Sewing Machines at Schuylkill Arsenal?

[Pvt Schnapps]

Several sources state that the Schuylkill Arsenal produced hand-sewed clothing only. As Paul McKee stated in the classic Summer 1995 Military Collector and Historian article Notes on the Federal Issue Sack Coat, "Schuykill products were entirely sewn by hand."

Despite this, the following expenses appear in "Estimate of the expenses of the Office of Army Clothing and Equipage, including the military storekeeper's office and United States general clothing depot, Schuylkill arsenal, during the year 1859-'60" (http://books.google.com/books?id=3Sk...t%22&f=false):

"Principal tailoress, repairing clothing, at 90 cents per day ..

"2 tailoresses, machine sewers, each 84 cents per day

"4 tailoresses, trimming hats, at 70 cents per day"

Estimates also include $50 for "Repairs of sewing machines." Similar repair estimates occur in the 1858-59 budget and that for 1861-62.

[RevWarTaylor]

Re: Sewing Machines at Schuylkill Arsenal?

Michael,

If im not mistaken, the SA was producing some tents by machine on site. Im pretty sure in Fred Gaede's book he has some examples of them being made by machine.

Neal Hurst

[Curt Schmidt]

Re: Sewing Machines at Schuylkill Arsenal?

Hallo!

Correct.

SA/Philadelphia Depot items were not always (emphasis on the dangers of using universals) hand-sewn.

IMHO, the historical danger is to look at one line of items, and make them/that the universal rule.

For example, there are no (known) dress hats with hand-sewn brim reinforcing stitching rows.

Curt

[Pvt Schnapps]

Re: Sewing Machines at Schuylkill Arsenal?

I have no idea at this point exactly what Schuylkill used the machines for, and what they sewed by machine rather than by hand, or whether they used both, depending. I just found it interesting that they had the machines and apparently used them before the war.

The same source also has estimates of how many clothing items of each type the army will require and what they will cost, which, together with the list of personnel on site, leaves me with the impression that even before the war many "Schuylkill Arsenal" items were manufactured off site by contractors.

This impression is reinforced by other sources that mentioned pre-war contracts for various items to be delivered to the depot, as well as mentions of the use of machine work for the production of uniforms in France and Great Britain during this period. Altogether I would not be surprised if our assumptions about all Schuylkill clothing items being entirely handsewn ultimately require revision.

The reference to Gaede's book is interesting, but I assume it addresses the production of shelter tents during the war.

[Minieball577]

Re: Sewing Machines at Schuylkill Arsenal?

Since the Philadelphia arsenal used the putting out method of piece work for most of its garments one should assume that the machines list in inventory were used for items made in house. This could explain why canteen covers from this location, for example, are machine sewn on the bottom half, and then hand finished when fitted to the canteen. Pat brown's book, the chapter on mass production, lists a specified price of very little (no reference in front of me) for covering canteens, for example, which would make sense if the pieceworker was just doing the actual fitting to the tinware and the sewing closed of the bottle, rather than the complete cover.

The above is more or less just a guess, but truth of the matter is most surviving examples of SA clothing are hand sewn. There is a Smithsonian institute video that discusses this pretty well, too.

[Dan Wambaugh]

Re: Sewing Machines at Schuylkill Arsenal?

Michael,

Caps produced by the arsenal were largely machine sewn. That is the purpose for which the machines were primarily used.

Every SA marked garment I have examined was entirely hand sewn. The arsenal employed local women with the idea of sewing the clothing being a source of extra income while the men were off to war.

Hope this helps clarify things.

[Pvt Schnapps]

Re: Sewing Machines at Schuylkill Arsenal?

It helps, but not entirely. We go from McKee's statement that everything was handsewn to evidence of parts of certain items being machine sewn, to an understanding that many items were farmed out, in which case they could be either machine or hand sewn, unless there was some order against such. I don't think there was, if only because of the prewar ads for Wheeler and Wilson machines that specifically suggest their use for army clothing, as well as skirts and mantillas, and, yes, hats and caps, too.

The fact that you've examined surviving originals is hugely important to your business of constructing faithful and highly regarded reproductions. I don't in any way want to downplay how important that is to all of us, or how much I respect that research. But with so few examples surviving of, say, the 1.62 million sack coats produced in or procured by Philadelphia during the war, and tens of thousands just before, I just don't know if one can consider the trace evidence definitive.

[Dan Wambaugh]

Re: Sewing Machines at Schuylkill Arsenal?

Michael,

I don't know that you could call anything definitive with such a small sampling of surviving SA marked clothing, but without a single iota of evidence to the contrary or surviving example of an SA produced garment exhibiting machine sewing we can certainly establish theories supported by the evidence that does exist. If examples of SA produced clothing that are machine sewn surface then we can certainly add that to the pool of knowledge and draw up new theories.

Personally, I would just hate to see the fact that the SA had sewing machines on site that we know were employed for the manufacture of caps used as the basis for someone's machine sewn sack coat being stamped with an "SA". Until a well documented original garment from the SA surfaces that exhibits machine sewn stitching, I will continue to operate under the theory that all clothing manufactured under the arsenal's supervision was hand sewn, as that is what the evidence currently indicates.

I'm certainly open to new examples being brought forward and new evidence being found that will change this opinion. Heck, just three years ago Brian and I discovered a J.T. Martin contract pair of trousers that were entirely hand sewn and had mule ear pockets. If that doesn't blow your mind I don't know what will!

[Pvt Schnapps]

Re: Sewing Machines at Schuylkill Arsenal?

I see your point, Dan, and I would also hate to see the mere mention of sewing machines result in the creation of mythical garments. The hobby has perhaps enough of those already.

[Curt Schmidt]

Re: Sewing Machines at Schuylkill Arsenal?

Hallo!

In research, there is methodolgy process that says one holds on to what the evidence shows, until new evidence proves it wrong, becoming the resting point of our Collective Knowledge until disproven by yet new evidence.

Curt

[Pvt Schnapps]

Re: Sewing Machines at Schuylkill Arsenal?

Thesis, antithesis, synthesis? :)

[PieBoy96]

Re: Sewing Machines at Schuylkill Arsenal?

Without trying to steer this thread in another direction, quite frankly I'm looking forward to when the Steamboat Mars is excavated (similar to the Steamboat Arabia.) The Mars sunk in July 1865 and was carrying a huge amount of surplus military goods... I wonder if some things that we accept as "standard theories" may change! http://web.mac.com/davidh103/Mars/Welcome.html

[Curt Schmidt]

Re: Sewing Machines at Schuylkill Arsenal?

Hallo!

The SA is interesting. The limited amount of factual knowledge we have about how they ran the "depot system" out of the arsenal/depot raises interesting questions tha unless dusty old documents such as "want ads" for seamstresses or the specs to contractors who arranged for sewers, distributed the kits made by the arsenal, and collected them for delivery back to SA for inspection and distribution, etc., etc., we are pretty much dealing with scraps and a handful of artifacts that support what we (currently) know.

Case in point.

I cannot access them because they are trapepd in a dead hard drive at the moment, but Herr Hank and others have previously posted information about the sale of sewing machines BOTH in the North and the South with some interesting numbers.

What was "different" about Schuylkill versus Cincinatti for example? Would one suspect, expect, more or less sewing machines in private homes in Philadelphia versus Cincinatti? Cincinatti versus St. Louis? Steubenville versus Columbus, Ohio?
Did solicitations for seamstresses and bids let to contractors in Philadelphia ban or rule out sewing machne work- and that is why SA is so believed to be entireley hand-sewn when it comes to uniforms? Why would they discriminate against the hosehold who owned a sewing machine and doing piece-work could produce garments faster for a need-starved army? Did St. Louis demand ONLY machine-sewn garments (within the context of machines could and could not do at the time...)?

Etc., etc., etc.

Not saying that this is the thinking here, but if the surviving artifact pool of SA garments is hand-sewn, unsupported by research and documentationit is flawed logic to say that those random survivors are not representative of the whole. Meaning, by luck, chance, or circumstance we are looking at ONLY hand-sewn survivors and that all of the machine sewn garments were used up and did not survive to be part of our limited artifact pool.

Yes, it could have happened. One can flip a coin 100 times and get 100 heads OR 100 tails.
100 heads or 100 tails is not highly probable (but possible), and in the absence of research and documentation not statistically valid or reliable.
A dozen or so Widgets out of a production of three million is not very valid or reliable. But they are much more valid or reliable than zero Widgets.

IMHO, the problem with the argument is that when everything is possible, nothing is probable. And the danger in saying that "All of these type of Widgets were used up and did not survive for us to have is that taken to extremes it allows for anything and everything to be "excused" and used.

Again, not saying anyone is doing that here, just pointing out how it works.

Others' mileage will vary...

Curt
Past Imperfect Mess

[RevWarTaylor]

Re: Sewing Machines at Schuylkill Arsenal?

Hello All

Pretty good points taken from everyone. Attached below is a article from the Philadelphia Inquierer which is pretty interesting. Im working on a grant to go and study the peices that were traded from the US Army to the Danish Royal Armories. I would assume that all of the peices would infact have been made at the SA. Also more importantly they are in unissued condition. Hopefully I get the grant!

Neal Hurst

“Public meeting of Working Women”
Philadelphia Inquirer
9-4-1861
Page 8

Public Meeting of Working Women.
-Opposition to the Contract System.-

Last evening a large and spirited meeting of women who have always been recognized as “the bone and sinew” of the United States Arsenal in Philadelphia, was held in Temperance Hall, Second and Queen streets, the object of which was to give expression to the sentiments they entertain respecting the giving out of contract for army clothing, etc, to contractors instead of private parties. Mrs. Martha Yeager presided. A number of resolutions were submitted and adopted, and an address to President Lincoln was drawn up, setting forth their views of the meeting in very explicit terms. The resolutions embrace, among others, the following sentiments.

Whereas, We the women of Philadelphia, employed to make the clothing for the loyal army of the United States, do hereby affirm, that we are ready now, as we have ever been, and ever will be, to sustain the interested of the country, and to sacrifice our selves upon its alter, if necessary, to perpetuate its existence and promote prosperity; therefore.

Resolved, That, as true loyal women, we express our entire disapprobation of the private contract system, as had been inaugurated recently, by when nearly all the Arsenal work has been taken from us, and we call upon the National Government to put a stop to the system at once, and appoint a commission of investigation, with power to send for persons and papers, if such a course may be necessary.

Resolved, That nearly three generations ago our grandmothers made up the army clothing in Philadelphia, our mothers made up the army clothing in the war of 1812, and that we and our daughters have made up the army clothing for the soldiers in the Florida war, the war with Mexico and some of the loyal soldiers now enlisted to put down the present rebellion against the National Government, and that we feel ourselves fully competent to promptly make up all the work in a satisfactory manner, as much as the Government may want, all the efforts of contracting parties to the contrary nothingwithstanding.

Resolved, That we are willing “live and let live,” the industrious working classes in all parts of the country, but we are prepared to say that, by the contract of which we complain (by which gross and inhuman advantages are taken of the necessities of poor sewing women.) much of the clothing made for our loyal three months volunteers was not as good as it ought to have been, or as it would have been made at Government prices.

Resolved, that out thanks are due, and they are hereby tendered to those gentlemen of the newspaper press who have voluntarily and generously without pay or hope of reward- used their pens in our behalf and made public some of the wrongs that have been inflicted upon the competent hands who have been for years employed in making up the army clothing.

Resolved, That an attested copy of these proceedings be carefully drawn up and forwarded to his Excellency, Abraham Lincoln, the President of the United States, with the hope that, like the immortal General Jackson when Executive of the Nation, he will listen to our appeal and promptly apply the remedy which he in his wisdom may deem proper, as a simple act of justice to the sewing women of the United States Arsenal at Philadelphia.

The resolutions having been adopted, the President arose and addressed her fellow working women, in which after a suitable introductory, she said:- “The grasping propensity, and the mean cupidity of the narrow minded contractors, in making up the army clothing, form a striking contract with the Government (under which we live founded as it is upon most noble and liberal principles, in which is recognized the grand, and, we may say, sacred maxim, that the “Laborer is worthy of his hire.” The world owes every honest person a living, and our National Government, now undergoing a severe, fiery, and bloody struggle, testing the capacity of man for self government, has always paid the most liberal prices for work, thus enabling all its employees to support themselves.

But our nation is still rich, still great, still noble and liberal. Oh! Far distant may be the times when the sun of its glory and prosperity shall set to rise not more. (Applause) We are ready to live work, or die for such a Government. Our husbands, our sons, our brothers, aye even out fathers, have gone to fight for this constitutional Government, and more than this, those of our own sex have freely gone as nurses to take care of the sick and wounded. We are not willing that the Government should be used by baso-hearted contractors for selfish purposes. We are unwilling that a few men should get rich, very rich, at the expense of our honest labor. We will not submit to the starvation prices offered by these Shylocks, which they make the Government pay them full prices, which we are deprived of.

It is cue to the liberality of our noble National Government, it is due to our children, it is due to us as widowed mothers, for man of use are such, that we should make known, freely, fully, and plainly the cause of our grievance, and trust to a generous community to assist us in obtaining our right, as industrious, hard working, honest, women. (Applause).

I am sure that President Lincoln, though surrounded by agitating troubles, has always a king work for those approaching him, and I am confident that out appeal will not be made to him in vain. The plain fact that out sons, our husbands, our brothers, are now standing up nobly, patriotically, for the honor of the nation, willing to shed their life’s blood in defense of the flag of the Union, and ready to beach the insurgent Rebels, will at once appeal to the bosom of the President, and it will pulsate in our behalf.

The address was listened to with close attention, and elicited boisterous applause. Then followed a variety of speeches, each about five minute in length. One women was opposed to having contract given to Jews, because the “the Jews persecuted our Savior, and they would persecute women now.” We feel constrained to say that the deliberations, unparliamentarily thought they were evinced the warmest patriotism, and showed that the women of Philadelphia are not in any degree behind their sons, brothers, and fathers, in earnest devotion to the Union.

[CompanyWag]

Re: Sewing Machines at Schuylkill Arsenal?

Sorry for the long reply.

I'm afraid the quote from my article published in MC&H over 15 years ago has been taken somewhat out of context. It was originally contained within a section of that article describing the attributes of existing sack coats that were surveyed. Seeing how I had access to those sack coats, I can afford to be absolute.

There was a great variation in the quality of sewing from coat to coat. Schuylkill products were entirely sewn by hand, the products of the other depots would show varying combinations of hand and machine sewing. Contractor-produced clothing would commonly be almost entirely machine sewn, many with wandering and wavy stitch lines. It is the understanding of this author that St. Louis sack coats were also heavily machine sewn, but in 12 years of research, no examples of sack coats from this depot have been located. All seam felling when present was hand-worked, as were the buttonholes as noted above.15 Occasionally thread stays, or bar tacks, of buttonhole stitch would be encountered at pocket openings, the collar notch and at the top of cuff vents, but the majority of sack coats viewed did not have this detailing.

I strikes me as interesting that Jesup, in his October 25, 1858 estimate referenced earlier, specified pay for only two machine seamstresses for the year 1859 yet estimated that over 30,000 sack coats would need to be prepared for distribution to the army within the same period. If employed in the manufacture of sack coats, those would seem to be two very busy seamstresses indeed!

Further, The United States National Museum Bulletin, 1969, Howell & Kloster write:

It is of interest in regard to the manufacture of these caps that in 1851 the Army purchased its first sewing machines for use at the Arsenal.195 Despite initial glowing reports on the machines,196 and extensive experimentation on both caps and clothing, the innovation was not considered a success, the personnel of the Arsenal feeling that while perhaps practical for "the requirements of populous and civilized life" they were not "the answer for the hard wear and tear ... of our frontier service."197

195 Deputy QMG Charles Thomas to Sec. Of War, 26 June 1851, QMG Reports, vol. 1, LS, RG 92, NA. These machines were among the first invented and patented by Isaac Singer in 1851. (Singer had sold a number of them before he received his patent.) The patent model of this machine in the collections of the U.S. National Museum carries the serial number 22.

196 See Crosman to Jesup. 17 Apr. 1851. LS. O of AC&E,RG92,NA.

197 Jesup to Hebrand and Co., New Orleans, 31 Mar. 1859, LS, OQMG, Clothing, RG 92, NA. The principal difficulty experienced with all early sewing machines was the maintenance of proper thread tension.

Judging by Jesup's correspondence in March of 1859 commenting on the problems with machines, it is little wonder that in his Congressional Esitimate for the same period that he estimated $50 for sewing machine repairs.

The notion that Schuylkill products were chiefly hand-sewn is not a relatively new realization. I first heard that back in 1985 on a visit to the Smithsonian when then-curator Don Kloster outlined the methods of the Quartermaster Department during the war as well as a few other jewels of wisdom that have since entered the collective wisdom of the reenacting community regarding uniforms. At that time it seemed the only variations on reproduction sackcoats available were a choice of either lined or unlined. There seemed to be little concern whether there would be any difference between products from one arsenal or another, or differences what might be seen in one theater of the war over another. (Kloster marvelled that so few reenactors had taken advantage of the material available at the Smithsonian...unfortunately something that more recent "keepers of the gate" seem to jealously guard.)

The information gleaned from those visits in 1985 resulted in the first version of the article on sack coats published in the Mudsill's journal The CompanyWag in 1988. When doing the additional research for the 1995 article in MC&H, I had access to even more detailed material. I recall being given documentation outlining the production method for Schuylkill during the war. Unfortunately I don't have immediate access to my notes from that time, but the document stated that the handsewing was specified for the individual seamstresses not only because of a preference for the strength of hand sewing, but because it was considered a form of social welfare for soldier's wives and widows. If a single woman employed a sewing machine, she would have an unfair advantage over other women working for the arsenal from home. To the modern mind, it certainly sounds ludicrous considering the demands for clothing for a large army engaged in a civil war. But is it any less ludicrous than the views of a conservative Ordnance Board that opted for reliance on muzzle-loading weapons because more modern breechloaders would only cause soldiers to waste ammunition? I will have to dig up that reference when time permits, otherwise I realize this may seem only heresay.

Still, to date every Schuylkill-produced uniform jacket, coat or blouse I have examined show only hand sewing in the construction...even the trim on mounted services jackets. If machine-sewn examples exist, I would like to be aware of it. In the meantime, I think it is safest to abide by the current collective wisdom.

Paul McKee