Re: CS Artifact(s) of the Week-Kersey Type IIs
John,
I agree this is a very interesting coat especially given the provenance. Few coats can be dated as precisely. From your earlier post I gather that not only the top stitching but main seam construction is done via machine which is very rare from what I have heard. There were, of course, sewing machines in Richmond at this time but unless in a very wealthy family, I presume it implies that a few "commercial" tailoring firms or mill manufacturers were assembling clothing for the RCB. I do know that the "wives and widows" of soldiers were publicly demonstrating at points during the War over the Clothing Bureau turning work over to individuals with out such "patriotic" connections. Perhaps they were also using small shops for piecework as well. The following quote from the Richmond Dispatch is typical of items that appeared in the newspapers at the time:
" Complains are frequently made by the families and friends of soldiers, that work is given in any quantity to ladies who have neither husbands nor sons in the army, whilst the wives of soldiers are refused tickets, and sometimes rudely treated at the clothing bureau. Where so many persons are to be supplied with work it is very difficult to do justice to all the really needy that apply, or to prevent those who do not need from getting the work that others ought to have. A note before us gives the names of ladies, whose husbands are not in active service, who get enough work to earn and lay by money every week; and also the names of others, whose husbands are in the field, and who have to depend upon their needles for the support of themselves and children, who have been rudely refused tickets for work. Where such cases are known the facts should be given to the head of the clothing bureau, in order to have the errors corrected. From what we have seen we are quite sure that the authorities design giving the wives and mothers of soldiers the preference in work, and only need be informed of any injustice to ensure speedy correction" RD 11/2/63
There appear to have been at least 7 firms in Richmond in 1860 selling and servicing machines based upon the 1860 Census so they were out there. Late in the War Alexander Lawton the QM General was apparantly trying to get sewing machines to be used in the clothing manufacturing operations (source a reference in Harold Wilson's Book "Confederate Industry") but it is unclear how successful he was in implementing his plans. Richmond did, however, employ large numbers of the "patriotic ladies" doing piece work as the following article, also from the Richmond Dispatch, indicates:
"Capt. Weisiger, of the Confederate Clothing Bureau, in order to accommodate the hundreds of ladies who work for his department, has so remodeled his establishment as to facilitate the delivery of work, and to prevent the employees from having to wait for hours at a time. Besides increasing his "Cutters," he has duplicated the delivery office, the receiving office, and the pay office, so that the ladies are promptly attended to, and spared the mortification of lounging about the doors day and night." RD 8/24/63
Dick Milstead
Hardaway's Alabama Battery
The Company of Military Historians
John,
I agree this is a very interesting coat especially given the provenance. Few coats can be dated as precisely. From your earlier post I gather that not only the top stitching but main seam construction is done via machine which is very rare from what I have heard. There were, of course, sewing machines in Richmond at this time but unless in a very wealthy family, I presume it implies that a few "commercial" tailoring firms or mill manufacturers were assembling clothing for the RCB. I do know that the "wives and widows" of soldiers were publicly demonstrating at points during the War over the Clothing Bureau turning work over to individuals with out such "patriotic" connections. Perhaps they were also using small shops for piecework as well. The following quote from the Richmond Dispatch is typical of items that appeared in the newspapers at the time:
" Complains are frequently made by the families and friends of soldiers, that work is given in any quantity to ladies who have neither husbands nor sons in the army, whilst the wives of soldiers are refused tickets, and sometimes rudely treated at the clothing bureau. Where so many persons are to be supplied with work it is very difficult to do justice to all the really needy that apply, or to prevent those who do not need from getting the work that others ought to have. A note before us gives the names of ladies, whose husbands are not in active service, who get enough work to earn and lay by money every week; and also the names of others, whose husbands are in the field, and who have to depend upon their needles for the support of themselves and children, who have been rudely refused tickets for work. Where such cases are known the facts should be given to the head of the clothing bureau, in order to have the errors corrected. From what we have seen we are quite sure that the authorities design giving the wives and mothers of soldiers the preference in work, and only need be informed of any injustice to ensure speedy correction" RD 11/2/63
There appear to have been at least 7 firms in Richmond in 1860 selling and servicing machines based upon the 1860 Census so they were out there. Late in the War Alexander Lawton the QM General was apparantly trying to get sewing machines to be used in the clothing manufacturing operations (source a reference in Harold Wilson's Book "Confederate Industry") but it is unclear how successful he was in implementing his plans. Richmond did, however, employ large numbers of the "patriotic ladies" doing piece work as the following article, also from the Richmond Dispatch, indicates:
"Capt. Weisiger, of the Confederate Clothing Bureau, in order to accommodate the hundreds of ladies who work for his department, has so remodeled his establishment as to facilitate the delivery of work, and to prevent the employees from having to wait for hours at a time. Besides increasing his "Cutters," he has duplicated the delivery office, the receiving office, and the pay office, so that the ladies are promptly attended to, and spared the mortification of lounging about the doors day and night." RD 8/24/63
Dick Milstead
Hardaway's Alabama Battery
The Company of Military Historians
Comment