Sam Watkins Coat

[lthull3rdla]

I put on Ken Burns CW on today to keep me company while I sew up my latest Charlie Childs kit. They showed the picture of Sam Watkins of Company "Aytch" fame, that we have all seen. I dropped my needle and looked real good at that coat and could not for the life of me decide what kind it was. The collar is what throws me off. Has anyone paid attention to this? Could be that his shirt collar is turned down over his coat collar.

What style of coat do y'all think this is?

Ronnie

[Lone Guard]

Re: Sam Watkins Coat

What episode are you refering to?

[lthull3rdla]

Re: Sam Watkins Coat

the 2nd disc, Episode two, 1862 a very bloody affair

[markj]

Re: Sam Watkins Coat

You are presumably talking about this image.

Yours, &c.,

Mark Jaeger

[plankholder]

Re: Sam Watkins Coat

I have always thought felt that this coat is a commutaion jacket-he writes about receiving a matching jacket, trousers and vest from home-it looks to me as if the trousers could match the jacket. As far as the collar, it looks like it has 2 hook and loop type fasteners at the collar and he has the top one fastened, the bottom open-as well as having an angled line of trim(possibly black) on each side of the collar. The buttons have always looked oversized to me, they are rounded on top and appear to have some design or stamp on them-maybe a greatcoat button? I have also wondered if maybe this was a frockcoat. His hat is also interesting, the AOT didnt have a whole lot of oppurtunity to capture Federal gear, a souvineered Hardee, would have certainly been a status symbol, but how likely?-possibly a confederate produced "Hardee"? Sorry that I have more questions than solutions-just some food for thought.-ELI GEERY

[lthull3rdla]

Re: Sam Watkins Coat

Interesting Thoughts. Maybe it is a Frock, and yes, that hat could sure be a hardee! I need to re-read the book "company Aytch". Very interesting reading. One of those books you need to reaquaint yourself with ever now and then!

Ronnie

[BobbyHughes]

Re: Sam Watkins Coat

Somewhere, amongst the stuff still being unpacked from the move, I have a paperback copy of Co. Aytch that has a full figure image of Sam Watkins. His hat does in fact appear to be a Dress Hat, and he is apparently wearing a shell. What type I cant recall, but it may be a commutation. As soon as I find it, Ill scan the cover and try to figure out how to post it.

[LWhite64]

Re: Sam Watkins Coat

This has been a topic of discussion recently at Chickamauga. What I uncovered might shed somelight on this. The 1st TN had a sugardaddy in Columbus, GA, that being Rhodes Brown, the President of the Eagle Mills. Chaplin Quintard wrote of him several times, starting in early 1863 and through 1865. Brown gave him huge quantities of "excellent cloth to clothe my regiment. To this he thoughtfully added buttons, thread and lining...The cloth at that time was valued at forty five dollars a yard". I found the last mention to be very enlightening, Feb 8th, 1865 "Visited...1st Tenn...found fifty men remaining...rejoiced me very much to find them all well clothed, and there still remain one half of the clothes presnted to me by Mr. Brown."
Also note, that the Eagle Mills made mainly Kersey and Cassimere, very very little jean.

Lee

[OldKingCrow]

Related but unrelated......

Ken Burns CD set = $100
44 LCD 1080 TV = $4500
XBOX 360 HD 1080 = $500

Technology meeting history thus providing the ability to view most all of the major CW images in stunning detail = PRICELESS



"Dad your not gonna hog the xbox all night to stare at that same old picture again are you ?" my 9 year old with HALO 3 and controller in hand

[DJCasey]

Re: Sam Watkins Coat

His hat is also interesting, the AOT didnt have a whole lot of oppurtunity to capture Federal gear, a souvineered Hardee, would have certainly been a status symbol, but how likely?-possibly a confederate produced "Hardee"?

Is it just me, or is the brim on his hat way too big to be a dress hat? A dress hat brim would not fold all the way to the top of the crown like that. They only make it about half way when pinned up.

[tenfed1861]

Re: Sam Watkins Coat

Is it just me, or is the brim on his hat way too big to be a dress hat?

This is something Pat Lewis and I have talked about.If you notice in several early war photos of the 1st,it appears that they all seem to be wearing similar headgear.What we are thinking is that the 1st was using civie headgear to try and immulate dress hats.
Hope these pictures can help you some.

[Citizen_Soldier]

Re: Sam Watkins Coat

Greetings,
I'm in agreement in thinking that the coat that he is wearing is fastened at the top with a hook and eye, probably one of two on the garment collar.

Concerning hats, in the middle part of the nineteenth century one style of citizen's hat that was quite popular looked very similar to an army hat and can be seen in a variety of colors. There's a fair amount of photographic evidence of these and one source would be Joann Severa's book "Dressed for the Photographer" among others.

Darrek Orwig

[Thomas Alleman]

Re: Sam Watkins Coat

Concerning the hat I think that the Steamboat Arabia was shipping blank Hardee type hats. Also a later round hat is very similar and popular type of civilian hat. I am sure the army copied from civilian fashion.

[Rebbeh]

Re: Sam Watkins Coat

One thing to note is in his memoirs, Sam said that once, and only once, did he try to take something off a dead Union soldier. It was an excellent pair of boots, but the corpse appeared to be staring at Sam, and this freaked Sam out something awful. He never tried to take anything off a corpse again.

Now, if that truly is a Union made Hardee hat, and Sam simply purchased a letter "H" to attatch to it, he must have just found the hat sitting someplace after a battle had gone on, and didn't take it off a corpse.

[Pat.Lewis]

Re: Sam Watkins Coat

All the Co. H photos that Cullen posted being from 1861 and the more common SRW from 62, I find it highly unlikely that those hats are Hardees. I think we've seen some pretty solid opinions on similar civilian patterns. When most of those shots were taken the 1st hadn't left Camp Cheatham. But there is that issue of hat brass. It seems fairly common among the 1st in their 1862 photos. It shows up on the Rock City Guards (A-B-C), Williamson Grays (D), and H that I can think of off the top of my head. My copy is a bit hard to see, but I'm thinking that George Nichols is wearing "D/1T" on his Oct. 62 shot (not to mention a frock that looks a whole lot like Watkins'). They're getting brass from somewhere.