Fed Officers: Its cold; wear a sweater!

[LibertyHallVols]

I found this interesting pic of Federal artillery officers. Notice the sweater on the fellow standing at center. I wonder if it is a sweater-vest or a cardigan. :wink_smil

Also, look at the button placement on his coat. I have noticed a number of photographs of officers in these private purchase sack coats with buttons placed rather far from the edge of the coat.

[LibertyHallVols]

Re: Fed Officers: Its cold; wear a sweater!

Here is some more detail on the button-placement that I found.

[burke69nyv]

Re: Fed Officers: Its cold; wear a sweater!

Very similar to Grant's sack coat that is currently on display at the New York Historical Society's exhibit!

[tater_cuffie]

Re: Fed Officers: Its cold; wear a sweater!

Hmm Mr. Rogers in the Civil War? HA HA

[prestontoprail]

Re: Fed Officers: Its cold; wear a sweater!

Ah, John Wickett, you just gave me something to study and obsess over today....I don't know what I'd do without you. I'm also glad somebody has finally opened up a neat discussion on the types of "knit sweaters" that have been seen. I recall seeing some interesting examples in gold rush photos, but I never caught those artillery pics before. It's amazing how you can still uncover photos on the LOC site that you haven't noticed before, even when folks like me are spending hours a night just gleaming through the whole catalog.

Anyone else have any photos revealing the secret knit sweaters? Seems like a good place to kick up a good photo study.

[LibertyHallVols]

Re: Fed Officers: Its cold; wear a sweater!

Hmm Mr. Rogers in the Civil War?

If it really was a Civil War "Mr. Rogers", wouldn't he be wearing camp shoes with his sweater? :tounge_sm

On the coat-button-placement thing:
There are a number of coats that have buttons a normal distance from the coat's edge. However, there are also quite a number placed as shown above. In some cases, the coats look like they're half-way between a single-breasted and double-breasted pattern. Given that they're appearing on officers of some rank (I've found everything from lieutenants to majors), I don't think they're all trying to compensate for an over-sized coat by shift buttons around.

Thoughts on this? Anyone with more experience in civilian garments have a take on this? (Gosh, aren't I entertained by the silliest things?)

Preston: Glad I could be of service! It really is a tantalizing detail. You can see quite a bit of detail on the sweater, but so much is hidden by the coat! I can just envision it arriving to winter-camp in a box from home.

Thanks!

[kaelin]

Re: Fed Officers: Its cold; wear a sweater!

Wick,
I noticed something else, 2 gentlemen, seperate images, they are wearing rings on the same fingers that are of the same style?? Looks to be a gold band with a dark stone(mood ring).....

As for the cardigan or knit sweater, it looks to be home-made to me and new or just washed...you know how knit goods stretch after being worn a while.

I love that private purchase coat, the wool looks so full..like 21oz, looks new, I like the pocket arrangement and the close fit, the buttons remind me of a jacket I just put together that I had to move the buttons over to accomadate my loss of a little weight.

Great pics Wick!

[tenfed1861]

Re: Fed Officers: Its cold; wear a sweater!

Kaelin,

I was looking at those rings.Maybe they were friternal rings of some sort.Maybe a Masonic ring,but not having any experience with 19th Cent. Masonic material culture,it is hard to tell.Maybe someone like Marse Craddock or Kiev maybe able to help out.

It is also likely that they might be class rings.These men do look like they came from a well off background.Looking at the hands closely,one can see that there are hardly any calases or rough parts.They have the look and one has the attitude of upper-middle class men of town.So they clearly would have been well educated and gone to a college or private academy.

Good find John.Looks like the knitters in the hobby will have a few new items to make.

[LibertyHallVols]

Re: Fed Officers: Its cold; wear a sweater!

Regarding the sack coats:
Here's a well-known pic of three cavalry officers (one of my favorites!).

I'll see what I can do about zooming in on some of these rings.

Enjoy!

[MarkTK36thIL]

Re: Fed Officers: Its cold; wear a sweater!

John,
Ever notice that the officer seated on left looks like he could be from any one of "X" mainstream units?

[ammegill]

Re: Fed Officers: Its cold; wear a sweater!

In the photo of the cavalry officers posted by John Wickett, (indeed a great image), I note that the collar listed as starched appears to be the detachable type collar with its own collar stud. That was very common & in period images they often show a striking contrast to the color and material of the shirt to which they were attached. Here, the detail of the photo is terrific because it shows a striped shirt of different colors (and fabric) and the stiff white collar (which could have been cloth or the well known & maligned "paper collar" usually attributed to garrison troops by those in the field). You can see that it isn't quite evenly attached around the shirt's banded collar. Because he is not wearing a necktie of any sort, the collar stud (visibly different than the shirt buttons) is plainly visible. These types of collars, still easy to obtain or make, are definitely underrepresented in the hobby by officers & other "gentleman" types.

Andy Megill

[LibertyHallVols]

Re: Fed Officers: Its cold; wear a sweater!

Andy,
That's exactly the kind of collar I was referring to as "starched", and I agree with your assessment, as well.

[ThehosGendar]

Re: Fed Officers: Its cold; wear a sweater!

Good eye, John!

There's another one of these sweaters floating around the LOC images, and I've attached a little enlargement from LC-DIG-cwpb-02164, "Bermuda Hundred, Va. Adams Express office, Army of the James."

We could guess at the colors... possibly a body of red with the trim of tan, or maybe a dark blue body with a sky blue trim?

Good catch with the buttons, too. I've been noticing that more and more staring at civvie sack coats in the Spring of 1865 in Washington D.C. series. Many coats have the buttons not close to the edge, but about an inch or two in.

And yes, Andy! Start wearing those collars! Actually, you reminded me... I need to pick up a few new ones! Mine are pretty well worn out.

[ThehosGendar]

Re: Fed Officers: Its cold; wear a sweater!

After you've put on your cardigan, don't forget your snazzy coat.

(LC-DIG-cwpb-04646, "Col. J.B. Swain, 11th N.Y. Cavalry.")

[LibertyHallVols]

Re: Fed Officers: Its cold; wear a sweater!

Wow! The similarities between those two sweaters seems to be more than coincidental. I would guess they're the same pattern. I wonder if it is a common pattern of the period?

Thanks, Jason!