SLOUCH HAT WORN BY CONFEDERATE GENERAL BRYAN GRIMES

$32,500.00

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Item Code: 1268-066

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Several of the type are known and all are very similar in form. Made for military use, we believe, by a professional hatter here or overseas. It is a form not necessarily classifiable as a civilian hat re-purposed.  The hat was formed of soft pressed felt and is a light brown in color. Grosgrain of a silk blend runs around the circumference of the hat. This is machine sewn in place. Around the base of the crown of the hat is a 1-inch band or ribbon of silk blend. The crown of the hat is now 4 1/2 inches high while the brim is 3 1/2 inches deep. The surface is stained and there is very little insect damage. The interior adjustable sweatband with its decorative yet functional tassel is 2 inches high and 90% intact. It is stiff from great age and held in place by hundreds of hand whipped stitches. The hat was probably lined but this is now gone. The gold bullion cords of a Confederate general officer are in place. Make note that the wooden binder (barrel) is removed. Inked inside the sweatband is the North Carolina Museum of History's inventory number. Additionally, there is an old, typed museum inventory card once pinned to the hat that reads: "OBJECT: THE CONFEDERATE GENERAL'S HAT. DONOR: THE HON. J. BRYAN GRIMES. SEC. OF STATE. CHAIRMAN NORTH CAROLINA HISTORICAL COMMISSION.ACCESSION NO. 19XX..."

Bryan Grimes was born in Pitt County, North Carolina at Grimesland, a plantation approximately eight miles from Washington, North Carolina.  In 1844, Grimes matriculated at the University of North Carolina.  After graduation, Grimes became a planter (his father had given him Grimesland).  When the Civil War came, Grimes participated at the state secession convention and signed the Ordinance of Secession. In 1861, Grimes accepted a Majority in the Fourth North Carolina Infantry.  In this position, he led his North Carolinians in every battle in the Eastern theater (except Antietam).  His performance during the Seven Pines campaign (1862) impressed his commanders, and he was promoted to lieutenant colonel and then full colonel. At Fredricksburg, he commanded a brigade under D.H. Hill's command.  Back in charge of the Fourth North Carolina, Grimes led troops into battle at Chancellorsville and Gettysburg in 1863.  After the grueling Wilderness campaign in 1864, Grimes became a brevet brigade command, and he soon accepted a promotion to brigadier general.  In February 1865, he became a major general. He was the last man to receive that rank in the Army of Northern Virginia.  Grimes surrendered, two months later, at Appomattox Court House.

After the war, Grimes became an influential figure in his home state.  Grimes returned to Grimesland in 1867.  There he became a successful planter and started serving as a University of NC Trustee in 1877.  Three years later, he was shot dead while returning home from a political convention in Beaufort.  William Parker murdered Grimes; he did not want the former Confederate general to testify in court.

This slouch hat was donated to the North Carolina Museum of History by General Grimes' son, Secretary of State, John Bryan Grimes shortly after 1900. In 1963 it was legally and fairly traded to Mr. George Gorman III of Philadelphia PA. He kept the hat and passed it to his son, the highly respected dealer and museum consultant George Gorman IV. Gorman sold it well over a decade ago to the compiler of this write-up who not long afterward sold it to Mr. Shannon Pritchard, the acclaimed dealer and author, then living in Studley, Virginia. The negotiation vividly in my mind done outside the Hardee's restaurant in Fredericksburg, Virginia. Also sold at this time to Shannon was Bryan Grimes son's regulation Confederate vest.

Interestingly when the hat was in North Carolina and until sold to this compiler it was not "blocked" or formed as you see it but rather folded flat like a "wedge cap". It was what is known to the Civil War collecting community as a "crusher". A crusher could be removed from the head flattened and stored in an inconspicuous way wherever the wearer chose. Note how to facilitate this the wooden binder that held the hat cords was removed by Grimes! Your compiler a professionally trained restorer cleaned and blocked the hat so it would display as worn on General Grimes' head. The unusual "draw string" set up on the then supple leather sweat band is evidence of a quick adjuster facilitate secure fit.

This is a great historically important Confederate slouch hat, the often-preferred headgear of the Confederate soldier. The condition is wonderful and provenance impeccable. For years in the Texas Civil War Museum.   [pe][ph:L]

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