bottom of the band; in the 1854 version the lower welt 

 was eliminated. 



Rather than a felted cap body, several caps of the 

 basic 1851-1854 pattern in the collections have a body 

 of white cloth \ulcanized on both sides of a gutta- 

 percha base, stitched together in the rear with the top 

 separately applied, and all carrying in the crown the 

 trademark "VULCANIZED GUTTA PERCHA 

 MADE BY/NORTH AMERICAN /GUTTA 

 PERCHA /COMPANY RIDERS & MURPHY'S/ 

 1852 & 1854/PATENT" stamped in a red circle. At 

 the top of the body on all four sides are ventilation holes 

 about Yi inch in diameter. These bodies represent a 

 series of experiments in the early 1850s in which a num- 

 ber of articles made of gutta-percha were submitted to 

 the Army for trial. Gutta-percha is a substance some- 

 what similar to nibber taken from the sap of the Isonan- 

 dra or Gutta tree found in the Far East. John Rider 

 and John Murphy perfected and patented a process 

 whereby this material could be vulcanized and made 

 capable of use in a wide variety of pieces of clothing 

 and equipment.""'' In view of the publicity given this 

 new substance and upon the recommendation of the 

 Quartermaster General, the Secretary of War ordered 

 a board of officers convened to review the subject. The 

 board reported favorably and a number of examples 

 of clothing and equipment including a cap body were 

 sent to the field for extended tests.""' There is record 

 of some officers expressing a preference for this cap 

 body, stating that it was less liable to be crushed than 

 the felted body and stood up better in rainy weather,""^ 

 but a check of contracts after 1855 reveals none with 

 the North American Gutta Percha Co., so it can be as- 

 sumed that the material was dropped for use by the 

 Army. 



Although the 1851 cap was designed to serve both 

 for dress and fatigue use, the stocks of the 1839 pattern 

 forage cap were so large that they were not exhausted 

 until March 1 855, thus many of the troops had both a 

 dress and a fatigue cap until that date.""^ In August 

 1855 a campaign hat was prescribed for the person- 

 nel of the newly organized 1st and 2d Cavalry Regi- 

 ments to ser\e for both dress and fatigue."^" In March 



1 858 a campaign hat replaced the cap for all branches 

 of service, and in November 1858 a new style forage 

 cap was authorized."" As a final blow to the 1851 

 pattern, the Quartermaster General directed in April 



1859 that all caps of the 1851 pattern be issued as 

 forage caps."^- The style was not forgotten however, 



for the dress cap of the new uniform prescribed in 

 1872 proved to be an abbreviated version of the same 

 basic pattern. 



NOTES 



''" G.O. 40, War Dept., 31 Dec. 1850, RG 94, NA. 



^»"Bvt. Lt. Col. Joseph H. Eaton to AG, 28 Apr. 1851, 

 contains the report of the Uniform Board. See also AG 

 to Maj. Gen. Winfield Scott, 22 May 1851— both in AGO 

 File U.12, 1851, RG 94, NA. 



"^ In RG 94, NA. These regulations were also privately 

 published as Regulations for the Uniform & Dress of the 

 Army of the United States, June 1851, from the Original 

 Text and Drawings in the War Department (Philadel- 

 phia: William H. Horstmann and Sons). This edition 

 quotes the general order verbatim, but its greatest value 

 is the 25 plates in black and white and color of the uni- 

 form and accessories. The originals of these drawings 

 have never been located. 



''- Ibid., pp. 6-7. 



'^^ Maj. George H. Crosman to Jesup, 29 Dec. and 

 30 Dec. 1853. Office of Army Clothing and Equipage 

 (hereinafter cited as O of AC & E) . LS, RG 92, NA. 



"■* Sherman Collection, U.S. National Museum Acces- 

 sion 59388. 



^»= Deputy QMG Charles Thomas to Sec. Of War, 

 26 June 1851, QMG Reports, vol. 1, LS, RG 92, NA. 

 These machines were among the first invented and 

 patented by Isaac Singer in 1851. (Singer had sold a 

 number of them before he received his patent.) The 

 patent model of this machine in the collections of the 

 U.S. National Museum carries the serial number 22. 



"« See Crosman to Jesup. 17 Apr. 1851. LS. O of AC 

 &E,RG92,NA. 



'"'Jesup to Hebrand and Co., New Orleans, 31 Mar. 

 1859, LS, OQMG, Clothing, RG 92, NA. The principal 

 difficulty experienced with all early sewing machines was 

 the maintenance of proper thread tension. 



>''^G.O, No. 1, H.Q. of the Armv. 2 Jan. 1851, RG 

 94, NA; G.O. No. 64, War Dept, 29 Nov. 1848, RG 

 94, NA. 1848 has been chosen as the year during the 

 period least likely to reflect any undue fluctuation of 

 the currency. The price of any newly adopted item was 

 always higher the first year or so of its pnicuremcnt. 



""Crosman to Jesup, 8 Sept. 1851, O of AC & E. LS. 

 RG 92, NA. 



-"° J. Margerand, "Les coiffures de I'armee : les coif- 

 fures de I'infanterie de 1815 a 1900," Revue Mcnsuellc 

 lUustree (Paris, June 1911), p. 30. 



-"' George R. Stewart, John Phoenix, Esquire, the Ver- 

 itable Squibob, A Life of Captain George H. Derby (New 

 York, 1937). pp. 79-80. 



-0^- Gleason's Pictorial, Boston (22 May 1852), vol. 2, 

 no. 21, pp. 328-29. 



-"' Churchill to Sec. of War Jefferson Davis, 27 Feb. 

 1854, AGO File No. B136, 1844. RG 94, NA. 



-"* Col. T. T. Fauntleroy to Col. S. Cooper, 30 Oct. 

 1854, in US Army Comds^ H.Q., 1st Dragoons, LS, 25 

 Oct. 1849-9 Oct. 1863, RG 98, NA. 



67 



