merited with gilt spread eagle and scroll." The plume 

 remained three black ostrich feathers. The specimen 

 illustrated (fig. 7) belonged to George B. McClellan 

 when a lieutenant of engineers and conforms quite 

 precisely, with the exception of the eagle on the strap, 

 to both the specifications as written and the approved 

 drawings submitted by the Corps (fig. 8).'' One par- 

 ticular diflference between this hat and the othere is the 

 plume holder, which is set on the crown at such a slant 

 as to indicate clearly that the hat was intended to be 

 worn with the loop to the left. The silk lining of the 

 crown carries the label of the maker, M. C. St. John of 

 1 1 8 Broadway, New York City. 



The 1851 uniform regulations, which pro\ided for 



quite a drastic change in almost all elements of the 

 Army's dress, did not prescribe a chapeau. As a con- 

 cession to the ranking officers of the service, however, 

 general officers and colonels holding the bre\et rank 

 of general were allowed to wear their chapeaux on 

 ceremonial occasions and when not serving with 

 troops.^* A chapeau was reauthorized in 1858 for gen- 

 eral wear, and this time for field officers as well as those 

 of the general staff. In December 1859 a new style 

 chapeau came into being, the 1858 order being modi- 

 fied "to permit all officers of the General Staff, and 

 Staff Corps, to wear, at their option, a light French 

 chapeau, either stiff crown or flat . . . officers below 

 the rank of Field Officers to wear but two feathers." " 



Figure 7. — McClellan Chapeau, 1840 pattern. 



