Uniform Study: Red Faced CD
Jackets?
by Christopher Daley
photos by Mark Lathem Click on any image for a
larger view
A
Massachusetts museum has a collection of original Confederate
garments that are kept in storage. Among those uniforms is a
Columbus Depot jacket with red facings. This jacket was worn by an
officer who was reportedly captured at Port Hudson.
The jacket's
pattern and materials are consistent with other surviving CD
jackets, but the major difference comes in the facing color. The
scarlet collar and cuffs are original to the jacket and have not
been added or altered.
Some have noted
the odd fading patterns of the jacket that may indicate that the
cuffs have been added, but those fade patterns are due to the way
the jacket was displayed at some point over the last 140 years and
not due to an alteration.
I can't say how
many of these were produced, how many where worn or if this is the
only one that survives, but I can say it does meet the criteria to
fall in line with the Columbus Depot jacket typology.
