American Tropical Pith Helmets

The use of pith helmets in America can be traced back to the Civil War (1861-1865) and members of the 4^th New Hampshire Infantry. It is also believed that during the First Battle of Bull Run on July 21, 1861, Union Army General Irvin McDowell wore a pith helmet resembling those in use in India where he had traveled. Reports from the time mention the cavalry general wearing a basket on his head.1

Adapting design ideas from the very successful Prussian military machine, the United States introduced a black spiked helmet in 1870, but soon realized it was uncomfortable in warm weather climates where American troops were fighting Indian Wars.  Quartermaster General Montgomery C. Meigs reached out the British government and received examples of colonial pith helmets being used by the British. By the late 1870s the United States borrowed British designs to produce their own cork pith helmet for infantry and cavalry. Experimental models manufactured by the Horstmann Brothers and Company of Philadelphia were deployed in Texas and Virginia.2

The Secretary of War approved the first regulations for pith helmets on May 5, 1880. Regulations stated that all summer helmets for enlisted personnel would adhere to a standard shape and weight (7 ¼ ounces). The shell was required to have two layers of cork covered with four white or khaki cotton cloth panels with a band around the dome. The interior visors were to be covered in emerald green cloth, and the liner was to be made from leather with spacers that suspended it in the shell. The entire helmet was then shellacked for a seal and fitted with a white enamel chinstrap with brass hooks.3

Six thousand of these Model 1880 helmets were in service within a year. In 1887 the United States changed its uniform regulations again, and a Model 1889 pith helmet was produced to coincide with the new uniform. This helmet had a steeper bill and was made from khaki colored cloth. The Model 1889 continued to be used through the Indian and Spanish American Wars (1899-1901) and was worn in Cuba, the Philippines, and the American West. In each case it was notoriously despised by enlisted troops but more well received by officers, who were required to buy their own and probably purchased more comfortable models.4

Most American officers had two helmets, a black pith for formal wear and their khaki pith for field service. It was not until December of 1904 that khaki colored piths were approved for wear with the formal uniform. Before this officers began to transfer the ornamentations from their formal black helmets to the white, including gold chin cords and U.S. national eagle shield, although this practice was banned in 1887.5

Pith helmets also found use in National Guard and Militia units, which explains the substantial varieties of American piths. These Guard and Militia units were responsible for their own purchasing, and many feature unit numbers and ornamentation. The McKenney & Company and Ridabock & Company for instance supplied the New York National Guard with piths from 1880 to the 1900s. The United States Marine Corps used pith helmets as early as 1879. Fraternal orders also purchased surplus models in the early 1900s and adorned them with their own insignia.6

By World War I (1914-1918) the American pith helmet was no longer in use. It did not reappear until before WWII (1939-1945) when the Hawley Products Company designed a model made from the same materials and process as their M-1 helmet liners. The process involved pressing fiber material into a shape and bonding it with an adhesive agent to form a stiff and waterproof shell. The Hawley tropical helmet was then covered with cotton cloth and the interior was lined with green cloth. The helmets shape resembled British safari models and also featured an embossed fake puggaree and ventilator. Ventilation holes were instead located on the sides and front of the helmet dome. The helmet’s interior band was held in place by the ventilation grommets along with the chinstrap. In later models an elastic band was also added the fit over the front. While early models came only in khaki, later models were made in olive drab green.7

The U.S. Army, Navy, and Marine Corps, all used tropical pith helmets. Members of each service branch distinguished themselves by attaching service branch insignia by way of the front grommet. Army soldiers wore the shield of the United States, while the Marines featured the eagle, globe, and anchor, and sailors displayed the crossed anchors and eagle shield insignia.8

The American tropical helmet model continued to be used with only slight modifications in olive drab green by all service branches through the Vietnam War (1961-1975) and into the 1980s. As tropical helmet collector Peter Suciu points out, the American tropical helmet from the Hawley Products Company was introduced before the M-1 steel helmet and was retired after the M-1. This makes the WWII tropical helmet model the longest lasting regulation helmet in United States history.9

Garment Type: Pith Helmet

Year Made: 1870