5th Virginia Cavalry Slouch Hat

By Shannon Pritchard · Originally published January 2019 · p. 10

5th Virginia Cavalry Slouch Hat By Shannon Pritchard When students of history envision a Virginia cavalier galloping along behind the dashing Jeb Stuart, this is the slouch hat our perfect vision of chivalry wears. Though its time had passed for the rest of the world, the South still clung to the chivalric code. Probably for this very reason the slouch hat was far and away the favorite headgear of Confederate cavalrymen. With his ostrich plume dancing in the wind, he considered it a privilege to defend a lady’s honour, and war was but a frolic. While we have unfortunately lost the cavalier’s name, his regiment’s place in history has been preserved in this time capsule. The brass insignia affixed to the hat’s front bears the stamped brass regimental number 5, over cavalry’s brass crossed sabre insignia; all surmounting the brass letters VA, designating his home. Therefore the hat’s history is that of the 5th Virginia Cavalry. Six companies of scouts under Lieutenant Colonel Clay Pate, to which were added four companies primarily drawn from Virginia’s coastal counties, were banded together in June 1862 to form the 5th Virginia Cavalry. The regiment followed Stuart’s sword through the battles of the

Seven Days, 2nd Manassas, the Maryland campaign, Fredericksburg, Brandy Station, Upperville, Gettysburg, Bristoe, Mine Run, the Wilderness, and a hundred unnamed skirmishes. After Stuart’s death at Yellow Tavern, the regiment fought on under Wade Hampton at Cold Harbor and was afterwards transferred to Early’s Shenandoah Valley operations. On Nov. 8, 1864, it was consolidated with the 15th Virginia Cavalry and designated the 5th Consolidated Regiment Virginia Cavalry. Now returned to the Petersburg front, the regiment fought many times around that ill-fated city until driven to Appomattox, when rather than surrender, all but two of the regiment cut their way through their would be captors and returned to their homes. Fortunately this slouch hat has survived as a monument and testament to their sacrifice and suffering; its jaunty air reminding us of the halcyon days when the Virginia cavalry under Stuart were a terror to the villains in blue. The hat remains in virtually pristine condition, its inner and outer bands intact, and with its original stitching; the plume that waved so proudly over many fields is still firmly held in place. Shannon Pritchard has authored numerous articles relating to the authentication, care and conservation of Confederate antiques, including several cover articles and is the author of the definitive work on Confederate collectibles, the widely acclaimed

Collecting the Confederacy, Artifacts and Antiques from the War Between the States, and is co-author of Confederate Faces in Color.