Columbus Depot Jackets, Part 3

These gray jean jackets with blue collars and straight cuffs appear to have been widely issued in the Army of Tennessee, and possibly also saw wide issue in the Vicksburg area in late 1862 and 1863 (and apparently even some issues west of the Mississippi). The original surviving jackets, images, and soldier descriptions show them to have been worn in at least twenty different regiments in fifteen different divisions. If our assumption is correct that the surviving jackets were worn home when their owners returned (particularly if Woodward wore his home when he deserted), they were issued from at least as early as late 1862 (if not even earlier) through the end of the war. This style must certainly have been one of the most common of government issue patterns in the Western theatre.

It is possible that this style of jacket even saw issue and use in the Army of Northern Virginia. The entire June 1862 production of 240 wooden boxes of uniforms from the quartermaster facilities at Columbus, Georgia, was shipped to Richmond, Virginia, for distribution (Note 1). Of course, there is no way to tell just what style(s) these uniforms were, and the first production of the pattern discussed in this article is thought to date from later in 1862. However, correspondence of the Confederate Quartermaster General indicates that the Army of Northern Virginia was also supplied from Columbus and Augusta Depots on occasions as late as 1864 (O.R. Ser. 1, Vol. 42, Part 3, pp. 1268-1269). This may well explain why the image of Lt. Laughton and the 1897 ANV veteran image show them wearing what appear to be "Columbus Depot" pattern jackets.

Although the Columbus Depot certainly appears to have been capable of producing and distributing this amount of clothing by itself, in fact, these jackets may have been made at more than one facility, or a different facility altogether (Note 2). The differences in the weave and color of the jean used may support this, although the woolen trim material is remarkably similar on all the jackets examined, possibly indicating a single origin for this material. The many small styling differences in the original jackets may also indicate a more widespread production area, instead of variance in the pattern over time, or they may simply reflect "piecing out." The apparent wide area of issue, from Vicksburg to Georgia, may also indicate manufacture of this type at multiple facilities. For our purposes, knowing where these jackets were made is not nearly as important as knowing who wore them, and where and when they were worn.

A few years ago, if one could locate a maker, one could be almost assured of wearing an accurate reproduction of this jacket style. Now, however, given the popularity of this type, there are a number of reproductions on the market that fall greatly short of the original standard. Many of these are made by folks who have never personally seen an original "Columbus Depot" jacket, and this shows in details of their products such as material, trim weave and color, seams, and stitching. Some makers even call any gray jean jacket, even ones lacking trim, a "Columbus Depot" jacket (Note 3).

To my knowledge, the presence of machine top-stitching on a "Columbus Depot" jacket has not been previously published. I wish to emphasize that this publication should not be used in defense of machine-sewn reproductions, since the original machine top-stitching far more closely resembles fine hand back-stitching than it does the machine sewing seen on modern reproductions. Also, this machine sewing appears on only two of the eight originals examined.

Although this style would certainly seem appropriate for an impression of most any Army of Tennessee unit from 1863-65, I do not wish to imply that every single man, even in a single regiment, would have worn this style at any given moment. It is likely that clothing produced at any given depot differed in small details, and most AoT units drew uniforms from a number of different sources (including clothing from home). Period images show a mix of clothing types, and Sgt. Ives described different looking clothing in even a single issue. One late report even indicates that some AoT infantrymen wore jackets with artillery trim, as is obvious that artillerymen and cavalrymen also wore blue-trimmed jackets (Note 4). Our modern impressions must take all of these factors into consideration.

	Woodward	McDonnell	Jones	Jenkins	Atkins

Probable Date	1862	1863	1863	1863	1864
External Pocket			1	1	1
Interior Pocket(s)	2	2	1	1
Front body length (inches)	20.25	22.0	20.1	long	18.0
Front of body cut curved	X	X	X	X	X
Front of body cut square
Curved "tail" in back		X		X	X
Cut straight across in back	X
Number of buttons	5	6	6	6	6
Button type(s)	Ky. (3 pc.)	Miss. "I" (3 pc.)	CSA (cast)	US (3 pc.)	Civilian (rubber)
Cuff buttons	?			X
Width of cuff trim (inches)	2.88	2.5	1.8	2.5	2.25
Single top-stitching	X	X	X	X	X
Double top-stitching
"Tait" stitching line					X

	Weller	Randolph	Oklahoma

Probable Date	1865	1865	?
External Pocket		1	1
Interior Pocket(s)	2
Front body length (inches)	22.63	17.25	short
Front of body cut curved	X
Front of body cut square		X	X
Curved "tail" in back	X	X
Cut straight across in back			X
Number of buttons	6	7	6
Button type(s)	Script "I", Ky.	US (replacements)	Block "I" (cast)
Cuff buttons
Width of cuff trim (inches)	2.88	2.5	2.5
Single top-stitching	X
Double top-stitching		X	X
"Tait" stitching line			X

I wish to express my sincere appreciation to the following individuals, each of whom has cheerfully made items in their collections available for my examination, or provided other information vital to this study: Nicky Hughes and Tom Fugate of the Kentucky Military History Museum, Frankfort; Elizabeth Joyner of the Vicksburg National Military Park; Mary Lohrenz of the Mississippi State Museum, Jackson; Andy Maglievaz of the Oklahoma Historical Society, Oklahoma City; Libby Rowe of the Jefferson Davis Memorial Park, Irwinville, Georgia; Sandy Staebell of the Kentucky Museum, Bowling Green; Michael L. Fraering of the Port Hudson State Historic Site, Port Hudson, Louisiana; Kevin Black, John Braden, Charles Childs, Kittie and Bill Dupps, Tom Ezell, Kurt Holman, Susan Hughes, Dave Hunter, Ken Irvin, Les Jensen, Ken Jones, Mike Laughton, Tiffany Luchetta, Sheri McCullah (Galla Rock Shirt & Pattern Co.), Scott McKay, Daniel Mercer, Bob Parker, Thomas K. Potter, Jr., Richard L. Quire, Bruce G. Rollin, Rich Saathoff, Brendan Schuller, Larry Shields, Brad Shumpert, Dan Stewart, Kevin Stewart, J.M. Ulmer, David Vaughan, Greg Walden, Joe Walker, John B. Wells III, and Lee White.

1. Diffee W. Standard, Columbus, Georgia, in the Confederacy (New York: The William-Frederick Press, 1954), p. 37.

2. Numerous entries in the Official Records attest to the production capacity of the Columbus facilities; a December 1864 letter from the Quartermaster Department called the Columbus Depot the "largest in the Confederacy" (O.R. Ser. 1, Vol. 42, Part 3, p. 1269). At times they were able to produce enough surplus to ship uniforms and shoes all the way to the Army of Northern Virginia. When the Columbus manufacturing center was captured and destroyed during Wilson's Raid in April 1865, the following items were reported (this is just a sample of the total): 4500 Confederate uniform suits, 1700 gray jackets [not "butternut"!], 4700 pairs of pants, 8820 pairs of shoes, 650 gray caps, 5890 yards "army jeans." The Eagle Oilcloth Factory, which was destroyed, was said to have been capable of producing 2200 yards of jeans and 1500 yards of osnaburgs each day (O.R. Ser. I, Vol. 49, Part 1, pp. 485-487). See also Jensen, "Survey," pp. 166-167. A fine history of the Confederate quartermaster and ordnance works at Columbus can be found in Diffee W. Standard's Columbus, Georgia, in the Confederacy (New York: The William-Frederick Press, 1954).

3. A review of some modern makers' products can be found in my article "A Stitch in Time: Repro Confederate 'Columbus Depot' Jackets," The Watchdog, Vol. 2, No. 3, Summer 1994, pp. 6-7.

4. Note the blue-trimmed jackets worn by artilleryman McDonnell and cavalryman Jenkins, and possibly the Oklahoma jacket (if the Reece identification is the correct one); and also the Tarpley Diary entry showing issue of blue-trimmed jackets to artillerymen at Port Hudson in November 1862. A September 1864 inspection report on Army of Tennessee artillery contains some very interesting statements: "... on very few occasions have [I] seen articles of clothing issued to the artillery with the proper trimmings for that branch of the service, but in nearly every instance it has been the uniform of the infantry though occasionally I have seen jackets with artillery trimmings in the infantry which were said to have been drawn from the Quartermaster's department." (Capt. Charles Swett, Inspector General, Army of Tennessee Artillery; this report is partially quoted in Larry J. Daniel's Cannoneers in Gray: The Field Artillery of the Army of Tennessee, 1861-1865 (University, AL: University of Alabama Press, 1984), page 163; I am indebted to Bruce Rollin for a copy of the entire pertinent passage from the report (via Roger Hansen).

Final Note -- There may be some statements in this article that appear to take Les Jensen to task for his descriptions of these jackets in his Military Collector & Historian article. On the contrary, I wish to point out that it is my opinion there can be no real substitute for the ground-breaking work Mr. Jensen published on Confederate government-issue jacket types. This work laid the basis for any further studies (such as this one), and my own descriptions only add to it. In addition, it is easier to more fully describe an item when one is studying only one type, as compared to the multiple types Mr. Jensen studied and described. Finally, I can take advantage of the realities of a webpage in presenting this article: it can be updated as further information appears, in contrast to Mr. Jensen's articles, which remain fixed as published.

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.

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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