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Greetings,
I've begun working on an article on short jackets (specifically "Schuylkill Arsenal" Jackets) and in doing so, I spent some time digging through some old research I had conducted at the Philadelphia branch of the National Archives. Unfortunately I didn't find the information I was looking for but some other numbers caught my eye.
On August 31st, 1863, the uniform and equipment logs for the three major Federal Depots were as follows:
Uniform Coats Infantry:
New York - 106,853
Philadelphia - 134,248
Cincinnati - 112,946
Total - 354,047
Blouses Lined:
New York -121,995
Philadelphia - 8,532
Cincinnati - 96,744
Total - 227,271
Blouses Unlined:
New York - 54,092
Philadelphia - 96,914
Cincinnati - 8,128
Total - 159,134
Blouses Knit:
New York - 790
Philadelphia - 0
Cincinnati - 247
Total - 1,037
A few things caught my attention when re-examining the numbers.
Now, back to numbers . . . . Looking at the ORs, Series III: Volume V, you can find the totals for all equipment purchased by the federal government during the war. They list the totals as follows:
Uniform Coats:
Philadelphia - 948,904
New York - 587,000 (someone had to be rounding numbers)
Cincinnati - 345,823
Total - 1,881,727
Sack Coats (Lined/Unlined):
Philadelphia - 1,031,139/594,451
New York - 1,459,000/842,150 (again with the rounded numbers)
Cincinnati - 1,195,616/372,669
Total - 3,685,755/1,807,270
These numbers only show the number of garments that were purchased complete by the government. However I took it a step further and got the total yards of fabric ordered by the government (also in the OR Series III, Volume V p.283). Those numbers are as follows,
Dark Blue for Uniform Coats - 3,492,851 yds
Flannel for Sack Coats - 5,418,437 yds
So I took those numbers and wanted to figure out how many jackets they could get out of them. I used my yardage as approx. 3.5 yds per uniform jacket/frock coat (i feel its a liberal guess, especially because they were good at conserving resources). For sack coats I used 2.2 yds, again a liberal estimate.
In the end I got 999,386 frock coats and 3,497,851 sack coats. When you total EVERYTHING together I ended up at the numbers:
Frock Coats - 2,881,107
Sack Coats - 7,995,951
Okay, so theres what I estimate to be the final totals. The reports clearly state that there is a differentiation between coats ordered complete and those made from fabric purchased - so Im certain there is no double counting. So in the end, heres the questions and or conclusions I've come to.
Mainly Id like to hear other people's thoughts on the comparable numbers of Frocks/Sacks in the last quarter of 1863. Also if anyone also thinks that the shells might have gotten lumped in with the frock coats for the purposes of counting.
I've begun working on an article on short jackets (specifically "Schuylkill Arsenal" Jackets) and in doing so, I spent some time digging through some old research I had conducted at the Philadelphia branch of the National Archives. Unfortunately I didn't find the information I was looking for but some other numbers caught my eye.
On August 31st, 1863, the uniform and equipment logs for the three major Federal Depots were as follows:
Uniform Coats Infantry:
New York - 106,853
Philadelphia - 134,248
Cincinnati - 112,946
Total - 354,047
Blouses Lined:
New York -121,995
Philadelphia - 8,532
Cincinnati - 96,744
Total - 227,271
Blouses Unlined:
New York - 54,092
Philadelphia - 96,914
Cincinnati - 8,128
Total - 159,134
Blouses Knit:
New York - 790
Philadelphia - 0
Cincinnati - 247
Total - 1,037
A few things caught my attention when re-examining the numbers.
- Most notably that there are only 32,328 more sack coats (not including knit) than there are frock coats. The reason I found this surprising is that it is the end of August, 1863. It seemed to me a surprise that there are so many frock coats, this late in the war. Of course Frock Coats were overtaken by sack coats in number throughout the middle of the war. But I was still surprised at the late date and the equatable numbers. Is it a matter of issues and that the stores' numbers might be lying a bit?
This is really the point I had in mind when I continued through all of the arithmetic that is listed below. - The first is why the heck the Philadelphia Depot still had 96,914 unlined sack coats at the end up August. I feel bad for the fellas that had to wear them through September, October and December. Im sure they wished they had them back in July.
- The other thing is again with sack coats. The disproportionate amount of Lined to Unlined at both the Philadelphia and Cincinnati depots (the converse respectively). Id assume this had to do with awaiting the arrival of different contracts to swell the numbers of lined or unlined respectively. Id be curious if there is more to it than this.
Now, back to numbers . . . . Looking at the ORs, Series III: Volume V, you can find the totals for all equipment purchased by the federal government during the war. They list the totals as follows:
Uniform Coats:
Philadelphia - 948,904
New York - 587,000 (someone had to be rounding numbers)
Cincinnati - 345,823
Total - 1,881,727
Sack Coats (Lined/Unlined):
Philadelphia - 1,031,139/594,451
New York - 1,459,000/842,150 (again with the rounded numbers)
Cincinnati - 1,195,616/372,669
Total - 3,685,755/1,807,270
These numbers only show the number of garments that were purchased complete by the government. However I took it a step further and got the total yards of fabric ordered by the government (also in the OR Series III, Volume V p.283). Those numbers are as follows,
Dark Blue for Uniform Coats - 3,492,851 yds
Flannel for Sack Coats - 5,418,437 yds
So I took those numbers and wanted to figure out how many jackets they could get out of them. I used my yardage as approx. 3.5 yds per uniform jacket/frock coat (i feel its a liberal guess, especially because they were good at conserving resources). For sack coats I used 2.2 yds, again a liberal estimate.
In the end I got 999,386 frock coats and 3,497,851 sack coats. When you total EVERYTHING together I ended up at the numbers:
Frock Coats - 2,881,107
Sack Coats - 7,995,951
Okay, so theres what I estimate to be the final totals. The reports clearly state that there is a differentiation between coats ordered complete and those made from fabric purchased - so Im certain there is no double counting. So in the end, heres the questions and or conclusions I've come to.
- why are the numbers on 31 August 1863 so comparable but by the end of the war so lopsided? Were that many more troops outfitted in the last years of the war, all in sack coats? Did the fact that sack coats might of wore out quicker have anything to do with it? Of course the sack coat is much more efficient to produce/purchase by why did it take the depots so long to transition their purchasing towards sack coats?
- there is no category for infantry shell jackets in the ORs (by this I am referring to the infantry jacket modeled after the artillery/cavalry style and not state issue jackets). Are they included in the totals to skew the numbers? Contrary to what some feel, I think they might start appearing in greater numbers in 1863 than most think. Surely if so, thered be a category for them? Or did they just get lumped in?
- someone at the New York Depot loved round numbers because all of their totals, not just the ones shown here, end in zeros. I dont just mean tens or twenties but nice round hundreds of thousands.
Mainly Id like to hear other people's thoughts on the comparable numbers of Frocks/Sacks in the last quarter of 1863. Also if anyone also thinks that the shells might have gotten lumped in with the frock coats for the purposes of counting.