Original Item: Only One Available. This is a very nice example of a WWI-1930s Era M-1912 Campaign Hat made by the world famous firm of John B Stetson. This M-1912 likely dates from the 1920s-mid 1930s and comes complete with USMC hat cord and USMC Eagle, Globe, Anchor (EGA) Device. The hat also comes with its original box!
The Campaign Hat is in very good condition considering its age. The leather sweatband is embossed in gold with the "Shield" logo and name of the maker, the JOHN B. STETSON COMPANY of Philadelphia. There is even the original maker inspection tag inside! The sweatband stitching is loose on one side, which could easily be repaired if one so desired. The Leather Chinstrap is broken, but included with the cap. The EGA and gold/maroon Hat Cord are original to the hat, and show signs of being in place on the hat for a very long time. Accompanying the Hat is the original box, which bears the Company name of the retailer in which the Hat was originally purchased, “Schleisner Co.”, on the lid. Size is approximately a 7 ⅛.
A very nice early example of a US Marine Corps Campaign Hat, Perfect for a Banana Wars display!
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.
