The Civil War Collection of James C. Frasca

Model 1858 enlisted man's forage cap. Sewn to the crown is a red 1st  division, 2nd Army Corps Badge. This badge is a first issue die stamped trefoil corps badge as specified in the Army of the Potomac 21 March 1863 circular requiring use of Corps Badges. Superimposed on the badge is a brass regulation 1 in. letter “C” for company C, and below are regulation 5/8 in. brass numbers “140” designating the 140th Pennsylvania Regiment. The cap measures 3 in. tall in the front from brim to crown and 5 1/2 in. in the rear from the bottom of the cap to the crown. It has a standard 1/2 in. leather chinstrap with a brass adjustment buckle, which is fastened to the cap by 2 general service eagle buttons. With a 1 1/4 in. sweatband (shows wear) and a full polished cotton lining that is intact (the cap has some minor mothing around the edge and rear).

[With:] A letter dated 9/25/1979 relating the original 1973 purchase of the cap at a public auction of a family named Cooper at Washington, Pennsylvania. An examination of Samual Bates History of Pennsylvania Volunteers, Volume 4, page 419, shows a “Philip Alcooper” who in fact was Philip A. Cooper, a corporal in Company C, 140th Pennsylvania Volunteers.

According to HDS database, one Philip Alcooper enlisted on 22 August 1862 as a private, and mustered into Company C, 140th Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry that same day. He was later promoted to the rank of corporal on 1 September 1864, and mustered out with his regiment at Washington, DC on 31 May 1865. During the course of the War, the 140th participated in the Battle of Chancellorsville, suffering 44 killed, wounded, or missing, before returning to camp at Falmouth. On the morning of 2 July 1863, the regiment arrived at Gettysburg where it fought and lost heavily in the clash at the wheat field. It suffered 241 total losses in the battle. The regiment was further engaged at, among others, Bristoe Station, Wilderness, Spottsylvania, Cold Harbor, Strawberry Plains, Reams, Hatcher's Run, Petersburg, and Farmville.

As a postscript, James Frasca was able to discover and communicate with a direct descendent of Philip Cooper who provided him with a copy of a photograph of Cooper in uniform.