rigure50.— Cap, 1851. 



bottom and basted to the cloth crown. The engineer 

 "soldiers" and ordnance enlisted personnel, unlike the 

 other crops, had cap bands in the color of the cap with 

 a Ys inch welt at the top and bottom of the band in the 

 color of their respective corps. At the top front of the 

 caps were two stitched eyelets, one above the other, for 

 the insertion of the pompon and pompon eagle holders. 

 All of these caps, unlike the dre.ss caps of the earlier 

 periods, were manufactured at or under the direct 

 supervision of the Clothing Establishment at Schuyl- 

 kill Arsenal. This was apparently the result of the prob- 

 lems experienced with outside contractors in producing 

 the 1839 forage cap and the Arsenal's own later success 

 with it. Although some specimens examined bear only 

 a size number, many carry the label pasted inside the 



top: "No. /size: [ranged from 1 to 5] /United States/ 

 (Schuylkill) Arsenal." All the leather components for 

 the cap and the insignia were contracted for separately 

 and assembled on a piecework basis. In December 1853 

 the Assistant Quartermaster at Philadelphia reported 

 that 26,672 of the new pattern caps had been made 

 there since June 1851."^ 



The only officer's cap examined was one that be- 

 longed to William Tecumseh Sherman when a cap- 

 tain in the Substance Department in 1851-1853. It 

 follows the basic enlisted pattern, with the officer's cap 

 band as prescribed, but is of finer material and better 

 workmanship than those produced at the Arsenal. It 

 bears the trademark, "SMITH, CRANE & CO./NO. 

 4 MAIDEN-LANE/NEW YORK," is gUt inside the 



62 



