The Fort Brooke Record

Uniforms of The Confederacy
Materials and Manufacturing Techniques

By Michael Clark

Uniforms of the Confederacy

Section B Manufacturing Techniques

We who lived in the 20^th and now 21^st century sometimes look back on the 19^th century as one of a crude existence, devoid of the niceties of modern convenience and totally lacking in all but the simplest devices and machinery with which to add to the comfort of humans. This could not be further from the truth. While certainly, there were any number of individuals and even some manufacturing firms who engaged in techniques which dated back to the pre industrial age, by the time of the War Between the States, power machinery had made it’s way into most of the shops which were responsible for the manufacture of most articles which were in common use at the time.

This is to say that any number of the uniforms and equipment issued to Confederate troops, were in some way made on power machinery. Since the thrust of this study is on uniforms I will not spend much time on the technical advancements of the day but I would like to make the point that most of the steel being used in weapons and war machinery of the time was being made with Bessemer converters which had only been in use for a scant few years and have changed little to this day.

The same can be noted about looms and sewing machines. It would not be incorrect to state that very few CS uniforms were made of cloth, which was woven on looms strung with yarns that were home spun. Even women who had small looms in their homes were still likely to have purchased the yarns from a dry goods store. This would have saved them from all of the time consuming tasks of harvesting the fibers, then dying them, then carding and spinning and so on. Take in to consideration the fact that wool was not in huge supplies in the south anyway and it is easy to figure that there were very few people making woolens on looms in the south by hand then tailoring uniforms.

Let’s talk about weaving for a short time. Most of the cloth used in uniforms, as we had discussed previously, was made of wool or at least used wool as a main component. The most common weave was a twill weave. That being a cloth woven to give it a diagonal ridged look across its surface. This cloth was woven using a base warp into which is woven a filling yarn. At any given cross section of the fabric one will find at least two if not three or four yarns woven, one atop the other. In fact, the word we use today, “Twill” comes from the 14^th century English word “Twilic” which taken literally, means “Two threads”. Now this type of cloth was and remains very popular for making uniforms, work garments and other products, which will be used very hard. At the time of the War Between the States, twill was the strongest known weave and could be made any type fabric. Most of the fabrics listed in our last article are twills. More specifically, those which I had indicated were woven for the outer shells of the uniforms are twills. They include, kersey, satinette, broad cloth, melton, beaverteen, and jean cloth.

Of the six type twill woven cloths mentioned above, really only jean cloth could be woven with any efficiency at all on a hand loom. Of the rest, I would say that broadcloth, melton and beaverteen would be near to impossible to weave cloth of any suitable quality on a hand operated loom and kersey and satinette could probably be woven but with great difficulty and only minimal results. So, I am stating that for the most part, cloth used to make CS uniforms was made on machinery, which was steam powered. Further, as stated above, even hand loomed cloth would likely to have been made from yarns which were machine spun. I am not saying that there were no home spun cloth uniforms, there certainly were. I am saying that most were not. It would have been near to impossible for the CS central government to supply uniforms which were made on 36 inch looms by the women at home. Hand loomed cloth is very time consuming to make and not as consistent as that which would have been needed to supply good quality garments.

So without going in to great details, we have established that at least a goodly number of CS uniforms were made from high quality machine made cloth. Then what? Most of the cloth manufactured for use in the making of uniforms was supplied to the depots where the uniforms were issued. Also, a good measure was made available to tailors who made uniforms to order, particularly for officers. Some cloth was supplied to dry goods dealers who in turn sold it to individuals to make their own uniforms and to a lesser degree some was made available to contractors who made uniforms for sale to the depots. Contractor made uniforms were rare in the south but they did exist. One particular foreign contractor will be mentioned in a future section of this article.

The most common uniform found existing today would be the type which were tailor made for officers and other men of means who could afford them. These were not the most common uniforms of the time of the war. They just happen to be the ones that were preserved. I would venture to say that every officer had at least one if not two or three uniforms made for himself. More than likely got another from the depot, then he had it fitted out with insignia to reflect his rank, but was exactly the same as that being drawn by enlisted me. Just because most existing photos of officers show them wearing nicely tailored frock coats, does not mean this is what they wore in the heat of battle. There is plenty of evidence to bare this out. A great number of photos of Confederates in the field show most of them wearing jackets. Also a great number of battle scarred uniforms which were known to have been used in battle, are jackets and quite a few of these are enlisted jackets modified for use by officers.

Here is my point: if we could go back in time and look at 1000 uniforms being worn by the average CS trooper, it would consist of a jacket drawn from a clothing depot. There would be quite a few similarities from one depot to another even though the patterns and certainly the color and quality of the cloth would differ.

One of the more noticeable similarities of depot made uniforms is in the stitching. Nearly all depot made uniforms are entirely hand stitched. The most obvious hand stitches are found on the button holes. They are cut normally with a chisel or button hole scissors, the slot glued or basted to hold it, then purl stitched around to prevent fraying. Some uniforms are found with a heavy cord under the button hole stitches for added strength. Some are also found with a pronounced hole and the end of the slot where the button rests, giving it an appearance of a key hole. Collectors call these corded key holes and they are found on army uniforms from around the world to this day. As a collector myself, it is one of the first things I look for when looking to authenticate a uniform. Not all uniforms of the period have hand sewn buttons holes. Some have welts or facings sewn into the holes which give them the appearance of small pocket openings. These are difficult to produce and time consuming and not generally found on issue garments but could none the less be present.

Issue garments are likely to have been top stitched as well. After the coat is made, it will be pressed then the cuffs, collar and outer edges will be stitched all around for added strength. This stitching is also likely to be done by hand but have been noted with machine stitches as well. The most common type of hand stitch would be a “Half back” stitch. This is a type of stitch that is known for its great strength and resistance to pulling. It is performed by looping the thread backward a half a stitch length each time the needle is pulled through. When you look at the top of the garment, you see the thread evenly spaced, but when you look at the bottom, it is overlapping. Many old garments both civilian and military will exhibit this type of stitching. Less commonly a “running” or “quilting” stitch will be found. This type of stitch is less time consuming but certainly less quality than a back stitch. Many garments that I have seen will have two rows of running stitches instead of one row of back stitches.

The linings of issue garments will be hand stitched in place as well. Usually this is done with a whip stitch since this is the fastest way but could just as easily be done with any other method. A whip stitch is preformed by simply running a stitch through the lining material just at the folded edge then through a yarn of the garment facing, back through the lining and so on. It is only needed to hold the lining in place and usually does not experience any real stress or taxing when worn. These stitches will be most notable at the collar, the inner facings, the inside of the cuffs and in the arm radiuses.

With CS issue garments it is even well documented that the inner seems are even hand sewn. They again could just as easily be machine stitched but are generally found to be hand dome and with the back stitching as described above. The reason for this is two fold. Quite a number of issue garments were made to government specifications, with government issue cloth and thread, by women in their homes. This is to say that the quartermasters paid a fee to people who came to the depot to collect cloth, buttons, trim and other components, then took it home, constructed the garments then took them back for inspection and payment. This cottage industry was common in the north as well as the South during the war and was a means of supplementing the income of families who had men or even had lost men in the conflict. While there were certainly men and women employed in the making of uniforms at the depot facility itself, most uniforms were made in homes as described above. Most women who would have been employed for this service would not have had access to a sewing machine as they were beyond the means of common people in those days. Also the sewing machines in more common use at that time would have been a “Chain Stitch” machine which was not suitable for military uniforms. A chain stitch is exactly the type you might find at the top of a bag of rice or other food and once pulled, the entire stitch will unravel to expose the inside. Since most machines were only capable of making this type of stitch, quartermasters had a bad impression of all machine stitching. New machines of the time were capable of producing and “Lock stitch” by the use of a bobbin. This stitch is exactly the same as done by a modern sewing machine. Unfortunately these machines were rare and expensive and the average QM would not have been impressed with it anyway. It is known that a good number of machine stitched uniforms were produced but they were not the norm.

Garments made at home from cloth and patterns which came from dry good stores rather than depots would be similar in construction to the above. The main difference would be in the patterns. Most women made there own patterns based on civilian designs or adapted them from drawings in books and periodicals. The stitching of these home made garments was likely to be less quality than that of the ones worked through the depot as they would not have been inspected. Most women and young ladies of the period did have fairly advanced sewing skills and were capable of producing good quality garments. It must also be noted that in larger households with servants, there would have been several individuals who were charged with making garments for them men who were off fighting and would have done a proper job weather the garment was to be inspected or not.

Next month we will delve further in to manufacturing techniques as we discuss tailor made garments.

Arlington

When Robert E. Lee married Mary Anne Randolph Custis in 1831, they began to build 30 years of memories at her home, Arlington House. The tremendous Greek Revival mansion, 140 feet long and 40 feet wide, was built in 1802 by Mary's father, George Washington Parke Custis, the adopted son of the first U.S. President, George Washington. Atop a hill overlooking Washington, D.C., the Doric columns of Arlington House were so large that they could be seen from across the Potomac River. In 1858 and part of 1859 Lee took more than a year's leave from the U.S. Army and used some of his salary to make much-needed repairs to the homestead to make it a productive farm. At the outbreak of the “War of Federal Aggression” when Lee resigned from the U.S. Army, he no doubt knew he would be losing the family home because the house was so close to Washington. On Christmas Day, 1861, Lee wrote to one of his daughters: "Your old home, if not destroyed by our enemies, has been so desecrated that I cannot bear to think of it. I should have preferred it to have been wiped from the earth ... rather than have been degraded by the presence of those who revel in the ill they do for their own selfish purposes." Union soldiers and their government had stripped the home and used it as a headquarters with troops camped all over the grounds. Arlington was "sold" due to delinquent taxes to the U.S. Government on January 11, 1864, for a "bookkeeping" bid of $26,860. The government had passed a law requiting the owners of property to pay taxes in person, so when the Lees' cousin tried to pay the taxes, the money was refused. Quartermaster General Montgomery C. Miegs chose Arlington in 1864 as a new military cemetery. He held ' Lee responsible for the Union dead and wanted to bury them at Lee's doorstep. Arlington House was later restored and refurnished and became the Robert E. Lee Memorial. The grounds now encompass more than 500 acres, where soldiers from most of the wars fought by the United States are buried honorably. Fascinating Fact: George Washington Custis Lee, Lee's eldest son and the heir to Arlington, took the matter to court, where the U.S. Supreme Court ruled the government to be a trespasser. In 1883 Custis Lee received $150,000 for Arlington's title.

Rebmaster's note:  Click for link to the National Park's Website for info on visiting the 
Robert E. Lee Memorial in Arlington

Florida Secedes from the Union!
Dateline January 10, 1861

In early January 1861, a special convention of delegates from around the state met in Tallahassee to consider whether Florida should leave the Union. Governor Madison Starke Perry and Governor-elect John Milton were both strong supporters of secession. For days, the issues were debated inside and outside the convention. In a minority opinion, former territorial governor Richard Keith Call, acting as a private citizen, argued that secession would bring only ruin to the state.

On January 10, 1861, the delegates voted sixty-two to seven to withdraw Florida from the Union. The next day, in a public ceremony on the east steps of the capitol, they signed a formal Ordinance of Secession. News of the event generally led to local celebrations. Later, the delegates adopted a new state constitution. Florida was the third state to leave the Union, and within a month it joined with other southern states to form the Confederate States of America.

Rebel Yell

Confederate soldier-poet Sidney Lanier described the Rebel Yell as "a single long cry as from the leader of a pack of hounds who has found the game ... a dry harsh quality that conveys an uncompromising hostility ... the irresistible outflow of some fierce soul immeasurably enraged, tinged with a jubilant tone, as if in anticipation of a speedy triumph and a satisfying revenge ... a howl, a hoarse baffle-cry, a cheer, and a congratulation, all in one." Union soldier-author Ambrose Bierce said, "It was the ugliest sound that any mortal ever heard." Anyone who ever heard it never forgot it~ but no one has heard it since 1865 so no one today truiv knows what the Yell sounds like. "A mingling of Indian whoop and wolf-howl" is one of the many ways veterans have described it. Phonetic attempts at pronunciation have given it various sounds, including a "yip-yip-yip" sound and a "woh-who-ey" sound. Northern soldiers remembered it as eerie and bloodcurdling, and as a shriek, a "wildcat screech," or a "banshee squall." "There is nothing like it on this side of the infernal region," remembered one. "The peculiar corkscrew sensation that it sends down your backbone under these circumstances can never be told." To Gen. Stonewall Jackson the Rebel Yell was "the sweetest music I ever heard," and to the soldiers in the Rebel armies it was much more than a battle cry. It was "a maniacal maelstrom of sound; that penetrating, rasping, shrieking, bloodcurdling noise that could be heard for miles on earth and whose volumes reached the heavens." Like the roar of a great beast, it foretold the fierce power of a Southern army on the attack. But the "awe-inspiring sound" could also unite the men in a strangely patriotic way, as the Yell began at one end d a Southern army and swept in great loud waves up and down the line. Remembered one participant, "Me effect was beyond expression. It seemed to fill every heart with new life, to inspire every nerve with might never known before." Fascinating Fact: The demonic, fiendish Rebel Yell, one Union soldier said, was "a yell the devil ought to copyright." An old Rebel veteran, when asked to duplicate it, said the true Yell could be sounded only at a dead run during the excitement of battle.

From the Adjutant’s Desk:

Year 2001 Membership Dues remittance is doing well, the last 15% are still holding out. If you have not as yet mailed your check, please do.

The ongoing donation program for the powerful LeMat, .44-caliber percussion revolver is not moving as well as expected. For more tickets please contact 1^st Lt. Cdr. Marion Lambert at (813) 839-5153.

Welcome to new members of the John T. Lesley Camp, Mr. Shane G. Conner, ancestor Pvt. Lewis F. Gay, 4th Reg. FLA Inf. Mr. John William Nelson, ancestor Pvt. Joseph P. Holden, 25th Regiment, NC. Mr. Gerald Law Leonard, ancestor Pvt. Rufus Learned Co "H" 10th MS INF.

The John T. Lesley Camp 1282 membership roster for January 2001 has risen to 191 SCV and 22 Legionaires. Many thanks to the members, who have recruited their friends and relatives, keep up the good work.

See you at Buddy Freddys on Tuesday, January 23rd.

If you have any questions concerning camp business or to process membership paperwork, please do not hesitate in contacting me.

Adjutant Dwight Tetrick
19126 Amelia Circle
Lutz, FL 33549
(813) 949-4746