Confederate Iowa Jacket

[Cumpston1862]

Gents-

Sometime ago I posted a large assortment of pictures from the Civil War display at the Iowa Historical Building here in Des Moines, Iowa. One of the items that generated the most interest was the Confederate jacket in the display. Having heard that they are getting ready to possibly take down the display I thought it prudent to go and get some more pictures of it before it was sent back to the basement.

Sadly little is known about the jacket other than the scant details that were attached with it. Namely that it was "captured" by an Iowa soldier in the Atlanta Campaign. It has no buttons remaining with it. The cartridge box pictured with it is Confederate as well but was obtained by another soldier at a different time.

[Tyler Underwood]

Re: Confederate Iowa Jacket

Louis, other than being captured during the Atlanta Campaign, did it say who captured it?

[Cumpston1862]

Re: Confederate Iowa Jacket

Tyler-

The description on the jacket is very vague. In the present exhibit it says only; "Enlisted man's Shell Jacket. This roughly made shell jacket was probably a Georgia state issue. It was captured during the Battle for Atlanta."

I believe Brandon Jolly of this forum has either done some further research on the jacket or examined it personally. I recall him saying when I posted some pictures of the jacket in an earlier post that it had a specific Iowa unit credited with "capturing" the jacket. Brandon said that the Iowa unit attributed with the capture was somewhere in Tennessee during the Battle of Atlanta so he had doubts about the accuracy of the information. Or at least that is my recollection.

Looking through my copy of EOG I believe the Iowa jacket closely resembles the shell jacket on page 141 in the upper right corner "...probably came from a Deep South depot-possibly the one in Mobile, Alabama." Also the Pvt. John C. Zehring jacket on page 142 which "...may have been made by the Milledgeville Company..." looks very similar.

The Iowa jacket seems to be a six button front without pocket...on the outside anyway. I don't know about the lining but I am hoping to exercise my good relationship with the staff of the Iowa Historical Society to examine it at some point when it comes off display.

Do you or any of the gents on this forum know of any specific construction details to look for that may reveal its origin? I will have to confess I am not an expert with cloth variations so feel free to dumb it down ;)

[Brian Baird]

Re: Confederate Iowa Jacket

The Des Moines jacket has a 4 piece body with a patch pocket on the left side. One piece sleeve with a vent similar to a federal sack coat . The collar is 1 piece. The lining is a very thin osnaburg (more the weight of osnaburg that you find at Walmart or Joann). It made from a plain weave jean.
It appears to be similar to the Wright jacket :

http://www.adolphusconfederateuniforms.com/c-wrights-mississippi-depot-uniform.html

Brian Baird

[dirtyshirt]

Re: Confederate Iowa Jacket

Agreed. Brian and I examined it a couple of years ago in detail. It is VERY similar to the jacket Brian linked above. Louis, you are correct in what you said. There is no other solid information on the jacket other than we know it is late war AoT.

[Cumpston1862]

Re: Confederate Iowa Jacket

Brian and Brandon...thank-you both for the additional information/link.

[Citizen_Soldier]

Re: Confederate Iowa Jacket

Greetings,

According to correspondance with a staff member of the State Historical Society of Iowa, the brief artifact description states that the jacket was acquired by a soldier with the 4th Iowa Cavalry around Atlanta.

As others have stated, the 4th Iowa Cavalry was not present for the 1864 Atlanta Campaign. However, elements of the regiment were involved in Wilson's raid into Alabama and Georgia in early 1865. Targets of this raid included the Confederate supply areas of Selma (AL), Macon (GA), and Columbus (GA). Following the raid, the regiment was stationed in Atlanta, GA where they were mustered out in August of 1865.

Based on my research, I feel that the Confederate jacket in the SHSI collection could have construction origins to Georgia. As the museum description states, it could very well have been acquired in Atlanta with garment construction having occured there or at one of the other uniform manufacturing facilties in the area. There is also possibly a chance that it was picked up by the soldier in Selma, Macon, or Columbus on his way back to Atlanta; as there was a large amount of war trophies and prisoners taken during this period by Wilson's command.

Derek Orwig

[dirtyshirt]

Re: Confederate Iowa Jacket

Good information Derek. The plain nature of the jacket is what I think is so neat. My personal opinion is most of the AoT would have been wearing jackets that were similar to this one in late '64 and '65.

[GreencoatCross]

Re: Confederate Iowa Jacket

One thing I notice on the jacket is what looks like overcast stitching visible on the outside edge of the coat and at the bottom of the cuffs. It's hard to see due to the color of the thread and jean cloth but it's there. Brandon, is the inside of the jacket overcast to the outside of the jacket along the edges, or is it crudely top stitched? The "overcast joining stitch" with the thread visible on the outside can be seen in a number of surviving original jackets including the Zehring jacket, "Mystery" jackets (no, it's not "double top-stitching"), Dept. of Alabama jackets, "Oklahoma Mystery/possible Columbus Depot" jacket, some four-button jackets, and the John Grizzard jacket. It's likely just a construction flub but all of the surviving original jackets with that feature are thought to have originated in the deep south.

[dirtyshirt]

Re: Confederate Iowa Jacket

I need to re-examine the jacket, but it looks like a crude running stitch attaching facings (through the lining and body) and then a top stitch about 1/8" from the front edges. The lining serves as the interlining for the facings and facings are folded under and whip stitched down with some of those stitches showing through the front. The Collar and cuff facings are whip-stitched closed HOWEVER, perhaps when originally done it was an overcast. It is hard to tell now. I don't believe the collar and cuffs are an alteration as the thread matches the rest of the jacket.

[bill carson]

Re: Confederate Iowa Jacket

Thank you for posting these, Louis! It looks absolutely like a North Carolina depot jacket to me - in fact - it looks exactly like the one I bought from W,W and W.