knit fatigue blouses?

[J.H.Berger]

Fellows, please have a close look at this photograph. There are three to four fatigue blouses visible which are pretty light colored but seem to have some dark bound edges and colar. I even see an exterior pocket on on and apparently holed buttons. Could these also be knit blouses?

[Benedict]

Re: knit fatigue blouses?

Even more important: what is the LoC call number of this photo?

[GreencoatCross]

Re: knit fatigue blouses?

Jan, try a search for knit blouses and you should find a couple of threads about them.

Yes those appear to be knit blouses, gray ribbed wool with dark trim and horn or rubber buttons. Photos of the 7th NYSM also show a good number of men wearing nearly the same type of garment which they called "Aspinwalls" after the man who funded their purchase. If you do a search for 7th NYSM at the Library of Congress website you'll find some great portraits of individual officers wearing them. Further, individual portraits of wounded soldiers from Harewood Hospital show them wearing identical gray ribbed knit blouses; no doubt they were issued or donated to convalescing soldiers.

They even show up in some relatively late portraits too dating to 1864 but those are the dark blue variety.

[J.H.Berger]

Re: knit fatigue blouses?

Thank you Brian! I have followed the other threads but simply wanted to start a discussion on this very picture. Ben, ask Alex he has posted it in the GM forum.

[Matthew Semple]

Re: knit fatigue blouses?

Although this is a discussion about knit blouses, I noticed something else.

Photo enlargement below. On my computer screen, I seem to see ribbed cuffs, the fabric falls very similar to knit fabric, and the cut of the shirt is very similar to knit shirts described in original references and discussions on these forum.

Is it an optical illusion or is that a knit shirt?

[GreencoatCross]

Re: knit fatigue blouses?

Most probably a knit shirt. This one looks to be collarless and has a woven (as opposed to knit) fabric placket that is a lighter color. They appear in photographs from all theaters of war for the duration of the conflict.