What would the proper coat for a federal artillery major be?

[Jeffrey Cohen]

I have to do a artillery major's impression this spring and I've found three types of coat. The officers sack, shell and frock. Mine will be a command in the field and so I was wondering what was more prevalant.
I've been looking on the web, but have not had much luck. No, I'm not rank happy, this promotion came from military command. Most of you guys see me as a cpl. comanding my oun gun at events. I'm getting my gear from Nick ************ and I just want to do it right.
Reards,
Jeffrey Cohen

[AZReenactor]

The answer to your question: IT DEPENDS.

Jeffery,
The "what should I wear for XYZ Impression" questions is one that tends be asked far too often after far too little research on the part of the person asking it. Such questions really drive members here batty so don't be frustrated if you get less then helpful replies. You may want to post a follow up to your question providing more details about the impression you are trying to build. For instance:

What unit?
Regular or volunteer artillery artillery unit?
What period of the war?
Fresh fish or veteran?
What theater of war?
What is the background of the officers in the unit you are portraying? Well to do, rural, political appointee, reactivated veteran?

All of these, and many other items, could influence what the soldier you are portraying would have worn. While Federals are generally more uniform than Confederates there is still a great deal of variety available. The question of whether to wear a frock, sack, or shell is only the tip of the iceberg since within each particular style is a variety of manufacturers and variations.

There simply is no general catch all answer to your query regarding what you should wear. To get advice on a proper coat for your impression you'll need to delve a little more into what impression you are trying to do exactly. The devil is in the details and you won't likely get to those details by coming on here and asking such a general question. Real book, library, and archive research is the crucial ingredient in answering these types of questions. Share what you've found so far and then ask for help with the details. I'm glad that you want to put together a quality impression, but you need to realize it will actually take some work to do so.

If, on the other hand, you just want some basic opinions in response to your rather basic question you might try asking it in a forum that is more geared towards beginners such as Szabo's.

[Wild Rover]

Re: What would the proper coat for a federal artillery major be?

A Commercial Blouse/Sack is always your best best in such a situation. Eventurally all threee may be needed, but to start I would go with a good blouse.

Pards,

[AZReenactor]

What is the standard for such a choice?

A Commercial Blouse/Sack is always your best best in such a situation. Eventurally all threee may be needed, but to start I would go with a good blouse.

Pards,

Why is that? Any documentation to support that assertion? What is this conclusion based upon?

Over on Szobo's Tom Ezrell has made the argument that a frock is the better choice based on their prevalence in photo studies and that officers were required to own a dress coat.

I'm not suggesting that the frock is a better choice than a sack. Just that Tom's answer, at least includes the rationale behind it.

Just as requests for opinions on this type of thing might be better asked elsewhere, short, seemingly opinion only based, answers without any support provided are below the expectations of this community. Without providing the "why" when answering such questions you might as well just say "XYZ seems the kewlest, why not wear that." Bad answers can be as bad, and are often worse, than bad questions.

[Marc]

Re: What would the proper coat for a federal artillery major be?

Another question is what type of artillery is the battery you are commanding. Horse Artillery supporting cavalry or Mounted supporting infantry. This along with the questions asked above will help answer your question.

[Tom Ezell]

Re: What would the proper coat for a federal artillery major be?

As Troy mentioned, you can never go wrong by getting the regulation uniform . For officers, that's the uniform dress coat, or frock coat.

Officers were allowed to wear commercially made sack coats or infantry jackets while on particular duties, but those garments were strictly optional, and they're not suitable for all occasions. The regulation dress coat is. As a modern comparison, most military posts prohibit the wear of the battle dress uniform (BDU) off-post when off-duty or in certain types of establishments. Same deal goes for wear of the commercial sacks, etc.

Secondly, putting together an officer's impression gets costly, both for re-enactors as well as for the Boys of '61-'65. If you're going to put that sort of money into a garment, it serves well to get the garment with the broadest range of use. That's the regulation coat. I have a commercial officer's sack in my kit, and it's one of my favorites as far as utility and comfort out in the field, but when I went for the basic impression, I got a frock first.

Lastly, the photographic record of federal officers in the field show them wearing frock coats. See, for example, Larry Strayer's and Richard Baumgardner's two Echoes of Battle books on Chattanooga and the Atlanta campaign, both from Blue Acorn Press. The photographic record is backed up well in the memoirs that I've found for Union officers which mention clothing and personal gear.

If you're portraying a particular person or unit who were know to wear a particular item, then go for it. If you want to portray the average, PEC officer of the National Army, then go for the GI look -- the dress coat.

[Wild Rover]

Re: What would the proper coat for a federal artillery major be?

Ok,

Here is why I stated a Blouse would be the best first purchase. It seems Jeff has been either elected or appointed to a field officer post. We all know in this hobby that can last for 3 minutes or 30 years. Investing in a solid double breasted regulation frock for 4 events (if one only hold the position for a year) is an extremely expensive investment. I have done so for one event before, but that is not for all folks.

Where as a blouse can be used even for NCO's, in case one finds the major position somewhat temporary.

That is the reasoning behind my post. Based upon versatility in regards to rank inflation or deflation. Once he has a good idea of the "term" of the position, he can made the proper choices in regards to his investment.

I agree that Frocks were more prevalent, but then again, officers chose what they wanted to purchase to wear, with the caveat that the Commanding Officer often set the standard for officer's dress within a command.

Pards,

[AZReenactor]

Thank you for the explanations.

See, now that is why we need to know the "why's" on this sort of thing, and not just baseless opinions. There is a vast difference between being advised to purchase a particular coat because it was required by historic regulations and is most common in historic photo studies or choosing a coat because it is more practical for the present day reenactor who might get demoted to NCO next week and thus be required to change coats. Reading, study, research... it provides reasons and rationale for what we do.

Far be it from me to pass out labels, but there are a heck of a lot of shortcuts that one might take if based on financial expediency rather than historical authenticity. Just ask the misses, she'll give you a list of more financially expedients she'd prefer I had taken besides authentic reenacting. ;)

[MPDoughBoy153]

Re: What would the proper coat for a federal artillery major be?

I would recommend checking out photographic evidence of the unit/time period of your portrayal. I would recommend reading the book "Redlegs The U.S. Artillery from the Civil War to the Spanish-American War (1861-1898)". There are alot of detailed photographs of artillery officers. I have this book and it is great. Obviously it covers other time periods. Just remember just like all officers they may own several sets of uniforms. Good luck!