American Civil War
Cockades (Rosettes)

        Cockade: A knot of ribbons worn in the hat as a badge; a rosette worn in the hat by the male servants of naval and military officers etc.
        Rosette: A rose shaped ornament, knot or badge; a bunch of ribbons, worsted, strips of leather, etc. arranged concentrically more or less in the petals of a rose; a carved or painted ornament in the conventional from of a rose.
        The wearing of cockades had started in the Revolutionary war as the Continental Army didn't have enough money to buy uniforms and from private to general these was no rank distinction to solve this George Washington wrote, "As the Continental Army has unfortunately no uniforms, and consequently many inconveniences must arise from not being able to distinguish the commissioned officers from the privates, it is desired that some
 badge of distinction be immediately provided; for instance that the field officers may have red or pink colored cockades in their hats, the captains yellow or buff, and the subalterns green."
         An anecdote from the time says that during the revolutionary war the British soldiers would wear fancy decorations on their hats, that were called cockades. The slang expression for the cockades being 'macaroni.'  With the shortage of money  by all American soldiers they were forced to use other identification other than cockades on their hats, so they would use animal tails, feathers, etc., thus the phrase from the song 'Yankee Doodle' is supposed to have come from this "stuck a feather in his hat and called it macaroni."