Hi Sara-- It's not even a regionalism. Clemens is referring to the large feather ornaments that decorated some 19th-century military ceremonial uniforms. For an example, pictures being worth words, see: http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/view?q=hussar&psc=G&filter=1#5201018981043121026> or type "hussar" in any search engine. Your fellow translator, Gerald