Surplus CS jackets.
I, too, have heard the story: Some jackets from the vaunted "92,000 suits of clothing" held by Gov. Vance in 1865 were issued to German POWs during WWI. The uniforms of course were made of English kersey. That explains why all of the six-button NC pattern jackets made of kersey that "should" exist today don't. The jackets issued to the POWs had wooden buttons on them. A quartermaster who was issuing them out in 1918 noted that they were made out of "good English stuff." Some guy who knows some guy saw pictures of Germans wearing them, etc.
It would be neat if this story were true, but I haven't seen anything that has suggested that it is.
Neal
I, too, have heard the story: Some jackets from the vaunted "92,000 suits of clothing" held by Gov. Vance in 1865 were issued to German POWs during WWI. The uniforms of course were made of English kersey. That explains why all of the six-button NC pattern jackets made of kersey that "should" exist today don't. The jackets issued to the POWs had wooden buttons on them. A quartermaster who was issuing them out in 1918 noted that they were made out of "good English stuff." Some guy who knows some guy saw pictures of Germans wearing them, etc.
It would be neat if this story were true, but I haven't seen anything that has suggested that it is.
Neal
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