New Item: Silk Cockades
As outlined in the article below, silk cockades were the fashion rage in the south in the early parts of the war. Now you can add this great finishing touch to your impression. Our cockades are hand made from 100% royal blue silk. They do come with a Virginia button, but the button can be replaced easily. Cockades are $35.00. We have a limited number on hand and expect to make up more in late April, so delivery time is about a month.

The Blue Cockade & South Carolina Indorsed. . .
by Brian Koenig

Southern nationalism reached a high point encircling the election of Abraham Lincoln as president in 1860. As a result of the election, the secession movement began sweeping across the south. Those in support of secession soon began wearing a new badge to show their support. These badges were know alternately as “the blue cockade” or “the secession cockade” and were subject to some variation.

One of the earliest references to the use of the cockade in support of secession occurred on October 22, 1860, nearly 46 days prior to election day:

South Carolina is Arming. . .The badge adopted is a blue rosette, two and a half inches in diameter, with a military button in the centre, to be worn upon the side of the hat. Let the important work go bravely on, and let every son of Carolina prepare to mount the blue cockade 1

 The immediate post election furor over Lincoln’s victory increased the display of this badge of rebellion, and while a blue cockade seemed to be the standard incarnation, nearly every state adopted their own version of the item:  

“South Carolina.—The cockade is made of three layers of very dark cloth, stitched at the edges and fastened together by a gilt button, on which the following appears in relief: In the center is the "Palmetto," with two arrows (crossed,) and fastened together at the point of crossing with a bow know of ribbon. The following is the motto around the button: Animous opibusque parati—"Ready with our minds and means."

Virginia.—This consists of a double rosette of blue silk, with a pendant of lemon color, the whole fastened together by a gilt button on which appear in relief the arms of Virginia, with the name of the State and its motto encircling it. Its motto is "Sic Semper Tyrannis."

Maryland.—The cockade is formed of a double rosette of blue silk, with blue pendants, and fastened the same as that of Virginia, with the State button, and the single world "Maryland" beneath the arms.”2

“We have observed, for a few days past, a number of blue cockades, surmounted by metalic five-pointed stars, worn on the hats or coats, of many of our citizens. The cockade is the badge common to the citizens of the Southern States. The star is peculiar to Texians. The combination of the two emblems seems particularly appropriate to the times.”3

Cockades were available ready-made or could obviously be home-made by patriotic southerners. Some even resorted to simpler badges of solidarity:

“The Charleston Mercury has the following. . . A number of charcoal dealers, from the interior of this district, were yesterday here on business, wearing—not the blue silk cockade—but plain strips of brown paper, bearing such mottoes as "Resistance," "Remember Harper's Ferry," etc. We could not but admire the stern simplicity of this unpretending badge of devotion to South Carolina”4

The popularity of these badges can not be underestimated as this was the new badge of southern patriotism.

“What gave peculiar interest to this grand display of beauty, grace and elegance, was the exhibition of blue cockades worn on the shoulders of nearly all the ladies who appeared in public.”5

“The further down I get, the more secession I see. Not content with wearing the blue cockade themselves, the people put them up on wagons, carriages, riding horses, etc. At one place where I stopped, all the negroes had them on. You may safely put Mississippi down as dead out for secession.”6

“Cockades were numerous on the streets yesterday. They are blazing out in every part of the city, are rapidly on the increase and come out in some cases "under difficulties." We saw a few immense rosettes of blue baize, as big as small sized cabbages, fluttering around . . . Petersburg Express 1st.”7

“Blue cockades are not uncommon here. I have been wearing one for nearly two months and so help me God I intend if necessary to make the declaration implied by it good even with my hearts blood.”8

For those seeking to add a touch of detail to their pre/early war southern military or civilian impression the adoption of an appropriate secession cockade would be the perfect finishing touch.

Images courtesy of Mike Preziotti, http://www.mikescivilwar.com/cockade.htm

1.   DAILY ADVOCATE [BATON ROUGE, LA], October 22, 1860, p. 2, c. 5

2.   [FAYETTEVILLE, ARK.] THE ARKANSIAN, January 5, 1861, p. 2, c. 6

3.   INDIANOLA [TX] COURIER, November 24, 1860, p. 3, c. 1

4.   SEMI-WEEKLY MISSISSIPPIAN [JACKSON, MS], November 23, 1860, p. 3, c. 4

5.   DAILY ADVOCATE [BATON ROUGE, LA], November 15, 1860, p. 1, c. 6

6.   MEMPHIS DAILY APPEAL [MEMPHIS, TN], December 9, 1860, p. 2, c. 2

7.   SEMI-WEEKLY MISSISSIPPIAN [JACKSON, MS], December 11, 1860, p. 3, c. 2

8.   John H. Cochran to His Mother, December 11, 1860, Cochran Family Letters, 1860-1861, Civil War Collections, Special Collections, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, Blacksburg, Virginia.