Your shell jacket is one of the finest articles of your
Civil War Uniform Impression. Your jacket and hat are what
is noticed first about your uniform. Check your shell
jacket against these amazing shell jackets right out of the
history books and know that your jacket will be "right out
of yesterday" authentic and you will have preserved a
celebrated piece of our illustrious American Civil War
history!
Confederate regulations did call for a double-breasted
frock coat with sky blue pants with a kepi with trim for
branch of service, but these regulations never seemed to
really make it to the forefront. For example, colored trim
was used to indicate branch of service: buff for staff; red
for artillery, yellow for cavalry, light blue for infantry,
black for medical. This trim was on the cuffs and collar
and anywhere else where it might show up. Regulations also called for light blue trousers for
enlisted men and a darker blue for higher-ranking officers
Special buttons were prescribed such as "E" for engineers;
"I" for infantry; "A" for artillery; "C" for Calvary, and
"R" for riflemen. By mid-July of 1861, the Confederate government in Richmond
took on most of the responsibility for providing uniforms
for the ragged volunteers. A clothing factory was set up in
Richmond and other cities throughout the South around
September. The major depots were Atlanta, Athens and
Columbus. The depots maintained groups of tailors, who cut out the
uniforms in pieces and provided buttons, trim and so on
in a kit form. These kits were given out to seamstresses
who numbered in the thousands. These seamstresses put the
uniforms together. This system proved amazingly
successful, and they were producing thousands of uniforms a
year. Army regulations were rarely if ever adhered to instead
producing short-waisted shell jackets that did not eat up
alot of cloth. Some depots turned out sky blue, but the
vast majority of the jackets and pants were cut out of the
same cloth. The same depot might turn out uniforms made
out of wool, jean cloth or whatever was on hand. One cannot really say that one depot turned out a
particular uniform unless you can find a uniform that is
documented to be worn by a certain soldier and was produced
by that depot. It's very difficult to trace a particular
uniform down. Basically, pants and shirts were made from
the civilian patterns of the day. If you want to do a
civilian impression, feel free to use a military pattern
with civilian cloth. Some of the civilian outfits were
rather amusing in appearance with checks and large prints.
By about October 1862, the depot system took on the
responsibility of supplying practically all clothing.
Everyone knew the Confederate government had shortages
of all kinds. To put out good woolens was difficult.
Cotton products such as shirts and underwear were not
that difficult to turn out.
Cotton was used to stretch the wool; hence, fairly large
quantities of jean cloth were used instead of pure wool.
Blankets and overcoats were difficult to turn out and f
oreign supplies were contracted to help. As early as 1862
large quantities of British army wool started to arrive
in Confederate depot areas. Along with the British wool
came shoes, knapsacks, and accoutrements, as well as many
other items. Georgia and North Carolina did particularly
well in supplying their troops, but some states could do
little. Please feel free to supplement civilian items
because this situation was common throughout. There was actually very little difference in the jackets
that came out of the various depots. There was also a sack
coat that was a looser fitting type of coat. Even the Army
of the Northern Virginal could get jackets out of other
depots. They moved the jackets to wherever they needed
them, and it's hard to say from which depot jackets were
originated. For more information on Early, Midwar and Late war Jackets,
and to see amazing jackets reproduced from original
photographs, send an email to jackets@civilwaruniforms.net
For more information, contact coach@civilwaruniforms.net
2003 permission granted to reprint this article in print
or on your website so long as the paragraph above is
included and the contact information is included to
coach@civilwaruniforms.net
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