You are commenting using your Facebook account. Notify me of new comments via email. Notify me of new posts via email. Search for:. Each state could design official uniforms. There were actually uniform factories — or uniforms were made at home. Share this:. Like this: Like Loading Fill in your details below or click an icon to log in:. Email required Address never made public. Oct Florida. Salah said:. Last edited: Dec 26, Richard Stanbery Ad Honorem.
Jan 8, Tennessee. But, we aint much for dressing up, and combing our hair, and shining our shoes and all that ole mess, anyway. Long have I heard it said that the worst dressed armies are probably the best, and the best dressed armies are probably the worst.
Sep Viperlord Ad Honorem. Aug 8, VA. Richard Stanbery said:. Viperlord said:. The story about shoes and Gettysburg is a myth actually. Early's division had already passed through the town on it's way north, it's rather unlikely they would have ignored the supposed "shoe factory" This was certainly true. The AoT and Longstreet's two divisions made a curious impression on each other in terms of appearances at Chickamagua.
Last edited: Dec 28, Image Archibald Smith's jacket conforms with other jackets thought to be Georgia State uniforms. The Confederate clothing bureaus began somewhat haphazardly. They began as need arose and there was no one there to meet it. The Army of Mississippi managed organize a system of supply for its troops by the Battle of Shiloh. The San Antonio and Houston quartermasters opened government shops early in , and had fully functioning operations by the time commutation officially ended.
Judging from the plethora of images of Army of Northern Virginia troops wearing Richmond Depot jackets and caps early in the war, it would appear that the Confederate quartermaster in Richmond also had a well-functioning clothing bureau long before October Other Confederate quartermasters operated similar manufactories. Image , North Carolinian E. Green wore this tailor-made, early version, Richmond Depot jacket, complete with shoulder straps and colored facing tape.
The light shade, cadet gray cloth is probably "Crenshaw's gray" from the woolen mill of the same name. Another early depot-made jacket is made from the same cloth, but without facing tape. Image Elijah Crow Woodward's Columbus-Atlanta jacket is another example of an early Confederate depot uniform that pre-dates the end of commutation.
Woodward served with Company C, 9th Kentucky Infantry. The first government depots were relatively small or dispersed. Those of Mississippi reflect this well. During the early part of the war, the Confederate clothing bureau there relied on the production of several small factories to furnish the soldier suits that it issued. Each individual contractor, or factory, produced a limited, but steady quantity of uniforms each week.
The aggregate production of several small factories sufficed to meet the demand of the army in that area. For instance, on March 21, , the Daily Southern Crisis newspaper in Jackson, Mississippi reported that five Mississippi factories, in Bankston, Columbus, Enterprise, Natchez and Woodville, together produced 5, garments weekly.
Furthermore, each factory may have used its own patterns, which meant that there were subtle differences in the soldier suits produced at factory. This practice was fostered by the overall leniency in Confederate uniform specifications. As long as a manufacturer made jackets with standing collars, for instance, he was allowed considerable latitude for the rest of the pattern.
The sleeves might be one- or two-piece; the jacket might have anywhere between five and nine buttons; it might have had an inside or an outside pockets; it might have had trim or been plain; it might have been made from cassinet, jeans or satinet; and, it might have been natural white, sheep's gray or steel gray. Considering the large number of small factories, the varying durations of their operations, and probability that each factory changed its patterns and materials ever so often, the variety of jackets emerging from the Confederate quartermaster bureau must have seemed endless.
Applying this aforementioned model described by the Daily Southern Crisis, the quartermaster in Jackson would receive five types of jackets, in varying proportions, that he issued out indiscriminately, i. In , a jacket was simply a jacket regardless, and when a brigade quartermaster received 2, suits of jackets and pants in Mississippi, they included whatever was in the depot store house on the day he picked up his clothing. The 2, suits might have been the products of five different factories, and all of the jackets may have varied slightly.
The following array of "Deep South" factory jackets illustrates this diversity in construction and materials, yet all are plain shell jackets with standing collars. John T. The suit was probably made and issued in Mississippi in mid based on Appler's service. The jacket has a nine-button front Federal, general service buttons ; four-piece body no side pieces ; one-piece sleeves; one-piece collar inside and out ; and, one outside left breast pocket.
The basic cloth is a two-over-one cassinet; natural white, undyed woolen weft; light brown cotton warp; and, unbleached osnaburg lining. This jacket was worn by an unidentified soldier, and based solely on its similarities in materials and construction to other identified jackets, it was presumably made and issued in Mississippi in or It has a six-button front cast brass, Roman I buttons ; four-piece body no side pieces ; one-piece sleeves; and, no original pockets.
The basic cloth is a plain weave, woolen-cotton fabric; undyed woolen weft and brown-stained cotton warp; and, an unbleached osnaburg lining. John B. It was probably made and issued in Georgia, given the factor of proximity, since Grizzard joined the army in February in Atlanta, and probably received clothing there soon afterwards.
The basic cloth is a two-over-one, woolen-cotton jeans; natural white woolen weft; natural white cotton warp; unbleached osnaburg lining in the body; and, polished cotton inside the sleeves.
It has a five-button front brass dome buttons ; six-piece body; two-piece sleeves; two-piece collar inside and out ; and, one outside left breast pocket. An artillery jacket from an unidentified soldier also appears to be a Lower South product. Based on the fact that it has survived, and that it does not conform to later depot variants that introduced more stringent pattern guidelines, the jacket may have been made and issued in the Lower South in or It was presumably owned by a Mississippi soldier, based on its being part of the Mississippi Department of Archives and History collection.
The basic cloth is a two-over-one jeans; sheep's gray woolen weft; natural white cotton warp; and, unbleached osnaburg lining. It has a six-button front Federal, eagle C buttons ; six-piece body; two-piece sleeves; two-piece collar inside and out ; two inside breast pockets; and, red woolen edging at the base of the cuffs, around the edge and base of the collar, and along the entire edge of the jacket.
Corporal J. Zehring's jacket typlifies the diversity of uniforms made in small factories until the very end of the war. Zehring, detailed from the 4th Tennessee Infantry, served as a hospital steward in Milledgeville, Georgia during the latter part of the war. His jacket may have been made and issued in Milledgeville in early The jacket cloth is brownish-tan, satinet or jeans; a woolen-cotton fabric, with a light brown woolen weft, and a natural white cotton warp; and, an unbleached osnaburg lining.
It has a six-button front Federal staff officer buttons ; six-piece body; one-piece sleeves; and, two-piece collar. Artifact and image courtesy of Horse Soldier Military Antiques. Confederate uniformologists have come to associate specific jacket characteristics with certain depots, but this ignores many actual circumstances. For instance, depots seldom concerned themselves with following stringent patterns: the broad criteria of furnishing short jackets with standing collars generally sufficed.
These relaxed standards also fostered ease of production, as well, especially considering that shortages of materials often led to improvisation.
Uniformologists should also bear in mind that Confederate jackets were not sacred garments, they were clothing: nothing more, and nothing less.
Few would have thought much about the different number of buttons on their government-furnished jackets in That said, Confederate quartermasters did achieve a fair degree of uniformity in their patterns as the war progressed, at least within their own depot-sphere.
Some depots managed to produce well-defined patterns that remained constant from early in the war to the end. The nine-button Richmond jacket, with shoulder straps, belt loops and two piece sleeves, may have been made as early as The gray jeans Columbus jacket with one-piece sleeves and dark blue facings on the low cut collar and straight cuff facings was produced at least from the fall of until the end of the war. Other clearly definable jackets might not have been first produced until Such may have been the case with two depot jackets from the Department of Alabama, Mississippi and East Louisiana.
The first was probably made by the Columbus, Mississippi Depot. It was a five-button, satinet jacket, with two-piece sleeves, exterior breast pocket, and dark blue facing on the collar only. In order not to confuse it with the Columbus-Atlanta Depot uniform, I call it the Anderson jacket after Major Anderson who was in charge of that depot. The other had seven wooden buttons, a satinet body, one-piece sleeves, and exterior, left breast pockets, and often, a double row of top stitching around the edge.
This second jacket was probably made by the Selma and Montgomery, Alabama operation, which I refer to as the Montgomery jacket. By the end of the war, it was indeed possible to observe clearly definable characteristics in the various depot jackets and assign them typologies as Les Jensen did. Up until the last part of the war, however, this degree of uniformity did not necessarily exist within many depot operations.
Even depots that had well-established uniform jacket patterns from early in the war still issued variants. The Richmond Depot issued limited quantities of four-button sack coats, and a five-button jacket variant from a factory in Southwest Virginia to supplement its production of the quintessential nine-button Richmond jacket.
Even the Richmond jacket was sometimes made with six, seven or eight buttons instead of nine. Small Georgia factories produced a wide range of simple jackets throughout the war that supplemented the production of the well-defined Columbus jacket. Image John Cocke Ashton's jacket exemplifies one of the most iconic Confederate uniforms of the war: that of the Richmond Depot.
It was the uniform of Robert E. Lee's Army of Northern Virginia. Ashton's jacket was made after the characteristic features had been well established, but is nonetheless typical of the early war production, being made with artillery edging and of jeans material. The jacket was issued to him after his enlistment on July 29, with the Norfolk Light Artillery Blues, a Virginia battery.
Image This cadet gray Richmond Depot jacket, picked up at the Battle of the Wilderness by a soldier in the 5th Maine Infantry is typical of a late war variant with shoulder straps and Confederate-issue wooden buttons. By the time the Richmond Depot made this jacket, it had standardized with a nine-button front, two-piece sleeves, six-piece body, and, generally made of imported, cadet gray kersey.
The Columbus jacket is perhaps the second best known Confederate depot uniform, and may have been the most prolific, second only to the Richmond uniform. This jacket was made and issued after its salient features had been established, to include its six-button front, facings on the collar and cuffs the latter cut straight across , one-piece sleeves, six-piece body, and a rough, jeans cloth body. Image The Columbus, Mississippi Depot made prodigious quantities of a distinctive jacket, usually identifiable by its dark blue, woolen jeans collar, its five-button front generally wooden quartermaster buttons , its butternut-colored jeans fabric, and an outside breast pocket.
Andrew Jackson Duncan, 11th Mississippi Cavalry, wore this jacket, that incorporates all of the salient features. The jacket also included two-piece sleeves, and a six-piece body. Artifact courtesy of the Alan Hoeweller collection. Image Montgomery and Selma Depot had standardized another identifiable type of jacket by the latter part of the war with a considerable production.
This "Montgomery" jacket is recognizable by its seven-button front generally wooden quartermaster buttons , its sheep's gray or butternut-colored jeans fabric, its double-row of stitching along the outside edge, and an outside breast pocket. An unknown Confederate soldier wore this Montgomery jacket that's salient features include one-piece sleeves, and a six-piece body.
Image The Augusta Depot produced an all woolen, plain-weave jacket, easily recognizable by its plumb collar on the left side and a six-button front generally wooden quartermaster buttons.
The plain weave consists of an undyed, natural white woolen warp and a dark, blue gray woolen weft, which gives the effect of a medium-dark, steel gray color from ten feet away. First Sergeant J. Its other salient features include one-piece sleeves, and a six-piece body. Despite varying degrees of uniformity in jacket patterns, the overall popular image of the Confederate soldier remains very distinct: a lean soldier with either a slouch hat, with its brim pushed up in front, or a French style "kepi" cap; a gray or butternut shell jacket; a bedroll slung over his left shoulder and resting at his right hip; and, his socks pulled over the cuffs of his pants.
In this guise, his statue still stands guard over many public squares throughout Dixie, watching over his beloved Southland forevermore.
Image An unidentified Confederate artillery lieutenant, believed to be from the Mobile garrison, poses defiantly for a photo in New Orleans, ca. May His jaunty cap set askew and his short, tight fitting shell jacket mark him as a true "Johnny Reb.
Image Confederate veteran and artist, Allen C Redwood captures the essence of the Confederate infantryman this sketch. Slouch hats, shell jackets and bedrolls are in evidence, and the officer wears the classic "kepi" cap.
Image Dynamichrome has brought one of the most iconic images of the Confederate soldier to life in this colored image of the center Confederate prisoner at Gettysburg. A lean soldier with a slouch hat and a bedroll, wearing a butternut uniform, he embodies the look of the Confederate enlisted man.
Image courtesy of Dynamichrome and the Library of Congress. Image One hundred and fifty years after the war, and Johnny Reb still keeps a vigilant watch over Dixie. Image of the Confederate monument , Leesburg, Virginia; public domain. The author extends his gratitude to all of the institutions and private individuals who made the images in this article available as credited in the captions.
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