We are pleased to offer this exceedingly rare original and intact Confederate forage cap identified to Pvt. John C. Davis of the 5th Florida Infantry, who died a prisoner-of-war in late 1862 from wounds sustained during the Battle of Antietam. Likely of domestic deep-south production, the cap has an exterior cut from an undyed “drab white” 1/1 plain weave wool fill on a cotton warp. It is lined in the same weave of all-cotton osnaburg or sheeting with a painted cloth and pasteboard bound visor, painted cloth sweatband, and painted cloth chin-strap.  Buttons are original to the cap and are plain-faced “coin” buttons.  Carved into the underside of its disc, perhaps by family member after the war, is "JC Davis, 5th FL Inf.” Condition overall is excellent for the cap’s age.
The 5th Florida Infantry was a hard-fought regiment. Pvt. Davis had already participated in the Battle of Second Manassas before he was taken prisoner at Sharpsburg. The regiment would later go on to fight at Gettysburg, where they were attached to Pickett's Division.
Accompanying the cap is an evaluation by noted textile historian and conservator Fonda Thompson, in which she concludes the cap is "intact as originally constructed with no additions or alterations" and that "the materials are appropriate for the Civil War period." Thomsen states that while the inscription is possibly not contemporaneous to the cap's use, its construction and condition fully conform with Pvt. Davis' service history.
Thomsen began working as a conservator in 1968, first at the Smithsonian Institution and then at the National Park Service. After studying textile conservation at the Abegg-Stiftung Museum in Berne, Switzerland, she focused her work on historic textiles and modern fiber art. Thomsen is best known in the Civil War collecting community for her conservation work on the suit President Abraham Lincoln was wearing the night he was assassinated.   
Rare opportunity to acquire an original example of southern headgear used during the Civil War. Thomsen’s evaluation is available upon request.
[Civil War, Union, Confederate, Uniform, Relic, Kepi, Forage Cap, Frock Coat, Cavalry, Infantry]