Geoffrey R. Walden

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   A number of period images show jackets that appear to be of the "Columbus Depot" type. Where these photos are identified (some admittedly tentatively), they support a mid-to-late war (1863-1864) usage period (but see below). Jensen has identified three photos showing this type. One shows two Confederate prisoners at Point Lookout above Chattanooga (a welcome change from the hundreds of Federals photographed there!), presumably taken after the battles in November 1863. Try as I might, I cannot see any trim on these jackets, but Jensen has presumably seen a clearer copy of the image (Jensen, "Survey," pp. 167, 171; Time-Life Books - The Civil War, Master Index Volume (Alexandria, VA, 1987), p. 82).

   A second image of Confederate prisoners shows one who appears to be wearing a "Columbus Depot" jacket, although it's not really possible to say for sure in this group photo. The image was apparently taken in Chicago in 1864, and shows prisoners on their way to Camp Douglas ("Just From Dixie," Military Images, Vol. XIII, No. 3 (November-December 1991), pp. 16-17).

   Happily, there are several posed images that show soldiers wearing what appear to be this style of jacket, some of them almost certainly so. Jensen has published one of these, of an unidentified soldier.

This soldier is wearing a six-button jacket, with a left breast pocket opening at about the level of the third button hole. The pocket goes straight across the jacket, and has a rather large facing piece (as compared, for example, to the Oklahoma jacket).  The lines of top-stitching are clearly visible on the collar, cuffs, and jacket front.  The button hole thread appears to be dark.    The soldier's trousers appear to be of similar material to the jacket, of a very slightly darker shade.   (Leslie D. Jensen, Johnny Reb: The Uniform of the Confederate Army, 1861-1865 (London: Greenhill Books, 1996), p. 63  --   private collection)

   I have not seen any of the rest of these identified in print as "Columbus Depot" jackets before now. Several period images show Kentucky soldiers in the Army of Tennessee wearing what appear to be jackets of this style. A carte d'visite (below) of Corp. Holman Hardin Smith, 6th Kentucky Infantry, "Orphan" Brigade, taken in Atlanta in 1864, shows him wearing a 6-button jacket with no external pocket visible. Pvt. George W. Humes, also of the 6th Kentucky Infantry, was photographed in what appears to be a 6-button jacket with clearly visible collar and cuff trim.

   2nd Sgt. Vivian A. Crosthwait of the 2nd Kentucky Infantry was captured at Chickamauga. In the image below he is wearing a jacket that appears to be the "Columbus Depot" style. Perhaps of more interest is his cap, which appears identical to the surviving cap that 2nd Kentucky color-bearer R.C. Anderson wore when he was killed at Chickamauga (see Orphan Brigade Uniforms). Kentucky cavalrymen may have worn these jackets as well. Lt. J.D. Holding of the 5th Kentucky Cavalry wore one in prison at Camp Douglas in 1863 (although this jacket may have come from another prisoner).

   A remarkable hard image of Pvt. Marshall Sims, 27th Georgia Battalion, in 1863 or 1864 shows him armed and accoutered, clearly wearing a 6-button "Columbus Depot" jacket and what may be a matching kepi. An ambrotype of an unidentified soldier, possibly from South Carolina, may show a 6-button "Columbus Depot" jacket; the soldier poses with a percussion conversion US M1816/1822 musket (Military Images, Vol. 18, No. 4 (January-February 1997), p. 36; this may, however, actually be a frock coat with trim similar to the "Columbus" style).

  An interesting image below shows Pvt. Albert G. Rich, Co. A, 6th Louisiana Cavalry. The cut of the jacket and collar and the stitching details appear to show a jacket of the "Columbus Depot" style. The cuff trim is very faint, but it also appears to match the style.  No external pocket is visible, and the jacket appears to have six buttons.  Under magnification, there appears to be a line of stitching down the front of the jacket on each side, near the line of buttons, perhaps following the interior facing stitching. There may be a trim stripe down the outside of the trouser leg.  The 6th Louisiana Cavalry was organized in January 1864 and served in the Trans-Mississippi Department, in northern Louisiana and southern Arkansas. If this is a "Columbus Depot" pattern jacket, this image extends the issue area of this pattern even further than previously thought.  (Carl Moneyhon and Bobby Roberts, Portraits of Conflict: A Photographic History of Louisiana in the Civil War (Fayetteville: University of Arkansas Press, 1990), p. 292  --  collection of the Mansfield State Commemorative Area, LA State Parks). Thanks to Rich Saathoff for bringing this image to my attention and supplying a copy. 

Pvt. Albert G. Rich Co. A, 6th Louisiana Cavalry Mansfield State Commemorative Area, LA

Unidentified ( Louisiana cavalry?)

   I've seen two Mississippi images that almost certainly show "Columbus Depot" jackets. The first is a sixth-plate ambrotype of a soldier identified as Michajah Berry, wearing a 6-button jacket with a left breast pocket, going straight across the front at the third button hole. His trousers appear to have been made of the same material as his jacket (Military Images, Vol. XI, No. 1 (July-August 1989), p. 21). The second shows Pvt. John T. Malone of Co. I, 29th Mississippi Infantry, AoT, also wearing a 6-button jacket with a left breast pocket straight across the jacket, opening at the level of the third button hole (for some reason, the buttons are also on the left side of the jacket). This jacket has two small buttons on each cuff (Military Images, Vol. XVI, No. 2 (September-October 1994), p. 22; Confederate Veteran, Vol. 6 (1995), p. 13).

   Several Tennessee soldiers can also be seen wearing these jackets. An 1863 image of Sgt. Maj. Thomas B. Potter, 16th Tennessee Infantry, Army of Tennessee, shows a jacket with a straight left breast pocket opening at the level of the third button (the image is reversed) (Frederick Todd, American Military Equipage, 1851-1872, Vol. 2, State Forces (Chatham Square Press, 1983), p. 1191; a cropped copy of this photo is on display at the Perryville Battlefield State Historic Site in Kentucky). Another AoT image, showing Corp. Alex Lankford of the 5th Tennessee Infantry at Marietta, Georgia, in July 1864, appears to show a jean jacket with a darker collar and a left breast pocket slanting down toward the fourth button hole (the cuff trim is not visible in the published photo) (Military Images, Vol. XV, No. 4 (January-February 1994), p. 10; Edwin Rennolds, A History of the Henry County Commands Which Served in the Confederate States Army (Jacksonville, FL: Sun Publishing Co., 1904), p. 98). 

   An image in the 1995 Confederate Calendar (March) appears to show a "Columbus Depot" jacket, and in fact, I would not question it as being this type, save for the date. The image is identified as Pvt. James B. Nelson of Co. C, 6th Tennessee Infantry. Nelson enlisted in May 1861, but left the service in October 1861, considerably earlier than this type of jacket is believed to have been produced.  The identification on the case is that of James P. Nelson, Trenton, Tenn.  The closest name listed in the rosters in Tennesseans in the Civil War (Vol. 2) is that of James B. Nelson in the 6th Tennessee.  The photo certainly appears to show a jacket of this type; if so, and the dates given are correct, this image moves the tentative dating of this jacket back a year, possibly giving credence to the early war identifications of two of the Orphan Brigade examples.  The collar and cuffs are tinted light blue on the original ambrotype, and the jacket appears to have a small waist pocket on the right (the ambrotype image is reversed; the left waist is not visible).  (1995 Confederate Calendar, edited by Lawrence T. Jones III (Austin, TX: Confederate Calendar Works, 1994), collection of David Vaughan; letter from David Vaughan to author, 9 March 1995). The image on the right below shows 1st Sgt. Elbert Snipes of the 37th Tennessee Infantry wearing a 6-button jacket. In the original image, there appears to be trim on his right cuff. (Thanks to Bob Parker for sending this image.)

   This image shows AoT cavalryman Shelton Scott wearing what may be this type of jacket.  Details are somewhat unclear in the published image, but the jacket appears to have five or six buttons, with slightly darker collar and straight cuff trim (as is common with most period images, the blue trim shows up light and difficult to see).  The published image dates from ca. 1865, but it is a cdv of an earlier hard image, date unknown (Lawrence T. Jones III, 2000 Confederate Calendar (Austin, TX: Confederate Calendar Works, 1999).

   Note:  The image above may actually show a "Department of Alabama" or "Mobile Depot" style jacket. Research by Larry Shields indicates that the backdrop of this image matches that used by photographer Ben Oppenheimer in Mobile in 1864-1865; other Oppenheimer images show "Mobile" style jackets. The jacket in this image may be similar to the original of Silas Buck, which appears to be a "Department of Alabama" jacket with cuff trim (Jensen, "Survey," pp. 168-170; Charles Salter, "Silas Buck, Boy Cavalryman," North South Trader, Vol. 14, No. 1 (Nov.-Dec. 1986), pp. 16-18; my thanks to Larry Shields for this information).

   A couple of very intriguing images (below) show veterans of the Army of Northern Virginia wearing what appear to be "Columbus" style jackets.  Lt. John Laughton, 12th Virginia Infantry and sharpshooters of Mahone's Brigade, appears in a photo taken 30 July 1895, wearing the uniform he wore at The Crater thirty-one years before.  The jacket appears to be a 5-button "Columbus Depot" type, no external pocket visible.  The cut of the collar, cuff trim, and top-stitching all appear to match the "Columbus" style.  The left sleeve has apparently been taken apart at the seam, so that it hangs off his arm (Lt. Laughton lost his arm at Petersburg, right after the Crater attack) (Confederate Veteran, Vol. 3, No. 9 (September 1895), p. 277).  There are several possibilities, but if this is indeed a "Columbus Depot" type that Lt. Laughton wore at Petersburg in 1864, this would confirm period Quartermaster reports showing the Army of Northern Virginia being supplied from depots in Georgia (see discussion below).

   Larry Shields has pointed out a group picture in Albaugh's More Confederate Faces, page 213, which may show an ANV veteran wearing a "Columbus" style jacket, similar to the photo of Lt. Laughton. This 1897 image shows "The Old Guard," a group of veterans in Richmond, Virginia, supposedly wearing the uniforms they had at the time of Appomattox.  The man on the right of the second row (beside the officer; in the center of the copy below) is wearing a jacket with a dark collar, that appears to be the cut and style of the "Columbus Depot" type. Unfortunately, his cuffs are not visible (see also the Time-Life volume The Nation Reunited (Alexandria, VA, 1987), p. 161). However, Larry has found another image that shows this same group, with the soldier in question standing.  His left cuff clearly has dark trim, perhaps with a couple of cuff buttons (Stephen W. Sylvia & Michael J. O'Donnell, The Illustrated History of American Civil War Relics (Orange, VA: Moss Publications, 1978, p. 120).  This is perhaps corroborating evidence that Western depots shipped jackets to the ANV (although, of course, there is no proof that the soldier in these photos was actually an ANV veteran). My thanks to Larry Shields for bringing these images to my attention.

This undated image shows Pvt. Charles Bachman, Co. H, 20th South Carolina Infantry.  His jacket appears to be of the "Columbus Depot" style, with six buttons and darker collar and straight cuff trim.  His trousers appear to be the same material as his jacket.  Bachman was killed at Cedar Creek in October 1864.    The 20th South Carolina served most of its career in the defenses of Charleston, but in the summer of 1864 it was sent to the Army of Northern Virginia. Military Images, May-June 1990; collection of Helen Wilson.   Thanks to Brendan Schuller for sending me this copy.

   The Confederate Faces series has some other images that may show this type, but the detail is not enough to say for sure (William Albaugh, More Confederate Faces, p. 111; D.A. Seranno, Still More Confederate Faces (Bayside, NY: Metropolitan, 1992), pp. 80, 140).  As an aside, the jacket identified as this type in an article in Military Images, Vol. XV, No. 4 (January-February 1994), pages 20-21, does not, in fact show this style - the jacket has nine buttons, and the cuff trim appears to be pointed.

PERIOD SOLDIER DESCRIPTIONS
  

   The best soldier description I have read of what certainly appears to be this style of jacket was, surprisingly enough, describing an issue to troops near Little Rock, Arkansas, in May 1863.  In his memoirs, Silas Turnbo of the 27th Arkansas Infantry wrote:

"We went into camp at Camp Texas with much better clothes than common. A few days before leaving our old winter quarters, all the men of our regiment drew uniforms of gray.  The cloth was solid and durable.  Only trousers and roundabout coats were issued to us.  The cuffs or wrist bands on the sleeves were blue and so were the collars.  We exchanged our old clothes for these and our old ones were boxed up and stored away at Little Rock.  e never knew why our old clothes were taken away from us, for we were in need of them.  Our new suits were nice and were all right as long as they lasted."

   Turnbo's Camp Texas was five miles southwest of Little Rock.  The move to Camp Texas occurred on May 12, 1863, so the issue of new uniforms happened sometime in the first week or so of May 1863.  (Silas C. Turnbo, History of the 27th Arkansas Confederate Infantry Regiment, compiled and published by Arkansas Research, Conway, AR, 1994, p. 75). Many thanks to Tom Ezell for sending me this quote and analysis.

   The best wartime description of what would appear to be this style of jacket was written by Sgt. Washington Ives of the 4th Florida Infantry, AoT, in letters to his parents written from the Confederate lines outside Chattanooga in October and November 1863.

"Our reg't is just drawing some excellent clothing, jackets of Gray, blue cuffs, pants, shoes, caps, shirts, etc." (October 21, 1863)

"The army has drawn comfortable winter clothing and blankets, the coats are dark and light gray (mostly with blue collars and cuffs) the pants light and dark gray, similar goods to the jackets, it is worsted crop [sic - read "cross"] between casimere and jeans, very warm and desirable." (October 31, 1863)

" ... the pants and jackets we received are of superior army goods. The caps and underclothing are miserable ... quantities of new English blankets have been issued." (November 11, 1863)
(Jim R. Cabannis, Civil War Journal and Letters of Serg. Washington Ives, 4th Florida, CSA (Tallahassee, 1987), pp. 46-48)

NOTE - Lee White has researched the original letters, and here is his transcription of the unedited versions (somewhat different from the published versions above):

October 14th, 1863
        "I drew a tolerable pair of pants on Sunday before I was taken sick, the jackets, drawers and shirts were so inferior that I did not take any. You may send me the old jacket of mine by pa or Capt. McKay as we have very cold nights here now."

October 21st, 1863
        "Ive drawn a jacket.Our Regt. Is just drawing some excellent clothing. Jackets of kearsy, blue cuffs, pants, worsted indescribible, shoes, caps, shirts, etc."

October 31st, 1863
        "The army has just drawn comfortable winter clothing and blankets. The coats are dark and light grey (mostly with blue collar and cuffs) The pants light and dark grey, similar goods to the jackets, but what kind of goods it is, I have never seen or heard, (I don't know) or even a person who could tell me what kind of goods it is except that it is worsted, a cross between cahmere and jeans, very warm and durable."

November 1st, 1863
        "The pants and jackets are of superior army goods. The caps and underclothing are miserable but that is not as bad as having poor pants, shoes, etc. Quantities of new english blankets have been issued, a single one is large enough to cover a double bed, and the texture is far superior to the blankets usually brought south with goods."

(Thanks to Lee White for posting this!)

   A period description of uniforms in the 1st Missouri Brigade may refer to this type, in light of the Vicksburg jacket identified to the 1st Missouri Infantry, and the Oklahoma example perhaps identified to the 2nd Missouri. In January 1863, while encamped near Grenada, Mississippi, "there was a suit of uniform issued to every man in the Briggade [sic]. Grey Pants, grey Jackets & grey Caps. The collars & cuffs of the Jackets are trimed [sic] with light blue." (Phillip T. Tucker, The South's Finest: The First Missouri Confederate Brigade from Pea Ridge to Vicksburg (Shippensburg, PA: White Mane Publishing Co., Inc., 1993), page 103; Phillip Thomas Tucker, Westerners in Gray: The Men and Missions of the Elite Fifth Missouri Infantry Regiment (Jefferson, NC: McFarland & Co., Inc., 1995), p. 108 (the original source is the diary of Lt. George W. Warren, in the collection of George W. Warren IV, Montpelier, VA)

   Another period account described uniforms issued in Mississippi in late 1862, similar to those issued to the Missouri Brigade during the same time period.  The following description of troops in Gen. Lloyd Tilghman's division were written by John K.Farris, surgeon of the 41st Tennessee Regt.

"Camp Cold Water near Holly Springs, Mississippi
Sunday, October 26, 1862
......I returned from Holly Springs about sunset, and when I got to the Regt., I found the boys all in Uniform which they had drawn.  Their pants were all sky blue; their coats grey round about, with cuffs and collars trimmed with blue. Grey caps for all.  This will add much to their appearance on the field though, taken their uniforms all into consideration, it is quite common and coars."

November 2, 1862 near Holly Springs, Mississippi
"Gen Tighlman's Division, much the largest of the two, made quite a fine appearance. They were all dressed and equipped exactly alike. They had on grey Caps and coats with sky blue pants. The coats are round abouts - the cuffs and collar trimmed with blue."

("Letters to Mary - The Civil War Diary of John Kennerly Farris." Transcribed by Shirley Farris Jones, edited and annotated by John Abernathy Smith. Franklin County Historical Review, Vol. XXV (1994). pp. 45-46, 53 (Franklin County Historical Society, Winchester, Tennessee)
Thanks to Larry Shields for sending me these accounts.

  Uniforms issued to the Nelson Artillery of Tennessee, at Port Hudson, Louisiana, in November 1862, appear to be of this style. They were described by Pvt. Robert Branch Tarpley in a diary entry of November 12, 1862: "Not long since we drew some good clothing.  They consisted of two shirts,
two pair drawers, one pair of shoes, one gray cap, one gray roundabout trimed [sic] with blue, one pair of blue pants, and our pay up to date."
From a copy of the Tarpley Diary at the Port Hudson State Historic Site, courtesy Michael L. Fraering, Curator

   A Sergeant-Major from Ohio described Confederates captured near Atlanta in 1864: "It is interesting to see and talk to the Johnnies. Those brought in yesterday were veterans of Hardee's Corps. As a class they are a tough, wiry set of men; they wear gray pants, gray jeans 'roundabouts,' with blue cuffs and collars."
Collection of Richard A. Baumgartner, via Larry Shields

   I have not been able to verify the sources of the following two descriptions, but they are worth presenting here.  In September 1999 the online auction site eBay™ offered a group of letters written by a member of the 17th New York Light Artillery. One of the letters was dated "Deep Bottom, Henrico Co.Va. Sept.25th. [1864]" and contains a description of a Confederate deserter. The Federal wrote:

"he looked clean and smart and had on clean whole clothes, his hat was a black dumpling crown good hat, his jacket looked like a dirty white coarse flannel the cuffs and coller dark blue and the buttons, large wooden very rough looking and pants nearly the color of his jacket but no two are dressed alike any more than our citizens dress at home"

It would be interesting to know whether this deserter was from an Army of Northern Virginia unit, or from Gen. Bushrod Johnson's Tennessee Brigade, which had transferred from the Army of Tennessee when Longstreet's Corps returned to Virginia following the Chickamauga and Knoxville campaigns (see the discussions on the Laughton and "Old Guard" photos above).
My thanks to Susan Hughes for sending me this info.

   A soldier of the 75th Indiana Infantry described Confederates at Chickamauga as wearing "... White jackets with Blue cuffs and collars with blue pants," possibly referring to "drab" jackets (Chickamauga National Military Park files, courtesy Jim Ogden and Daniel Mercer).

     Continue to the next part  --   Conclusions, &c.

     Back to the previous part

A previous version of this article was published in the Camp Chase Gazette, Vol. 22, No. 8 (July 1995), pp. 34-38, and Vol. 22, No. 9 (August 1995), pp. 34-38.

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Copyright © 1995, 1998-2007, Geoffrey R. Walden; all rights reserved, including the right of reproduction of photos identified as the author's. I gratefully acknowledge the permission of others to reproduce photographs from their collections here. Thanks to The Authentic Campaigner for hosting this page.
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Online versions of Les Jensen's Confederate uniform articles in MC&H
http://company.military-historians.org/journal/confederate/confederate-1.htm
http://company.military-historians.org/journal/confederate/confederate-3.htm

The Enfield in the Civil War
http://www.authentic-campaigner.com/articles/walden/enfauth.htm

First Kentucky "Orphan" Brigade Homepage
http://www.rootsweb.com/~orphanhm/index.html

Battle of Mill Springs / Fishing Creek Homepage
http://www.Geocities.com/Pentagon/Quarters/1864/Default.htm