“What They Wore.”

Recreation of Two Uniform Jackets Linked to the Battle of Spotsylvania

By Richard M. Milstead, PhD.

Part 3:

Recreation of 5th Maine Museum’s “Rebel Jacket”

The “Rebel jacket” in the collection of the Fifth Maine collection was the product of the large Confederate Government uniform clothing manufactory in Richmond, VA that operated between the middle of 1861 through the last days of the Civil War in April 1865. Over the four years of the war that operation produced between at least 300,000 and as many as 500,000 such jackets along with comparable numbers of trousers, shirts, and drawers primarily for enlisted soldiers in the Confederate Army operating in the Virginia region.

As a large-scale manufacturing operation, the nature of the clothing produced exhibited different characteristics from comparable privately made civilian garments. In general, military clothing reflected men’s styles popular in contemporary society but with modifications in fit, color and ornamentation to distinguish them from civilian attire and, sometimes, to highlight specific unit backgrounds or functions.(23) Arguably, the millions of garments made for the military (North and South) resulted in the largest “ready-to-wear” domestic clothing industry of the period.(24) Army clothing production in Richmond operated something like a “cottage Industry,” with thousands of “needle women” assembling the garments from the pre-cut pieces provided by the Government. It is unclear how many ‘standard’ sizes were provided by the Confederate Quartermaster, but the Federal Army prescribed only four distinct sizes for its men. The “cutters” at the Richmond manufacturing facility, however, did use standard patterns in making the pieces provided to the ”needle women” for assembly into soldiers‘ clothing.

Unlike the Federal Quartermaster, the Confederacy did not issue separate “dress” and “fatigue” coats to its enlisted men. The short jacket was the only uniform coat style known to have been produced at the Richmond manufactory. The short jacket pattern was based on the same stylistic source (men’s frock coat pattern) that was used for Enoch Whittemore’s jacket. Early in the war, the need to quickly achieve large-scale production implied that as the soldiers’ only uniform coat, tailoring and fit requirements needed to be minimal. Also, construction details had to accommodate a wide range of fabric types since the Confederate Quartermaster Department was forced to use a diverse selection of domestic and imported textiles due to the nation’s fabric manufacturing limitations. Finally, since individuals assembling the clothing did not necessarily have prior experience in military clothing assembly, a simplified construction philosophy was advantageous.

The design intent and its implementation in the “Rebel jacket” differed from the Whittemore jacket for all of these reasons. Since textile supplies were limited, the number of basic pieces cut to pattern was smaller in the “Rebel jacket” than for the Whittemore jacket. Certain elements like ‘chest canvas,’ the ‘wadding/interlining,’ and the hem facings were eliminated. In the first two years of the war, wool-on-cotton fabrics, like “jean cloth,” predominated the material available to construct Richmond jackets.(25) Such fabric is loosely woven and easily frays or unravels on cut edges. The lining material, similarly, was loosely woven cotton with the same characteristic. As such, the basic jacket construction largely utilized seamed connections for assembling the jacket pieces to protect raw cut edges and “topstitching” was added along seamed edges to strengthen them. The Richmond design did incorporate two distinctly military elements not found on Whittemore’s jacket, shoulder epaulettes and belt loops which significantly enhanced the stylishness of these jackets if not actually providing much added utility.(26)

The recreation of the Fifth Maine Museum jacket will illustrate many of these points. A generic pattern sold by Chars. R. Childs/County Cloth Inc. was used for this project rather than one drafted using a period methodology like DeVere’s.(27) The front facings of the original jacket were pieced so in recreating it, this was also done (Figures 45 and 46.)

The first step in preparing the lining was to attach theses facings to the front panels of the lining.(28) The two pieces on each panel were seamed together along their mutual edge and the seam allowances pressed rearward (toward the lining piece.) In Figure 47 one side is seen from the back showing the seam allowance.

Richmond jackets almost always came with a “slash” pocket inside on the left breast. Figure 48 shows this on the original. Figures 49, and 50 show the finished pocket on the recreated jacket as it appears inside the jacket and the opening in a closeup.

The lining was completed by adding the side and back panels on each side (Figure 51) and sewing the back and shoulder seams.

Before the body shell was assembled, the collar and epaulettes were constructed. The collar of a Richmond jacket basically has the same components as that of the Whittemore jacket, but the sequence of assembly was different (and actually simplified.) Also, all three pieces are cut to the same pattern. In the Whittemore jacket collar pieces were made to slightly different patterns. The three separate pieces are shown in Figure 52. The three layers were sewed together along the ends and top edges (Figure 53.) The interlining was trimmed back close to the stitching as well as along the neck and the assembly turned “right sides out” (Figure 54.)

Each epaulette was constructed from two pieces sewn together, then turned inside out and pressed (Figures 55 and 56.) They were then topstitched around the edges.

The body shell was constructed in essentially the same way as the Whittemore jacket. In place of the chest canvas, light cotton interfacing was basted onto each jacket front panel. The front, side and back panels were then sewn together (Figure 57.)

The two sides were sewed together down the back and the epaulettes basted in place before the shoulder seams were finished to simplify their placement. Then those were sewn to finish assembly of the body “wrapper” (Figure 58.)

The collar was added next, by attaching the outer collar at its neckline to the neck of the body shell (Figure 59.)

Setting the lining, i.e., mating it to the jacket body shell, was done in a very different way from that of the Whittemore jacket. The two assemblies (body and lining) are aligned, with the sides which would ultimately be visible (“right sides”) together. The edges were pinned around the periphery from where the collar meets the body shell on each side along both fronts and the hems. Once this was done, the two assemblies were joined by stitching around the entire periphery leaving only the neck hole at the collar open (Figures 60 and 61.)

After sewing around the periphery, the jacket body was turned “inside out” through the open neck hole so the jacket exterior and the finished side of the lining on the inside (“right sides”) were visible. The inner side of the collar was turned down and overcast to the lining around the neck. To complete the body shell, it was topstitched around the entire periphery and collar along the edges. A separate line of topstitching was added on the collar about 1/2 inch above the neck seam to secure the interlining. Figures 62 and 63 show the result.

One last step to finalize the jacket’s body shell was placing and sewing on the belt loops. These were always included on Richmond jackets until the last version, the Type 3. Their placement and attachment on the original jacket are shown in Figures 64 and 65.

One of the most distinctive things about this original “Rebel jacket” is the way its “needle” woman attached the belt loops. The stitching pattern inside looks like large crosshatch stitches but, in fact, allowed two rows of sewed stitches at each end of each belt loop to be done in a single sewing operation without cutting the thread. The “X” stitches visible on the inside show cross over points between the two rows done in a specific sequence that created the two different rows of externally visible stitches on each end of the belt loop. This process was replicated in the recreated jacket as shown in Figure 66.

The basic methods to assemble and set the sleeves on a Richmond jacket were the same as for the Whittemore jacket so no further discussion on those will be presented. The other remaining steps required to finish the jacket, i.e., doing the buttonholes and attaching the buttons were comparable, as well. Figures 67 shows the body shell with buttons (laid in place) and the completed but un-set sleeves.

Figures 68 and 69 show the original jacket from the front and inside and Figures 70 and 71 show the recreation of the Fifth Maine Museum’s “Rebel Jacket” for comparison.