Cockades

Cockades have been worn for centuries as political statements or to show sympathy with a cause. Black or black and white cockades were worn in America to show patriotism, until the French Revolution caused many to instead associate the French tri-color with American ideals of freedom and equality. By the time of the Civil War, cockades came in many colors depending on your particular views.

• Most pro-Unionists cockades were red, white and blue. 

• The most popular colors for pro-Secessionists were solid blue, solid red, or red and white.

The Charleston Mercury described the Secession cockade:  “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… The blue cockade was worn by almost everyone, even the ladies and children joining in showing their devotion to the Palmetto State.”  A letter from Mississippi observed, “Not content with wearing the blue cockade themselves, the people put them upon wagons, carriages, riding horses, etc.”

When secession was declared in South Carolina, the reverberations – and cockades – could be seen even in Washington  DC.  “The shouts were those of rejoicing over a telegram announcing the secession of South Carolina. …. It was the late dinner hour, and dining-rooms and corridors were shaken with excitement, as men with the blue cockades of the secessionists brushed jubilantly past those who wore the colors of the Union.”

Wearing a cockade could be dangerous. The New York Times observed, “Our informant, though himself an owner of negroes, and an advocate of the institution of Slavery, was twice fired at for wearing a Union cockade.”

In some places, the government actually outlawed cockades. In Baltimore in 1861, the Public Ledger reported, “The Government is determined to put a stop to the Secession cockades and other emblems which have been so unblushingly exhibited in Baltimore for months past and those found wearing them in the future will be arrested as traitors against the Government.”

Cockades could frequently be the cause of personal conflicts as the Richmond Daily Dispatch worried: “Some of our young gentlemen have mounted the blue cockade and the Virginia button, while others sport the red, white and blue rosettes. We hope they will not come in collision during these exciting times.”

Ladies Wore Them
Many period accounts note the ladies wearing cockades. The Baton Rouge Daily Advocate said, "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." Fannie Beers wrote in her memoirs of the war, "Hats and bonnets of all sorts and sizes were made of straw or palmetto, and trimmed with the same. Most of them bore cockades of bright red and white (the "red, white, and red"), fashioned of strips knitted to resemble ribbons. Some used emblems denoting the State or city of the wearer, others a small Confederate battle-flag."

Cockades were the outward symbols of the underlying passions of the war. Harper's Magazine declared in 1861, “The passengers in the streets wear badges, rosettes, and cockades of the trinity of patriotic colors. In shawls, in cravats, in ribbons, the same tricolor appears. . . You feel something in men's motions; you see something in the general manner of the throng in the street before you read it recorded upon the board or in the paper. There is but one thought and one question. The people are soldiers. The country is a camp. It is war.”

Where to Purchase Cockades
Creative Cockades