Field Alterations of Government-Issue Clothing

8/3/2019 Field Alterations of Government-Issue Clothing

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Soldiers were not knownas skilled practitionersof the Feminine Arts. However, a soldier handy withneedle and thread was aprized commodity in a company for several reasons.The army's me thod for fittingclothing to the soldier was anyth ing

bu t scientific. Cloth ing was issm.din large parcels in a variety of sizescalled a Tariff of Sizes ; more mediu m sized clothing in sizes 2 an d 3than the extremes of 1 and 4. Soldiers were expected to trade withtheir comrades and thus red istribute the sizes by trial and error (withmuch trial an d frequent error). Itwas inevitable that some individu als would be le ft hold ing the shortend of the stick-- or trouser as theca se may be. If th ese men lacked thesk ill an d patience to alter their clothing themselves, they were sent to aso ldier bearing a l1uClsi-official title,the Compa ny Tailor, who wouldperform [hese adjustments for anominal fee.

- The C o m p a n y W ~ g Field Alterationsof Government-IssueClothing By Paul McKee

A silk pllrsefrom a sow's ear? Thissoldier's standard Jour-buttonblouse has sp ro uted extra buttonsbringing him a {otal oj seven topolish jo r Sunday inspection. CDVby NlI shviLLe photographer T.M .Schreier (Sco tt Cross Colfection)

Second, all clo thing is boundto wear ou t. If a soldier were farfrom a quartermaster or nearly o v e r drawn on his clothing allow ance,he might gamely d raw ou t his"housewife" and reso lu t Iy at tempta re pair as he ha d seen h is motherdo. But many avoided that d rudg ery by aga in a vail ing themselves ofthe Company Tailor... a tly , governmentclothing did not alwayssuit a soldier's sense ofstyle, comfort and utility. Collars were oftenuncomfortably too hi ghand pockets too few andpo orly arr ang edfo r man y individuals. It w as inth se alte rationsthat compa ny tailormade a thri vingb usin ss.

Neither sack nor shellnor frock:The 7 Button SackcoatA corrunon alterati on of issueclothing was to ad d extra buttons tothe 4 button sack coat. The soldier

would h ack an extra hole betweeneach bu tton hoI , sew the button hole sti eh as neatly as his skill wou ldallow and add the extra button,from some discarde d uniform . But

why? I have a theory ..Many of the images of

soldiers in 7 butto nsack oats are fromwestern regimen ts.Many regim n tsfrom Illinois, Indiana and Ob ioand Kentuck ywent to war instate-i ss ued infantry shell jock

ets. Illinois regiments in p ar ticular, w re qui teproud of their

Conrinued


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TOP: Soldier in a 7 button sackcoat withbreast and waist pockets added. This soldierhas also moved the huttons over fo r atighter fi t to his slenderfromel (Scott CrossCollection)LEFT: COIpomZ Louis McKaney, 31stIllinois Infantry. McKaney sports a 7 buttonsackcoC/l Ihat has been cut shari wilh awaist band added. (Courtesy Steve Sullivan)

state-issued shells an d wore themlong af ter federal quartermasterstook over the supplying of clothing.But what if you were among thefirst in yo ur company to wear outyourprized shell jacket and no morecould be had? Or what if you werea new recruit in such a regiment andyour "newness" was only more evident by yo ur brand new 4 buttonblouse. Certainly there would beplenty of motivation to alter yo urclothing to blend in with your comrades'In some instances, the skirtwould be cu t away from th esackcoat to make it appear evenmore like a shell jacket. The shelljacket illusion could be strength ened by the addition of cuff buttonsthat were removed from some

greatcoat's cape. The material fromthe removed skirt was often used toconstruct slash pockets. Bu t despiteall these modifications, a close exam ination of the fold-over collar,tapered facing seams on the front,

"Have turned taylor forthe last day or two. Beenlining the cape of my coatwith rubber so that onunbuttoning it off thecollar and turning itwrong side out it becomeswaterproof"Henry Campbell18th Indiana Artillery

and every other buttonhole just alittle wider an d cruder give awaythe uniform's origin as a commonsackcoat.

I f the aim was to create a shelljacke t, then why not convert amounted shell jacket or a frock coat?To be certain, some soldiers did .When ColonelJ.T. Wilder's infantrybrigade was converted to mountedinfantry in early 1863, they were "obliged to draw cavalry shell jackets "from which the men removedthe distinctive yellow markings sothe y would notbe mistaken for cavalrymen, who were no t highly respectedby the foot soldiers." Acloseexamination of group photos ofIllinois soldiers in state-issue shellsturns up soldiers with suspiciousjackets bearing 12 tiny buttons in


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stead of the cus tomary 8 or 9 usu ally found on an Illinois shell. Andcertainly frockcoats with the skirtscut off are occasionally spotted inperiod photos, th eir id entity betra yed by the remaining cuff an dcollar trim.

Bu t maybe froc ks andmo unted shells could not be rea dilyobtained fro m the local QMC. O rma ybe cer tain soldie rs would ratherno t me' s around w ith trying toma n ip ula te 12 tiny buttons (whichwoul d a \so have to be p oli she d fromtime to time). 7 wa s en ough, thenkyou. Orrnaybemany sold iers wi se lyrealized ti1a t a frockcoa t with removed skir ts is shorter than a shelljacke t at its in tended len g th .

The humhlc sClc kcoa l cou ld becu t to an y length, w as lighter inweigh t, a ll owed for conversion toon ly 7 buttons, was widely avail a ble an d ccrtilinly its low cos t p utless of a strain on a so ld ier 's lo th inga llowance .

Just a little below theears, please ..There was on e corrun on alter

ation wh ich tru ly was a concess ionto com for t ra ther than s lyle. Frockcoat') were no torious forhavinghighcollars that would cha fe)he neck . 11compelled to wt:!aI' th em , sometroop:; would have the collar' lo wered to a less troublesome height.Numerous original specimens ha vebeen exa mi ned by the au thor, an dthe frequency that they ap p '


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found that their valuables wouldonly too easily fall ou t of the sideseam pockets on issue trouserswhenlying down. Therefore, companytailors found a steady stream ofcustomers for converting trouserpockets. Usually the side seamwould be sewn shut and a newopening slashed into the top of thepocket. Converted trouser pocketssuch as these can be clearly seen inthe famous photograph of theartillerymen serving the 13" mortor"Dicta tor" in front of Petersburg.Sometimes the top of the pocketwas more neatly finished off into anarrow flap called a "french pocket."The french pocket more closely re-

Trousers in the Milwaukee CountyHi storical Society ID'd to the 49thWisconsin Infant ry. The side-sea mpockets have been sewn shut andnew opening cut into the top of thepockets lhrough the ji'-ol1t of thetrOilser legs. The cuff andwaistband vents have been sewnshut as well. (Photo courtesy of KenSmith)

sembled the common styling forcivilian trousers and private manu facture officers' trousers.The Milwaukee County H is torical Society has a pair of trousersidentified to a member of the 49thWisconsin that sport the slashmethod pocket conversion. Thepockets bags on the interior are constructed ou t of a stout, blue andwhite striped cotton material. Additionally, these trousers also showfurther evidence of field altera tions.The cuff vents are sewn shut, an dthe rear waist vent is sewn shut allthe way to the top of the waist band.

At least some soldiers wereable to ge t their trouser pocketsconverted by means other than thecompany tailor. Private JohnHarper, 113th Illinois Volunteer Infantry wrote the following letterhome while at Camp Butler, Illinois:

A s J have a cha nce to send by Mr s.Gray, I w ill se nd the two shirt s I drawedfor Aleck and pair of pants which I gotmyse lf. I want them lined . Tell Mo therto turn down the hem so as to makethem as long as she can. They are agood fit, on ly a Jittle sho rt. I would nothav e drawed them now but Twanted tohave the m lined. Th ey las t twice aslong as they do without be in g lined .. .Iwant th e pockets changed in the pants.Sew th em up where they are now andput them squ are across with the belt.Th e rea son J want them changed iswhenever I lay down I am always losingso mething. If the y are the other way, itdon't Jose so easily. I will st ick somepins where I want the pocket.

Other field alterationsH eadgear was not immune to

the soldier's chronic need to alterand improve. Hardee hats werecommonly lowered in he ight ormight have their brims shortened tosuit the wearer. The author has seenseveral original forage caps withventilation holes cu t into the topreinforced with grommets manu factured from percussion caps!

Original greatcoats weremanufactured with the capes merelysewed onto the collar seam. It was asimple an d common alteration toclip the threads with a pocket knife...and remove the cape. I f the soldierwere more ambitious,he might construct a buttonhole on the rear of thecape so that it could be buttonedback on at his discretion. Or thecape could serve as material to construct pockets in the front of hisgreatcoat.The author owns an originalgreat coat that shows these alter


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ations. The cape has b e ~ n removedand a single small button has beensewn to the back of the collar presumably for the purpose of re-attaching the cape (now long sincemissing). Two pockets have beenadded at the waistline. These pockets were constructed with a sew nfacing piece (similar to pocketsfound on vests) with rather imperfect artfulness. The pocket bags onthe interior are constructed of skyblue kersey. Two additional buttonholes have been added underneath the original five, allowing thesoldier to button the skirts togetherdown to the knee.

Overcoat in the author's collectionshowing extensive field alteration.The cape has been removed,horizontal pockets added at the

waist and two additional huttonshave been added to the frontclosure.

A stitch in time ...Monthsofhard useand the frequent lillavail

ability of new clothing totroops on an active campaign madeclothing repair a necessity. Modernreenactors may feel it's quaint andcolorful to apply a patch of calico toa blown trouser seat or knee. Butthis practice wou ld have been highlyfrowned upon in the 19th century,pa rticularl y in the Army of theCumberland! Clothing was to bemended in the leas t conspicuousway possible.

Original clothing showingfield repairs were pa tched fro m theinside with the same type of material tha t the garmen t was con-n . . . I got an overcoat that was about two sizes too large for me, and the tails loosely flopped about my heels as I walked. I soon remedied that by cutting off about 4 inches of the tail. /I

Alfred Bellard5th New Jersf?lj Infantry

The CompanyWagstructed of. The offending hol ewould be clipped in the corners soall raw edges could be turned underand securely stitched to the patchwhose edges would also be turnedunder and stitched. Making thiskind of repair is really no t as hard asit seems The result is a particularlystrong and inconspicuous repair.

Conc lusionHopefully this article mayserve to suggest some new dimensions for ou r impressions as west

ern federals. I certainly don't advocate that everyone start hackingaway at their uniforms. But a sprinkling of these field al te ra tionsth roughou t our company, as wellas correctly mended uniforms,would surely serve to heighten theillusion we have been striving sohard to create for ourselves an d thepublic.

SourcesAlfred Bellard. Gone For A Soldier,Boston , Little, Brown & Company,1975John Harper. Letters ofAlex Harper,John Harpe r, Co. D, i13th lI/inoisVolunteer in fantry, Springfield,JIIinois State Historical Society,(Courtesy of Charles G. Kratz, Jr.)Robert Huntoon, Hi storical Not es,Past Patterns, 1990Captain August V. Kautz , Customs ofService for Non-coml1lisionedOfficers and Soldiers, Philadelphia,Lippincott & Co., 1864John W. Rowell. YankeeArtillerymen. Knoxville, TheUniversity of Tennessee Press, J975

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Field Alterations of Government-Issue Clothing