Original Item: Only One Available. This is an very good condition Campaign Hat for a member of the Grand Army of the Republic (G.A.R.), made of black felt. It has the correct style G.A.R cord around it, with the number 24 on the front, probably for the chapter the owner was a member of.

The interior of the hat still has the original leather sweat band in very good condition, though some of the stitching is pulled. The leather is embossed with the makers name:

This historic town is very close to I.M.A. Headquarters, and research indicates that Eugene Carroll listed under "Hatter and Furrier and Gentlemen's Furnishing Goods" and was located on Park Place. His store was founded in 1872, and was noted in the 1883 edition of INDUSTRIES OF NEW JERSEY in the MORRIS, HUNTERDON, WARREN, AND SUSSEX COUNTIES listing.

The hat seems to be about a size 58, though it may have shrunk over the years. Offered in very good condition this is a unique and attractive Civil War Veteran's Campaign Hat from the turn of the 20th century. Ready to display!

The Grand Army of the Republic (GAR) was a fraternal organization composed of veterans of the Union Army (United States Army), Union Navy (U.S. Navy), Marines and the U.S. Revenue Cutter Service who served in the American Civil War. It was founded in 1866 in Springfield, Illinois, and grew to include hundreds of "posts" (local community units) across the nation (predominantly in the North, but also a few in the South and West). It was dissolved in 1956 at the death of its last member, Albert Woolson (1850–1956) of Duluth, Minnesota.

Linking men through their experience of the war, the G.A.R. became among the first organized advocacy groups in American politics, supporting voting rights for black veterans, promoting patriotic education, helping to make Memorial Day a national holiday, lobbying the United States Congress to establish regular veterans' pensions, and supporting Republican political candidates. Its peak membership, at 410,000, was in 1890, a high point of various Civil War commemorative and monument dedication ceremonies. It was succeeded by the Sons of Union Veterans of the Civil War (SUVCW), composed of male descendants of Union Army and Union Navy veterans.