Confederate Marine Corps

[zrpittard]

Fellows,

I recently hosted an event at my site which is one of only a few sites where CS Marines were actually engaged. Because of that we had a contingent of Marine reenactors in attendance and ever since I met these fellows I have oft time wondered what did the CS Marines look like in April, 1865 while exchanging blows with the VI Corps at the Hillsman House. This thought bug has been prevalent since I met them nearly four years ago but the past four days I have been blitzing through my Fold3 account searching for any and all records on the CS Marines.

I have been successful in some aspects, there is a file labeled CS Navy file in the Service Records section. A couple areas in particular are Marine-Miscellaneous and a section on Navy supplies from July 1864. The Marine-Miscellaneous section does list a few things issued but nothing in great detail. The section that mentions supplies lists yards upon yards of blue and gray flannel being requisitioned, also white cotton undershirts, trousers, and over shirts. There are also listings of grey and blue caps, "round jackets," and "pea jackets." These requisitions are being ordered by the ships themselves though so I have no idea if any of that stuff is being issued to any of the Marines (if there are any) detached on the ship.

So my question is, where else should I look? I have gone through hundreds of these returns and have not found something specifically states what the Marine personnel were given. Having said that though, there are 333 pages of documentation in the Marine-Miscellaneous section of the CS Navy file, and 1069 pages for the clothing and provisions section, so it may be just more hunting in the hay stack for that particular piece of hay. But anyway, I just wanted to know if there was a hidden gem out there I could be directed to. Any and all help will be greatly appreciated.

[Chad Teasley]

Re: Confederate Marine Corps

Comrade,

I believe I may still have a copy of the Tucker's CS Navy and Marine Brigade impression guidelines from the 2015 Sailor's Creek event. I focused on researching CSN standards, but the Marines did an exceedingly fine job, and their impression standards were well researched from primary source documentation. I'll see if I can dig them up. Please give me a day or two. Ross Lamoreaux and James Dallas Thompson may also have more info concerning references, as they were intimately involved in developing the CSM guidelines. I'll drop them a line to check.
By the way, I confess I spent quite a long time gazing at that CSN cap and sword in your site's visitors' center. :)
Thanks, and have a fine Navy evening.

[stuttgart.ross]

Re: Confederate Marine Corps

Zachery,

I recommend you find a copy of Ralph W. Donnelly's book "The Confederate States Marine Corps: The Rebel Leathernecks". I have been on the hunt for information about CSMC uniforms, enlisted in particular, for a couple decades at least and still go back to this book often. Mr. Donnelly has a fair amount of information with some well informed speculation about what their uniforms may have looked like using some quartermaster records. I think you are right in surmising that from location to location and ship to ship the uniforms varied based on availability despite attempts at a regulation dress. Using a couple pieces of documentation between the CSMC Quartermaster and Army Quartermaster in Richmond, Mr. Donnelly describes one potential garment using the amount of cloth and buttons provided and completed "f. coats" billed to suggest a four-button fatigue jacket of some sort. Perhaps the 4-button depot jacket with 'A' buttons made from English army cloth was worn in April 1865. With the bulk of the Corps, which was never much more than 600 Marines, near Richmond it is easy to imagine the Richmond Depot as a logical source.

I wish you all the best in your search and I look forward to you making the key discovery to answer the question once and for all.

S/F Craig

Craig Ross
Late of Spencer's Invincibles, Sanwich Islands.

[Chad Teasley]

Re: Confederate Marine Corps

Comrades,

Here is a bit of research from secondary sources concerning the uniforms and equipment of the C.S. Marines in Tucker’s Navy and Marine Brigade in the Appomattox campaign. As Craig indicated, there is not much definitive information available. The generally accepted theory is that Tucker’s Marines were supplied by the Richmond Depot, and may have been issued uniforms made from English Army Cloth as well as from blue jean cloth. I have taken the liberty of transcribing a substantial portion of the passage that Craig mentioned from Donnelly’s book, along with citing a couple of other references:

Donnelly cites a general notice issued by Corps Quartermaster A.S. Taylor in December, 1863, which threatens punishment for any Marine caught selling his uniform items, as well as for anyone who purchased them. The notice concludes with the statement “Marine clothing is readily known for its material and style.”[1] (Donnelly then editorializes, “Too bad we have not yet discovered the details of this distinctive material and style!”)[2] It seems, therefore, that the enlisted Marines may have appeared almost as distinctive in their uniforms as did the CSM officers with their shoulder braid, etc .

Donnelly further states:

Curiosity is aroused by the mention under date of January 25, 1864, of a new pattern of
uniform coats and caps being prescribed for Confederate Marines, and one wonders whether
there was a change in the color of the uniform at the same time….On the same day, Captain
O.F. Weisiger, C.S.A., Assistant Quartermaster, receipted for 9923/4 yards of “Blue Grey
Army Cloth” and 30 gross gilt buttons for uniform coats for the C.S. Marine Corps. A
reference to making pants from the same material was stricken from the same receipt. This
last may have been particularly significant as it suggests that both Marine uniform pants and
coats could have been made of the same “Blue Grey Army Cloth.” Just how dark this “Blue
Grey Army Cloth” was is not known…
Two months later, Marine Quartermaster Taylor paid Captain Weisiger $5,146.67 for making
and trimming 485 Marine coats, presumably using some of the cloth and buttons turned over
to Weisiger on January 25, 1864. [3]

(The itemized bill for the 485 coats follows, including “672 yds. Blue Jeans,” “14 gross ‘A’ Buttons,” and “Cutting and Trimming 485 F. Coats.” The bill also states, “Each coat took an average of 1 yd., 4 in., of Blue Jean cloth…14 gross of buttons per coat plus 76 over…Average cost per coat was $10.62.”)[4]

Donnelly postulates that “F.Coats” indicates “field or fatigue coats,” i.e. “with four buttons each, they were probably short sack coats.”[5] Therefore, as Craig pointed out, a blue jean variant (and, possibly, an EAC variant) of the four button sack coat seen in numerous late-War Eastern Theater images, with “A” buttons, may have been issued to CSM enlisted men at Drewry’s Bluff in 1864/1865.

Ron Field agrees with Donnelly’s conclusion, and also points out that clothing receipt rolls indicate that CS Marines received “a uniform cap with a pompon,” and also a “fatigue cap” (almost certainly a kepi).[6] Until around 1864, CSM enlisted men apparently wore blue caps, but late in the war these seem to have been replaced with gray caps with dark blue or black bands. The caps were ornamented with “Eagles and rings.”[7]

Interestingly, when Commodore Tucker’s Rebel Sailors and Marines evacuated Drewry’s Bluff on April 2 and marched out to join the Army of Northern Virginia, they quickly swung through Richmond, “where they received two days’ rations and ammunition for their Minie’ muskets.”[8] The scene in Richmond just before the Yankees arrived can only be imagined, and the stop there must have been both brief and frantic, but it’s not hard to believe that the Marines and Sailors may have grabbed needed uniform items and equipment along with rations and ammunition. That is conjecture, of course, but it seems reasonable that they might have done so.

In his wonderful chapter on the CS Marines in The Confederate Navy, David M. Sullivan (probably the preeminent authority on Civil War Marines) affirms Donnelly’s and Field’s conclusions about the four button fatigue coats, and also posits that “A” buttons may have been issued to enlisted Marines when “M” buttons were in short supply, though the “M” buttons were preferred: “Since Marines were thought of as naval artillerists, the ‘A’ button was likely deemed to have been suitable.”[9] Notably, the image in The Confederate Navy of 2nd Lt James Campbell Murdoch (attributed to the Museum of the Confederacy), shows a grey-bodied kepi, with blue or black band, and what appears to be a dark crown, which may be similar to the late-War cap design mentioned by Ron Field.[10] Additionally, the well-known (and heavily re-touched) image of Pte Allan P. Hamm of Co. E, CSM, reveals what are clearly English-made accoutrements.[11]

I’ve also always found it interesting that one of my favorite CSN images, believed to be of a Sailor from CSS TORPEDO of the James River Squadron in 1864, was clothed in a uniform that was quite possibly made from EAC. Though the CSN and CSM acquisition processes were apparently separate, it is not unreasonable to theorize that if the Navy at Richmond had access to EAC, the Marines probably did, also. I will try to upload the image to this post…

Thank you for the dialogue, Comrades, and please have a fine Navy week.

Respectfully,
Chad Teasley

[1] Ralph W. Donnelly, The Confederate States Marine Corps: The Rebel Leathernecks (Shippensburg, PA: White Mane Publishing Co., 1989), 298-299.
[2] Ibid., 299.
[3] Ibid., 300.
[4] Ibid.
[5] Ibid.
[6] Ron Field, American Civil War Marines 1861-1865 (Long Island, NY: Osprey Publishing, 2004), 57.
[7] Ibid.
[8] David P. Werlich, Admiral of the Amazon: John Randolph Tucker, His Confederate Colleagues, and Peru (Charlottesville, VA: University Press of Virginia, 1990), 69.
[9] David M. Sullivan, The Marines, in William N. Still, Jr. (editor), The Confederate Navy: The Ships, Men and Organization, 1861-65 (London: Conway Maritime Press, 1997), 173.
[10] Ibid., 168; Field, American Civil War Marines, 57.
[11] Sullivan, Marines, in Still, Confederate Navy, 173.

[stuttgart.ross]

Re: Confederate Marine Corps

Chad,

The references I have seen to Pompoms, Eagles and Rings always made me curious given everyone's supposition that the CSMC either continued the use of the bugle & 'M' or adopted a new insignia. However I recently read a reference to the issue of uniforms to the US Army circa 1857 which also noted the issue of a number of Pompoms, Eagles and Rings for a 5 year enlistment. In that case all three items were for the M1854 Shako. The Eagle is the same as that worn later on the Hardee and the Ring was a brass ring at the point where the pompom was inserted in the shako. Could it be the CSMC were issued something similar? After all the USMC was wearing a shako at the time. Food for thought.

Craig D. Ross
Late of Spencer's Invicibles, Sandwich Islands