Mexican War jacket for early war ACW Militia impression

[MCordoves]

Opinions needed please. My unit is a Missouri Militia unit and provide impressions for the Home Guard, EMM, PEMM, and MSM Cavalry. I was looking at adding a Mexican War veteran (Infantry) impression for early war 1861 Home Guard. I am looking at using a finely aged M1834 shell jacket from my days in Mexico for this impression. Are there any records or documents out there to support this practice, or any evidence to support any units wearing surplus M1834 uniforms rather than M1854? I want to avoid being farby and inaccurate. Thanks!!

[Silas]

Re: Mexican War jacket for early war ACW Militia impression

You're doing this backwards. You should be tailoring your impression from known historic examples rather than building an impression around what you want to do and looking for examples to justify the impression.

[MCordoves]

Re: Mexican War jacket for early war ACW Militia impression

I have several full impressions. I recently acquired the jacket for a steal, with a Mexican War veteran impression in mind. Again, if any documentation or photographs exist to support any usage, can build from that.

[floridawar]

Re: Mexican War jacket for early war ACW Militia impression

Hi Matt,

If you are supposing Missouri troops in the Mexican War US Army clothing, that may be incorrect, as the US Army provided commutation money to US volunteer troops from the several states in that period (in lieu of army clothing). For more on that subject I recommend Ron Field's "Mexican American War" by Brasseys, etc.
Regarding the Missouri outfits you are interested in, here is just one slight account which notes in 61 "None of them were uniformed; very few of them had been drilled. their arms were mostly shot-guns and rifles, and they had no other equipments of any kind; no tents at all; no supplies of any sort, and no depots from which to to draw subisistence, or clohting, or ammunition, or anything. They had no muster rolls and they made no morning reports. they bivouacked in the open air, they subsisted on ripening corn, and they foraged on the prairie-grass..." [from "The Fight For Missouri..., by Thomas Snead, (1886), p.299]

To me, a comment like "no uniforms" would include even pre-war fashions...since even those "uniformed" Confederates, state troops, home guards, etc. were wearing such a wide variety of military fashion.

cheers,

Archie Marshall.

[Michael Comer]

Re: Mexican War jacket for early war ACW Militia impression

For the most part the Missourians that went into the Mexican War with Doniphan were wearing civilian clothing from what I have come across. There were a number of Missouri militia units that had uniforms but they were for muster and parade during peacetime and not necessarily worn to war. If you look at accounts of MSG troops at the time of Wilson's Creek and Lexington, you will find soldiers in civilian clothing. The state was in the process of purchasing equipment and uniform items but they were not Mexican War surplus items they were acquiring.

It has also been my experience that many folks who want to reenact early Missouri think folks were running around with flintlocks which is not true. Flintlocks were old technology. The same could be said about Mexican War uniforms. Such jackets would have been close to 20 years old when the war broke out. If you have acquired a Mex War jacket, I would use it to build a Mex War impression and go to events of that time period in it and leave it at home for early war Missouri.

My two cents.