Is this a military issue sack coat?

[fahnenschmied]

Recently I was scanning over some photos with the intent of looking at felt hats on Federal soldiers, when I happened to spot the fellow in the lower left hand corner of this photo. At first I thought he had a jacket made with striped wool, then I thought, with closer study, that it had perhaps been quilted. With magnification it doesn't appear to be stripes in the cloth. When I had a closer look, especially at the sleeve, it almost looks like knitted material. Look down near the cuff.
So - Is this a knitted sack coat? Is it even a military coat? The buttons do look like they can pass for military buttons....the shade looks plausible...as does the button spacing.
This is a rather colorful assemblage of fellows, and I am not sure if the wearer is even a soldier. He could just be a "scout", not a soldier at all....but he could still have army clothes. After all, the colored fellow with the charming stable frock is wearing a pretty new looking sack coat and cap, and he probably isn't an enlisted soldier in this "unit" of characters. Also, one kid has what looks like it might be an added pocket to his sack coat.
Forgive me if this one has been discussed before, but I couldn't turn up much with the search function.

Dave

[Rob Weber]

Re: Is this a military issue sack coat?

Wow that is a cool image! I have never seen it before. Do you have any information aout the image? When and where it was taken?

Thanks,
Rob Weber

[PetePaolillo]

Re: Is this a military issue sack coat?

My first thought was a knit sack coat.....I am not certain that is correct though because the pattern is not consistent with what I have seen on here previously in another photo. I notice a left sleeve of another individual just to the left of the one you mentioned with a similiar pattern on the sleeve. It almost appears that it is modern flaw in a reproduced photograph of an original. Any other thoughts?

Are these Scouts? If there is other info about the picture, I would love to hear it. Great photo.

[GreencoatCross]

Re: Is this a military issue sack coat?

Here's a link to the information: http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/...emp/~pp_Elgx::

As for the man's sack coat, I downloated the 86 megabyte TIFF to get some closer detail and all I can make out is that the fabric is in fact vertically ribbed and looks to be comprised of "mixed" yarns. This may be the reason the fabric appears both speckled and horizontally striped. I can't say if it's knit but given the lack of stretch and clunkiness I would imagine that it is not.

Even more interesting is that one of the men is wearing what appears to be a seamless felt overcoat. Below I've attached the man in question as well as an identified early-war USSS image depicting a man wearing a seamless felt coat. The "lay" of the fabric, cut of the collar, and the interior buttonhole reinforcements appear similar.

There's also the guy with the fuzzy coat...wool velvet perhaps?

[Pvt Schnapps]

Re: Is this a military issue sack coat?

The photo is called "Scouts and Guides of the Army of the Potomac" and it's dated to March, 1864.

Given the date the coat could be a military issue knit sack, but we simply don't know because none have survived. Even the other photo shown above is more or less speculative -- it looks knit, it looks like a sack coat, but whether or not the government issued it is another matter.

Still, the Federal government procured 530,000 knit blowses during the civil war through the New York depot. I haven't seen a list of who they contracted with, but I know they contracted with several companies for other knit garments (shirts and drawers), and that they contracted for several samples of these.

So my gut tells me it's a knit sack coat and it doesn't particularly bother me that the ribs run differently from the other coat, which I also believe is a government knit sack coat, FWIW. They could just come from different companies, or from the same company producing different patterns.

Very nice find.

[Jefferson Guards]

Re: Is this a military issue sack coat?

There's also the guy with the fuzzy coat...wool velvet perhaps?

Looks to me like the coat could be made of beaver cloth, which was a woolen overcoating napped to resemble beaver fur.

[fahnenschmied]

Re: Is this a military issue sack coat?

I have seen this photo on the "European progressive forum", but I forgot who posted it. I don't think the ribbing is a flaw in the photo, as it isn't evenly angled, but changes from one part of the garment to the next. I looked close at the sleeve next to him, but I think it is just the normal wrinkles a sleeve gets where your arm bends. I had no idea that was a seamless felt overcoat, but it does look just like the one posted above!
The man in question also appears to have something on underneath his strange sack coat....almost looks like a normal sack coat...possibly a vest....don't know.

[ephraim_zook]

Re: Is this a military issue sack coat?

What is the coloured soldier wearing? Looks like a flour sack that he cut head and arm holes in to keep himself clean. But then, I've heard of stable frocks but have never seen one. I kind of figured they'd look like lab coats, but I have no idea.

thanks
Ron Myzie

[Jefferson Guards]

Re: Is this a military issue sack coat?

An image of a stable frock:

http://www.historicalimagebank.com/gallery/main.php/v/album02/album22/album109/CWu146d_Cavalry_stable_jacket_copy.jpg.html

[ephraim_zook]

Re: Is this a military issue sack coat?

Thanks, Brian. I was on the right track with the lab coat idea.

Ron Myzie