Adjutant General,” Series 147-1A: 32, 34, 35, 47, Adjutant General’s Records, Ohio Historical Society, Columbus, Ohio; “Report of the Military Committee of the Council, December 27, 1861,” Public Documents 7 in Public Documents of Massachusetts … for the Year 1861; Newell (editor), “Ours.” Annals of the 10th Regiment, Massachusetts Volunteers, in the Rebellion.

Ron Field is a Senior Editor of MI.

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