"Confederate Coats and or Jackets?" Topic

Thinking of getting back into ACW using the Perry Plastics. Circa 1862 Confederate, not sure yet whether AoT, AoM or Trans Mississippi but thought if I keep the units fairly generic and can just change battle flags. I have looked back through old posts but still a bit unsure. Would most units be mostly Shell Jackets with maybe a unit in Frock Coats or would it be more common to see a mix of coats and jackets in most units?

Depends a bit on the unit and time – units in the West were often less well kitted out than in the East and a mixture of coats and jackets would seem to me to be the best, with more jackets than coats – you could have some newly raised or newly equipped units in frock coats but they would a distinct minority

Fredrick makes some good points. West is a term for AoT not Trans Mississippi. The Trans were poorly uniformed in regards to uniformity in a unit. One unit may look the same but another had a lot of mix of civilian items. Especially in trousers.
Since the time is 1862, both the Tennessee and Virginia forces were very well supplied with unit uniformity in dress. Though I would regard jackets more common in early war and coats being more common as the war progressed.
Near me is Talladega which had at least seven large camps. Camps was the term used for a training muster post, hospital or supply base. Even in 1864, they had warehouses full of coats and trousers. It was target of several Union sorties from their base near Blue Mountain (Anniston).
So mixed units of coats and jeckets would happen as well.

Consider at least some men wearing just shirts, esp. in the Trans-Mssissippi.

The Adolphus Confederate Uniform site is probably the best available, detailed study of Confederate uniforms.

link

He has done meticulous examination of extant pieces of uniforms.

Jim

Texas state penitentiary uniforms:

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Inmates, slaves, and free men worked in the penitentiary textile factory, which was the main source of cloth goods for the Confederate Southwest. Here, cotton and wool were turned into millions of yards of cloth and yarn. Workers, both paid and unpaid, then turned these materials into uniforms for state troops and Confederate army soldiers.

The prison-made uniforms were white and apparently smelled like sheep!

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SOME CONFEDERATE WAR INCIDENTS
BY GEN. J. C. MOORE, MEXICO, TEX.

When my regiment, the Second Texas Infantry, was organized, at Galveston in 1861, not being able to procure Confederate gray, the men were supplied with Federal blue uniforms captured at Texas military posts. When, in March, 1862, we were ordered to report to Gen. A. S. Johnston, then at Corinth, we marched across the country to Alexandria, and thence were conveyed by steamer and railroad to our destination.

Not believing Federal blue a life prolonging color for a Confederate's uniform in battle, I sent an agent with a requisition on the quartermaster at New Orleans for properly colored uniforms. He met us at Corinth a few days before marching for the Shiloh (or Pittsburg Landing) battlefield. When the packages were opened, we found the so-called uniforms as white as washed wool could make them. I shall never forget the men's consternation and many exclamations not quoted from the Bible, such as "Well, I'll be d-----!" "Don't them thing's beat h---" "Do the generals expect us to be killed, and want us to wear our shrouds?" etc. Being a case of Hobson's choice, the men cheerfully made the best of the situation, quickly stripped off the ragged blue and donned the virgin white. The clothing having no marks as to sizes, articles were issued just as they came hit or miss as to fit. Soon the company grounds were full of men strutting up and down, some with trousers dragging under their heels, while those of others scarcely reached the tops of their socks; some with jackets so tight they resembled stuffed toads, while others had ample room to carry three days' rations in their bosoms. The exhibition closed with a swapping scene that reminded one of a horse-trading day in a Georgia county town. A Federal prisoner at Shiloh inquired: "Who were them hell-cats that went into battle dressed in their grave clothes?"
- Confederate Veteran, Vol. 12, March 1904, page 116.

Ian, I always used a mix of coats and uniform colors for my confederate regiments. Here and there a regiment in the standard uniform, but they are few.
Mine are Army of Tennessee in late 1863. It's probably accurate to do so and it's more fun to paint. So most of my regiments are a mixture of browns and Grays, various hat and coat styles. With regulation trouser colors and browns. Basically all the colors of typical confederate mid war uniforms in pictures and museums.

Even Union uniforms west of the allegheny mountains were a mixture of sacks, frocks and shells and slouch, kepi and forage hats. Everyone west of the allegheny mountains were supplied after the Army of the Potomac. The further west, the more Sporadic.

OPPs some with back packs, some with blanket rolls

Have fun

Thanks very much everyone

Just to make things even more fun…Troiani's work reveals tailors within Confederate units would turn frock coats into sack coats,…but these retained the upstand collar rather than the turned down version of a standard sack coat.

Bobm1959 true. Actually saw a photo of a member of the 35th wearing a cut down frock made into a shell with no piping at the bottom.

35thOVI, that makes more sense to me that a cut-down frock would essentially be a shell jacket. Although full-skirted, weren't the frocks rather snug-fitting in the chest? Wouldn't seem to be as loose as a sack coat.

The frocks I wore to size were. Hot too. Not that a wool shell or sack isn't hot in the summer. 🙂 But all mine are and were repro, so cannot speak to the original.

My artillery shell was lined as well. The older you get, the worse it is. 😉

I will say WW2 Ike jackets are snug, and I've worn originals. (And I was in shape at the time).

Confederate uniform? I'm not sure those two terms are compatible.

Disagree. There are written documents on uniforms. These are needed so contracts to produce them.
Every recruit or draftee left the muster point camp with a full kit and uniform. Campaign conditions did vary. Whenever a soldier came home to recover from wounds, prisoner exchange or normal leave, they were issued new uniforms.
After reading accounts from soldiers and camp records, as I said seven camps were in Talladega near me.
I am not sure that rag tag appearance was not as common as portrayed. Letters most often ask for shoes to be sent from home.
Of course troops under siege would have deteriorated uniforms over time.