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  • Use of wooden buttons

    What would be the opinions out there on the use of Wooden buttons on Confederate uniform items? I have read that many Southern people considered them fit for only use by the very poor, or slave's clothing. Would they be a use of last resort item?
    Frank Perkin

  • #2
    Re: Use of wooden buttons

    They were definitely used and I have used them on my jackets in the past. Missouri Boot and Shoe (an AC approved vendor) makes splendid reprodutions of them.

    There is a SC documented RD jacket that with wooden buttons (even on the epaulets) as well as the "mystery" jacket in the Gettysburg visitors' center.

    As with all things, look to the details of your impression, event scenarios, and what is documented to determine what is the most appropriate for you.
    John Wickett
    Former Carpetbagger
    Administrator (We got rules here! Be Nice - Sign Your Name - No Farbisms)

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    • #3
      Re: Use of wooden buttons

      One of the LOC pictures of the Gettysburg dead shows wooden buttons on at least one of the soldiers coat when enlarged.
      Jim Mayo
      Portsmouth Rifles, Company G, 9th Va. Inf.

      CW Show and Tell Site
      http://www.angelfire.com/ma4/j_mayo/index.html

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      • #4
        Re: Use of wooden buttons

        Hi,

        There is a Columbus Depot with wooden buttons, along with several Richmond Depot jackets. If I remember correctly, the Atlanta Depot jackets had wooden buttons.

        Andrew
        Attached Files
        Andrew Kasmar

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        • #5
          Re: Use of wooden buttons

          Why would the government want to spend more money than it had to on buttons for clothing that was to be issued to men who would soon enough be killed and buried?
          Jon O'Harra
          Heartless Bastards Mess

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          • #6
            Re: Use of wooden buttons

            this has been covered beaucoup times on this forum in various ways, but perhaps the best threads were lost in the warp of 2004.

            ALL the surviving (4) so-called "Mystery Jackets" and the one pair of accompanying trousers were issed with identical wooden buttons (trousers have a smaller version). Additionally, most of the surviving 4 button jackets have wooden buttons.

            Jackets last 6-9 months, trousers less - wooden buttons don't need to last longer than the garment.
            Soli Deo Gloria
            Doug Cooper

            "The past is never dead. It's not even past." William Faulkner

            Please support the CWT at www.civilwar.org

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            • #7
              Re: Use of wooden buttons

              Originally posted by DougCooper View Post
              Jackets last 6-9 months, trousers less - wooden buttons don't need to last longer than the garment.
              You are right...but they need to last as long as the jacket to still be on there in 2009. I've always wondered if more wooden and/or bone buttons were used than we think...but only brass has survived the test of time.
              Luke Gilly
              Breckinridge Greys
              Lodge 661 F&AM


              "May the grass grow long on the road to hell." --an Irish toast

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              • #8
                Re: Use of wooden buttons

                I'll chime in on why wooden buttons would not have been desireable if there were another option. The chemical make-up of the laundry soap of the time dissolved the wood, not to mention quick transition from hot to cold water would warp the wood. Again, they would not expect to clean jackets or trousers in the same manner, if at all, so using wood buttons on them was obviously thought a viable option.
                -Elaine "Ivy Wolf" Kessinger

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