Figure 1.--This unidentified boy had his portrait taken probably in the late-1850s. He wears a bright cut-way jacket. Noticed the cap with elaborate side tassels on the chair.

The cap seems to have been a military style with caps becoming an important military style during the Napoleonic Wars of the early-19th century. Calvalry men tended to wear caps as the visor improved visibility by shielding the sun's glare and they were likely to loose hats with brims in the heat of battle. Thus the cap acquired the image of a dashing calvalry soldier. This was certainly a factor in popularizing caps with boys. Not only were styles clearly military in origin, but the tassels worn with them also can be seen on boys' caps. We see boys wearing these caps with both skeleton suits and tunic outfits. American soldiers also wore these caps in the Mexican War (1846-48). The kepi was worn during the Civil War (1861-65), but never became a major boys' style. Caps were worn by boys, but even so, hats overall seem more common with boys than caps. This was not the case in the winter when caps were developed for cold weather winter wear. This was a 19th century development. We do not notice winter caps in the 18th century with the exception of some fur headwear. We are not entirely sure when cold weather caps first appeared, but we believe it was around mid-century.

The 1800s

Men and boys wore three-cornered hats in the 18th century. We see littkle in the ways of caps until thev 19th century. The cap seems to have been a military style with caps becoming an important military style during the Napoleonic Wars of the early-19th century. Calvalry men tended to wear caps as the visor improved visibility by shielding the sun's glare and they were likely to loose hats with brims in the heat of battle. Thus the cap acquired the image of a dashing calvalry soldier. This was certainly a factor in popularizing caps with boys. Not only were styles clearly military in origin, but the tassels worn with them also can be seen on boys' caps. We see boys wearing these caps with both skeleton suits and tunic outfits. Caps commonly had tassles, another military decoration.

The 1840s

American soldiers also wore these Napoleonic era peaked caps in the Mexican War (1846-48). And with the advent of photograph we begin to see actual examples. The Daguerreotyoe was the oprimary format, but portraits were still relatively expensove.

The 1850s

We know more about the 1850s because the number of images with the steady growth of the phptographic industry was growing and prices were falling. More portraits weere made and we have new formats, esopecially the Ambrotype and the tgin-type. We are not entirely sure why the cap here would have been called (figure 1). We think it is a peaked military cap with heavy tassle. This is an important omafe as often headwear is not included in early photographs, both Dags and ambros.

The 1860s

The number of cap styles was still limited in the 1860s. The kepi, originally a French military style, was worn during the Civil War (1861-65), but never became a major boys' style. It is most associated wiyh the 1860s, but may also have been worn in the late-1850s. We do see, however, quite a few examples of kepis in the photographic record. Tgese and the olfer military peaked cap style were worn by boys in the 1860s. These are the only two cap styles we have so far identyified during the 1860s to any extebnt. A few boys from fashionable city families may have worn Scottish styles like the Glengary. And with the introduction of the inexpensive and easily reproducable CDV, for the first time we have an increasingly complete and substantial photographic record of fashion, including children's fashions. While many boys wore caps in the 1860s, overall hats seem more common with boys than caps.

The 1870s

The 1880s

Hats were by far the dominant headwear for boys in the 1880s. We do see, however,some caps. We see quite a variety of caps by the 1880s invluding peaked caps, sailor caops, and Scottish styles. Caps were seen as less formal headwear, although some of the less common styles like Glengaries were worn with formal cloths by boys from fashionable families. We see several varieties. We still seea few Civil War kepis. And sailor caps can ve seen. Many of the caps we see are seasonal winter caps. A few boys wore what might be called jockey caps, essentially an early baseball cap. No boys wore, however, what was at the time a baseball cap, essentially a pillbox cap (cylindrical sides and flat top with a peak or brim). This was not the case in the winter when caps were developed for cold weather winter wear. This was a 19th century development. We do not notice winter caps in the 18th century with the exception of some fur headwear. We are not entirely sure when cold weather caps first appeared, but we believe it was around mid-century. They certainly were being worn by the 1880s.  all those styles, bh far the most common headwear was hats. We note a church group of some sort, with all the children we would guess are probably a Sunday School group. This would presumamnly mean that everyone was dressed up in their Sunday best. We suuspect that some of the boys might have have had headwear for everyday dress, This could include caps, although we do not know to what extent caps were involved.

The 1890s

Created: 8:22 AM 8/30/2010
Last updated: 11:31 AM 5/15/2016