Sack Coat?

[JacobReichwein]

Hello all!

I was just messing around on google images and with the search "civil war soldier" I stumbled upon an image, (see below) to which the coat of the man, I cannot identify.

At first glane it appeared to be a sack coat, however, it has more than 4 buttons. Perhaps it is simply another resualt of field modification? Or perhaps I am just an idiot. Either way if anyone can identify this jackt, please let me know, it's driving me insane!!!!:baring_te

[toptimlrd]

Re: Sack Coat?

It looks like a seven button sack coat. These were discussed briefly a while back here (http://www.authentic-campaigner.com/...en+button+sack) but that was about all the information I found. Perhaps this is one of those things under represented in the hobby.

[GreencoatCross]

Re: Sack Coat?

It's likely that he added three additional buttons/holes to the four already on the coat when issued. This is seen on unaltered blouses as well as those the soldiers' cut down and made into jackets (a project I'm working on for myself right now, and it's no small bit of work).

The following images were plucked from eBay in the past few months. Lots of unaltered and altered blouses with seven buttons, as well as two that were trimmed around the edges, and one that was altered into a jacket but the soldier retained the original four buttons.

Brian White

[GreencoatCross]

Re: Sack Coat?

Here are two examples of possible STATE-issue sack coats. The five-button sack coat without the shoulder straps appears to be one of the Wisconsin issue blouses; these had frock coat collars and were supposed to have been lined with gray wool flannel. The blouse with the shoulder straps and pocket may also have been a Wisconsin issue blouse but I am not positive if these had variations within production runs.

And another picture of a guy wearing what appears to be a regular issue blouse but with three buttons added. And check out that cool patch pocket....looks to be original to the blouse but who knows. Didn't Steubenville-made blouses allegedly feature pockets like these?

Brian White
Wambaugh, White, & Co.

https://www.wwandcompany.com

[Minieball577]

Re: Sack Coat?

The center image looks a lot like blouses you find on early Michigan troops. There was an article in Military Images about this not too long ago. I've seen coats similar to this on soldiers identified to the 2nd through 9th Infantry Regiments and the 1st Michigan Engineers and Mechanics.

Here is another image of a smilar coat. Note the external pockets, 5 buttons, square front, and the shoulder straps.