North Carolina Museum of History
North Carolina and the Civil War
about

explore

artifacts

resources

Winter Hat of General Lawrence O'Bryan Branch

General Lawrence O'Bryan Branch used this unusual cap as a winter hat. It may have been made using fabric cut from a pair of Union army trousers. A section of the hat folds down into a pair of earmuffs. O'Bryan was a prominent lawyer and politician before the war. He served briefly as the state quartermaster general early in the war and was later promoted to a brigadier general. As such, he commanded a brigade in A.P. Hill's Division in the Army of Northern Virginia. He was killed at Sharpsburg, Maryland by a sniper's bullet on September 17, 1862. Branch's body was brought back to Raleigh for burial in the Old City Cemetery.


Winter Hat of General Lawrence O'Bryan Branch


<< Back to Featured Artifacts



Home - About - Explore - Artifacts - Resources
©2005 North Carolina Museum of History
Office of Archives and History, Department of Cultural Resources