OT How can t hey do t hat?

[micky]

OT I've been watching reruns of Wagon Train, and one of the characters wears a rebel cap, the kind worn I gather by Southern Troops during the Civil War. (The kind that's higher in the back, but crunched down in the front, and round, flat top and with a brim. Grey I suppose but hard to tell on B&W shows.) And I think I've seen others wearing the cap in other westerns.

Did anyone do that? I thought the west after the Civil War was full of men from both north and south, and it would be looking for a fight to dress obviously as from one side or the other. At least on TV, they're always fighting anyhow, so why make it worse?

[Bob_Villa]

Even is today's world you can find people like that...they are still fighting the war. Try going to a bar down-South and say, "The South will rise again...'coz shit floats!"

[RobertMacy]

Interesting. A lot of people had no other clothes to wear. A prime example is after the end of the Crimean war and the returning soldiers couldn't get work, they sat in hotels 'begging' people to carry their luggage for them. Thus, the origin of the Bell-Hop uniform. It was the Crimean War uniform.

[WW]

OT I've been watching reruns of Wagon Train, and one of the characters wears a rebel cap, the kind worn I gather by Southern Troops during the Civil War. (The kind that's higher in the back, but crunched down in the front, and round, flat top and with a brim. Grey I suppose but hard to tell on B&W shows.) And I think I've seen others wearing the cap in other westerns.

Did anyone do that? I thought the west after the Civil War was full of men from both north and south, and it would be looking for a fight to dress obviously as from one side or the other. At least on TV, they're always fighting anyhow, so why make it worse?

When I was in U.S. Navy boot camp, WWll time. There were 125 men in our unit. 120 of them were from Georgia and Florida. I still have a problem liking Southerners. All they would talk about is the South taking over. WW

[Nightcrawler®]

After the war many of the regs only had the clothes on their backs, and no place to call home, or were too far from home. Most of the regs did not get much grief from the North. They understood most of what really was going on and did not have the modern revision that is prevalently taught today. It was a different country, back then, in more ways than one. Heading West was a getaway for all involved.

[David L. Martel]

micky,

I think the squashed down version was the forage cap but it could be a kepi. These were common through the Indian wars. It's very common for soldiers and new civilians to wear parts of their uniforms. No one would notice or be offended. As for why they do things on TV, I've no idea.

Dave M.

[willshak]

It was a kepi.

Or:

[krw]

The people are a lot nicer, down here, too.

[DerbyDad03]

When I (a New Yorker at the time) was in the USCG boot camp, mid-70's, the guys from the south (especially Florida) were the nicest guys I've ever met. I fondly remember the English lessons I got from a guy that grew up in the sticks of Florida.

"Repeat after me:

I'm a fixin to, he's a fixin to, she's a fixin to.

Good! Now try this:

I'm a gonna, he's a gonna, she's a gonna"

4 decades later and I still chuckle about some of the good times I had with those guys. We made fun of them, they made fun of us, and we ended up graduating as the best company of the 6 that went through boot camp together.

[Nightcrawler®]

You've got that right.

[micky]

Wow. They were poor and they expected strangers to carry their luggage for them. They had a lot of nerve.

Very interesting.

[Wes Groleau]

It's not as bad now. Mississippi ratified the Thirteenth Amendment in

1995. Then again, they didn't officially admit it until 2012.

[David L. Martel]

Bill,

Why do you believe that? Are you in touch with the wardrobe folks of Wagon Train? The Confederate armies did not have a uniform. Many different outfits wore many different uniforms.

Dave M.

[krw]

Nope. Still have my Midwestern (non) accent.

[Robert Green]

OK smart guy. They had to wait two hours for hot water, too. (-: G,DRFC

I tried looking it up but couldn't find anything about the origin of the bell hop uniform although I did learn bellhop is a derogatory term for Marines assigned to the bridge of a Navy ship and that the fez-like hat is called a tarboosh.

tarboosh n : a felt cap (usually red) for a man; shaped like a flat-topped cone with a tassel that hangs from the crown [syn: fez]

[micky]

That's very good to know. (Now I'm smarter than ever. ) Thanks.