Hello and welcome to the CJ Daley Historical Reproductions research center. In this section of our website you'll find information published specifically to educate our customers about Civil War uniforms.

Only through the free exchange of information can we gain a better understanding of our nation's past. I encourage you to use these pages as a resource for your studies and please inform others about these pages as well. Happy reading and if you have any questions, please ask tailor@cjdaley.com
 

Uniform Studies

One of the first units to crest the summit of Little Round Top on July 2, 1863 was the 146th New York Volunteers (Garrard's Tigers). They did so with brand Zouave new uniforms issued to them a month earlier on June 3rd. This article will give a brief description of that uniform. They were formed in September of 1862, and were one of the few units to muster in as a regular volunteer unit, but receive zouave status mid way though the war.
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The Invalid Corps jacket was to be designed and fashioned in such a way as to give the members of this new organization a sense of heightened pride and esprit-de-corps. In fact this uniform marked the members as cripples and shirkers. As the regulations for most state, volunteer and U.S. Regular infantry regiments called for a dark blue coat, this new garment precluded the wearer from being confused for regular soldier.
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Throughout the 19th Century, vests were an essential part of any gentlemen's clothing in civilian life. Whether he was a laborer or a politician, his vest was worn in public with few exceptions. When enlisting in the army in the 1860's, most men still desired to wear a vest, although most were upset to find out the quartermaster did not issue vests to troops (with the exception of some zouave units).
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The St. Louis Depot Mounted Services Artillery Jacket has many of the same features that you would find on a contract-made mounted services jacket. However, this garment is not a contract-made item, but rather a government-produced item. While it has the standard six-piece body and two-piece sleeve construction seen on most mounted services jackets, it also has many features that can be considered anomalies.  
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While capes in the 21st Century are limited to superheroes, in the 19th Century they were a common part of men's civilian clothing. This fashion translated to the military wear for officers when the war broke in 1861. Clothiers such as Tiffany and Co, and Brooks Brothers offered capes to their customers marching off to war.
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One of the most frequently requested items that we are asked to reproduce are private purchase sack coats. From the lowliest private to General Grant, commercially produced sack coats can be seen throughout the war on the backs of Northern soldiers. One such coat is currently housed in the collection of Don Troiani of Historical Art Prints.
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While most reenactors associate red trim with the artillery branch of service, evidence suggests the Confederate QM often didn’t concern itself with such distinctions.
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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.
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Every once an a while a garment comes along that is just extraordinary enough for me to take notice. Normally trowsers don't make us scratch our heads or raise our eyebrows, but one pair I examined earlier this year has. On the surface they don't appear to be any different than other CS trowsers we've seen in the past, but a few oddities pop up that make it interesting enough for us to feature it as our monthly uniform study.
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In response to hundreds of e-mails from my good friends who find themselves portraying Confederates of the far west, I looked into a few jackets to reproduce for our Trans-Mississippi hobbyists. I have settled on producing one from Don Troiani's collection. The jacket was originally worn by a Brit serving in Confederacy who took the jacket home with him after the war. He then donated the jacket to the Royal Artillery Museum in 1905 until it was later sent to the United States in the 1990s.
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The Quartermaster called them the "Infantry Uniform Coat". Soldiers referred to them as the "Dress Coat", "Frock Coat" or "The Sweat Box". All these terms refer to the official dress uniform of the Federal army during the Civil War. Hundreds of thousands of these coats were made and issued during the war by government arsenals and contractors throughout the north. One of these contractors was JB Boylan of Newark, RI. An extant Boylan coat is currently in the collection of the Gettysburg National Military Park in Pennsylvania.
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One of the most frequently asked questions we get here is "when are you folks going to make a CS frock." The answer is, sometime this spring. The coat we'll be making is based off a coat in a SC museum. We'll have more details on that in another issue, but this month we thought we'd feature another coat that we've examined.
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For years I've been looking to reproduce a commercial frock coat. Such a coat could be worn early or late in the war, east or west and could be worn by just about any Federal serving from any state. A private collector recently allowed me to photograph and document a remarkable coat in his collection.
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Although many line and staff officer's throughout the war chose to wear standard sky blue overcoats, a few officers opted to go for a more stylish look inspired by the French. While only a few of these coats exist today, those that do offer us a great look into the fashion fads on Officer's Row.
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I love overcoats. Military or civilian, Confederate or Federal, capes or hoods, mounted or foot pattern, I just love them. One of my favorites is the overcoat for mounted services. These coats not only served as warm weather outer wear for Engineers, Cavalry and Artillery, but also saw service in the 1880s serving troops during the Indian Wars.
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Quarter Master's Documents

Excerpts from the Quartermaster General's annual report for the year ending June 30, 1864
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Sizes as published by the US Quartermaster in the Quartermaster's Manual used during the American Civil War. All sizes listed are in inches.
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List of raw materials by the US Quartermaster in the Quartermaster's Manual used during the American Civil War.
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Table, showing the kinds of clothing and camp and garrison equipment which is baled at the Schuylkill Arsenal, with the quantity of each article; and the weight, size and cubic feet of each bale. Clothing is packed in assorted sizes, and the contents marked on the end of each package. The bales are covered with stout burlap; first lined with petroleum paper, then with packing paper, then securely sewed with double thread and bound with three or four iron hoops according to the size of the bales, fastened with iron buckles or loops.
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Miscellaneous

A total of 142 contracts for sack coats were found in the compilation. Some 25 were "For Making & Trimming," which represented open-ended contracts to construct coats from material already on hand. This was usually, but not invariably, material from Schuylkill Arsenal for coats to be delivered to the Philadelphia Depot.
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This bibliography has been compiled by me to help my customers gain a better knowledge of the material culture of the Civil War soldier. This bibliography is a work in progress and if you see a scholarly works that I've missed, please contact me at: tailor@cjdaley.com Some of these articles are out of print and may require contacting the publishers.
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This is an article published in 1865 as part of a serial for Atlantic Monthly. It's author is an eighteen year old seamstress who lived just outside Philadelphia. She chronicles the hardships and decreasing pay wages of the 'government seamstress'. It speaks as much to the future of women's rights in the workplace as it does the deplorable actions of the contractors and arsenal tailors. I hope you find this article educational and enlightening.
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