tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28102666.post115907032447036199..comments2024-03-28T04:26:30.557-05:00Comments on Boston 1775: Colonial Americans Didn't Wear TricornsUnknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger7125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28102666.post-39898834416413566182012-07-03T21:22:20.389-05:002012-07-03T21:22:20.389-05:00Hats.
Headwear with brims were hats, headwear wi...Hats. <br /><br />Headwear with brims were hats, headwear without were caps. If you fastened one side of a hat brim to the hat bowl in a jaunty fashion, that was called cocking the hat, and the fastening was decorated with a cockade. <br /><br />I suspect the hat pictured up above was authentically eighteenth-century, but molded in the vision of what the nineteenth-century thought all eighteenth-century hats looked like.J. L. Bellhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15405157000473731801noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28102666.post-62926794798926660602012-07-03T20:02:21.227-05:002012-07-03T20:02:21.227-05:00So what did they call the hats they wore?So what did they call the hats they wore?Drake1https://www.blogger.com/profile/01467454888204425575noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28102666.post-21538504133578305312008-07-29T10:18:00.000-05:002008-07-29T10:18:00.000-05:00Excellent research on a very subtle point, with a ...Excellent research on a very subtle point, with a very provocative title that draws the reader in. I was incensed when I saw "Colonial Americans didn't wear tricorns". I was ready to take you to task for passing false information in the name of Living History. Well played :) I've read a number of "runaway listings" from broadsheets of the day, and I have to admit that I've seen dozens of colonial and pre-colonial references to cocked hats, but none to tricorns. <BR/><BR/>Bravo!Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28102666.post-26711375119270694022008-03-11T11:56:00.000-05:002008-03-11T11:56:00.000-05:00Apparently you missed the point and the evidence i...Apparently you missed the point and the evidence in the posting. The word “tricorn” wasn’t applied to hats until the late 1800s, according to the <I>Oxford English Dictionary</I> and other references. <BR/><BR/>The words “tricorn” and “tri-cornered” don’t appear in the Early American Newspapers database until the 1800s, and then it takes decades before either word is applied to headgear. In contrast, the phrase “cocked hat” appears in that database at least 21 times before 1776. <BR/><BR/>Writing “This was shortened to tricorn” glides by some crucial facts: <I>Who</I> coined the word “tricorn” and <I>when</I>? All evidence says it wasn’t the people of colonial America, but a later generation.J. L. Bellhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15405157000473731801noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28102666.post-979420468280522962008-03-11T10:16:00.000-05:002008-03-11T10:16:00.000-05:00They wore tri-cornered hats. This was shortened t...They wore tri-cornered hats. This was shortened to tricorn.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28102666.post-11770191652672491372007-02-28T12:53:00.000-05:002007-02-28T12:53:00.000-05:00Some men of the time certainly wore this type of h...Some men of the time certainly wore this type of hat, as shown by pictures and surviving specimens. But they didn't call it a tricorn, or if they did they managed to keep that term completely out of print. <BR/><BR/>A tricorn is basically a wide-brimmed hat that has been "cocked" in three spots around the crown, about equally apart. "Cocking" refers to attaching the brim to the side of the crown (sometimes with a decorative "cockade"). There are many period references to "cocked hats," some of which were probably cocked once, others two or three times. <BR/><BR/>Thanks for your comment!J. L. Bellhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15405157000473731801noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28102666.post-10771934953495949482007-02-28T12:48:00.000-05:002007-02-28T12:48:00.000-05:00This is a great and interesting post but I'm confu...This is a great and interesting post but I'm confused - it sounds like you're saying they did wear this TYPE of hat, only they didn't call it "tricorn" ? If that's correct, what DID they call it, do you know? <BR/><BR/>Amazing blog by the way. Really great great stuff!Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com