T^LEATHER FORAGE CAP, 1833-1839^^ 



I 



T IS UNCERTAIN whether the retention of the 1825 

 forage cap pattern \v;is intended at the time the 1832 

 uniform regulations were written, or whether a new 

 pattern was to be selected. The regulations state merely 

 "according to pattern." In any case, in July 1832 

 Major Garland, head of the CUothing Bureau in Wash- 

 ington, wrote Inine that a forage cap was to be selected 

 in a few days and a sample forwarded to Philadel- 

 phia.' ' This cap is first officially mentioned in Order 

 No. 38, Headquarters of the Army, 2 May 1833, 

 which describes the uniform for the newly organized 

 United States Regiment of Dragoons, prescribing a 

 forage cap of "Black leather, like pattern furnished 

 clothing Bureau" (figs. 30-32 ) . A distinct change from 

 the 1825 cap, the pattern wa.s adopted for the entire 



Army and the Corps of Cadets at the Military Acad- 

 emy as well. Although the troops were to continue to 

 wear the older cap until stocks were exhausted,"' the 

 7th Infantry at least was issued the new model as early 

 as the late spring of 1833."^ The change in price from 

 $1.30 to 87;/o and 75 cents for dragoon and "other" 

 caps respectively in the 1833 clothing price list also 

 indicates the cutofT date. The cadets donned the new 

 cap in 1834.'" 



No reasons are known for this rather radical change 

 in style of the forage cap — adopted in pattern form in 

 mid- 1832 for both the officers and enlisted men of the 

 infantry and artillery — except for repeated complaints 

 regarding the practicability of the old pattern."' There 

 is no known foreign influence in this instance. Contem- 



Figure 30.— Forage Cap. 1833-1839. 

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