Evolution of Civil War Uniforms: A New York Perspective

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Though many state militias and volunteer infantry companies adopted regular army uniforms, more wealthy states designed and adopted their own. In 1861, New York created their own battle jacket as shown in Figure 5, which was a tailored shell jacket that went to the waist and featured eight to twelve buttons down the front (MacDonald). These coats were used largely by New York state volunteers, but were also issued to several neighboring state units (Troiani). Zouave companies and regiments had the most elaborate uniforms of the time, and were usually copied directly from their French counterparts, but in some cases even directly ordered from the French Army (Troiani). Baggy pantaloons, waist high jackets, vests, fezzes or turbans, leggings, …show more content…

J.T. Martin, whose products were seen in the ranks of the Army of the Potomac, was the largest supplier employed; with factories located in New York, Cincinnati, Philadelphia, and St. Louis (Wedeward). By 1865 Martin had earned a total of “72 contracts [which] included 800,000 infantry trousers and an additional 230,000 trousers for mounted soldiers, 1,200,000 white and grey flannel shirts, 320,000 infantry greatcoats and 125,000 great coats for mounted soldiers, and finally 1,060,000 wool flannel sack coats” (Wedeward). Able to keep up with the demand of these contracts, Martin produced uniforms that featured machine sewing, then finished by hand (Wedeward). Though sewing machines had been invented before the war, they gained popularity during the conflict as they increased production speed and efficiency (Breakwell), however, it could not perform every kind of stitch such as overcast seams and buttonholes, thus hand sewing was still needed. This contrasts the major federal supplier Schuylkill Arsenal in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, which had uniforms almost entirely handsewn because of their unique process of handing out pre-cut uniform kits to local women, who would hand sew them then turn the finished product in for payment (Wambaugh). Construction of items, like sack coats, tended to be simple in pattern; made of indigo dyed kersey wool, some were lined with a domet flannel and muslin while some were issued without any lining. Almost all uniforms of this era, even zouave chasseur trousers and jackets, were produced with kersey wool, except underwear and shirts which were made out of cotton, domet wool, or canton

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