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Synopsis of Sack Coat Contracts:
"U.S. Army Quartermaster Contracts, 1861-1865"
compiled by E.J. Coates and F.C. Gaede
from National Archives, RG 217, Treasury
Department Records, Entry 236, QMD Contracts
(Lutherville, MD: Production Draft No. 1, May 2001).
 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.
However, one
contract with Bryant N. Lanhan dated July 1, 1864 for
12,000 sack coats to be delivered to Cincinnati specified
the coats were to be "Made and trimmed in the same manner
as those now being manufactured at the Clothing
Manufactory in Cincinnati, Ohio; the blouse flannel and
trimmings to be furnished by the U.S." His payment for
each coat was not specified, and no note was found to
determine the quantity he delivered. (Page 169)We know
145,883 "Blouses, Lined" and 116,051 "Blouses, Unlined"
were made at the Cincinnati Depot between May 1861 and
June 1865. Quantities made at other depot(s) are unknown
to the authors at this time, but may be in a complete copy
of the 1865 Quartermaster Report.
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For the contracts that specified a quantity,
a total of at least 3,641,000 coats were to be delivered,
as follows: |
| |
Philadelphia Depot |
New
York Depot |
Cincinnati Depot |
Total |
|
Lined |
558,000 |
797,000 |
444,000 |
1,799,000 |
|
Unlined |
439,000 |
442,000 |
295,000 |
1,176,000 |
|
Not
Specified |
170,000 |
284,000 |
212,000 |
666,000 |
|
Total |
1,167,000 |
1,523,000 |
951,000 |
3,641,000 |
There were 14 contractors who received contracts totaling
over 100,000 sack coats each, as follows: |
|
Contractor Name |
City |
Date
(s) |
Contractor Name |
City |
Date
(s) |
|
James Boylan |
Newark, NJ |
1862-64 |
Joseph Lee |
New York City |
1861-63 |
|
Thomas Carhart |
New York City |
1862-63 |
Joseph Lea
(same guy?) |
New York City |
1864 |
|
William
Deering |
Portland, ME |
1861-65 |
Wm. & James
Ludlow |
Newark, NJ |
1862-64 |
|
R.B. Esler |
Philadelphia,
PA |
1863 |
John T. Martin |
New York City |
1862-64 |
|
Henry Foster |
Philadelphia,
PA |
1864 |
(Mrs.) H.J.
Moore |
Newton, MA |
1862 |
|
Jeremiah
Garthwaite |
Newark, NJ |
1863-64 |
Joseph Page |
Philadelphia,
PA |
1863-64 |
|
Hanford &
Browning |
New York City
|
1861 |
Alvin Rose |
New York City |
1864 |
 The
two contractors named "Lea" and "Lee" may be the same
individual, since the dates of their contracts do not overlap.
The one female contractor, Mrs. Moore, was noted in the special
CW issue of Military Collector & Historian as the contractor of
regulation gaiters now in Don Troiani's collection. J.T. Martin
was the largest single contractor, with a total of 892,000 sack
coats. One contract with Hunt, Tillinghust & Co. of New York
City dated October 20, 1862 was for 20,000 knit sack coats, to
be delivered to the Philadelphia Depot and paid for at the rate
of $2.40 each. The description is for "dark blue knit blouses."
(P. 142) This firm received numerous contracts for knit items,
including drawers, shirts (a total of 481,258) and even uniform
jackets (!) in addition to sack coats. Paul McKee illustrated
what certainly looks like a knit sack coat in his article in
Military Collector & Historian on the subject.
Further
Reading:
McKee, Paul, Military Collector and Historian, Notes
on the Federal Issue Sack Coats, Page 50, Vol. XLVII, No.2
Summer, 1995, Washington, D.C.
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