TheHardee hat, also known as theModel 1858 Dress Hat and sometimes nicknamed the "Jeff Davis", was theregulation dress hat for enlisted men in theUnion Army during theAmerican Civil War. The Hardee hat was also worn byConfederate soldiers.[1][2]
The Hardee hat was first worn by the 1st and 2nd U.S. Cavalry Regiments when raised in 1855. The issue of this new headdress to these units as a substitute for theshakos andforage caps worn by the remainder of the army was initially a provisional one inspired by then Major William J. Hardee of the 2nd Cavalry (see below).[3]
The hat was named afterWilliam J. Hardee, a career officer in the U.S. Army from 1838 until resigning his commission on January 31, 1861. Hardee was Commandant of Cadets atWest Point from 1856 to 1860. He was lieutenant colonel of the 1st U.S. Cavalry until just before the war. In 1855, he publishedRifle and Light Infantry Tactics for the Exercise and Manoeuvres of Troops When Acting as Light Infantry or Riflemen,[4] popularly known asHardee's Tactics, which became the best-known drill manual of both sides of the Civil War. He joined theConfederate States Army in March 1861 and eventually became a lieutenant general and corps commander.
During the Civil War most soldiers found the black felt hat to be too hot and heavy and shunned its use, preferring a forage cap orslouch hat.[citation needed] The unadorned, plain and often field-modified Hardee hat was, however, worn by Union troops, especially in theWestern theater. The Hardee hat was most famously worn, and easily identified, as the hat worn by theUnion Army'sIron Brigade, and it became their trademark and they were popularly known by the nickname "The Black Hats".
U.S. Army regulations specified that the hat should be adorned with a brass hat device and a woolhat cord denoting the branch of service of the wearer: sky blue forinfantry, scarlet forartillery, and gold forcavalry. The brim was to be pinned up on the right side for cavalrymen and artillerymen, and on the left for infantry soldiers.[5]
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