Modified Fed Trousers - Milwaukee Museum

[GreencoatCross]

Re: Modified Fed Trousers - Milwaukee Museum

John,

The watch pocket bag is tucked between the pocket bag fabric and extends below the upper pocket facing. It's hidden within the pocket bag itself, behind the upper pocket facing.

Very interesting, thank you for sharing the photos Paul! I have never seen striped fabric exactly like that before. Is that material and the other alterations on the trousers what led you to the conclusion that the pockets are altered?

[William Brewster]

Re: Modified Fed Trousers - Wis Vets Museum?

Gents,

Those trousers are in the Milwaukee County Museum collection and not Milwaukee Public Museum. Only important if you're plan on seeing them in person! The pockets are modified with the side seam opening sewn closed and the top opening added in. The watch pocket is still functional. There is no way to tell if the striped bags were a replacement, but as I recall, there is nothing to indicate they were changed. To Brian's comment, I'm surprised to hear that you have viewed unaltered trousers with top openings. These are enlisted pattern and not private purchase/officers trousers? Is anyone else surprised? The quality of work on the Milwaukee pair is quite good. Chuck Kratz turned up a letter from an Illinois soldier where he is sending a pair of trousers home to his mother and asking her to modify the pockets from side seam to top opening. He indicates to her that he has pinned in where he wants the new opening. Will have to see if I can find a copy of that in the files.

Bill Brewster

[CompanyWag]

Re: Modified Fed Trousers - Milwaukee Museum

I asked Don about his C&B trousers, but he had no opinion as to whether the pockets are as-manufactured. He did say that knowledgeable people had opined that they were.

I've also asked Bill Brewster to weigh in with his observations on the Milwaukee County Museum trousers as both he and Ken have handled them in person. Since Bill is fairly new on the forum, it may be some time before his post is approved to appear in this thread. John, is there any way to expedite his posting?

Paul McKee

[FloridaConscript]

Re: Modified Fed Trousers - Milwaukee Museum

Have any of y'all seen a pair of Johnny trousers with a similar style of slash type pockets?

[GreencoatCross]

Re: Modified Fed Trousers - Milwaukee Museum

Bryant,

Fred Adolphus was able to take a look at the uniform of "C. Wright" in the Smithsonian and provide excellent photographs via his website. The trousers have similar pockets but they are made more along the lines of a watch pocket, i.e. set into the lower waistband seam.

http://www.adolphusconfederateuniforms.com/c-wrights-uniform.html

[CompanyWag]

Re: Modified Fed Trousers - Wis Vets Museum?

The Harper letter that Chuck Kratz found is a great reference regarding altering trousers and I used the letter in my article noted earlier in this thread. For convenience, I requote it here.

Paul McKee

Camp Butler, Illinois

As I have a chance to send by Mrs. Gray, I will send the two shirts I drawed for Aleck and pair of pants which I got myself. I want them lined. Tell Mother to turn down the hem so as to make them as long as she can. They are a good fit, only a little short. I would not have drawed them now but I wanted to have them lined. They last twice as long as they do without being lined... I want the pockets changed in the pants. Sew them up where they are now and put them square across with the belt. The reason I want them changed is whenever I lay down I am always losing something. If they are the other way, it don't lose so easily. I will stick some pins where I want the pocket.

Pvt. John Harper
113th Illinois Volunteer Infantry

[Andrew Keehan]

Re: Modified Fed Trousers - Milwaukee Museum

Brian,
On the C&B trowsers, are those sergeant's stripes pieced from uniform kersey, or flannel, or what? Is it possible to determine whether they were cut from an old coat or just a separate piece of fabric? Thanks.

[GreencoatCross]

Re: Modified Fed Trousers - Milwaukee Museum

Andrew, the stripes are twill woven uniform coat cloth. It's possible that they were cut from an old coat but there's no way to be sure.

[ScottCross]

Re: Modified Fed Trousers - Milwaukee Museum

I almost forgot that I modified a pair of enlisted trousers like the ones in Milwaukee, many years ago. I simply sewed the side seam closed and cut the new opening near the top of the original pocket bag. I put sky blue facings on the back of mine also. I really liked these pockets and never lost anything again.

[GreencoatCross]

Re: Modified Fed Trousers - Milwaukee Museum

Scott, I too made a pair (Rose contract) and loved them, and now I have a pair of half-finished hand-sewn Conant & Bolles trousers on the shelf. I think Dan Wambaugh still has the pair I made him from "shoddy" kersey. The "mule-ear" pocket openings on some other Federal trousers I've seen are also pretty great at keeping stuff in your pockets, but that's another thread!

[BobRoeder]

Re: Modified Fed Trousers - Milwaukee Museum

Andrew, the stripes are twill woven uniform coat cloth. It's possible that they were cut from an old coat but there's no way to be sure.

While reading the book The Civil War Notebook of Daniel Chisholm today at work I found this quote from the section containing Sgt. Samuel Clear's diary (116th Penn. Infantry, Co K) and remembered this discussion.

From page 59-

"Saturday, Jany 14 [1865, outside Petersburg] We have special orders for every non commissioned officer to have chevrons on their arms and stripes on their pants. The quarter master hasn't any, we have to take old blouses and make them ourselves. It is laughable to see the boys all at work with their needles. You may depend some of the stitches are long.

Sunday, Jany 15th
This is a beautiful sabbath morning. We had our usual Co Inspection. The boys looked real nice in their home made chevrons and stripes if they did have to make them out of old blouses....."

[rpierson]

Re: Modified Fed Trousers - Milwaukee Museum

This just caught my eye...



Note the pocket opening on the fellow to the front right of the image. Almost looks externally faced. It's hard to look at images such as this purely as a source of uniform research, but they can be so rich with detail that they're tough to pass up.

-Randall Pierson

[LibertyHallVols]

Re: Modified Fed Trousers - Milwaukee Museum

Here's a great pic posted by Cam Stinnett today in another thread showing Fed enlisted in trousers with top-entry pockets.

[FloridaConscript]

Re: Modified Fed Trousers - Milwaukee Museum

Here's a great pic posted by Cam Stinnett today in another thread showing Fed enlisted in trousers with top-entry pockets.

inverted chevrons and hat brass to boot!

[Cameron]

Re: Modified Fed Trousers - Milwaukee Museum

Here is another image with what could be described as top-entry trouser pockets. These may very well be mule-ear but the pocket's proximity to the fly facing and distance from the side seam appear (to me) to be more like top entry. Notice the two gentlemen in the (background center) they too have trousers that exhibit these same characteristics.

These images are from the Brady Archive