Original Item. Only One Available. This is an exceedingly rare private purchase M1883/89 campaign hat manufactured by Stetson. There is a “1” device affixed on one side above the brass ventilator. That could signify the 1st U.S. Cavalry, 1st Infantry, etc, so we are not comfortable identifying the hat to a specific unit. This model of campaign hat was worn from 1883 until 1911, so it is unsure if this is Spanish-American War era or Philippine Insurrection era. It likely belonged to an officer, but any soldier could have purchased it themselves.

The campaign hat is roughly size 7, with a good bit of the original sweatband still intact, which identifies the maker as the John B. Stetson Company. The Letters US are on the sweatband opposite the Stetson logo. There are brass ventilators on both sides of the hat, which are in place of snowflake vents on the normal issue hats. There is very little mothing across the entire hat, the brim on one end is upturned as shown. The hat ribbon is retained, which is just perfect.

Finding any campaign hat from the Spanish-American War period is very difficult, and other examples we have offered had some heavy mothing. Here’s a chance to pickup one of the greatest M1883/1889 Campaign hats we have ever had the pleasure of offering. Don’t miss out!

The Campaign Hat

The origins of the hat can be traced to the 1840s when U.S. Army mounted troops posted to the far-west sometimes wore wide-brimmed civilian hats, which were more practical than the regulation shakos and forage caps then issued. The crease was influenced by the designs of the sombreros worn by the Mexican Vaqueros. The name started to be used after the 1872–1876 regulations, which introduced a black felt hat—which could be drab after 1883—for fatigue use derived from the types popularized during the American Civil War. Some were worn with campaign cords, mainly as a form of decoration.

At least as early as 1893, hats of the Stetson Boss of the Plains type were being creased into pointed tops by British South Africa Company (BSAC) scouts in Africa. When designing the iconic uniform for Boy Scouts, Baden-Powell drew on the hat worn by Frederick Russell Burnham, the celebrated American scout, during his service as Chief of Scouts in the BSAC and the British Army in the 1890s. The 1,200 Canadian troops serving under Baden-Powell were the first to wear the campaign hat as a part of their official uniform, and this very likely influenced Baden-Powell's decision to order 10,000 of the hats for the British troops.

A version of the hat, with a crease along the top of the crown, was worn by some US Army troops during the Spanish–American War. The army officially adopted the "Montana peaked" design as a service hat on 8 September 1911.

Through the World War I era, the campaign hat worn by American soldiers was fairly soft. Those worn by the United States Army's general officers had a golden cord around it, whereas other commissioned officers had a golden-and-black campaign cord around their hat. Field clerks, as well as their post-war successors the warrant officers, had a silver-and-black cord, while other ranks had cords in their branch-of-service colors. The United States Marine Corps had the Eagle, Globe, and Anchor badge in black at the front of their campaign hats; its officers had an additional golden-and-scarlet cord around their hat, whereas its other ranks had none.

By the 1930s the felt was made very stiff with a permanently flat brim. Due to the frequent wearing of helmets in France in World War I, most troops received a copy of the French bonnet de police that became known as the overseas cap. From 1940 onwards, the campaign hat was replaced by the much cheaper American fiber helmet. In 1942 the campaign hat ceased to be issued generally, but it was still commonly found in the Pacific theatre for much of the war, and was the trademark of General Joseph Stilwell.