Officer... pullover frocks?

[GAR]

I came across this picture today and wondered what kind of uniform top the officers are wearing. Pullovers and off center buttons? Does anyone know about these?



The photo is inscribed "Camp Brightwood, D.C. Contraband in R.I. camp".

[BobRoeder]

Re: Officer... pullover frocks?

They are officer's variation of the "overshirts" worn by some of the early Rhode Island units of blue wool flannel.

[GAR]

Re: Officer... pullover frocks?

Thank you Bob. Someone gave me this link which goes into better detail regarding the photo.

http://bullrunnings.wordpress.com/2011/10/03/lieutenant-john-p-shaw-co-f-2nd-rhode-island-infantry/

[Chris Montague]

Re: Officer... pullover frocks?

Interesting find. Thanks for sharing.

[Curt Schmidt]

Re: Officer... pullover frocks?

Hallo!

They are sometimes called 'Burnside Fatigue Blouses" or 'Rhode island blouses" and credited to Colonel Ambrose Burnside as a hold over to his early days as an apprenticed tailor before West Point. And made at Burnside's friend Governor Sprague's factory.

Here is a snippet I had saved from 'SBL:"

"Augustus Woodbury, published a very readable history of the 1st in 1862. The Reverend Woodbury was the co-chaplain of the unit, with Reverend Thomas Quinn a Catholic Priest. His history along with, unit records, newspaper accounts, diaries, and personal letters tell of a unique regiment that would provide the Union Army with experienced and talented men. On April 15 Ambrose E. Burnside received a telegram in his New York office of the Illinois Central Railroad asking for his services to lead a Rhode Island Regiment and when he could come. He telegraphed in return, “at Once!” Burnside arrived in Providence to turn a loose collection of militia companies into a unit. Here he improvised the first item which was to get these various companies uniformed. Companies such as the Mechanic Rifles, 1st Light Infantry, National Cadets, and Westerly Rifles had their own uniforms or were accepting new recruits without the time to receive a company uniform. Burnside was a tailor’s apprentice before attending West Point. This tailoring background supposedly inspired his designing the 1st’s uniform. His military experience in the west may have been more an inspiration. Burnside had to get “uniforms” on these men quickly. An order for clothing went out, with the details published in the Providence Daily Journal on the 17th. The uniform would be gray cotton/wool trousers with buckram lining at the cuff, blue wool flannel tunics, basically an overshirt, and black felt hats with a cockade and feather similar to the Federal dress hat. The morning edition of the April 18 Journal stated, “To the Ladies, the materials for the flannel tunics, which our regiment are to wear, are to be found at the store of Mr. H.A. Prescott, 27 and 29 Weybosset street, this morning from and after ten o’clock, and ladies who desire to aid in making the tunics are requested to call at that time. The work must be done by tonight.”

On Friday, April 19, the Journal printed that the uniforms were nearly done and 1200 hats were finished at 5 A. M. by Pabodie & Bowen. This firm had their workers ( “girls”) up all night sewing and trimming the hats. The same edition quoting the Boston Transcript, under “Clothing for Little Rhody’s Troops” claimed that 11,000 pairs of pants, 3000 flannel shirts and 1500 pairs of drawers were ready. The work had started Tuesday evening. The notable exceptions were the 1000 shirts made by families of the soldiers. The work had been done overnight! The spirit of patriotic zeal for sewing and enlisting was recalled by T. J. Griffen in 1906. He told an audience that while at his job in April 1861, he was asked to join the 1st as a hospital steward by an Assistant Surgeon. He turned to his mother and other ladies in the back who were making the tunics, informing her he was “going to the front.” Turning to the Assistant Surgeon, Bates said “As soon as the proprietor came in.” Veteran Albert G. Bates also remembered that the blouses, as he later called the tunics, were made in churches and public halls. Men cut out the garments and women finished them on sewing machines. Burnside had his men uniformed with clothing to spare from basic work clothing. Any designing that Colonel Burnside did was in the utility of the red blankets which could be worn as a “poncho,” and the more stylish cut of his officer’s tunics. ..."

(sorry the little note numbers didn't "paste")

1.Woodbury, A Narrative of the Campaign of the First Rhode Island Regiment, Providence: Rider, 1862.

2. Emmerton, A Record of the Twenty-Third Regt. Mass. Vol. Infantry in the War of the Rebellion, Boston, 1886, 101-102.
Elting, John R. & Michael J. McAfee, Editors, Military Uniforms in America Vol. III, Long Endure: The civil War Era 1852-1867. Navato, Cal: Presidio
Press.1982. 80.
Poore, The Life and Services of Ambrose E. Burnside, Providence: Reid, 1882, 93-94.
Editors, Echoes of Glory, Arms and Equipment of The Union, Alexandria: Time/Life ,1996, 97.

3. Editors, Echoes of Glory, Arms and Equipment Of The Union, 97.

4. Providence Daily Journal, April 18, 1861: 2-3.

5. Mechanic’s Rifles papers, Rhode Island Historical Society.

6. Ibid.

7. Ibid.
1st Rhode Island Regiment, Brady photograph, N. A. R. A.
Woodbury, First Rhode Island Regiment, front piece portrait of Col. Burnside.
Poore, The Life and Services of Ambrose E. Burnside, 93-94."

Some consider them to be the descendants of the late 18th early 19th century "rifleman's frocks." A more pleated version was initially was also worn by the Kentucky State Guard under Simon Buckner and one or two Confederate generalks (Polk I think...).

Curt

[hireddutchcutthroat]

Re: Officer... pullover frocks?

They are 1st or 2nd Rhode Island.

[Bill52]

Re: Officer... pullover frocks?

Many would call this an officer in in enlisted coat. The term “officer’s coat” when used with these regiments usually refers to a double-breasted placard front blouse or pleated blouse. This of course does not mean that officers did not have their blouses made of superior material. A good source for this would be Alan H. Archabbault’s The First Regiment Rhode Island Detached Militia 1861, published in the Military Collector & Historian magazine Fall 2001. This is well research, well documented and has many illustrations.

William T. Carr
Company of Military Historians