Cap, Service
- Object Name:
- Cap, Service
- Object ID:
- 2017.003.01
- Date:
- 1861
- Description:
- Civil War uniform cap (kepi). Dark blue wool with tilted flat circular top. Brown and white striped cotton liner. Black leather visor and chin strap. Brown leather sweatband. Two brass buttons attaching strap to front above visor. Initials "ARD" carved on underside of visor.
- Material:
- Textile
Wool
Cotton
Leather
Metal
Brass - Dimensions:
- H-3.5 W-8 L-8.5 inches
- Provenance:
- Said by donor to have been owned and used by Nathan Moody Dow (1838-1863) of Concord, NH, while serving in Company D, 16th New Hampshire Regiment Volunteers. The initials "ARD" carved on the underside of the cap's visor suggest that it was owned and used by Abiel Rolfe Dow (1842-1861), a younger brother of Nathan M. Dow.
Abiel Rolfe Dow, a son of Enoch H. and Judith Walker (Chandler) Dow of Concord, NH, served one month of military service in the spring of 1861. While visiting family and friends, he enlisted on April 18, 1861, at Danville, Illinois, serving as a fifer in Company C, 12th Illinois Infantry, serving until May 2, 1861. He died shortly thereafter at Danville, Illinois, before returning to Concord.
Nathan Moody Dow enlisted in the 16th New Hampshire Regiment Volunteers at Concord on September 3, 1862. It mustered in for nine months' service under the command of Colonel James Pike. The regiment went to New York City where it joined General Nathaniel P. Banks' Expeditionary Force and sailed to New Orleans. Attached to General Sherman's Division, Department of the Gulf, they saw duty at Carrollton and in the defense of New Orleans, Bayou Plaquemine, as well as the Black and Atchafalaya River. They later guarded the arsenal of Banks' Army at Springfield Landing June 3 to July 9. They participated in the surrender of Port Hudson July 9, occupying the works until August 1, when they began the journey back to Concord. The 16th New Hampshire Infantry mustered out of service August 20, 1863, at Concord, NH. Returning to the life of a farmer in Concord, he died on October 26, 1863, of disease contracted during military service. The donor is the great-great niece of Abiel R. Dow and Nathan Moody Dow. - Credit Line:
- Gift of the Patterson Family
- Subjects:
- Civil War, Military uniforms
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