CS Artifact(s) of the Week-Kersey Type IIs

[rmilstead]

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

[LibertyHallVols]

Re: CS Artifact(s) of the Week-Kersey Type IIs

Dick,
Correct, I opted to machine the main seams, as well as the outer stitching that can be seen in the pics. I did not have access to the jacket in order to look at the main lining seams to verify how they were constructed (hand v machine). So, in the absence of knowing definitively, I made a choice.

In my jackets, I opted to reproduce the Brunson jacket as closely as I could. I've never had the opportunity to "replicate" (I hesitate to use that word due to what it implies... my jackets are not "replicas") an enlisted coat before, and I had the detailed photos, help from those who viewed it first-hand, and close proximity to the SCCRR. It was too tempting to pass up! Plus, it offered a new challenge after several years of making officer garb.

I altered my patterns to more closely conform to what I saw on the jacket:
-The narrowing facings that force the bottom two buttonholes to cut through the lining.
-The crude hand-sewn pocket.
-The hasty and uneven topstitching with several spots where you can see someone "backed up" the machine.
-The well-rendered buttonhole stitching.
-The unique attachment of collar and lining.

I am not sure how the jacket was produced, given the mix of hand and machine sewing that is clearly present. It is easy to picture someone running the machine, someone else setting pockets into the linings, another sewing buttonholes or closing sleeve linings. Whether that happened in a tailoring shop or someone's parlor, who knows. But, it sure looks like multiple people with different skill levels had a hand in it.

It isn't simple to reproduce, but that's where the fun is!

[poilu1917]

Re: CS Artifact(s) of the Week-Kersey Type IIs

Great posts thus far.... Now I gots to take some images of my version of the Brunson jacket we did up as well. On a side note, there were original references of "sewing rooms" where sewing machines were gathered for the purpsose of use by ladies for making uniforms. I don't have that account handy to reference (which I believe is actually from another thread on here) but I think that reference was from a town in the deep south. Still, goes to show that even though the wealthing may have been the only ones who could afford the machines, they still possibly could have been made available to others for use in support of the war.

[rmilstead]

Re: CS Artifact(s) of the Week-Kersey Type IIs

John,
The work of "multiple people with different skill levels..." could indicate either a "family" enterprise or a small tailor shop, who knows. The execution of the jacket in something like a piece work assembly by different individuals would tend to argue for some form of organized "production scheme" but some of the "production" may have been done by children or relatives of a soldier in the same household. Jon is correct a thread on this forum does provide a lot of background on sewing machine use (using the search function should uncover it) and there were some examples of "communal sewing machine" operations set up that are referenced mostly in the Deep South and early in the War I believe.
Based upon the newspaper items I uncovered, the vast majority of the work was done by individual seamstresses under the same arrangement as was used at the Federal Schuylkill Arsenal as was described by Jensen back in 1989. It is interesting that the seamstresses in Philadelphia were voicing many of the same complaints about the Government taking work from "needy wives and widows of soldiers" that their Southern sisters were expressing relative to the RCB operation.\

Relative to some of the pattern oddities of the Brunson jacket like the front inner facing or the gussets under the arms I wonder whether these aren't either examples of using miss-cut pieces or piecing to better use up material instead of actual differences in pattern. To have been making up the number of jacket "kits" each day (~1000) that the RCB cutters were making they were probably using 'table knives' and cutting a number of layers of material at the same time. This could have lead to occasional miss-cut pattern pieces which might have been used anyway to conserve material. Piecing material to get extra usable pieces was very common.

A couple of more similar items from the Richmond Dispatch on the workers doing piece work for the RCB:
"Needle Women find great difficulty, at this time in earning a scant subsistence, owing to the high prices of all the necessaries of life, and the small wages they have to labor for. The Confederate clothing depot is furnishing work to many worthy ladies, but judging from the continuous crowds of females around its doors at all hours, many of them have to make heavy sacrifices of time to procure that work. We have heard ladies say that they frequently wait half a day, and sometimes longer, before they can get into the establishment, so great is the rush. Some of them, in their anxiety to secure work, take their stands at the door before daylight, and there remain for hours, regardless of weather. On Saturday morning last Mrs. Montague, who had left home at a very early hour to procure work, fell dead in the street before she reached the depot. We know very little of the management of this clothing bureau, but suppose that some plan might readily be adopted for distributing work which would save ladies the trouble of waiting in the streets for it hours at a time. Will not the officers in charge give the matter their attention, and thus benefit a large class of deserving females?" RD 7/22/63

and
"The Clothing Bureau on 14th street, near Cary, under the charge of Capt. Weisiger, has been carefully arranged, as well for the transaction of business as for the accommodation and convenience of the three thousand ladies who get work there. Capt. W. says his first object is to give the work of his department to the wives, daughters, and mothers of soldiers in the field, and to enable him to do this he has already called in some five hundred tickets, held by ladies whose supports are not in active service.--The families of detailed men are not equally entitled to the work with those of soldiers, nor are any other class. Such lists as have been forwarded to us will be sent to the proper bureau, in order that the really needy may have the preference over those ladies who have their husbands and fathers with them, and who can get along without Government patronage.
We are satisfied that all abuses in this office will be remedied as soon as they are discovered, and that Capt. Weisiger will do all in his power to aid soldiers' families in providing for themselves the necessaries of life. After they are served the surplus work, if any, will be given to helpless widows and other ladies who live only by their needles, and who are known as deserving." RD 11/5/63

Dick Milstead
Hardaway's Alabama Battery
The Company of Military Historians

[rmilstead]

Re: CS Artifact(s) of the Week-Kersey Type IIs

Guys,
A short update. I may be wrong on the suggestion that table knives were used in fabric cutting. I had been told that they were available in the period some time ago in a discussion by a guy that I considered pretty knowledgeable in period clothing manufacture but some quick personal research would cast doubt on that. While toward the end of the war rotary scissors may have started to be used in the North, true table knives didn't appear until close to the end of the century as far as I can determine. Certainly it is unlikely that such devices were used at the RCB. At that production rate they surely were lighting quick with their scissors. The point about trying to utilize miss-cut and scrap pieces of material is true, however. Sorry I should check my facts a little better.
Dick Milstead

[poilu1917]

Re: CS Artifact(s) of the Week-Kersey Type IIs

All,
In Fred Adolphus' article on "Basics of Confederate Uniforms" , he shows the following early style Richmond Depot jacket identified to E.C.N. Green (Image 41 in his article):



In the image description he references another early depot-made jacket made from the same lighter type of cadet cloth as Green's but without facing tape. Does anyone know off hand which jacket that might be and where it is currently located? Thanks in advance!

[poilu1917]

Re: CS Artifact(s) of the Week-Kersey Type IIs

Anyone have notes on the Bryan jacket details that would be willing to share? Thanks in advance!

PS - Still looking for info on the jacket mentioned in my previous post here.