Royal blue jean question

[Griebz]

Hey all

Does anyone know how early these Might have been seen in the ranks of the of the army of Northern Virginia? Would they be common?

Peter Griebel

[rmilstead]

Re: Royal blue jean question

Peter,
Generally, the relative prevalence of any specific color for jean material used in the Confederate service is not known. There is a lot of information which suggests that Sky Blue and Royal Blue woolens, kersey for example, were imported into the Confederacy, especially during the middle of the war. Records and letters pertaining to the operations of the Richmond Clothing Bureau indicate that large quantities of English Blue cloth was recieved and used there as well as significant amounts of domestically produced "sky blue" woolen material from mills in VA. It is presumed that this was primarily used in the production of trousers as period references to blue trousers exist as well as several sets of blue woolen trousers are in major museum collections such as the MOC. If you use the search function you should be able to find a long thread on the subject from about a year ago where Dave Burt and others discuss a lot of the existing documentation and examples in various collections. To whatever extent jeans, satinet, etc. was also produced in blue, it seems probable that that too was used for production of uniforms (especially trousers) but the exact amounts, as I said, are indeterminate. I am not sure if any examples of Blue jeans trousers with a history or provenance suggesting issue through the RCB still exist but someone else may be able to give you a reference.
Hope that helps.
Dick Milstead
Hardaway's Alabama Battery
Baltimore Light Artillery
Company of Military Historians