Visor Hats

1920s Argentine Army officer with prussian style visor hat.

The military visor hat, formally known as the peaked cap, service cap, or combination cap, has a history spanning over two centuries, evolving from a comfortable fatigue cap to the formal dress headwear used by armed forces worldwide.
Origins and Early Use (Early 19th Century).

The peaked cap originated in Northern Europe in the late 18th or early 19th century as practical, informal headwear for working-class civilians. The style was quickly adopted by military forces due to its comfort and light weight compared to the cumbersome shakos and bicorn hats that were standard issue at the time.

Prussian & Russian Armies: The Prussian and Russian militaries were early adopters, using versions of the peaked cap during and after the Napoleonic Wars.

U.S. Army & Mexican-American War: The U.S. Army adopted a version of the peaked cap during the Mexican-American War (1846–1848) as a more suitable option for the hot climate than the shako. This was the predecessor to the American Civil War-era kepi or forage cap, though the design varied.

Evolution and Formalization (Late 19th & Early 20th Century)
During the late 19th and early 20th centuries, the peaked cap became a standard, formalized item of military dress across many nations.

Naval Adoption: Royal Navy officers began wearing a peaked cap as an undress option in the early 1800s; by 1879, it was adopted by chief petty officers, with gold braid added to denote rank for commissioned officers.

Universal Service Cap: The British Army introduced the khaki peaked cap in 1902, replacing earlier headwear like the pillbox hat, for both field and off-duty wear. The U.S. Army followed suit, introducing a dark blue version as a dress cap between 1902 and 1917.

Symbol of Authority: As protective combat helmets became standard for field use during World War I, the combination cap evolved into a formal service or dress uniform item, especially for officers, symbolizing rank and unit affiliation.

Today, the military visor hat is a widely recognized symbol of the armed forces and other uniformed services globally, including police and fire departments. While its use in combat has ceased, it remains a traditional and essential component of formal military attire.

1970s Cadet Lanyard. This is not the uniform of the era, but we can see the cord or lanyard for service in the military school uniform. This type of cord is still used and sometimes carries whistles.

1970s National Military College.

Century 19th Visor Hats:

Reproduction of a wheel cap (Early 19th Century Officer Visor hat) of Colonnel, commonly used as forage or campaign caps in the Army (Cavalry, Horse Grenadiers) and Navy.

On the right an old drawing of a grenadier of General San Martin during the War of Independence, in late uniform.

In this painting General Pacheco is seen informing General Rosas about the results of the operations during the campaign in the desert (Pampa Region and Patagonia). Pacheco wears an animal skin cap, while Rosas wears a stove pipe shako, a style of the British light infantry of the Napoleonic wars adopted and reproduced by Argentina. Behind Rosas is his assistant, Colonel Pedro Ramos with a forage visor cap. In the background of the scene you can see the troops with the widely used manga garrison (sleeve) cap (sleeve), police bonnet style.

1829 Battle of Vizcacheras. The death of Colonel Friedrich Rauch. It is a drawing of the artist Francisco Fortuny. Note the Wheel "Forage or campaign" cap. At the beginning of the long civil war, both Federal and Unitary used the same uniforms, since they belonged to the same army. to differentiate themselves they used colored ribbons or bands on uniforms and headgear.

In this screen capture of an old Argentine film about federal warlords (Caudillos), you can see the Prussian-style cap visor. On the right you can see this same type of forage visor cap with two officers of the State of Buenos Aires in the mid to late 1850s (Daguerrotype of a museum). These Prussian caps may have been more common on the unitary side, it is a theory, but they could also have been private purchases by the officers of both sides for use in the campaign.

1940s. Argentine Movie,

Unitarian side:
1842. Batalla de Arroyo Grande. In this work by Descalzi, the Unitary Army under the orders of General Juan Lavalle, (Land Force of the French Fleet), is seen being defeated by the forces of the Argentine Confederation under the orders of General Manuel Oribe.
The uniforms of Juan Lavalle's Unitary army in 1842, characterized by their green color and European-style forage caps, were not a coincidence; they were part of a broader logistical and political alignment between the Unitaries in Montevideo and the Empire of Brazil.

While often attributed to simple "European fashion," the specific green and white palette and the adoption of the "wheel cap" (or gorra de plato) were deliberate choices that reflected the Imperial connections.
During the Great Siege of Montevideo and the earlier campaigns of Lavalle, the Unitaries were heavily dependent on external support. The Empire of Brazil, which viewed Juan Manuel de Rosas as a geopolitical threat, became a key clandestine and eventually open supplier of the Unitary cause.

Green Uniforms. In the 1840s, green was the primary color of the Brazilian Imperial Army (stemming from the House of Braganza). By adopting green, Unitary units not only utilized fabrics available through Luso-Brazilian trade networks but also signaled their alliance with the Empire against the red-clad Federalists.
Historical records of the "Government of Defense" in Montevideo indicate that significant quantities of military supplies, including uniforms and equipment, were sourced through Rio de Janeiro and the port of Rio Grande.

In this painting of the battle of Arroyo Grande 1842, there are some white cap visors with light blue bands belonging to the officers of the unitary side. The supplies, equipment and clothing of the unitary troops came exclusively from the Montevideo warehouses, where the foreign, French, Italian and Spanish legions, among others, were located for a change of regime in Buenos Aires..

1845 - 1852 Cazadores, Rifles. Brazilian Empire. The style of these caps was of the type seen in Prussian and British troops in the Crimea. The diameter of the top of the cap varies in each army. In the case of Brazil, British, it is smaller than the one used by the Russian Empire and even more so with the one used by the Argentine Confederation.

Federal side:

The Army of the Argentine Confederation was indeed in a state of transition and modernization, moving away from "revolutionary" gaucho traditions toward a more professional, standardized force.
While Juan Manuel de Rosas is often associated with the traditional gaucho aesthetic exemplified by the chiripá and the tasseled gorra de manga his administration had been slowly professionalizing the army since the late 1830s.

The adoption of European-style visor caps (like the "wheel cap" or gorra de plato) by the Army of the Argentine Confederation was not primarily about copying captured material from the Unitaries, but rather a shared influence from European military missions that affected both sides of the conflict.
By the mid-19th century, the traditional gorra de manga (sleeve cap) was increasingly seen as antiquated. The transition to the structured visor cap was a complex process of modernization:

IA Recreation based in drawings by Joseph Fontenau. In certain works, drawings and paintings such as those of Fonteneau, it is seen that in Rosas' time not everything was a chiripa and a sleeve cap. Although it must be recognized that these garments were of standard use. However, the visor cap, short jacket with hoods and in particular the trousers reflect a modern style. It is very likely that before Caseros, the Argentine Confederation was in the process of re-organization and modernization, from steamships (such as the "Correo") to uniforms and needle rifles that began to appear on the continent with foreign legions and mercenaries at the service of the opposing side . This modernization of equipment in the army could not have been the product of the initiative of Juan Manuel de Rosas, but of his senior officers, in particular Pacheco.

In this collage a photo impression (1), (2 and 3) drawing by Joseph Fonteneau, a French artist and lithographer who was active in Buenos Aires during the Rosas era. Another by Fernández Rivas (3).
The reenactment (1) and Fernandez Rivas's drawing (3) have Zouaves-style trousers in red and white. While in Fonteneau's drawings you can see white summer trousers (Pantalon de brin), and in the case of the Palermo cavalry a leather reinforcement on the cuffs of the trousers. Although the artist did not depict it in his work, these French-style pants had buttons on their sides.
If in 1850s we consider that the autarkic or self-sufficient standard garments for line soldiers and militias:"Gorro de manga" and the "chiripa", co-existing with zuave-style pants, and Basque-type caps, we will realize that the rural and popular countryside of the time, adopted this same foreign fashion ("Boina" and "Bombacha").

This type og forage cap had version with or without visor. It was used as duty, barrack cap, but also in campaigns. In the drawings by Fontenau and Fernández Rivas, pompoms are seen from the center of the circle of the cap.
The forage caps used by the British and Prussians during the Napoleonic Wars indeed have a completely different origin and evolutionary path than the Basque beret. While the forage cap evolved from utility headgear designed to be a cheaper, practical alternative to the heavy shako, the beret emerged from ancient civilian shepherd traditions in the Pyrenees.
But in the Río de la Plata both styles coexisted around 1850 in the armies. The visor cap, initially for officers, and from what is seen in Fonteneau's works, began to be used on troops.

On the left you can see a wheel cap without a visor in an old movie (Gauchos Caudillos from the Confederacion) from Argentine cinema. They are rare to see, but it seems that during the 19th century they were quite common although the bonnet de police (Gorro or gorrete de manga), type caps were the most common. The style was of the Spanish Carlist type, but more details of those reproduced in the Rio de la Plata are unknown. This type of headcovering was decorated with a pom-pom in the upper central part like the Basque Carlist ones. The French foreign legion that intervened in the Rio de la Plata towards the middle of the 19th century, brought this style of cap. Adopted since the French intervention in Spain in 1823 to end the liberal constitutional regime and re-install the absolutist monarchy. On the right, an old drawing by Fontaneau where the Wheel caps in use in the Cavalry of the Argentine Confederation circa 1830 are reproduced.

Visor Hats

1930-31. Caras y Caretas Magazine.

Caras y Caretas 1935.

Left: 8th Infantry Regiment. Comodoro Rivadavia in 1934. Right: 1940s Military College - Photo: UPI/AP

The officer on the left is from the Infantry, using a white summer uniform with a white hat around 1940. The officer on the right uses a uniform Model 1910. The hat is a Prussian style. The visor hats of the era had no chinstraps.. The photo is from 1921.

1900's, Argentine Army. Bavarian-style peaked cap.

Caras y Caretas 1933.

Interesting portraits from Weiss & Son. It shows artillery men of the 6th Regiment from different eras posing. The photo on the right shows the olive uniform from 1936 (used during the 40s). The photo in the middle shows the electric blue parade uniform used in the 20s.