Object Record
Images
Metadata
Object Name |
Cap, Forage |
Catalog Number |
0985.13.00834 |
Description |
"McDowell" pattern forage cap of cadet gray wool; four rows of wide gold thread braid around the band; two strands of gold braid on the front, back, and sides of the crown; gold braid quatrefoil of single strand of gold braid within a gold braid circle on the crown top; black leather visor and strap with brass eagle cuff buttons on either side of the cap; black leather sweatband; black silk lining. |
Dimensions |
H-5.5 L-9 inches |
Owned |
George Wythe Randolph |
Event |
Battle of Big Bethel / Bethel Church |
Provenance |
Forage cap worn by Brig. General George Wythe Randolph, who was President Thomas Jefferson's youngest grandson by his daughter Martha Jefferson Randolph. He was commissioned a major in the Virginia militia and his Richmond Howitzers were placed under the command of John Bankhead Magruder. Quickly promoted to colonel, Randolph was chief of artillery with Magruder's Army of the Peninsula at the Battle of Big Bethel in York County and Hampton on June 10, 1861. Virginia's first full-scale battle of the war resulted in a Confederate victory and praise for Randolph, who went on to design the fortifications at Yorktown, anticipating Union general George B. McClellan's amphibious invasion of the peninsula the following spring. On February 12, 1862, Randolph was promoted to brigadier general and assigned to command the defenses at Suffolk. He was appointed the Confederacy's third secretary of war in March 1862, and helped to reform the War Department at a time when the Confederate capital at Richmond was threatened by Union general George B. McClellan's Peninsula Campaign (1862). Randolph helped to improve procurement and authored the Confederacy's first conscription law, having already done the same for Virginia. His independence and focus on the strategic importance of the West put him into conflict with Confederate president Jefferson Davis, and he resigned in November 1862, his health failing. |
People |
Randolph, George Wythe |
Search Terms |
Battle of Big Bethel / Bethel Church |
Subjects |
Headgear Hats uniforms |